The Sea as a Potential Source of Protein Food

Abstract

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the sea as a potential source of protein food. Successful harvest is limited for the most part to fishes whose habits of aggregation and migration, and whose size facilitates their capture. Fish production varies even on different parts of a single bank. The production of usable animal protein in the sea varies widely from one area to another and covers about the same range of variation as pasture land, which supports from 5 or less tons per square mile up to around 130. Aesthetic standards are a major factor in determining the acceptability of food from the sea. The most promising way to enlarge the harvest of the sea is through husbandry; husbandry not in the sense of being abstemious in making use of the fishery stocks, but rather by aggressively utilizing them to the fullest extent of their maximum sustained productivity, in the light of the best scientific principles. The manufacture of fish meal for animal feeds is a crude process. The product has a strong fishy flavor, which may be acceptable in countries where people are accustomed to pungent taste, but not elsewhere. The chapter discusses proteins in marine organisms, such as algae, invertebrates, fish, etc. Variations in protein content are also elaborated.