Daily Archives: October 4, 2019

Heavy seas blamed for partial collapse of Nikiski dock that supports offshore drilling – Anchorage Daily News

Posted: October 4, 2019 at 7:47 pm

Heavy seas and strong winds caused a large section of a dock in Nikiski that supports the Cook Inlet oil industry to collapse into the water Tuesday, officials said.

The mishap at the Offshore Systems Kenai dock, involving the loss of a section estimated at 50 feet wide by the U.S. Coast Guard, means the facility is indefinitely unable to provide fuel to the vessels that service offshore oil and gas platforms, said Lisa Krebs-Barsis, a supervisor for spill prevention and response in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

I dont know how deeply the impacts will be felt, but it will certainly will have an impact, she said.

That facility is close to the platforms and is the main servicing area for the platforms," which need fuel, potable water and other supplies, she said.

Other docks can be used, but they are farther away, she said.

Around 300 gallons of diesel fuel spilled and dissipated into the Inlet, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa McKenzie, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.

Photos provided by the Coast Guard show what appears to be pipelines poking from the earth after a chunk of the dock was ripped away.

A portion of the Offshore Systems Kenai dock in Nikiski, Alaska collapsed on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. (United States Coast Guard)

Officials at the facility reported 70-knot winds and very high tides preceding the accident, said Krebs-Barsis. A weather forecast of the Inlet on Tuesday predicted 10-foot seas.

The responsible party for the fuel spill is Nikiski Fuel, the fuel operator at the dock, she said. She said both areas that provided fuel to vessels have been shut down.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that the dock continues to erode, but oil and hazardous materials have been removed. The north end where the accident occurred will be closed until permanent repairs are made, the statement said.

The closure of that section is being done "as a precaution to protect life and property as well as reduce further impact to the environment, said Sean MacKenzie, Coast Guard captain of the Port for Western Alaska.

Two DEC responders sent to the scene Tuesday did not observe fuel on the beach, said Krebs-Barsis.

Hilcorp Alaska, the primary oil and gas operator in Cook Inlet, did not respond to requests for comment.

The dock is about 15 miles north of Kenai.

Krebs-Barsis said the facility will need approval from the DEC before fuel operations can resume. She said its unknown when that will be.

They are trying to figure things out right now, she said.

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Offshore winds get reinforced into the weekend – KSBY San Luis Obispo News

Posted: at 7:47 pm

A trough of low pressure passed over the Pac NW and flattened the ridge of high pressure which powered some recent offshore flow. Now that that feature is moving off to the east, we will again get some offshore flow and temps will start to rise again. The changes Friday will get coastal valleys into the upper 70s and lower 80s but Saturday and Sunday some upper 80s and lower 90s are in the forecast, even beaches will be in the mid-70s this weekend.

Northeast winds also expected to pick up in and around the Santa Lucias along the Central Coast Friday night into early Saturday with gusts to between 25 and 35 mph.

Offshore flow Sunday is a little weaker but air mass is warmer and temps should be at least as warm as Saturday with slightly less wind.

Light offshore winds look likely well into next week. This will keep temps warm, skies mostly clear and conditions dry.

Offshore flow expected to briefly weaken and turn onshore Wednesday as the next trough approaches but then quickly turns offshore again later Thu into Friday.

Models are indicating potential of a cooler and potentially wetter pattern developing after mid-month, but that is some time off and just needs more examination at this point.

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Port promoters aim for offshore wind business – National Fisherman

Posted: at 7:47 pm

With a dozen offshore wind energy projects planned on the East Coast, New York port interests are in high gear pitching their state as the industrys logical future base.

A few years ago, we would have had trouble filling this room. But as you can see things are moving quickly, said Michael Stamatis, president of Red Hook Terminals in New York City, at the State University of New York Maritime Colleges offshore wind energy conference Sept. 26.

There is no better place to be in for offshore wind than New York and New Jersey, said Stamatis.

This is going to be in the middle, declared Boone Davis, president of Atlantic Offshore Terminals, whose company aims to develop a new offshore wind energy port facility on Staten Island, well clear of the citys bridges and other limits on moving massive wind turbines by ship.

But New York has plenty of competition. From New Bedford, Mass., to Norfolk, Va., port operators and their allies in business, labor and politics are working to snag a share of the business.

