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Conservation Research Institute

 

Undernourished coastal communities in the tropics - where children’s growth can be stunted by a lack of micronutrients – can get the vitamins and minerals they need from sustainable small-scale octopus fisheries, say researchers. Research led by Cambridge scientists, including the CRI's Dr David Willer, Prof. David Aldridge and Dr Kate Kincaid, and published in Nature Food, shows that tropical small-scale octopus fisheries offer a sustainable source of food and income to communities that face food insecurity, where the prevalence of undernourishment can exceed 40% and stunting in children under five commonly exceeds 30%. "Just a small serving of something very, very micronutrient rich, like octopus, can fill critical nutritional gaps", says Dr David Willer, lead author on the paper.

Small-scale octopus fisheries can provide sustainable source of vital nutrients for tropical coastal communities | University of Cambridge