Fish and fish products play a highly important role in the food and nutritional security of rural, urban and coastal populations throughout Asia and the Pacific. In many countries, catching or farming aquatic resources forms a vital part of rural people's livelihoods and contributes a major source of protein, especially for vulnerable populations. While the importance of fish in both cultural and nutritional terms is clear, far harder to pin down are the actual amounts of fish that people throughout the region are consuming. For example, the practice of cultivating fish in rice fields or irrigation canals is common and provides a nutritional lifeline for the poor in parts of Asia during certain times of the year. For statistical purposes however, these fish are all but invisible; absent from the official production figures or the FAO Food Balance Sheets (FBS) which represent the only global source of standardized consumption data.