Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture: practices, sustainability and implications

96 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications

TABLE 12

Conversion efficiencies (CE) for marine finfish aquaculture using trash fish/low-value fish and

pellet feeds in selected locations in Asia (for comparison, Australian tuna fattening is also

included)

Location Species

Food conversion efficiency

Trash fish Commercial feed

Lampung, Indonesia Groupers 10.0–12.0 2.0-2.7

Situbondo, Indonesia

Groupers 7.2–8.4 n/a

Barramundi 6.0 1.5

Bali Island, Indonesia

Humpback grouper 8–10 1.5–2.0

Brown-marbled grouper 8–10 2.0–2.5

Coral trout 8–10 1.7–2.5

Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) 7.0–9.0 n/a

Batam, Indonesia Groupers 8.0–15.0 n/a

Kukup, Johor, Malaysia

Groupers 10.0–12.0 n/a

Other carnivorous marine finfish* n/a 3.0–4.0

South Australia Southern bluefin tuna 12.5–15.0 n/a

n/a: not available.

*Some farms using farm-made feed with CE of 4.

Source: Sim (2006), Allan (2004)

fish are rather limited and expensive, so many farmers use farm-made feeds, and most

of these farms use fingerlings that have been weaned onto such feeds at an early stage.

In Bali Island, trash fish are used for grouper (humpback and brown-marbled grouper

and coral trout) with CE varying between 8 and 10.

Peninsular Malaysia

In Malaysia, trash fish/low-value fish account for about 30 percent of the total feed

usage in marine farming (Kukup, Johor) of groupers (Epinephelus spp.), snappers

(Lutjanus spp.), snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii), threadfins (mainly fourfinger

threadfin, Eleutheronema tetradactylum), cobia (Rachycentron canadum), trevally

(mainly giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) and golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus))

and barramundi (Lates calcarifer). Feed cost generally amounts to about 60 percent

of the total operational costs, and trash fish/low-value fish account for about

20–30 percent of the latter.

BOX 5

Mariculture in central Viet Nam

In central Viet Nam, where there is intense mariculture activity in certain areas,

the marine fish farms tend to act cooperatively with regard to trash fish purchases

and prefeeding preparation as an effective means of saving costs and labour.

Photos: Raw trash fish used in grouper culture and their preparation for feeding

to stock