There is no U.S. mega port comparable to European bases used by the wind industry there, said Alan Duerr, director of offshore wind in North America for classification society DNV GL and former lead of offshore wind for the U.S. Department of Energy.

We arent a cut-and-paste of Europe here in the U.S., said Duerr. It wont happen overnight. There will be a need for multiple ports.

Those will range from deepwater ports like New York and Norfolk, to smaller locations where turbine foundations and other components can be shipped out for assembly.

Closer to the project sites, developers are already sizing up locations to berth survey boats and crew transfer vessels (CTVs) to ferry workers. In Montauk at the east end of Long Island, N.Y., wind developer rsted has a deal to base some vessels at the Inlet Seafood dock, despite tense relations there between the company and the commercial fishing community.

Northeast fishermens concerns, backed by NOAA fisheries officials, pushed the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to hold back on an environmental impact statement for the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts while BOEM conducts a broader review of the industrys potential cumulative impacts.

But that step back has done little to dampen port operators enthusiasm. Some 140 miles up the Hudson River from New York Harbor, the Carver Companies at the port of Coeymans near Albany are lined up for building turbine foundations and floating them south by barge.

The port has shown how to tie upstate jobs to downstate projects by building massive bridge and power plant components onsite and shipping them out, squeaking under the Hudsons 132 air draft bridges, said Steve Kelly of Carver.

We can see offshore wind is going to be exactly the same, he said. We can do anything here, thats the bottom line.

Norfolk is the largest East Coast port without a height restriction a major consideration with the next generation of 12-megawatt turbines more than 800 feet tall.

Being able to assemble and move turbines from ports will make wind energy projects more price competitive, said Davis of Atlantic Offshore Terminals. But with the biggest projects now proposed in the New York Bight, Davis said the port of New York and New Jersey makes sense.

There are no potential mega ports, he said. Compared to the likely costs of networking New York locations through a final assembly point there, Norfolk might as well be Denmark for the higher costs of bringing vessels and turbine components north, he said.

New York State officials on Wednesday announced they will seek port operators and market participants who are interested in upgrading and investing in New York ports to support the states burgeoning offshore wind industry, offering up to $200 million in funding.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Empire State Development and Department of Transportation issued a request for qualifications as a first step toward selecting potential partners for public-private investment in port infrastructure. Proposers must identify at least one port facility, the level of site control there and its value and viability for offshore wind operations.

The states ports are expected to unlock billions in long-term local economic develop potential and will be serving as a hub for the broader northeast regions offshore wind industry, according to the announcement by NYSERDA.

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Vineyard offshore wind project reaches accord on export – Recharge

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Vineyard Wind has reached a settlement in Massachusetts that will allow it to utilise an undersea transmission corridor to connect the first major US offshore wind farm south of Marthas Vineyard with the mainland electric grid.

The Conservation Commission in Edgartown on the island agreed to drop its earlier opposition to Vineyard laying two export cables beneath the seabed from the future 84-turbine array to one of two possible landfall sites on Cape Cod.

The project developer had appealed the Commissions decision to deny a permit with the state, the other signatory to the settlement.

Under state law, the Commission has jurisdiction for certain bottomlands near Martha Vineyards eastern shore in Muskeget Channel, a mid-point in the cable corridor before it enters Nantucket Sound the nearest body of water to shore.

Plans call for burying two cables in the corridor at 1.5 metre depth. Each will consist of three smaller diameter core 220kV alternating current cables. The route from the arrays electrical service platforms to landfall will be 22-24km (14-15 miles).

Once ashore, the cables would then run underground to a new electrical substation that will be built next to an existing one in Hyannis.

Preserving the export cable corridor is important for the project because of its first-mover advantage. It represents an almost straight shot to the mainland whereas future projects in four other nearby lease areas may not have such favourable routings to connect with the onshore grid and that could raise the cost of construction and permitting.

The settlement is also milestone in Vineyards ongoing effort to advance the $2.8bn, 800MW project toward construction, which the Department of Interior (DOI) delayed in August to conduct further environmental review.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of DOI, has indicated that it intends to complete the study late this year or in early 2020 and then open it to public comment.

BOEM, which oversees wind energy development in federal waters on the outer continental shelf, had set a 15 March 2020 target deadline for completing its project regulatory reviews. That was before DOI ordered the supplemental environmental study.

