Fisheries and undernutrition

People eat fish directly, and they also consume it indirectly in the form of feed for livestock such as pigs and poultry. Despite widespread malnutrition in developing countries, the data indicate that on a per capita basis people in developed countries use about four times as much fish as people in less developed countries. Nevertheless, people in developing countries tend to be far more dependant on fish because it accounts for a far higher proportion of their animal protein intake.

The high levels of fish consumption in developed countries is partly due to their high levels of imports of fish products from developing countries. The export of large quantities of fish (and other food) from poor countries may help to account for the malnutrition in poor countries.

With adaptations in the production, processing, and distribution phases of operations, fisheries could be managed so as to help alleviate malnutrition. The potential was recognized by the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development held in Rome in the summer of 1984 when it approved a new “Action Programme on the Promotion of the Role of Fisheries in Alleviating Malnutrition.”