School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Response or Comment
Publication Date
10-20-2023
Abstract
Wild fisheries provide billions of people with a key source of multiple essential nutrients. As fisheries plateau or decline, nourishing more people will partially rely on shifting consumption to farmed animals. The environmental implications of transitions among animal-sourced foods have been scrutinized, but their nutritional substitutability remains unclear. We compared concentrations of six essential dietary nutrients across >5000 species of wild fishes, aquaculture, poultry and livestock species, representing >65% of animals consumed globally. Wild fishes are both more nutrient-dense and variable than farmed animals; achieving recommended intake of all nutrients with farmed species could require consuming almost four times more biomass than with wild fish. The challenge of substituting farmed animals for wild fishes are magnified in fishery-dependent nations with high biodiversity and prevalence of malnutrition. Ultimately, the better ability of wild fishes to meet multiple nutrients simultaneously underscores the importance of drawing upon a diverse portfolio of animal- and plant-based foods as societies seek to offset changes in fisheries while achieving healthy and sustainable diets.
Recommended Citation
Heilpern, Sebastian A., Rafael M. Almeida, Kathryn J. Fiorella, Alexander S. Flecker, Demetra Williams, and Peter B. McIntyre. "Nutritional challenges of substituting farmed animals for wild fish in human diets." Environmental Research Letters 18, no. 11 (2023): 114030. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad02ab
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Environmental Research Letters
DOI
10.1088/1748-9326/ad02ab
Included in
Earth Sciences Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, Food Science Commons, Marine Biology Commons
Comments
© 2023 The Author(s)
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.