"Therefore, instead of eating one portion of farmed salmon, we would need to eat two portions of farmed salmon," he explained.
Image copyright GUSTOIMAGES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Image caption Salmon get their omega-3 from smaller oily fish that have been ground up and mixed into their feed The decline is a result of the industry having to cut back on the amount of anchovies it uses in feed because, previously, it was recognised that far too many anchovies were being caught for fish food. There has also been a growing demand for farmed salmon across the world. According to Dr Paul Morris, of Marine Harvest, one of the world's largest producers of farmed salmon, a much reduced supply of fish oil for feed has had to be spread ever thinner. "We have a fixed amount of fish oil, and we are making sure that we are using that as efficiently as possible. That won't get us further than a certain amount of the way, so ultimately we will have to look at other sources of (beneficial) omega-3," he said.
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Where can I get omega-3? The main sources of omega-3 fatty acids are oily fish such as herring, kippers, mackerel, pilchards, sardines and trout. Smaller amounts can also be found in: Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale Soya beans and tofu Nuts including walnuts, pecans, peanuts and almonds Omega-3-enriched foods such as certain types of eggs Rapeseed oil Ground flaxseeds or linseeds and their oil Farmed salmon have had very high levels of omega-3 in the past because of the easy availability of fish oil and fish meal. That has given the industry a breathing space in order to find a solution, according to Dr Morris. "Farmed salmon will continue to be a really good source of omega-3 in the future even if we reduce the amount compared with today. (But it will be) five to 10 years before we really run into an issue and we need solutions on the table before then." One solution the industry is looking at is to produce fish oils using marine algae, which is how it is produced in the sea. But it is currently uneconomic to reproduce this process in factories. Another possibility is to grow oil seed rape plants that have been genetically modified to produce fish oils.
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