Industry participants believe BOEM will eventually approve the project sometime next year. The agency will likely require changes to the project that address commercial fishing industry concerns and perhaps others involving cumulative impacts from Vineyard and later projects could have on the regional ecosystem.

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Unlocking Northern Californias Offshore Wind Bounty – Greentech Media News

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Wind speeds off the coast of Humboldt County in Northern California are some of the strongest in the U.S. The region's steady gusts are so powerful, in fact, that the area was one of three potential offshore wind energy development zones in California included by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in a public pitch to developerslast year.

With around 140,000 residents, Humboldt County lacks one thing offshore wind developers like to see: a big demand for power. But the San Francisco Bay Area is a five-hour drive south along Highway 101.

If the wind energy zone off the shore of Humboldt County is fully developed, much of the estimated 2,100 megawatts of generating capacity would end up heading south to serve the 8 million residents of the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The question is how to get it there.

The existing transmission infrastructure in Humboldt County wasnt built to export power. An undersea transmission tracking the coastline could very well be the answer.

The entity tasked with providing guidance on transmission and interconnection, as well as other critical issues such as port infrastructure, environmental concerns and economic impacts, is the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University. Researchers at the center are conducting three studies to assess offshore wind feasibility in Humboldt Bay. Results are scheduled to be released beginning in March 2020.

Asked in an interview about the regions limited transmission capacity, Schatz Center director Arne Jacobson said, Saying that we are somewhat constrained is very generous. I would say were connected to the rest of the electrical grid by a capillary.

Anything beyond a small pilot-scale deployment, he added, would require some sort of upgrade to the transmission infrastructure or for a fairly significant amount of local storage.

Part of what makes Humboldt County so appealing for residents and visitors the regions rugged natural beauty makes overland electricity transmission difficult.

Bisecting the coastal plain where the cities of Eureka and Arcata sit and the Central Valley in the interior, are a series of north-south running, densely forested peaks of the Northern Coast Ranges. Any potential upgrades to the existing transmission network must contend with this "Redwood Curtain."

The Schatz Center is studying three scenarios of offshore wind farm deployment: 50-megawatt pilot-scale, 150 megawatts and 2,100 megawatts, which is estimated to be the full build-out of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) designated 536 km2 call area in Humboldt Bay.

In September 2018, Humboldt Countys community-choice aggregator, the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, submitted an unsolicited lease application to BOEM for a 100- to 150-megawatt floating offshore wind farm to be sited in waters more than 20 miles off the coast of Eureka. RCEAs partners include a consortium of private companies: Principle Power, EDPR Offshore North America and Aker Solutions.

In June, BOEM said it anticipates conducting a California offshore wind lease sale in 2020.

In any scenario beyond a pilot-scale project, the limited transmission capacity in what grid operators call the Humboldt pocket becomes a problem.

The primary grid link serving Eureka is a 115-kilovolt line running east-to-west along Highway 36, designed to carry around 70 megawatts of electricity. The 115 kV line can move a certain amount of energy, but its rather limited," Jacobson said.

"It wasnt really designed to necessarily export large volumes of energy, Jon Stallman, strategic projects manager in the grid innovation and integration unit of Pacific Gas and Electric, said at an energy planning workshop in Arcata conducted by the California Energy Commission in April 2018.

An even more constrained 60 kV transmission line runs along Highway 101 in southern Humboldt County toward the Central Valley.

To change that system to make it larger is going to be a fairly costly event, said Stallman.

The average load in Humboldt County is around 110 megawatts, and peak load is between 150 and 170 megawatts. So, even if wind energy development in the area was limited to the project proposed by the Redwood Coast Energy Authority up to 150 megawatts exporting at least some power would be necessary.

And a full build-out of Humboldt Countys 2,100-megawatt offshore wind potential would require a significant investment in transmission infrastructure.

The 115 kV line that serves Eureka connects with the larger California grid at a substation in Cottonwood, where it links to the 500 kV, north-south California-Oregon Intertie. If Humboldt Bay offshore wind farms are to export over land, PG&Es Stallman said grid operators will have to determine if that California-Oregon transmission backbone can carry the additional load.

Weve got to take a look at the contracted bandwidth and figure out how were going to make room, said Stallman.

No developer has yet proposed building a subsea transmission cable from a substation offshore Humboldt County to the San Francisco region, Jacobson said.

