As the world population grows, increasing food supply becomes an evermore urgent priority. One vital aspect is the reduction of food loss after harvesting. For fish and seafood, being perishable, the situation is more crucial and the reduction in quantity and/or quality is enormous and difficult to estimate. The effort to reduce these after harvest losses must begin with a quantitative assessment of the problem. The low accuracy of loss survey techniques and limitation of extrapolating means stands against reliable economic estimation in undeveloped countries where greater and more effective losses exist. In the present paper, post-harvest losses were assessed with special emphasis on the following topics: Cultural and socioeconomic aspects including traditional food conservation; economic factors for food conservation and cost-benefit; assessment of the effect of globalization and liberalization of food markets and the fish trade in artisanal fisheries. Strategies for loss reduction included estimation of loss, education and training for individuals and the organizations actively involved in post-harvest food conservation.

Diabetes mellitus is the most common human disease and there is growing interest for plant based therapy in managing diabetes mellitus specifically in the developing world. In the present study, Rhazya stricta Decne extract was analysed for its antidiabetic activities. Crude methanolic extracts of different plant parts were tested in vivo on albino mice Balb-C, for the reduction of blood glucose, urea, cholesterol, triacylglycerides and glycosylated haemoglobin. Results obtained showed that leaves of R. stricta have best antidiabetic effect by reducing blood glucose level, Glycosylated haemoglobin, triacylglycerides and Cholesterol in hyperglycaemic mice. The R. stricta leaves extract being most active was further fractionated by solvent extraction using n- Hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform and water and all fractions were tested for same activities. It was found that ethyl acetate fraction is most effective in the reduction of blood glucose level at fasting and random conditions and blood glucose reduction was comparable to Glucophage, a standard antidiabetic drug. The present study suggests that Rhazya stricta leaves extract and its ethyl acetate fraction has great potential for development of antidiabetic drug.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v4i2.21484 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, January 2015, 4(2): 353-361

The aqueous bark extract of Rhizophora mucronata Poir. is used in Bangladesh as a hypoglycemic aid without any knowledge about its probable mode of action . It is an effort to assess the claimed hypoglycemic property of the crude drug and to get some knowledge about it. The Hypoglycemic effects were investigated in the ethanol extract of bark of Rhizophora mucronata Poir on Long Evans rats. Gut perfusion and six segments studies were carried out to assess these activities. In gut-perfusion study the percentage of glucose absorption in control rats vs. rats fed with 500 mg/kg extracts were observed at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes and the significant (p<0.05) absorption result was found which were respectively 30.71 vs. 56.34, 36.87 vs. 71.30, 35.87 vs. 62.11, 36.64 vs. 70.44, 36.36 vs. 64.21, 35.24 vs. 56.32, The percentage drug unabsorbed in GIT was better with 500 mg/kg than 250 mg/kg. The six-segment study was performed to assess the amount of sucrose remaining in the GIT at six different positions. The amount of sucrose unabsorbed in different GIT segments showed that in control rats vs. rats fed with 500mg/kg extract at 30 minutes in mmol/l was 0.1526 vs. 0.1767 which gradually abating with time dependent manner at 60, 180, and 360 minutes in mmol/l. These results suggests Rhizophora mucronata bark has significant dose dependant anti-diabetic effects, which significantly suppressed postprandial hyperglycemia after sucrose ingestion and reversibly increases the unabsorbed sucrose content throughout the gut.

Municipal sewage sludge from wastewater treatment is an important nutritional source for sustainable agriculture. Here, we report on the assessment of the accumulation of heavy metals in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Trewavas 1983) fed on earthworms Eisenia fetida reared on soil treated with different concentrations of sewage sludge (25% and 100%) during sludge-earthworm-fish short-term cycling. In this short-term cycling the Nile tilapia collected from the White Nile were chosen as final consumers, whereas the earthworms reared on loam soil mixed with different ratios of sludge were used as a feed for the final consumers. Our results indicate that the concentrations of Cd2+, Cr2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ in the sludge treated soil are proportional to the sludge content in the soil. Importantly, the accumulation of these heavy metals was significantly low in the earthworms and the Nile tilapia in comparison with the treated soil and that these concentrations in the Nile tilapia were below the international limits recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014). Moreover, the growth and overall flesh quality of the fish were improved as indicated by the growth increase up to 146% when fed on earthworm reared in 100% sludge. Additionally, our physicochemical properties (i.e. pH, soil moisture, electric conductivity and organic matters) evaluation on the soil indicates an improvement of the soil quality when mixed with sewage sludge. These results suggest a sustainable application of sewage sludge in fish culture owing to its high nutritional values, low cost, and low risk of hazardous heavy metals when using primary consumers with heavy metals bioaccumulation capability such as E. fetida.

This case study is based on the only Icelandic commercial whaling (whale hunting) company, Hvalur hf. The majority of the meat from whale hunting is exported to Japan because consumption of whale meat is insignificant amongst the locals in Iceland. This case reflects on the challenges and controversies of Hvalur hf. It further focuses on the personality of Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf. Commercial whaling has been a major concern against Iceland. European Union has offered union membership to Iceland in order to stop the cruelty caused by whaling. The tourism sector of Iceland is hence at risk as whaling and whale watching coexists. Both of these are deemed to be major contributors to the economy of Iceland.