Recife, March 26, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Brazil will encourage the population to increase fish consumption, which currently amounts to 6.8 kilograms per capita, annually, well below the international average of 20 kilos. This information was provided today by the acting Minister of the Special Secretariat of Aquiculture and Fishing, Romeu Porto, during the Seminar on Strategies for the Development of Catching Tuna and Related Species in Brazil, at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, in the Northeast region of the country.

For this to come about, the Minister said that it is necessary to organize the entire productive chain of the fishing industry in Brazil, to establish a distribution infrastructure for quality fish, at prices that are more accessible to the population. He recalled that, according to the orientation of the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazilians must be encouraged to eat more fish, which have proteins and great nutritional value.

Porto emphasized that Brazil possesses 3.5 million square kilometers of ocean and produces less than a million tons of fish per year but has the capacity to become an international fishing power.

The Minister said that the government, through the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) is making credit lines available for the development of pisciculture, ocean fishing, and traditional fishing.

Translator: David Silberstein