Study highlights:

Authors developed a global database of over 1900 Indigenous communities and estimated seafood consumption at 2.1 million metric tonnes per year or 2% of global catch.

Coastal Indigenous people consume 74 kg of seafood per capita, whereas the global average is 19 kg. Within country populations, Indigenous consumption was on average 15 times more than non-Indigenous.

Coastal Indigenous people eat, on average, 15 times more seafood per person than non-Indigenous people in the same country, finds a Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program study published today in PLOS ONE. This highlights the need to consider food sovereignty and cultural identity as part of fisheries policy and Indigenous human rights.

“Having access to a global database that quantifies fish consumption specifically by Coastal Indigenous peoples is a critical contribution to Indigenous struggle on a number of fronts,” says Sherry Pictou, former Chief of L’s?tkuk (Bear River First Nation) and member of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples Coordinating Committee. “Most significantly, the generation of information about the consumption of fish as food marks the critical issue of Indigenous food sovereignty.”

The first global-scale analysis of its kind, the authors estimate that coastal Indigenous people consume 74 kg of seafood per capita, whereas the global average is 19 kg. The communities studied include recognized Indigenous groups, self-identified minority groups, and Small Island Developing States. These groups all share similar histories of marginalization and deep social and cultural connections to marine environments.

“The importance of the ocean for coastal Indigenous peoples goes way beyond seafood consumption, even though it’s often the main part of their diets,” says co-author Yoshitaka Ota, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Policy. “For a lot of these communities, the practice of fishing forms a link to their culture that defines them as a people. It’s not just about eating fish, it’s about maintaining an identity as a distinct culture.”