Feed
Feed the fish, save the planet Sustainability is the theme of the latest developments in aquafeed BY ROBERT OUTRAM
F
eed is a cri�cal factor for the aquaculture sector, not just because of its economic importance but also because ge�ng this issue right is vital for the industry’s long-term sustainability. The ongoing debate about aquaculture’s impact on the environment is increasingly focused on what farmers feed to their animals and where those nutrients come from. It’s not surprising, then, that later this month the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) will be launching a new “kind Feed Standard”. The Standard will address the hot topic of fishmeal – clearly fish farming is not sustainable if it is seen to be contribu�ng to the overfishing of bait fish species – but it goes much further than that. Feed producers will need to show that both their marine- and land-based ingredients meet strict environmental requirements, are responsibly sourced and also that their supply chain is not exploita�ve, especially for the workers and communi�es involved in it. The ASC’s approach is to start with a 14-month “effec�ve period” stage in order to allow auditors, producers and their suppliers to prepare for cer�fica�on, followed by a 24-month transi�on period before the standard takes full effect. More details on the new Standard can be found on page 58 of this issue. Why has feed become such an issue for the industry? One reason is concern regarding overfishing. While some fisheries are well regulated and held to sustainable levels, there is reason to believe that some parts of the ocean are facing the possibility that their fish stocks will soon be depleted – not just to provide fish for human consump�on but also for fishmeal. One accusa�on o�en levelled against fish farming – especially salmon farming – is that it consumes more fish than it produces, and so it is therefore fundamentally wasteful of the planet’s resources. That may have been true at one �me, but the Sco�sh Salmon Producers Associa�on stresses that it is a different story now. Aquafeed contains an increasing propor�on on non-marine ingredients, and also marine ingredients sourced from fish trimmings – a by-product of fish for human consump�on
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that would otherwise go to waste. The SSPO says: “Sco�sh salmon farmers are commi�ed to ensuring that ingredients derived from wild fish, used in our fish feed, comes from managed, cer�fied sustainable fisheries – we don’t currently use feed ingredients sourced from West African fisheries. “Our sector has commi�ed to achieving full traceability of all of its feed ingredients, along with major investments in feed and monitoring technologies to maximise the efficient use of feed to minimise any wastage and poten�al impact.” Most of the six million or so metric tonnes of fishmeal and fish oil produced each year is for livestock feed – including marine, but mainly landbased species such as pigs and chickens- and pet food. Sco�sh salmon produc�on accounts for only 0.75% of it, the SSPO says. Of the marine ingredients used in feed for Scot�sh salmon, around a third are now sourced from trimmings. With a Feed Conversion Ra�o (FCR), of 1.23:1, it currently takes 1.23kg of pelle�sed feed to produce 1kg of salmon, but only just under 25% of that is fishmeal; and of that propor�on, just over 26% is derived from trimmings. The SSPO calculates that the “FIFO” (Fish In, Fish Out) ra�o is around 0.81 for Sco�sh producers, on average, meaning that the sector actually produces more fish than it consumes. The global demand for marine protein is expected to grow significantly over the coming decades, however, and this means that the aquaculture industry must con�nue to search for alterna�ve forms of protein for feed, not to men�on the other components required to raise healthy fish. The sustainability ques�on does not just apply to marine ingredients, either. Increased reliance on soya protein, for example, puts extra pressure on the world’s fer�le land areas and the unregulated produc�on of soya is already responsible for
Some parts of the ocean are facing “ the possibility that their fish stocks will soon be depleted ”
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07/06/2021 15:46:17
