WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2015 9 Editor’s Note A recent headline from FAO GLOBEFISH blared Evergrowing demands and extreme supply constraints pushed fishmeal/ oil prices to record highs in 2014. The price of high-quality Peruvian fishmeal is now around $2400/t, compared to $600/t ten years ago. The supply and price of fishmeal has also been volatile over the last decade, caused by coincident underperformance of geographically unconnected forage fisheries. The production of fishmeal has been fairly constant between 4.5 and 6 million t over the last ten years, although supply has been restricted somewhat compared to previous decades because more is being diverted to direct human consumption and fishing quotas have been reduced as a precautionary resource protection measure. The global supply of fishmeal from forage fisheries is around 3-4 million t. The balance, about 1/3 of the supply, is provided by fish processing by-products. The International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization (IFFO) estimates that 40-50 percent of the fishmeal supply could be derived from processing by-products by 2020. Of course, the expansion of aquaculture means that an increasing fraction of this material will be derived from the processing of farmed species. In 1980, about half of the fishmeal supply was used in poultry feeds and only 10 percent in aquafeeds. In 2012, about 68 percent of the fishmeal supply was used in aquafeeds. Of the fishmeal used in aquafeeds, about ¼ is used for shrimp, ¼ for salmon, ¼ for marine fish and the remaining ¼ for other species. The inclusion level of fishmeal in aquafeeds varies by species group, increasing along the trophic gradient of herbivorous or omnivorous fish (3-5 percent), penaeid shrimp (20-25 percent) and marine and carnivorous fish (30 percent). China is the world’s largest importer of ingredients used in feeds, including fishmeal. The country imports 1/3 of the global annual trade in fishmeal, including 60 percent of Peru’s anchovy catch. In 2012, the fishmeal supply in China was derived from imported (1.2 million t) and domestic (0.5 million t) sources. The main consumers of fishmeal in China are aquaculture (1 million t) and terrestrial animal (mostly pig) farming (0.7 million t). Shrimp aquafeeds consume about half of the fishmeal used in aquaculture in China. According to the IFFO, although the production of formulated aquafeeds in China has tripled over the last ten years, the use of fishmeal has only doubled. The big changes in aquaculture in China have been the expansion of shrimp farming and the shift from fertilized polyculture to more intensive fed carp culture. A recent paper in Science, China’s aquaculture and the world’s wild fisheries, demonstrates the tremendous extent to which the country is burdening global fisheries resources to support its aquaculture sector. In addition to the demands on global fishmeal supply, coastal fisheries in China, particularly for trash fish that are used to produce fishmeal, are poorly regulated and fully or overexploited, negatively impacting the productivity of those fisheries. The authors of the Science paper suggest that recycling seafood processing byproducts, already contributing 40 percent of the total fishmeal supply could replace half to two-thirds of the volume of fishmeal currently used in aquaculture in China. In using this material, concerns and challenges related to lower protein quality, disease transmission and contaminant accumulation must be addressed. Reducing fishmeal in aquafeeds and replacing or supplementing high-quality fishmeal from forage fish with domestically-sourced seafood processing wastes offer a path forward for aquaculture in China. The limited supply and high cost of fishmeal have created a powerful incentive for aquaculture to develop alternative protein sources. The continued growth of global aquaculture, despite a more or less stable supply of fishmeal, indicates a definitive turn to alternate protein sources, mainly soybean meal, and a reduction in the incorporation rate of fishmeal in aquafeeds for all species. The IFFO now describes fishmeal as a “strategic ingredient,” no longer a commodity, as its value has increased. Fishmeal substitution is an ongoing and active area of fish nutrition research. Alternative protein sources being evaluated include cultured microbial organisms (single-cell protein, yeast, heterotrophic algae), aquatic plants and seaweeds, proteins rendered from processing of terrestrial animals (including more than 2 million t of meat and bone meal and 1 million t of poultry by-product meal in the USA alone) and various plant protein concentrates. The cost of reducing fishmeal use in aquafeeds in terms of reduced protein retention and increased feed conversion is high, especially for marine species. Small increases in feed conversion associated with reductions in fishmeal incorporation rates can have profound negative effects on production economics. Anyone concerned about the sustainability of fed aquaculture might be alarmed by the potential constraint imposed by finite supplies of fishmeal, which has been described by some as a “trap.” However, current trends suggest cautious optimism. It seems likely that technical advances will continue to the point where fishmeal supply will not constrain the growth of fed aquaculture. It also seems likely that higher-value species will use an increasing proportion of the supply and lower-value species that are more flexible and can efficiently use other protein feedstuffs will use less fishmeal. The Global Standard for Responsible Supply, an IFFO initiative, is a positive development regarding sustainable management of forage fish resources. This standard is the basis of a certification program that requires demonstration of responsible sourcing of raw material from well-managed fisheries and a quality control program for conversion into pure, safe and traceable products. Most of the largest forage fisheries have been approved to supply certified fishmeal and fish oil. Responsible sourcing of fishmeal is now firmly embedded in all the major aquaculture certification programs. — John A. Hargreaves, Editor-in-Chief Fishmeal in Future Aquaculture
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