Elsevier

Aquaculture

Volume 285, Issues 1–4, 7 December 2008, Pages 146-158
Aquaculture

Global overview on the use of fish meal and fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: Trends and future prospects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2008.08.015Get rights and content

Abstract

The finfish and crustacean aquaculture sector is still highly dependent upon marine capture fisheries for sourcing key dietary nutrient inputs, including fish meal and fish oil. This dependency is particularly strong within compound aquafeeds for farmed carnivorous finfish species and marine shrimp.

Results are presented concerning the responses received from a global survey conducted between December 2006 and October 2007 concerning the use of fish meal and fish oil within compound aquafeeds using a questionnaire sent to over 800 feed manufacturers, farmers, researchers, fishery specialists, and other stakeholders in over 50 countries. On the basis of the responses received, it is estimated that in 2006 the aquaculture sector consumed 3724 thousand tonnes of fish meal (68.2% total global fish meal production in 2006) and 835 thousand tonnes of fish oil (88.5% total reported fish oil production in 2006), or the equivalent of 16.6 million tonnes of small pelagic forage fish (using a wet fish to fish meal processing yield of 22.5% and wet fish to fish oil processing yield of 5%) with an overall fish-in fish-out ratio of 0.70. At a species-group level, calculation of small pelagic forage fish input per unit of farmed fish or crustacean output showed steadily decreasing fish-in fish-out ratios for all cultivated species from 1995 to 2006, with decreases being most dramatic for carnivorous fish species such as salmon (decreasing from 7.5 to 4.9 from 1995 to 2006), trout (decreasing from 6.0 to 3.4), eel (decreasing from 5.2 to 3.5), marine fish (decreasing from 3.0 to 2.2) and to a lesser extent shrimp (decreasing by 1.9 to 1.4 from 1995 to 2006. Net fish producing species in 2006 (with fish-in fish-out ratios below 1), included herbivorous and omnivorous finfish and crustacean species, including non-filter feeding Chinese carp (0.2), milkfish (0.2), tilapia (0.4), catfish (0.5), and freshwater crustaceans (0.6).

On the basis of increasing global fish meal and fish oil costs, it is predicted that dietary fish meal and fish oil inclusion levels within compound aquafeeds will decrease in the long term, with fish meal and fish oil usage increasingly being targeted for use as a high value specialty feed ingredient for use within higher value starter, finisher and broodstock feeds, and by so doing extending supply of these much sought after and limited feed ingredient commodities.

Section snippets

Dependency of aquaculture on external feed inputs, including fishery resources

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic plants and animals, is no different from any other terrestrial farming activity in that production is totally dependent upon the provision and supply of nutrient inputs. In the case of farmed aquatic plants and bivalve mollusks (29.2 million tonnes or 43.7% of total global aquaculture production in 2006: FAO, 2008a), these nutrient inputs are usually supplied in the form of dissolved mineral salts or wild planktonic food organisms, respectively. However, in

Compound aquafeed production and major fed species

The result of the survey concerning estimated compound aquafeed production and fish meal and fish use, including reported feed conversion ratio of the major cultivated species groups within the major aquaculture producing countries is shown in Table 2, Table 3, respectively. When information was lacking, relevant published information was used whenever possible. The data requested and collected were for 2006, unless otherwise stated, and represented observed ranges and means (in parenthesis;

Fish meal and fish oil use in compound aquafeeds

The results of the global survey concerning the current estimated use of fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) within compound aquafeeds for the major cultivated species groups, including reported feed conversion ratio (FCR), are shown in Table 3. Of particular note was the wide variation observed concerning dietary fish meal and fish oil use within and between countries for the same species, including: shrimp (FM use range 5 to 40%, FO use range 0.5 to 10%), salmon (FM 20 to 50%, FO 9 to 35%),

Fish-in fish-out balance sheet

In the case of the long term sustainability of fishery resource use within the aquaculture sector, it is perhaps useful here to transform fish meal and fish oil use levels back to live fish weight equivalents and by so doing have a more accurate assessment of the quantity of live fish from capture fisheries required for each unit of farmed fish or shrimp produced. Thus, using a global average wet fish to fish meal processing yield of 22.5% (from industry sources: Shepherd, 2005, Anon., 2006)

Future prospects

In conclusion, the reason for the belief that the use of fish meal and fish oil (derived from wild capture fisheries) by the aquaculture sector in compound aquafeeds will decrease in the long term is due to a variety of factors, including:

  • static and/or diminishing global supplies of wild forage fish destined for reduction into fish meal and fish oil (averaging 23.28 ± 3.76 million tonnes between 1970 and 2005: FAO, 2008a, PRODUCE, 2007);

  • increasing market price of small pelagic forage fish in the

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank the Lenfest Ocean Program of the Pew Charitable Trust for funding, and the second author was supported by a Hoover Foundation Brussels Fellowship (Belgian American Educational Foundation). The support of the aquaculture feed manufacturing sector in the 37 countries who responded to the request for information concerning fish meal and fish oil use in compound aquafeeds is greatly appreciated.

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