104 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
opting out of using trash fish/low-value fish
in grow-out feeds.
Snakehead is relished in Thailand and
neighbouring countries such as Cambodia
and Lao PDR. In Thailand, snakehead
production has been increasing steadily
and in 2006, 9 800 tonnes were produced,
accounting for only 2.6 percent of total
inland aquaculture production but about
10 percent of value. Snakeheads are
carnivorous, and the farming of snakehead is
based mainly on wild-caught young, which
are readily available throughout most of
the year. Wild-caught fish cannot be easily
weaned onto dry feeds in grow-out unless
this is done in the very early stages. Almost
all grow-out operations depend on farm-
made, moist feed, which is dispensed in the
form of a dough. The feeds are essentially a
mixture of trash fish and rice bran, mixed
in 7:3 proportion. For example, a farmer
in Suphanburi, Thailand, who produces 3
to 4 tonnes of market-size snakehead uses
20 tonnes of trash fish, purchased at an
average price of Thai baht (THB)7.5/kg
(US$1=THB38). However, some changes
aimed at reducing the dependence on trash
fish/low-value fish are also beginning to take place in Thai snakehead farming.
In Myanmar, a number of significant trends in feed development and management
that have a bearing on dependence on fishmeal/low-value fish and or fishmeal from
external sources are taking place. These changes are related to the recent developments
in the farming of Indian major carps, in particular, rohu (Labeo rohita) and sutchi
catfish (P. hypophthalmus) (Aye et al., 2007). These trends are in turn associated
with the rapid development of the processing sector for these species, which is totally
export oriented. Indian major carp are exported whole, and the processing wastes
(essentially offal and gonads) are separated and processed to extract oil that is used
in fish-feed manufacture. By contrast, a large catfish farming enterprise that produces
740 tonnes of filleted catfish/year uses the offal, the frames and the strips of muscle
for its own fishmeal production. On average, one tonne of fishmeal is produced daily
in this relatively small-sized plant, and this fishmeal is used in its own feed plant to
produce 70 tonnes of pellet feed per day. The feed produced is used exclusively for
feeding catfish on its own farm. This is an example of an almost completely vertically
integrated aquaculture system (Box 8).
The inland aquaculture sector in Myanmar is in a relatively high growth phase,
with relevant patronage and support from the government (Aye et al., 2007). For
example, the targeted exports of freshwater cultured finfish for 2007 are valued at
US$120 million, a two-fold increase from the previous year. Such ventures will
increasingly come into being, but they will not be resourcing trash fish/low-value fish
and or fishmeal from the market place but will attempt to produce in adjunct facilities
using raw material sources available to the farm per se. Although the feeds used may
not be of the highest nutritional quality, the growth rate of the fish is acceptable to the
farmers, as almost all such ventures make substantial profits. Past experience has shown
that actual practices may defy nutritional wisdom (Wood et al., 1992), and Myanmar’s
freshwater finfish culture could just be another example.BOX 8
A vertically integrated catfish farm in
Myanmar
An almost complete vertical integration is seen
in a Myanmar catfish farming venture. The
processing waste in turned into fishmeal that is
mixed with other locally produced agricultural
by-products such as soybean meal, peanut meal,
etc., to produce a pellet feed that is fed to its own
catfish cultured in cages in the Nagwun River.Photo: Bags of pellet feed produced on farm and
in catfish rearing facilities