Newer Strategies for Increasing the Production and Nutritive Quality of Food Fishes

Fisheries and aquaculture play significant role in generation of employment, livelihood, foreign exchange, food and nutritional security.  Food fishes are important source of high quality animal proteins, micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) and omega -3 fatty acids   essential for maintenance of human health. Fish consumption helps prevent coronary heart disease, mental disorders- depression and dementia. Aquaculture continues to be the fastest-growing animal-food-producing sector with an average annual growth rate of 8.3 percent, but the rate of global aquaculture growth is falling. Though, currently about 44.9 million people are engaged the world wide in this sector,  in view of the global food price crisis, financial crash and economic recession, many hundreds of people are facing increased uncertainty and real hunger. In order to fulfill the need of balanced and economical food of ever increasing world human population, newer strategies from perspective and prospective angles are needed for enhancing the productivity and nutritive quality of food fishes. Many facets of policy and governance, ecosystem approach to fisheries and enhancing biosecurity in aquaculture, GIS, remote sensing, impacts on the sector of climate change, biodiversity loss, quality certification and product traceability are to be attended concurrently. Similar to other agriculture subsectors, the use of introduced exotic fish species may play an important role in aquaculture production, particularly in Asia. Disease resistant fish breeds with better growth rate, SPF seeds and feeds with better FCR are to be selected and utilized in both extensive and intensive cultures with Good Management Practices (GMP) for enhancing the productivity of food fishes. Modern biotechnological   interventions as per need may also be adopted to increase their productivity and nutritive value and to mitigate the adverse effect of climate change. Sea-level rise with climate change in the coming decades would increase salinity intrusion further upstream, affecting brackish water and freshwater culture practices in world’s tropical and subtropical regions. Adaptation would involve moving aquaculture practices further upstream or shifting to more salinity-tolerant strains of cultured species. On the other hand, aquaculture in temperate zones would be more affected by water warming to levels that will exceed the limit for many farmed species and will therefore, require changes in farmed species.