Even so, the Schatz Center is looking into the costs, as well as the technical and environmental challenges. A team in the Seattle office of the coastal engineering firm Mott MacDonald is handling the conceptual design of the undersea cable, while PG&E is tasked with estimating the transmission cost upgrades.

The challenges would be many, but the challenges are also many with the overland routes, Jacobson noted.

What is clear is that any offshore wind project in the region larger than pilot-scale and certainly at full build-out is contingent on transmission expansion.

If you were just trying to scale it to the local load, I dont think you would make it as large as 150 megawatts, said Jacobson.

On the other hand, he went on, from a profitability perspective, or a cost-viability perspective for investors, I dont know that its that interesting to just build something for this region without leaving a pathway for scaling to something larger.

My sense is, and what weve heard from developers, is that theyre very happy to do something at [150 megawatts] as a next step in their process, but, ultimately, to become profitable, they need something at a larger scale."

Unlike the Central Coast, Californias other promising offshore wind energy zone, Humboldt County does not face conflicts with active military uses.

The major constraint we have thats different from other parts of the state is the transmission one, said Jacobson. If theres not a solution to the transmission issue, there really wouldnt be a pathway forward at scale here.

***

Related report: 'Offshore wind operations and maintenance trends 2019' (May 2019, Wood Mackenzie).Wood Mackenzie is hosting an invite-only analyst briefing on the U.S. offshore wind sector in Boston the morning of Wednesday, October 23. Email power@woodmac.com to express interest in attending.

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Here’s Why You Should Retain Diamond Offshore (DO) Stock Now – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.DO is well poised to grow on the back of technologically advanced and versatile drilling fleet. However, conservative spending by explorers and producers is a persistent concern.

Houston, TX-based Diamond Offshore is a contract driller that provides comprehensive offshore drilling services to the global energy industry. The companys rigs operate in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil in South America, Australia and Southeast Asia, incorporating countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Diamond Offshore also has operations in the United Kingdom and Norway, East and West Africa, and the Mediterranean.

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. Price and Consensus

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. Price and Consensus

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. Quote

Lets delve deeper to find out why this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is worth retaining at the moment.

Whats Favoring the Stock?

Diamond Offshores technologically advanced and versatile drilling fleet enables it to stay ahead of its peers in markets that are expected to witness a surge in offshore rig demand through 2025. Moreover, the company experiences robust demand for exclusive services provided with innovative prowess, as is witnessed in Sim-StackTM, Helical riser buoyancy, Floating Factory Concept and others. Notably, Diamond Offshore has clinched awards for Ocean Valiant, Ocean Apex, Ocean Onyx and Ocean Monarch. Of these, Ocean Valiant will operate in the U.K., while the other three will be working in Australia. The reactivation of Ocean Onyx will help the company to keep the number of active rigs at a satisfactory level. These contracts show upstream companies high interest in Diamond Offshores fleet.

As of Jul 1, 2019, the company had a total contracted backlog of $2 billion that reflects more than 20 rig years of work. This not only reflects steady demand from customers but also offers an unmatched level of earnings and cash flow visibility. Further, this enables Diamond Offshore to navigate through any business environment better than many of its peers. Additionally, cost-control initiatives of Diamond Offshore are promising. Last year, the company was able to lower total operating cost by more than 12% year over year.

Its excellent financial health is appreciable. Diamond Offshore has a debt-to-capital ratio of around 24.8%, which is much lower than 41.9% for the broader industry. Also, the company has total cash and cash equivalents (including marketable securities) of $147.5 million to support growth projects.

Downsides

However, there are a few factors that are holding the stock back.

Diamond Offshore is facing pressure on the top line. The companys revenues have been decreasing over the past eight years. While oil prices have improved over the last year, revenues have failed to register a positive change. In the trailing 12 months, its revenues fell nearly 10.5%.

Explorers and producers kick-started 2019 with a conservative capital budget, as they witnessed massive crude downturn during the fourth quarter of 2018. Moreover, explorers are more bothered about bottom-line growth being forced by investors following years of dull returns than oil and gas production. Hence, conservative spending by explorers and producers is likely to hurt demand for offshore drilling, in turn hurting the company.

Diamond Offshore has also expressed concern regarding reduced EBITDA margin, as customers try to seal the deal at the ongoing rates for future works. Under this scenario, the company would miss out on the recovery in dayrates in the markets served.

