Version 1
: Received: 22 February 2024 / Approved: 22 February 2024 / Online: 22 February 2024 (12:21:55 CET)
How to cite:
Neori, A. Do Low-Income Consumers of Forage Fish Subsidize the Production of Aquafeeds? Financial and Nutritional Significance. Preprints2024, 2024021314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1314.v1
Neori, A. Do Low-Income Consumers of Forage Fish Subsidize the Production of Aquafeeds? Financial and Nutritional Significance. Preprints 2024, 2024021314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1314.v1
Neori, A. Do Low-Income Consumers of Forage Fish Subsidize the Production of Aquafeeds? Financial and Nutritional Significance. Preprints2024, 2024021314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1314.v1
APA Style
Neori, A. (2024). Do Low-Income Consumers of Forage Fish Subsidize the Production of Aquafeeds? Financial and Nutritional Significance. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1314.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Neori, A. 2024 "Do Low-Income Consumers of Forage Fish Subsidize the Production of Aquafeeds? Financial and Nutritional Significance" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1314.v1
Abstract
Forage fish are crucial to human nutrition, especially in developing countries. However, in these countries, most forage fish catches are used to make aquafeeds for aquaculture, which leaves only a small quantity for direct human consumption. This practice increases fish prices in local markets and undermines people's nutrition. Overfishing forage fish for industrial purposes harms the ecosystem, reduces the catch of larger fish, and marginalizes local fishermen. Although previous discussions have touched qualitatively on the ethics and injustice of this practice, this article provides quantitative scales to measure the impact of the practice on the finances and forage fish consumption of low-income consumers using reasonable assumptions and literature values. Increasing the annual supply of forage fish by 25% to the 5 million MT of fresh fish markets globally could save consumers several billion US dollars annually. Families could consume a higher percentage of nutritious fish for less money. Furthermore, leaving forage fish in the sea could benefit wildlife and increase the capture of larger fish, such as mackerel, which are in demand in local markets and fished by local fishermen. The unintentional and involuntary contributions of low-income societies to enable the growth of high-value fish and shrimp for affluent societies seem unjust and warrant further investigation.
Keywords
overfishing; poor families, fisherfolk, fishmeal; natural food chain; anchovy; sardines; social justice; supply and price; fish market
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Other
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
