THE RATE OF CONSUMPTION 



221 



FISHERIES AND THE CONSUMPTION OF FISH IN 



RELATION TO THE CONSUMPTION OF ANIMAL 



FOODSTUFFS. 



Although fish are excluded from the category of animal foodstuffs 

 the importance of fish supplies as a substitute for meat and other 

 animal foodstuffs is so great as to make some discussion of them 

 necessary in this inquiry. 



Reference has been made incidentally above to the manner in 

 which fish are utilised so as to reduce the per capita meat con- 

 sumption in Japan, Russia, the Scandinavian countries and the 

 Mediterranean countries. Fish are also extensively consumed in 

 the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, in all of v/hich 

 countries the per capita meat consumption is relatively high, but 

 the standard of living in them is also high and fish are there used 

 rather as supplementary to meat than as a substitute for it. 1 

 Nevertheless, in these countries in the absence of fish, either the 

 standard of living would suffer, or the per capita consumption of 

 animal foodstuffs would rise. 



All over the world, wherever there is an abundant and cheap 

 supply of fish, the consumption of animal foodstuffs tends to be 

 reduced. 2 Analyses show that the value of fish as a substitute 

 for meat arises from their average high protein content, 3 though 

 some kinds are also rich in fat or oil. The produce of the world's 

 fisheries may, therefore, be regarded as relieving to a considerable 

 extent the pressure upon the world's animal industries. 



With the rapid increase in the populations of cool temperate 

 latitudes and the rise in the standard of living evident among them, 

 the question arises as to how far the production of fish will keep 



1 Except in the large towns of the United Kingdom, where the cheapness 

 of certain kinds of fish and the relatively low purchasing power of the poorer 

 classes causes a normal substitution of fish for meat to some extent in the 

 dietary of these classes. 



2 Conversely where the fish supplies are small, the per capita consumption 

 of animal foodstuffs, particularly of meat, tends to be abnormally high. 

 Examples occur in Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. 



3 The following analyses are those given by Atwater. (U.S. Dept. Agric. 

 Bulletin 28). Other analyses correspond closely. 



For the purpose of comparison the figures for beef should be reduced by one- 

 third to one-half, since the dressed weight of an ox is not much more than half 

 its whole or live weight. Pound for pound a salmon contains nearly as much 

 concentrated food material (protein and fat) as a steer, 



