IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v61y2016icp126-131.html

Sustaining healthy diets: The role of capture fisheries and aquaculture for improving nutrition in the post-2015 era

Author

Listed:
  • Thilsted, Shakuntala Haraksingh
  • Thorne-Lyman, Andrew
  • Webb, Patrick
  • Bogard, Jessica Rose
  • Subasinghe, Rohana
  • Phillips, Michael John
  • Allison, Edward Hugh

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda makes achieving food security and ending malnutrition a global priority. Within this framework, the importance of fisheries in local and global food systems and its contribution to nutrition and health, particularly for the poor are overlooked and undervalued. This paper reviews current fish production and consumption from capture fisheries and aquaculture, highlights opportunities for enhancing healthy diets and outlines key multi-sectoral policy solutions. Mirroring the call for a diversification of agricultural research and investment beyond a few staple grains, it is anticipated that productivity gains for a few farmed aquatic species will not suffice. Capture fisheries and aquaculture have a complementary role to play in increasing fish availability and access, and must be promoted in ways that support measurable nutrition and health gains. This paper argues that the lack of a nutrition-sensitive policy focus on capture fisheries and aquaculture represents an untapped opportunity that must be realised for ensuring sustainable healthy diets for all.

Suggested Citation

  • Thilsted, Shakuntala Haraksingh & Thorne-Lyman, Andrew & Webb, Patrick & Bogard, Jessica Rose & Subasinghe, Rohana & Phillips, Michael John & Allison, Edward Hugh, 2016. "Sustaining healthy diets: The role of capture fisheries and aquaculture for improving nutrition in the post-2015 era," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 126-131.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:61:y:2016:i:c:p:126-131
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.02.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030691921630001X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.02.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmed, Mahfuzuddin & Lorica, Mylene H., 2002. "Improving developing country food security through aquaculture development--lessons from Asia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 125-141, April.
    2. Asche, Frank & Bellemare, Marc F. & Roheim, Cathy & Smith, Martin D. & Tveteras, Sigbjørn, 2015. "Fair Enough? Food Security and the International Trade of Seafood," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 151-160.
    3. Belton, Ben & van Asseldonk, Imke Josepha Mariana & Thilsted, Shakuntala Haraksingh, 2014. "Faltering fisheries and ascendant aquaculture: Implications for food and nutrition security in Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 77-87.
    4. Toufique, Kazi Ali & Gregory, Rick, 2008. "Common waters and private lands: Distributional impacts of floodplain aquaculture in Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 587-594, December.
    5. repec:bla:devpol:v:28:y:2010:i:3:p:325-358 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Hishamunda, Nathanael & Ridler, Neil B. & Bueno, Pedro & Yap, Wilfredo G., 2009. "Commercial aquaculture in Southeast Asia: Some policy lessons," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 102-107, February.
    7. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4389 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Dey, Madan M. & Spielman, David J. & Haque, A.B.M.M. & Rahman, M.S. & Valmonte-Santos, R., 2013. "Change and diversity in smallholder rice–fish systems: Recent evidence and policy lessons from Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 108-117.
    9. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    10. Toufique, Kazi Ali & Belton, Ben, 2014. "Is Aquaculture Pro-Poor? Empirical Evidence of Impacts on Fish Consumption in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 609-620.
    11. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4391 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Farnworth, C.R. & Sultana, N. & Kantor, P. & Choudhury, A., 2015. "Gender integration in aquaculture research and technology adoption processes: Lessons learned in Bangladesh," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 40521, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Naylor, Rosamond & Fang, Safari & Fanzo, Jessica, 2023. "A global view of aquaculture policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Constanza Gonzalez Parrao & Shannon Shisler & Marta Moratti & Cem Yavuz & Arnab Acharya & John Eyers & Birte Snilstveit, 2021. "Aquaculture for improving productivity, income, nutrition and women's empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    3. A. B. M. Mahfuzul Haque & Madan Mohan Dey, 2017. "Impacts of community-based fish culture in seasonal floodplains on income, food security and employment in Bangladesh," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(1), pages 25-38, February.