To Sum Up

Despite significant prospects, top-line pressure and conservative upstream spending are concerns for Diamond Offshore.Nevertheless, we believe that systematic and strategic plan of action will drive its long-term growth.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked players in the energy space are Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. SHLX, TC PipeLines, LP TCP and NuStar Energy L.P. NS. While Shell Midstream sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), TC PipeLines and NuStar Energy have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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Dussafu oil find offshore Gabon above expectations – Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway Exploration drilling has finished on the Hibiscus Updip prospect in the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.

According to operator BW Offshore, results exceeded expectations, with early analysis indicating 40-50 MMbbl of oil recoverable.

Initially the jackup Borr Norve drilled the DHIBM-1 exploration well to a TD of 3,538 m (11,607 ft), in a water depth of 116 m (380 ft). Logging and sampling data confirmed that the well delivered around 21 m (69 ft) of pay from a 33-m (108-ft) hydrocarbon column in the Gamba formation.

Subsequent appraisal side track (DHIBM-1 ST1), 1,100 m (3,609 ft) to the northwest, encountered 26 m (85 ft) of pay in the Gamba. The oil-water contact was at the same level in both wells, proving continuity of the hydrocarbon accumulation.

This was the BW-led partnerships fourth consecutive oil discovery on the license, said CEO Carl K. Arnet. The Hibiscus discovery and its surrounding prospects represent another area of significant potential in the Dussafu block and we are looking forward to the next phase of the program as we continue to unlock the potential of the Dussafu field.

DHIBM-1 was designed to appraise one of various prospects in the greater Ruche area. BW will next turn its attention to optimizing a planned future development.

The Borr Norve, meanwhile, will drill four subsea production wells on the Tortue field all tied back to the FPSO BW Adolo followed by another exploration well.

10/04/2019

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rsted finishes its offshore wind farm project – Power Technology

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Power company rsted has announced the installation of its final wind turbine at Hornsea One offshore wind farm, more than 100km away from the Yorkshire coast, England. The installation of the last turbine completed the 174-array of turbines situated over 407 km2 of North Sea, with each 7MW turbine powerful enough to supply a UK home for over a day with each single rotation. After the installation of the final turbine, the project will undergo a commissioning period before it is officially inaugurated in 2020 as the worlds largest offshore wind farm. After its launch, the project will be able to generate over 1GW of electricity enough to power well over one million UK homes.

rsted programme director for Hornsea One Duncan Clark said: The milestone of this last turbine being installed only nine months after the first one was erected is just one small part of this record-breaking project. Hornsea One has truly paved the way for the next generation of offshore wind farms.

At the time of taking on the project, its scale and the technical pioneering required seemed a Herculean challenge, but a truly extraordinary effort from all those involved have managed to make this impressive feat of engineering the new norm, Clark added.

The loadout of the turbines took place at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energys factory in Hull, Yorkshire where the majority of blades were constructed. The components were then transported 120km out to sea by two specialist vessels, which provide a sturdy base for lifting The Bold Tern, owned by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and DEME Groups Sea Challenger.

The main turbine components are a steel tower, three turbine blades and a nacelle which houses all generation components for the construction. The moving process included loading four turbines on to the vessel at a time and it took around 12 hours of precision working to install one turbine in full.

The offshore wind construction started in January 2018, when the first monopile foundation was installed by GeoSeas installation vessel, Innovation. The execution of the project involved 8,000 contractors, suppliers and rsted employees working offshore at Hornsea Ones site.

Clark continued: We have benefitted from fantastic working relationships with contractors and suppliers, and that includes vessel providers who have maintained a constant stream of communication to ensure that turbine installation has been concluded on time and within budget.

Due to the distance from shore, the project required for the offshore construction team to stay based on site, 120km out to sea as to ensure the project was safe and to schedule in dynamic weather conditions. The employees had to live on board the GMS Endeavour for two weeks at a time, where they were provided with catering, laundry service, gym and internet.

Headquartered in Denmark, rsted employs 6,300 people and specialises in development, construction and operation of offshore and onshore wind farms and bioenergy.

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Keel laid for ground-breaking offshore installation vessel – Riviera Maritime Media

Posted: at 7:47 pm

The shipowner said the keel was laid weeks ahead of schedule and prefabricated blocks are now coming together for assembly in the drydock at the yard. A steel cutting ceremony for the vessel took place on 1 March 2019.

