Academic Venture Fund Supplemental Grants
Spoiling Fish as Food
Examining how harmful algal blooms are affecting fish nutritional quality and fish safety in Lake Victoria
AVF project: In recent decades, marine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide are increasingly threatened by cyanobacteria-producing harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs). However, the impacts on people in developing nations and communities that depend on fisheries are not well understood. By assessing the risk-benefit tradeoffs of fish consumption across the food web and analyzing how fishers and consumers understand and respond to cyanoHABs in Africa’s Lake Victoria, this project will diagnose how changing ecosystems and behaviors translate into health and economic impacts, generating insights that will be relevant to many modern food systems facing environmental change.
The supplemental grant funds three undergraduate students who will connect with community partners to extend and enhance the project’s research objectives, and share project findings with the Lake Victoria community.
Topics: Economic Vitality and Entrepreneurship; Energy, Environment and Sustainability; Food and Agriculture
The Team
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Kathryn Fiorella, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences and Master of Public Health Program
College of Veterinary Medicine
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Christopher Barrett, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
SC Johnson College of Business
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Peter McIntyre, Department of Natural Resources
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Community partner: Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute
- Community partner: Maseno University Department of Public Health
Academic Venture Fund Supplemental Grants
Supporting undergraduate participation in cutting-edge, community-engaged projects funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability