88 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
use of low-quality fishmeal will result in reduced performance of the cultured stock
and also increased feed requirements, which increase the requirement for raw material- trash fish/low-value fish.
With an envisaged increase in the capacity of the reduction industry for fishmeal
production in the Asian region, it is imperative that quality control methods be put in
place and the efficacy of production improved.
4.3 The use of trash fish/low-value fish for fishmeal production and the
potential for direct human consumption
The raw material (much of which is trash fish/low-value fish) used for fishmeal
production in Asia is generally in poor physical condition, often literally “mashed”,
and frequently not suitable for human consumption. While there are no quantitative
data available, qualitative data can be derived by visual inspection (the photos in
Figure 9 show the physical condition of the fish). These raw materials are landed at
sites that have alternative supplies of fish of better quality, with a wide range of species
of different sizes and at a range of prices that cater to a broad spectrum of socio-
economic groups. If such raw materials were to be transported long distances to areas
where availability of fish is significantly less, the quality would further deteriorate.
Moreover, the transportation costs would be such that potential prices would not be
commensurate to the product quality, and consequently there would be rather limited
consumer demand.
The question “if the raw material used is not reduced, can it be made available
to potential consumers in a reasonable state, and at an acceptable price?” is not as
simple or straight forward as it is often made out to be (see Funge-Smith, Lindebo and
Staples, 2005; FAO, 2007). Although no direct estimates are available, in all probability
the costs of transportation and preservation (icing/refrigeration/freezing) far exceed its
“real value”.
A parallel can be drawn with the very seasonal “dai”^2 fishery of the Cambodian
sector of the Mekong River. The overall production from the Mekong fisheries is
estimated to be about 1.5 million tonnes (Coates, 2002; Sverdrup-Jensen, 2002). The
dai fishery operates for about six to eight weeks, and the bulk of the catch is small
migrating species, mostly cyprinids and pangasiids, with yields ranging from 7 000 to
18 000 tonnes per year (Sverdrup-Jensen, 2002). The bulk of the catch is probably too
large in volume and too low in value to be transported into neighbouring countries
for direct consumption, and hence value-adding has been a traditional best use of the
raw material. These value-added products are used for direct human consumption, and
their production is related to cultural traits that have evolved in parallel over many
hundreds of years.
By contrast, in Asia, value-adding for marine species has been mostly confined
drying and to a very small extent, converting into salted fish and fish sauce, the latter
particularly in Viet Nam (Phan, 2007). In all these instances, the fish used are of
relatively high quality and suitable for human consumption, either fresh or reduced.TABLE 6
Typical proximate analysis of selected fishmeal of different origin
Region % Protein % Fat % Ash % Moisture
South America 65.0 9.0 16.0 10.0
Europe 72.7 9.1 10.1 8.1
United States of America 62.6 10.1 19.2 8.1
Europe/Asia 65.0 5.0 20.0 10.0
Source: Adapted from Pike (2005)(^2) The “dai” or “bagnet” fishery is the seasonal capture fishery based on the yearly crop of small fish species
migrating out of flooded areas around the Great Lake and Tonle Sap River to the Mekong River.