Processing trout
nourished through deficiency in
essential vitamins and minerals,
especially in vitamin A, iron and
zinc. These deficiencies are especially important at key stages of human
life (pregnancy, breastfeeding,
childhood) and can have severe and
often irreversible impacts for health
and physical and mental development. This is the so-called “hidden
hunger”. Fish can potentially contribute to reducing micronutrient
deficiencies and reducing this
health burden.
Some fish species – in particular the
small fish important in the diets of
the poor – have high nutrient content, including some of polyunsaturated fatty acids (such as ‘Omega3’), vitamin A, iron, zinc and calcium. These fish can therefore be
used as a key component in strategies aimed at reducing essential
fatty acid and micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries.
Although fish availability per capita
is increasing globally, it is decreasing in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
A combination of diet, food preparation and intra-household distribution can result in reduced and less
Harvesting trout at Katse
dam, Lesotho
Stocking juvenile tilapia
equitable benefits from farmed fish
than from the previously-consumed
wild-caught small fish that are most
nutritious eaten whole.
Fisheries governance reform:
Fisheries governance reform in
Least Developed Countries and Low
Income Food Deficit Countries aim
to identify ways of turning rent
“drains” into “gains” and to ensure
that the gains are enjoyed by those
who are currently living in poverty
and food insecurity, whether they
are producers, traders or consumers
of fish, or merely citizens of countries in which fish could generate
more wealth for all.
The rights-based approach is motivated by the critical insight that
inefficiencies in the fishery sector
have produced a major squandering
of assets – and that there is a development opportunity if the economic rents from fisheries are more rationally captured and reinvested in
public goods.
The fundamental concerns of the
wealth-based approach are sound:
how to identify the unrealized
wealth potential in the sector, how
to channel that wealth in a way
Fishing on Lake Malawi
Showing off their catch
that contributes most effectively to
poverty reduction, and how to create the incentives for sustainable
resource management. The most
suitable approach to fisheries governance reform builds on and integrates insights from considerations
of a range of perspectives – wealth,
rights (including human rights),
welfare and wellbeing.
Potential of Aquaculture:
Aquaculture for poverty reduction
and food security is developing fast,
but not always in ways promoted
by many development agencies.
Rather than being a means to secure nutritional gains and income
directly for the poorest smallholder
farmers, it is increasingly a means
to increase domestic fish supply to
low-income consumers, develop
opportunities for employment, support local economic multipliers and
to generate revenue from trade.
This mix of small-scale and largerscale aquaculture parallels developments in agriculture, where calls for
support to smallholders co-exist
with support for commercialization
of agriculture to accelerate its role
in promoting macroeconomic
Fish for sale