226 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
3.1.3 Trash fish and other fishery by-products
Use in production of fishmeal and fish oils: In Europe, trimmings from other fisheries
represent around 33 percent of the total supply of raw material to the fishmeal and
fish-body oil industry (IFFO, 2002). It is estimated that 80 percent of the trimmings
from fish processing enter the fishmeal and fish-body oil industry in Denmark,
although the figure is only 10 percent in Spain. In the United Kingdom, Germany and
France, between 33 and 50 percent of fish trimmings enter the fishmeal and fish body
oil industry (Table 10).The United Kingdom and German dependence on whitefish trimmings has fallen.
This is in response to a decline in whitefish supplies and a reduction in “black fish”.
In contrast, a greater proportion of supplies are now derived from pelagic trimmings,
where the state of raw material supply is healthy. Salmon also increasingly provides an
added source of supply to United Kingdom fishmeal plants, but this fish can no longer
be allowed to re-enter the food chain for aquaculture. The introduction of a number of
animal by-products regulations^7 by the European Commission (EC), together with the
feed industry’s own initiatives, have constrained the use of fishmeal and fish-derived
waste in both aquaculture and agriculture feeds as a result of concerns over the cross-
species transmission of pathogens.
Direct use in tuna farming: In most Mediterranean countries, the tuna farming
season extends for about six to seven months, starting typically in June. ICCAT
routinely uses a default 25 percent factor for the back calculation of farm inputs from
tuna farm production figures – on the assumption that 25 000 tonnes of bluefin tuna
were put in cages during 2004, for a feeding period of 180 days and a daily ration of
5 percent, it is estimated that 225 000 tonnes of feedfish were used on tuna fattening
farms in the Mediterranean Sea over 2004. A large percentage of the fish feed utilized
in the Mediterranean tuna farming industry is imported frozen from outside the region
(over 95 percent of total baitfish in the case of Turkey; Lovatelli, 2003). The precise
specific composition of feedfish is not known in most cases, but Lovatelli (2003)
lists the small pelagic species used as including sardine (Sardina pilchardus), round
sardinella (Sardinella aurita), herring (Clupea spp.), mackerel (Scomber scomber) and
horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.). These fish originate mostly from the North Sea/Baltic
region and the West African upwelling system.(^7) EC Disposal, Processing and Placing on the Market of Animal By-products Regulations (SI 257, 1994);
EC Regulation No. 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 October 2002 laying
down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption (recently
amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 808/2003 of 12 May 2003); and the Commission
Regulation (EC) No. 811/2003 on the intra-species recycling ban for fish.
TABLE 10
Raw material sources for fishmeal and fish body oil in the EU-15, 2002
Country Feedfish (tonnes) Trimmings (tonnes) Total raw material supply (tonnes) trimmings (%)Utilization of
Denmark 332 000 33 200 365 200 10
United Kingdom 7 800 42 500 50 300 84
Spain 42 000 42 000 100
Sweden 18 750 6 250 25 000 25
France 25 000 25 000 100
Ireland 8 800 13 200 22 000 60
Germany 17 000 17 000 100
Italy 3 000 3 000 100
Total 367 350 182 150 54 9 500 33
Source: Adapted from IFFO (2002)