Fish parasites, fish food, and the marine environment

Abstract

The paper addresses the incontrovertible fact that fish and fish products have historically been a reliable supplier of protein, in particular, and food, in general for humans. Seventy to a hundred metric tons arc caught each year since the early seventies. Fish protein represents about twenty five percent of the total animal protein consumed by the world's population, second only to beef. This constitutes a significant contribution to the two thousand five hundred calories (more precisely kilocalories), the energy needs of the average person. In this capacity, fish arc amassed from both wild and domesticated sources. The paper notes regrettably, however that fish stocks are currently found to be on the decline. A major factor implicated in the causation of this adverse trend is the group of organisms and microorganisms known as fish parasites. The most notorious among these are the lampreys, some of the acanthocephalans, and the copepods. The alarm is raised in the paper that this combined scourge of fish farming, fish production and fish availability must be brought under control as part of the general food security strategy. The paper posits that the adoption of tested chemicals, selective in action, could be instrumental to the checking of the excesses of the ravaging and rampaging parasitic infections.

Keywords: Fish; food; protein; parasites.