FAO AQUACULTURE NEWSLETTER No. 60 ■ AUGUST 2019 63 MISCELLANEOUS I n recent years, attention has been focused on addressing the global challenges of hunger, malnutrition and impaired health – hoping to solve the attendant consequences, such as reduced economic productivity, impaired cognitive development and hindered educational performance, and losses in household resources from increased health-care costs due to diet-related illnesses. Several action plans have been targeted at addressing these global challenges; however, fish has been strikingly missing from most Leveraging on aquaculture to improve global nutrition Written by: Oluwafemi Ajayi E-mail: Oluwafemi.Ajayi@fao.org Elizabeth Graham E-mail: Elizabeth.Graham@fao.org Yin Fu E-mail: Yin.Fu@fao.org FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome, Italy of the strategies, especially in regions where it could potentially have the largest impact on food and nutrition outcomes. Though there has been a downward trend in capture fisheries output in recent years because of plateaued production, an alternative and complementary aquaculture source could provide the amount of fish needed to meet the demand of the growing world population. Of the 202 currently existing countries and territories with aquaculture production recorded by FAO, 194 have been active producers in the past years. Since 2014, aquaculture has provided more fish for human consumption than capture fisheries, and by 2030, it is expected to contribute 60 percent of the total fish available for human consumption. Fish from an aquaculture source are rich in nutrients just as their capture fisheries counterparts. It is widely recognized that consumption of even small quantities of fish makes a significant contribution to the nutritional quality of the diets of malnourished populations. In terms of access, the global average price of fish from aquaculture is slightly below that of capture fisheries in recent years when compared to the prices in the 1990s and early 2000s. 1 Furthermore, with culture condition considerations, the environmental impact of aquaculture production could be easily controlled within sustainable means. Advancements in culture technology and knowledge have been instrumental in the adoption of aquaculture to complement supply from capture fisheries to meet the demand for fish in the predominant capture fisheries regions that are most affected by drop in catches; aquaculture also serves as a safety net during seasonal fish bans when fish are allowed to breed. Much emphasis has been placed on production outputs and other innovations to support increased production with little efforts towards the end result of better nutrition outcomes. Nutrition is the hidden part of this contribution. Expanding Fish: Nature's superfood ©FAO 1. SOFIA. 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture. www.fao.org/3/ I9540EN/i9540en.pdf Fish: Nature's superfood