Benefits of Blue foods 

News Highlights:

• Benefits of Blue foods: According to a study published in Nature, blue food, sourced from aquatic environments, can reduce nutritional deficiencies and contribute to employment and export revenue in India.
• Blue foods are significant for many countries’ economies, livelihoods, nutritional security, and cultures.

Blue Food:

• About:
  • Blue food is a food derived from aquatic animals, plants or algae that are caught or cultivated in freshwater and marine environments.
  • Blue foods are important for the economies, livelihoods, nutritional security, and cultures of people in many countries.
  • They generate lower emissions compared to terrestrial meat.
• Examples:
  • Seaweeds, Sea Cucumber
  • Bivalves (mussels, oysters, etc.)
  • Fishes like tilapia, salmon, catfish and carp, etc.

Significance of Blue foods:

• Nutrition Value:
  • They supply protein to over 3.2 billion people, is a key source of nutrients in many coastal, rural and indigenous communities, and support the livelihoods of over 800 million people, the majority of whom work in small-scale systems.
  • Aquatic foods can also be used to address B12 and omega-3 deficiencies in India.
• Tackles deficiencies:
  • Over 91% of countries with vitamin B12 deficiencies also show high levels of omega-3 deficiency.
  • Aquatic foods can also be used to address B12, and omega-3 deficiencies in India
• Health benefits:
  • Blue purple foods are rich in anthocyanins and resveratrol. 
  • These are health-boosting phytochemicals, which are loaded with antioxidants.
  • Antioxidants are great for the immunity of our body.
  • Promoting blue foods over red meat overconsumption could address health and environmental concerns for about 82% of the 22 countries suffering from a high cardiovascular disease risk.
• Improve revenue:
  • Blue foods can help improve nutrition, livelihoods or national revenue for the global south and indigenous communities in the global north.

Issues Associated:

• Degrade ecosystem:
  • When too many fish are taken out of the ocean, it creates an imbalance that can erode the food web and lead to a loss of other important marine life, including vulnerable species like sea turtles and corals.
  • The accidental capture of non-target species in fishing nets, can lead to the death of these animals.
• Marine Pollution:
  • Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide, or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there.
  • The presence of pollutants such as heavy metals, PCBs and microplastics in the ocean can affect the quality and safety of seafood.
• Overexploitation:
  • Overexploitation or overfishing is the removal of marine living resources to levels that are too low for sustaining viable populations. Ultimately, overexploitation can lead to resource depletion and put a number of threatened and endangered species at risk of extinction.
  • Almost 90% of global marine fish stocks are now fully exploited or overfished, according to the World Bank, which is an issue with overfishing, illegal fishing, and other unsustainable aquatic food production.

Way Forward:

• Small-scale fishers have a huge part of the global seafood system and are incredibly diverse. Therefore, for sustainable production of blue food systems, small-scale fishers need to be strengthened.
• The enormous diversity of blue foods carries important nutritional, cultural, economic and environmental value. To realize its potential, policymakers should put in place:
• Better governance, including the participation of small producers, women and other marginalized groups in blue food cultivation, needed to be promoted.
• Better stewardship of the natural resources on which blue foods rely and
• Investment in building resilience to climate change.

Pic Courtesy: Freepik

Content Source: Down To Earth

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