Newsroom

Paul Eccleston Feb 2nd 2010

Scientists have developed an alternative to fishmeal used across the world to feed farmed fish.

By using micro-nutrients as a supplement they have been able to cut the amount of fishmeal in the food to 15 per cent without affecting the quality or taste of the fish.

Aquaculture – breeding fish for human consumption – has grown from just 1m tonnes in the 1950s to more than 50m tonnes in 2006. In the 10 years between 1996 and 2006 the industry grew by more than 10 per cent each year.

Supporters claim it has the potential to be a sustainable source of seafood for billions of people but critics say it is unsustainable because they are fed on wild fish often from over-fished areas.

Conservationists also say fish farms and fish farming damages the marine environment through pollution and fish escapes.

The fish, usually anchovy, mackerel or blue whiting, are ground into a protein-rich mix of fishmeal, fish oil and soya.

Diminishing stocks of the small fish and rising prices has forced the industry to look at more sustainable alternatives.

Dr Alex Obach from the Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre at Stavanger in Norway told the Seafood Summit in Paris that it was now possible to obtain protein from both organic sources and from land animals.

Research had shown that feeding salmon with a mix that contained as little as 15 per cent fishmeal supplemented by micro-nutrients such as amino and fatty acids, minerals and proteins was just as effective as food pellets with a much  higher fishmeal content.

Dr. Obach told the conference: “ We were eventually able to match the performance of fishmeal with mico-nutrients. There was no effect on fish health, the fish fillets looked the same and there was no difference in texture.”

Dr Andrew Jackson, Technical Director of the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation (IFFO) said that more fishmeal, produced mainly in Peru, Chile and Denmark, was now used for human consumption.

In 1960 98 per cent of fishmeal went to animal and fish feed but the figure was now down to 40 per cent. Much more fishery by-products – guts, head and backbone – were now being recycled as raw material for fishmeal.

The bulk of the fishmeal in the aquaculture industry is used to feed salmon, trout, crustaceans and marine fish.

China dominates aquaculture producing as much as two-thirds of the world’s farmed fish. In 2005 China used 200,000 tonnes of fishmeal but by 1999 this had reached 750,000 tonnes.

“They couldn’t keep this up and by 2009 the figure had fallen to 120,000 tonnes because they were using fisheries that were not sustainable,” said Dr Jackson.

“Almost all feed fishing is within national waters but over-fishing damages the country and China now has to import fishmeal.”

Dr Jackson added: “Fishmeal cannot meet demand and eventually stocks would become depleted. There is also the argument that it is ethically wrong to feed fish to fish in a hungry world..

“Wherever possible fishmeal now goes for human consumption. People have developed a taste for mackerel and herring and in Peru five per cent of the fish is now eaten by people with the figure still rising.”

Dr Jackson told the conference that IFFO was establishing a code and certification system for fishmeal producers which would ensure that fishmeal would be produced responsibly from well-managed and sustainable stocks.

He predicted there would eventually be MSC-approved fishmeal.