Fish Catch on Freefall: Can Fish Farms Save Global Human Health?

Worldfish Center working local programs of nutrition, hunger and poverty 

“How will the 10 billion people expected to be living on Earth by 2050 obtain sufficient and nutritious food?” A new study says that global fish catches are on a freefall and that this fall will affect the Developing and Poor Nations first. Fish provide millions of people not only with a source of food but stable vital health. When fish catches reach the estimated fall only fish farms and aquaculture could come to the rescue. 

Nature released on June 15 the report “Nutrition: Fall in Fish Catch Threatens Human Health”. Feeding a Global population on the rise has become the greatest challenge humanity faces. Undernourishment caused by a deficit of needed micronutrients such as iron, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins lead to serious diseases which can cause increased mortality. The vulnerable areas of the globe are the poorest and the developing nations and the most vulnerable groups in these countries are children under five and pregnant women among others. 

Professor Madan Dey of Aquaculture-Seafood Economics and Marketing of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences spoke to the Commercial Pine Buff on June 21. Professor Dey is one of the co-authors of the paper published at Nature. The Professor explained that the paper was an international collaboration which took on exhaustive research and analyzed tons of data. 

“Fish are critical sources of these micronutrients, but fish stocks have faced major declines, especially in low-latitude Developing Nations. Populations in the Developing World are thus at risk, as micronutrient deficiencies can increase the chances of perinatal and maternal mortality, growth retardation, child mortality, cognitive deficits and reduced immune function,” Professor Dey revealed. 

The paper published at Nature was authored by researchers from several universities including the Harvard School of Public Health, University of Washington, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of British Columbia and UAPB. The study was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under funding from the National Science Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

“Our research suggests this is just a part of the problem, as 845 million to 1.39 billion people could face macronutrient and fatty acid deficiencies driven by fish declines, especially in equatorial developing nations,” Professor Dey added. 

The sector is however not fully grim in its research. Major emphasis has been put on the solution of the problem. “Despite the challenges in food-insecure areas, aquaculture can serve as a crucial contribution to local diets and economies when correctly planned”, Dey assured. 

Asian Scientist reported on June 15 on a new report which urges fisheries to prioritize nutrition goals. From this point of view it is not about increasing production but increasing the quality of nutrition of fisheries. 

FAO - UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that fish consumption per person globally has more than doubled over the past five decades. A study pùblished at the Journal of Food Policy highlights nutrition improvement in this “nutrition-sensitive world”. 

“By adopting a nutrition-sensitive approach, the study argues that fisheries present many untapped opportunities to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to provide accessible and nutritious foods for all,” Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted lead author of the study said. 

“We want to develop food production systems, in this case fisheries, that improve nutrition and health of the populations,” Thilsted told the media. 

The Worldfish Center -leader in the sector of fish farming and international programs working with the goal of reducing poverty and hunger and improving fisheries and aquaculture knows what the recent news is all about. 

Worldfish continued to increase their global purse of active programs with the new facility in Egypt. At Egypt Worldfish said they will strictly focus on “Tilapia Nutrition and testing of new, local fish feed ingredients, including agricultural by-products”. 

“Egypt is the World’s second largest producer of farmed tilapia. With fish production expected to grow to reach 2 million tonnes in 2020, there is a need to support increased production efficiency and profitability, in order to maintain the sector’s sustainability into the future,” Worldfish stated. 

Worldfish has also recently opened doors to work in Malaysia with the Department of Fisheries to promote the sustainable development of aquaculture and fisheries in the country and continues to upbeat its Myanmar nutrition security program. Worldfish recognizes Climate Change and its impact as another of humanity's greatest challenge. At Timor-Leste they work to tackle coral reef sustainability. 

“Climate change will have a large impact on nations in the tropics,” Professor Dey said on the findings of the new study. Climate Change is not only responsible for natural disasters which destroy and damage the environments where fish dwell as well as cut back on global food production systems but reduce catch and affect elements such as oxygen in water which in turn affects size of fish and biomass. By 2050 the paper estimates biomass reduction in fish communities down by 20%.

Scientists working with Professor Dey asked themselves; Can global aquaculture and the production of farmed fish meet production shortfalls predicted for poor equatorial populations?

“We calculate that this is the tip of the iceberg. Combining data on dietary nutrition, and fish catch, we predict that more than 10% of the Global Population could face macronutrient and fatty-acid deficiencies driven by fish declines over the coming decades, especially in the developing nations at the Equator. This new view underlines the need for nutrition-sensitive fisheries policies,” Scientists warned. 

“Presently, 17% of the Global Population is zinc deficient, with some subpopulations being particularly at risk. Nearly one in five pregnant women Worldwide have iron-deficiency anaemia and one-third are vitamin-A deficient. We estimate that 845 million people -11% of the global population are poised to become deficient in one of these three micronutrients if current trajectories in fish-catch declines continue,” Scientists who authored the paper assured. 

“We calculate that 1.39 billion people worldwide -19% of the Global Population are vulnerable to deficiencies because fish make up more than 20% of their intake of these foods by weight,” they ended it. 

The most troubled waters are reliant to fish and vulnerable to malnutrition and were identified in the regions of coastal Africa and Sub-Saharan regions. Sri-lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and others are part of the same Group of Alert. Other countries in South America like Peru are in a milder alert but vulnerable nevertheless. 

“A Perfect Storm is brewing in the low-latitude developing nations. This is where human nutrition is most dependent on wild fish, and where fisheries are most at risk from illegal fishing, weak governance, poor knowledge of stock status, population pressures and climate change,” the paper published at Nature says. 

Aquaculture and Fish Farm products are on the rise, in fact they have exceeded the wildcatch for the first time in 2014 and are still growing, so effectiveness of the system is not the problem. The problem is that countries which face nourishment problems such as Africa and Pacific Island and Indonesian despite being rich in fish farm export most of the product to developed countries. 

“Shrimp, tilapia and Mekong catfish grown in developing and transitional countries such as Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Ecuador, Thailand and Vietnam are mostly exported to the wealthy countries of Europe and North America, or consumed by the growing middle-classes in the megacities of these economies,” scientists call for attention. 

The paper concludes that the only way out of this situation is taking the next steps. First turn to traditional fish farm programs which are sustainable, second use models to identify risk and potential zones and create nutritional security maps and models and finally reform aquaculture and fish farms for them to serve the undernourished people.

“Addressing these emerging problems will require new interdisciplinary partnerships among fisheries scientists, aquaculture technologists, ecosystem managers, nutrition and public-health specialists, development economists, granting agencies and policymakers,” they recognized the steps as “not easy but possible”. 

Worldfish, Madagascar Blue Ventures, Wellcome Trust, US National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and the Rockefeller Foundation, WHO World Health Organization, UNICEF, FAO, UNEP and other private, publìc and non-government organizations are already working towards a solution. 

“Policy changes are possible. We believe that improvements in fisheries management and marine conservation can serve as nutritional delivery mechanisms...Analysis worldwide found that applying management to global fisheries could increase catch by more than 10%15. Without these changes, the health of the poor is at risk,” they kicked it.