Science comes to our aid

A helping hand from the seven seas

Of all the amount of fish caught in the world, one third (37%) is destined to feed big fishes in captivity, instead of going to undernourished people in need. To change this cruel reality, a team of Brazilian researchers have come up with the most unlikely solution imaginable: micro-seaweeds. These organisms are supposed to take over from small fish as main ration so that the impressive quantity of food remained can be put on have-nots' tables


By LUAN GALANI
from Curitiba, BRAZIL


The fantastic tiny world of Lilliput, created by the Irish author Jonathan Swift, is getting down to come out the pages of Gulliver's Travels. From tiny green seaweeds (micro), researchers of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Imcopa, the largest manufacturer and exporter company of non-genetically modified soybean in the world, based in Paraná state, are creating an oil rich in Omega-3s to put into the fishmeal of what is called noble species like salmon, trout and cod, instead of using the fish oil from small fishes.

Up to now, large fishes obtain these fatty acids from the ration they eat, made from small fishes like sardine, anchovy and manjubas. "To feed only one kilogramme of salmon, two kilogrammes of small fishes are needed", exemplified Osires de Melo, coordinator of the study. Around the globe, noble fishes in aquatic farms - besides swines and birds, on a minor scale - consume more than the double of fish eaten by the Japanese and six times more than the Americans, according to the 'Sea Around Us Project' developed by the University of British Columbia, from Canada, with a non-governmental organization called 'The Pew Charitable Trusts'.

Those small species are used because they have a small value in the market. But the drastic decrease of their stocks can affect the marine alimentary chain. Animals like seals and lion-marines, for instance, can be harmed. The use it is made from these small fishes is broadly pointed out as a problem which worsen the predatory fishing in the oceans, creating splenetic discussions amidst society.

Fish farming has been practiced for hundreds of years, from Pre-Columbian fish traps in the Amazon basin to carp ponds on ancient Chinese farms. Today, the aquatic farms already answer for 40% of all of the fish, shrimps, oysters and mollusks consumed on a world-wide scale, and the tendency is to rise more. What would boost even more the necessary quantity of small fishes to feed them if this study had not been brought up.

Five species of micro-seaweed, three of which are common on the Brazilian coast, are being meticulously studied. The other two sorts were not made public. The positive points are stunningly impressive. The fish capacity of digesting these green organisms is of 90% - no other food reaches this level. It decreases the amount and the toxicity of faeces thrown out in the environment. While one hectare of soybean gives us 600 litres of oil per year, one hectare of seaweed tanks (at an approximate depth of 30 cm to 40 cm) can produce at the same time even 120 thousand litres. Moreover, drinking water is saved due to the fact that micro seaweeds need only salt water to grow and reproduce themselves. These organisms also get carbon dioxide out of atmosphere in the photosynthesis process and release oxygen. Anyway, far from having a veneer of sustainability, it really makes a true clean system.

Other dire and valuable reasons

The scientists also expect to enrich the oil soybean for human consumption with this fatty acids. Those substances play an essential role in human and fish nutrition. They have anti-inflammatory (good for achy joints) action and the overwhelming evidence that they help to reduce the risk of heart disease. The long-chain fatty acids also help the development of brain tissue, nerve growth and the retina in unborn babies.

According to the World Food Programme, which is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger and the largest humanitarian organization, one in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy. It is equivalent to 963 million people or to the huge approximate sum of populations from Sweden, Russia, Spain, Germany, France, the United States, Brazil, South Africa and South Korea. The Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide - greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Therefore now more fish can be provided to part of people and this reality might be changed. All these points together make this project one sustainable and very welcome alternative. Not to mention the curious aspect that fish is becoming vegan.


(Published: 10.05.2009.)