Offshore Heavy Transports (OHTs) chief executive Torgeir Ramstad said the companys customers have described the new vessel as ground-breaking.

The Alfa Lift design vessel will be the largest and among the most innovative, custom-built installation vessels for the offshore wind industry and is due to be delivered early in 2021. The next major milestone will be the launching ceremony, planned for March 2020.

Compared with a jack-up or a floating vessel, an installation vessel that can submerge like a semi-submersible heavy lift ship of the type that OHT is used to operating has important advantages.

These include being able to submerge to reduce motions and increased workability in installation mode. Submerging also provides the vessel with a secondary role as a heavy transport vessel capable of transporting heavy modules, jack-ups and other cargoes.

The key to the concept is the fact that a submersible vessel has better motion characteristics when submerged than a typical monohull vessel. When the vessel is submerged, cargo doesnt have to pass through the splash zone during lifting operations, which has a positive influence on crane dynamics.

The dynamically-positioned, 48,000-dwt vessel has a 3,000-tonne lifting capacity main crane from Liebherr that matches the future requirements of the offshore wind industry, allowing the vessel to transport and install up to 10 1,500-tonne ultra-large jacket foundations or 11 2,000-tonne XXL monopiles, plus transition pieces for next-generation wind turbines.

It is designed to install components such as the these without submerging, in significant wave heights of up to 2.0 m (Hs 2.0 m). If conditions become more challenging, the vessel can submerge and continue to work in Hs 2.5 m.

Having submerged, the Alfa Lift vessel remains in that state until all foundation installation work is finished, remaining submerged and moving in DP mode to the next foundation. The vessel only comes back to the surface if the weather picks up significantly, or if operations have been completed and a new batch of foundations needs to be loaded in port. In this way, the vessels design and operation saves time while also providing a very stable platform.

OWJs description of the vessel can be found here.

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The solution to hidden hunger in many developing countries lies just offshore – The Conversation UK

Posted: at 7:47 pm

Globally, about two billion people suffer from hidden hunger a chronic deficiency of vitamins and minerals. The health effects of this form of malnutrition can be severe, especially for children. They include increased risk of poor cognitive development, impaired growth and early death. Ironically, our latest research found that many coastal countries where hidden hunger is rife, have plenty of nutritious fish just off their coast. Yet these fish are not reaching those who need them the most.

Fish are a source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids and are rich in calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin B12. Fish also increase the bioavailability that is, increase absorption of nutrients provided through other foods eaten in the same meal.

Humans eat more than 2,000 species of fish, but the nutritional value of these species varies greatly. Until recently, we didnt know enough about this variability to advise fisheries and policymakers to help them address malnutrition.

Now a new statistical model, built using the best data on nutrient qualities of fish, has enabled us to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.

Using this model, we can accurately estimate the nutritional composition of all marine fish based on such characteristics as the water temperature they live in, their body size and what they eat. The model revealed that smaller species of fish often have higher concentrations of calcium and iron, species from cold water regions or that feed in deeper waters are likely to have higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, and species from tropical waters tend to be richer in calcium, iron and zinc.

Nearly half the worlds coastal countries have moderate to severe deficiency in at least one key nutrient. Yet in the coastal waters of these same countries, nutrient-rich fish are caught every day.

By looking at many years of data on fish catches, we were able to understand just how important fish could be for tackling nutrient deficiencies. We found that often fish catches hold nutritional potential that exceeds the dietary requirements of certain nutrients for entire coastal populations of children under five years old a particularly vulnerable age group. This was a strong trend for countries on the west coast of Africa.

If just a fraction of the fish caught in these waters were kept for consumption locally, it could address some of the most pressing malnutrition problems in these countries. So why isnt this happening?

The problem is that on these same coasts, fish are caught by illegal or foreign fishing fleets and exported as animal feed or are lost due to damage or rotting as fish are moved from the point of capture to the plate. Global estimates for this waste and loss are 39%.

But getting more fish to nearby populations to address nutritional deficiencies wont be easy. The answer probably lies in a combination of strategies, including reevaluating trade deals that currently lead fish away from the countries that need them most, ensuring that fish are distributed to reach the most vulnerable people (women and children), and working with local fish traders to reduce waste and loss. But now that we have the evidence of which fish are most nutritious, at least the process can begin.

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