The world won’t be able to fish its way to feeding 10 billion people by midcentury, but a shift in management practices could save hundreds of millions of fish-dependent poor from malnutrition, according to a new analysis by researchers at Harvard University, the University of Washington, and other universities that utilizes new databases on global fish catches and on human dietary nutrition.
Co-author Edward Allison, a professor in the UW’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, said fish usually is considered to be a good source of protein. Perhaps more important, however, are the micronutrients found in fish and other seafood, particularly in poor nations where there may not be another source that provides these necessary nutrients.
“We are able to quantify for the first time what supply and availability of a major food group such as fish and seafood means for maintaining the health of populations that are vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies,” Allison said.
Fish provide often overlooked micronutrients, including vitamin B12, iron, and zinc. According to the report, published June 16 as a commentary in the journal Nature, micronutrient deficiencies can affect maternal and child mortality, cause cognitive defects, and impact immune function. Some 45 percent of mortality in children under age 5 is attributable to undernutrition.
The report says that the vulnerability of these poor, fish-dependent populations in the tropics has been underestimated, and that these are the very places whose fish resources are under the most intense pressure.
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