    4. Toufique, Kazi Ali & Belton, Ben, 2014. "Is Aquaculture Pro-Poor? Empirical Evidence of Impacts on Fish Consumption in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 609-620.
    5. Béné, Christophe & Arthur, Robert & Norbury, Hannah & Allison, Edward H. & Beveridge, Malcolm & Bush, Simon & Campling, Liam & Leschen, Will & Little, David & Squires, Dale & Thilsted, Shakuntala H. &, 2016. "Contribution of Fisheries and Aquaculture to Food Security and Poverty Reduction: Assessing the Current Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 177-196.
    6. Amelie Bernzen & Ellen Mangnus & Franziska Sohns, 2022. "Diversify, produce or buy? An analysis of factors contributing to household dietary diversity among shrimp and non-shrimp farmers in coastal Bangladesh," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(3), pages 741-761, June.
    7. Constanza Gonzalez Parrao & Marta Moratti & Shannon Shisler & Birte Snilstveit & John Eyers, 2021. "PROTOCOL: Aquaculture for improving productivity, income, nutrition and women's empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    8. Mohamed Samy-Kamal, 2025. "The Human Cost of Seafood: Impacts of Global Trade and Aquaculture Expansion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-15, September.
    9. Cárdenas-Retamal, Roberto & Dresdner-Cid, Jorge & Ceballos-Concha, Adams, 2021. "Impact assessment of salmon farming on income distribution in remote coastal areas: The Chilean case," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    10. Bassett, Hannah R. & Lau, Jacqueline & Giordano, Christopher & Suri, Sharon K. & Advani, Sahir & Sharan, Sonia, 2021. "Preliminary lessons from COVID-19 disruptions of small-scale fishery supply chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Rob Kuijpers, 2019. "Value Chain Development as Public Policy: Conceptualization and Evidence from the Agri-Food Sector in Bangladesh," LICOS Discussion Papers 41419, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    12. Xavier Tezzo & Simon R. Bush & Peter Oosterveer & Ben Belton, 2021. "Food system perspective on fisheries and aquaculture development in Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 73-90, February.
    13. Dasgupta, Susmita & Mustafa, Golam & Paul, Tapas & Wheeler, David, 2021. "The socioeconomics of fish consumption and child health: An observational cohort study from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Belton, B. & Ahmed, N. & Murshed-e-Jahan, K., 2014. "Aquaculture, employment, poverty, food security and well-being in Bangladesh: A comparative study," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 40464, April.
    15. Steven Gronau & Etti Winter & Ulrike Grote, 2020. "Aquaculture, fish resources and rural livelihoods: a village CGE analysis from Namibia’s Zambezi Region," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 615-642, February.
    16. Baten, Md A. & Sarker, A.K., 2020. "Rapid Assessment of subsistence fishing and poultry rearing along with horticulture among the household beneficiaries of Phase 3 of Suchana program in Sylhet and Moulvibazar," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 40906, April.
    17. Marta Marson & Donatella Saccone & Elena Vallino, 2023. "Total trade, cereals trade and undernourishment: new empirical evidence for developing countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 159(2), pages 299-332, May.
    18. Asche, Frank & Smith, Martin D., 2018. "Viewpoint: Induced Innovation in Fisheries and Aquaculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-7.
    19. Shahidur Rashid & Nicholas Minot & Solomon Lemma, 2019. "Does a “Blue Revolution” help the poor? Evidence from Bangladesh," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(2), pages 139-150, March.
    20. Martins A. Anetekhai & Blessing I. Nwatulegwu, 2026. "Designing an Inclusive Sargassum-Aquafeed Value-Chain Training Programme: A Scalable Model for Coastal Resource Transformation and Women's Empowerment in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(4), pages 6663-6675, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:61:y:2016:i:c:p:126-131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.