Inland (freshwater) fisheries are an important source of global food security. The contributions of inland fish to human health and wellbeing tend to be undervalued by policymakers, however, due in part to inadequate and incomplete data regarding inland fisheries consumption, harvest, and production. This thesis reviewed existing literature to 1) determine the contributions of inland capture fisheries to local and global food security and 2) evaluate the viability of using household dynamics and consumption information to estimate inland fisheries harvest and production through examination of historical case studies. The thesis examined the utility of household dynamics methods to previously collected data on recreational urban fishing in Lansing, Michigan on the Grand River in order to estimate local inland fish consumption and harvest in this region. Based on these studies, inland fisheries were determined to be an important food and nutrition source, especially to economically vulnerable households in the developing world. Additionally, the use of household dynamics and consumption studies were determined to be able to provide a useful estimate of inland fish consumption, which can be used to estimate minimum harvest for specific regions.
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