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Kevin Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., Professor and Director of International Programs at The University of Arizona, is Chair and judge of the F3 Challenge, a global competition that aims to accelerate the replacement of fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture feeds with innovative alternatives. He served as the President of the U.S. and World Aquaculture Societies and was the second Chairman of the global charity, Aquaculture Without Frontiers. He received a Fulbright Fellowship in 2004 to teach and conduct research in Thailand and completed a second Fulbright Fellowship in 2017 working in Vietnam and Myanmar, where he had a 3-year USAID project supporting aquaculture. He is currently working as Team Leader for the EU supported Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Project.
INTERVIEW AQUAFEED: Would you tell us about your work at The University of Arizona, and how it has led you to become an advocate for fishmeal and oil alternatives? KF: Yes, my work for the last 40 years has always focused on how we can make aquaculture more sustainable in all aspects; environmental, financial, and social. Some of the work has been with integrated farming systems in the desert, some with seaweeds, and a lot of focus on tilapia as a model crop. But one of the overarching and most global of all aquaculture sustainability issues has been the heavy reliance on fishmeal and fish oil.
with Kevin Fitzsimmons AQUAFEED: I think everyone is aware that forage fish are not going to be able to supply the protein and lipid needs of aquaculture at its current rate of growth; what is the status of fishmeal supply now and how long do you see it being able to keep up with aquafeed demand? KF: The limited supplies of wild caught forage fishes are getting tighter all the time. Declining populations of sea birds, large predatory fishes, and several marine mammals are attributed to overfishing of forage fishes and fisheries managers are beginning to restrict harvests to below the economic maximum sustainable yield in favor of environmental sustainable yields. As aquaculture
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 11 Issue 3 2019
