Japan's army of small investors are to be offered the chance to put their money into something fishy after Amundi, the asset manager, decided to launch the world's first public mutual fund devoted to the seafood business.

Amundi, formed by a merger of Crédit Agricole's and Société Générale's asset management businesses, decided to create the fund after it noticed a strong correlation between people's rising incomes in emerging economies and an increase in seafood consumption.

In China, seafood consumption increased by about 2kg to 26.5kg a year per person between 2001 and 2007. It has been suggested that the reason for this is that as people grow richer, they become aware of healthier forms of protein such as fish as well as being influenced by global trends such as the popularity of sushi.