The waters that surround the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific are home to remarkable marine ecosystems. The fish and other marine species they host are deeply intertwined with many Pacific peoples’ cultures, livelihoods and food. But while the communities of these islands continue to consume fish in significant quantities, the diversity of Islanders’ diets is declining, and their nutrition is deteriorating.
So, what are some new approaches and innovations that can help reverse this trend?
A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WorldFish has some suggestions. Here are five of them:
1. Adapting to changing trends of faster, more convenient food
Pacific Islanders are eating more processed and canned foods because of urbanization, a desire for modernity, time constraints and lack of cold storage or long-term preservation options. In areas with limited opportunities to access marine resources or grow adequate crops, canned fish, for example, is an important and easy alternative for food and nutrition security.
Some researchers have advocated for more canned fish to be made available to Pacific communities as a way to alleviate pressure on nearshore ecosystems. However, the concern is that communities could miss out on some of the many micronutrients that are provided by a diverse diet of aquatic foods, a category which includes all types of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, other aquatic animals and algae grown in or harvested from water. FAO implements a wide range of nutrition awareness activities with Pacific SIDS to highlight the nutritional importance of consuming fish and other aquatic foods.
2. Using innovation to make further-afield fish stocks more accessible
Innovations can help improve the quality and variety of local diets. For example, anchored Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), which are human-made structures deployed in offshore waters to attract fish, are a way of using technology that can help alleviate pressure on nearshore marine resources. These devices support food and nutrition security by making pelagic fish such as tuna, jobfish, mahimahi, barracuda and mackerel more accessible to fishers. Funded by the Government of Japan, FAO FishFAD programmes were implemented with communities across seven Pacific SIDS.