Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications: a global synthesis 15
aquaculture feeds (GAIN Report, 2004). Trash and other low-value fish are also
converted into fishmeal – in Viet Nam it is purported that there is a specialized
fleet for trash fish, and a total of 300 000 to 600 000 tonnes of trash fish/low-
value fish are landed, of which about 280 000 tonnes are utilized by the fishmeal
plants with a yield of 0.29 (fish: fishmeal conversion efficiency = 3.45:1.00) (Dao,
Dang and Huynh Nguyen, 2005). On the other hand, Edwards, Le and Allan
(2004) estimated the trash fish landings in Viet Nam to be 933 182 tonnes in 2001,
valued at VND1 390 416 million (US$99 315 428). The commercial landings of
trash fish/low-value fish in Viet Nam vary depending on the locality, season,
species composition and demand. Trash fish/low-value fish are used for fishmeal
production, fish powder production and direct feeding to cultured fish stocks (De
Silva and Turchini, 2009).3.1.2 Processing wastes
The processing of fish frequently gives rise to waste in the form of fish frames
(e.g. skeletons), offal, trimmings and offcuts. These wastes can be utilized for
the preparation of fishmeal and fish oil. Some of these byproducts such as livers,
gonads (roes) and heads are to a certain degree recovered and processed for human
consumption. There are no global estimates of fish waste generation and use in fishmeal
production. In Europe, trimmings from other fisheries represent around 33 percent of
the total supply of raw material to the fishmeal and fish oil industry (IFFO, 2002). It is
estimated that 80 percent of the trimmings from fish processing enter the fishmeal and
fish oil industry in Denmark, while only 10 percent of trimmings enter the industry
in Spain. In the United Kingdom, Germany and France, between 33 and 50 percent of
fish trimmings enter the fishmeal and fish oil industry (Table 8).
The dependence of the United Kingdom and Germany on whitefish trimmings
has fallen. This is in response to a decline in whitefish supplies. In contrast, a greater
proportion of supplies are now derived from pelagic trimmings, because this raw
material supply is healthy. Salmon also increasingly provides an added source of
supply to fishmeal plants in the United Kingdom, but this fishmeal made from
salmon can no longer be allowed to re-enter the food chain though use in aquaculture.
The introduction of a number of animal by-products regulations^3 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.
TABLE 7
Small pelagic landings for Africa and the Near East, 2000–2004
Country 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 5-year average
Morocco 562 684 812 551 707 874 677 635 653 474 682 844
South Africa 441 650 534 680 528 950 591 399 611 159 541 568
Senegal 250 715 244 754 210 692 281 723 276 340 252 845
Ghana 223 624 166 173 139 668 183 069 166 674 175 842
Nigeria 108 620 92 907 93 519 100 676 97 070 98 558
Algeria 76 405 99 873 100 750 100 372 99 600 95 400
Other (Africa) 450 075 397 836 408 229 404 570 453 815 422 905
Other (Near East) 81 595 97 624 76 739 71 127 81 396 81 696
Total 2 195 368 2 446 398 2 266 421 2 410 571 2 439 528 2 351 658
*Other Africa (23 countries); other Near East (9 countries)
Source: FAO (2006a); Hecht and Jones (2009)