Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 130

PART 2 FAO FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE IN ACTION
consumed, people are deriving smaller amounts
of omega-3 fatt y acids from aquatic foods,
because these fats are more prevalent in marine
than in freshwater fish (Beveridge et al., 2013).
Increasingly intensive aquaculture production
methods, with greater use of crop-based
feedstuffs and lower fishmeal and fish oil
inclusion rates, are likely to inf luence the
nutrient content of farmed aquatic products,
particularly fat content and fatt y acid profiles. A
focus on the nutrient content of farmed aquatic
foods is especially important where they have a
key role in food-based approaches to food
securit y and nutrition.
percent of the average per capita animal protein
intake for 3 billion people, and more than 50
percent in some less developed countries (see
Boxes 10 and 11). It is especially critical for rural
populations, which often have less diverse diets
and lower food securit y rates (Thompson and
Amoroso, 2014). Fish and fish products are
excellent sources of high-qualit y protein;
bioavailabilit y of protein from fish is
approximately 5 to 15 percent higher than that
from plant sources. Fish contains several amino
acids essential for human health, such as lysine
and methionine. Many fish (especially fatt y fish)
are a source of long-chain omega-3 fatt y acids,
which contribute to visual and cognitive human
development, especially during the first 1 000
days of a child’s life (Roos, 2016). Fish also
provides essential minerals such as calcium,
phosphorus, zinc, iron, selenium and iodine as
well as vitamins A, D and B, thus helping to
reduce the risks of both malnutrition and non-
communicable diseases which may co-occur
when high energ y intake is combined with a lack
of balanced nutrition (Allison, Delaporte and
Hellebrandt de Silva, 2013). Nutritional content is
especially high in small fish species consumed
whole and in fish parts that are not usually
consumed (such as heads, bones and skin)
(HLPE, 2014), which paradoxically have lower
economic value. It is desirable to increase the
production and consumption of small fish and to
find ways of transforming the non-consumed
parts into nutritious products.
Despite the increasing role of aquaculture in
global fish supplies, the capture sector is expected
to remain dominant in the supply of many species
and to be vital for domestic and international food
security (OECD and FAO, 2016). Per capita fish
consumption is expected to continue to expand
more strongly in developing countries than in
developed countries, with the fastest growth rates
projected for Asia and the Pacific.
Maximizing the potential
A 2013 review found that “fish is strikingly
missing from strategies for reduction of
micronutrient deficiency, precisely where it could
potentially have the largest impact” (Allison,
Delaporte and Hellebrandt de Silva, 2013).
Although the sector’s untapped potential is now
being recognized and is attracting global interest,
it is still a challenge to incorporate the sector into
the food securit y and nutrition agenda (and vice
versa) (FAO and EU, 2017). Given the prevalence
of fish in diets and its nutritional value, it is
important to include fish in the design of
nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food-based
approaches to food securit y and nutrition
(Kawarazuka and Béné, 2010).
While large-scale fisheries land more fish, only
80 percent is destined for direct human
consumption, as compared with almost ever y fish
caught in small-scale fisheries. Today, small-scale
and larger-scale fisheries contribute
approximately the same amount for human
consumption. Since the 1980s, virtually all of the
increase in the amount of fish consumed has
come from aquaculture, which has outpaced
population growth and become the world’s fastest
growing food production industr y (FAO, 2016c,
2017o). Since 2014, aquaculture has provided
more fish for human consumption than capture
fisheries, and by 2030 it is expected to provide 60
percent of the fish available for human
consumption (see “Projections of fisheries,
aquaculture and markets” in Part 4). With a
higher proportion of freshwater fish being
There remains considerable scope to increase the
amount of fish – or nutrients derived from fish –
for human consumption by reducing post-har vest
losses, especially from capture fisheries; by more
efficient use of fishmeal and fish oil and in
animal (especially aquaculture) feeds; and by
improved feed formulations for farmed fish and
crustaceans (see “Realizing aquaculture’s
potential” in Part 3). The fish industr y often only
extracts fillets for human consumption, »
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