Assessing the Impacts of the COVID-19 on Fisheries and Aquaculture in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly spread throughout the globe since early 2020 impacting severely not only on the lives of people but also on the economies of the countries around the world. It has also brought unprecedented challenges to all development sectors, as business worldwide has been practically shut down because of countries’ lockdown measures, disruptions in all modes of transportation, and tourism restrictions affecting the food services systems, especially fisheries. Specifically, the crisis has brought severe impacts on the fisheries sector of the Southeast Asian countries as the major producers of fish and fishery products and major suppliers of fish to the global market. Fishing operations encounter difficulties due to national lockdown measures that prohibit the fishers from going out to sea to fish. Meanwhile, fish farmers have been restricted from working outside of their homes to halt any further spread of the virus. In order to assess the severity of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fisheries and aquaculture in Southeast Asia, the SEAFDEC Secretariat has planned to organize the Webinar on the “Impacts of COVID-19 on Fisheries and Aquaculture in Southeast Asia” on 2-3 July 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the main objectives of discussing and assessing the impacts, and sharing how the private sector make immediate responses to address the issues as well as the medium-term mitigation of the impacts established by some countries.