Fig. 1: Nutrient density, nutritional yield and affordability of marine foods from Timor-Leste fisheries.

a,d, The bars show the percentage contribution of a 100-g serving of raw edible flesh from marine foods to daily RNI for six nutrients for WRA (19–50 years old), where each bar is the mean RNI contribution across all species that form each functional group (a) or the combination of species typically caught relative to habitat and gear type (d), weighted by their contribution to total catch. The cumulative NDS (x axis) is the sum of the percentage contributions for the six nutrients. The plot in a ranks functional fish groups by cumulative NDS: small pelagic teleost fish (red), large pelagic (green), small demersal (yellow), large demersal (blue), sharks and rays (black) and marine invertebrates (grey). Bars are colour-segmented by nutrient, with white labels indicating the percentage contribution of each nutrient. Mean annual edible catch (metric tons, 2018–2023) is shown at the end of each bar, with transparency scaled to relative catch contribution. b, The cumulative nutritional yield (edible metric tons) from 2018 to 2023 for small pelagic (SP), large pelagic (LP), small demersal (SD), large demersal (LD), sharks and rays (SR) and marine invertebrates (MI), defined as the supply volume of calcium, omega-3, iron, protein, vitamin A and zinc; values for the lower four functional groups are very small relative to the other groups on this scale. c, A comparative analysis of NDS versus economic accessibility for key fish groups. The scatter plot relates cumulative NDS (x axis) to median landing price per kilogram (y axis) for the most important fish group within each functional category. The dot size reflects the relative catch percentage of each group, serving as an index of affordability and availability. d, The NDS for habitats (left) and gear types (right), based on a 100-g portion. Bars are colour-segmented by nutrient, with white labels showing each nutrient’s percentage contribution.