212 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
(^2) This review, which covers the period from 1995 to 2005, is essentially a desk study based on secondary
sources of information and data derived from published literature and unpublished reports. Where
possible, primary source data/information has also been collected through consultations with those
associated with reduction fisheries and aquaculture practices in the region.
(^3) FAO Glossary of aquaculture (accessed on 31 July 2009) (http://www.fao.org/fi/glossary/aquaculture/
default.asp)
1.INTRODUCTION^2
1.1 Background
The fishmeal and fish oil industry started in northern Europe at the beginning of the
twentieth century. Initially based mainly on surplus catches of herring from seasonal
coastal fisheries, this was essentially an oil production activity, with fish oil finding
industrial uses in the lubrication of machinery, leather tanning, and in the production
of soap, glycerol and other non-food products. The residue was originally used as
fertilizer, but since the turn of the twentieth century it has been dried and ground into
fishmeal for animal feed. The fishmeal and fish oil sector has now developed into a
major supplier of raw material for animal and fish feeds.
The demand for aquafeeds continues to increase, yet the overall global supply of
fishmeal and fish oil is relatively fixed (SEAFeeds, 2003). This implies that there will
be increased pressure on the fisheries that supply these commodities unless alternatives
become both available and acceptable. While there is no real reason why feed fisheries
should not continue to supply the aquaculture industry in the future, adequate
sustainability assurances need to be in place.
- OVERVIEW OF AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES IN EUROPE
This section looks at the nature of aquaculture in Europe, examines the past trends
in production and then attempts to forecast where the industry will be in the next
decade.
2.1 Current status and trends
Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms in inland and coastal areas, involving
intervention in the rearing process to enhance production and the individual or
corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated (FAO, 2009)^3. Although freshwater
aquaculture has been practiced in Europe for many centuries, full-cycle aquaculture
in brackishwaters and marine waters is a more recent phenomenon. Large-scale
mariculture first started in the 1970s with the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), whose
large eggs and simple juvenile nutrition permitted the straightforward production of
fingerlings for on-growing. Over the same period, research was being conducted into
the breeding and feeding of other marine species with smaller, pelagic eggs. This has now
led to the widespread production of seabass and seabream in the Mediterranean Sea and
increasing volumes of more temperate species such as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua),
haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus)
and turbot (Psetta maxima), which are being produced as technological constraints are
gradually overcome and their farming becomes economically viable.
An examination of salmonid (salmon and trout) production in Europe (Figure 1)
shows that the production of Atlantic salmon still dominates European mariculture
in terms of volume, although growth is slowing as a result of softening prices and
competition from Chile. European salmon production is largely based around the
deepwater bays (lochs and fjords) of western Scotland, Ireland, Faeroe Islands and
Norway. Salmon farming is almost exclusively conducted in sea cages with good
tidal flushing, with a trend for larger cage systems with deeper moorings increasingly
offshore.