Premature birth is the leading cause of death for children under 5 years old worldwide, accounting for nearly 1 million deaths annually. Now there is proof that eating seafood or marine oils can significantly reduce that number.
The lifesaving ingredient? Omega 3 fatty acids.
The conclusion of a new Cochrane Review of 70 studies worldwide on nearly 20,000 pregnant women stated that omega’s from marine sources reduces early premature birth by a whopping 42 percent.
“The effect really has to be strong to see it in a Cochrane Review and I am very impressed that it has come out as significant as it has,” said Dr. Tom Brenna, a professor of pediatrics, chemistry and nutrition at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas.
Research on marine omega 3’s and pregnancy has been going on since at least 1992, Brenna said, who called the formal medical global collaboration and conclusions in the Cochran Review a ‘blunt instrument.’
“The number of studies and the number of women studied is large enough so that it is very difficult to imagine that future studies are going to affect these results. We really are looking at something that may well be the final word,” he said.
The results also included a 10 percent reduction in low birth weight babies of under 5.5 pounds.
Premature babies are at higher risk of a range of long-term conditions including developmental delay, learning difficulties and visual impairment. Brenna said marine-based omega 3 fatty acids also improves those problems.
“Many of us believe that omega 3s are important for continuing development of the neural system and of the eye,” he said. “The brain and the retina in the eye are really omega 3 organs. You can say that as calcium is to the bones, omega 3 is to the brain.”
A challenge now, Brenna said, is to translate the marine omega 3 findings on premature birth
“I think that we have a major effect here that ought to be heralded from the rooftops far and wide,” he said.
Winter openers
Boats have been out in the Gulf and Bering Sea since Jan. 1 targeting cod. Openers for pollock, flounders and various other whitefish kick off on Jan. 20.
The snow crab fishery gets going in earnest around this time of year in the Bering Sea.
In Southeast Alaska, mostly small boats using jig or hand troll gear are targeting black rockfish and lingcod.
Divers are still tapping away on the last bits of Southeast’s 1.7-million-pound sea cucumber quota in just one open region. Divers also are still going down for more than 700,000 pounds of giant geoduck clams.
The winter king salmon season for Southeast trollers opened on Oct. 1 and it’s been slow going. Fewer than 6,000 kings have been taken. The five-year average is closer to 16,000 fish. Based on new treaty agreements with Canada, Southeast’s winter troll catch rate will determine the takes for commercial and sport users this year and that will likely mean more cutbacks.
The state also has announced a full closure for king salmon in the Northern Cook Inlet region and Susitna River due to extremely poor returns.
Boats at Kodiak, Chignik and the South Alaska Peninsula are fishing for rockfish and a half million-pound Tanner crab fishery was set to open in Kodiak on Jan. 15.
Turning to fish meetings
The state Board of Fisheries meets from Jan. 15-19 in Anchorage to take up more than 60 proposals for Arctic/Yukon/Kuskokwim fish issues.
Stakeholders will learn later this month how much halibut will be available for this year’s fishery which begins in March. The International Pacific Halibut Commission will announce the catch numbers and other management updates when it meets Jan. 28 through Feb. 1 in Victoria, British Columbia.
Fish and ships
While President Donald Trump’s Administration and some of the nation’s biggest food producers push for industrialized fish farms off the coasts of the U.S., others are taking the technology inside.
A German engineering company called Next Generation Cargo is planning to farm Atlantic salmon aboard the world’s largest sailboats by the year 2023.
Each of five, 540-foot sailboats will be able to produce 5.5 million pounds of salmon per year. Undercurrent News reports that the first vessel – called the ‘Quadriga’ – is already being built at a Chinese shipyard.
The big ship will receive fingerlings from European salmon hatcheries and raise them to harvest size in sea cages contained within the vessel. Because the vessels will sail in international waters, they do not require a license to farm.
The Quadriga will operate on solar and wind power and will choose routes which best cater to fish growing. Next Generation also claims the vessels will use controlled feeding and incur “no feed losses” into the ocean.
A promotional video describes the Quadriga as a “first in the Ecoliner class,” and says it will include luxury passenger cabins on board.
A Norwegian company called Pure Atlantic AS is planning an even bigger fish growing ship measuring 1,600 feet in length. Fish Farming Expert reports it will be powered by wind turbines mounted on the back of the vessel and water will flow through the ship into built-in channels in the fish cages.
Both the German and Norwegian companies hope their designs will revolutionize freight and shipping as well as aquaculture.
