Box 1.

A summary of selected statistics that exemplify some of the forgotten facts related to the value of inland fisheries in terms of food security and economics (including livelihoods)

The forgotten facts The food  Over 90 % of inland fisheries production is used for human consumption (Welcomme et al. 2010)  ~ 250 million children worldwide are at risk of Vitamin A deficiency, while 140 g of fish in Bangladesh supplies a child’s weekly Vitamin A needs (Craviari et al. 2008)  Zinc deficiency causes 800,000 child deaths a year, while 20 grams of a small fish from the Mekong River contains the daily needs of iron and zinc for a child  Replacing fish expected to be lost from the construction of dams on the Mekong with beef would require about 40 % more land and about 40 % more water withdrawal from the river (Orr et al. 2012)

The finances  More than 60 million people in low-income countries rely upon inland fisheries as a source of livelihood (FAO 2014)  In Germany, freshwater angling is a €5,2 billion industry supplying 52,000 jobs—more than the entire non-recreational fisheries sector  The recreational fishery on the Canadian side of the Laurentian Great Lakes is valued at US$446 million per year compared to the commercial fishing sector valued at US$35 million  Freshwater species represent ~90 % of the ornamental fish trade with an estimated world export value of US$174 million and import value of US$257 million in 1998 (with average trade growing at approx. 14 % per year; FAO 2005–2015)