Washington: While dozens of wild fish species are commonly consumed in the Peruvian Amazon, the people there could suffer major nutritional shortages if ongoing losses in fish biodiversity continue, as per the findings of a new study.
Furthermore, the increasing use of aquaculture and other substitutes may not compensate. The research has implications far beyond the Amazon since the diversity and abundance of wild-harvested foods are declining in rivers and lakes globally, as well as on land. Some 2 billion people globally depend on non-cultivated foods; inland fisheries alone employ some 60 million people and provide the primary source of protein for some 200 million. The study appears this week in the journal Science Advances.
The authors studied the vast, rural Loreto department of the Peruvian Amazon, where most of the 800,000 inhabitants eat fish at least once a day, or an average of about 52 kilograms (115 pounds) per year. This is their primary source not only of protein but fatty acids and essential trace minerals including iron, zinc and calcium. Unfortunately, it is not enough; a quarter of all children are malnourished or stunted, and more than a fifth of women of child-bearing age is iron deficient.
Different species of animals and plants contain different ratios of nutrients, so biodiversity is key to adequate human nutrition, noted the researchers. "If fish decline, the quality of the diet will decline," said the study's senior co-author, Shahid Naeem, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability.
