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

Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications: a global synthesis 37

season, 58 000 tonnes (42 percent) of the 135 000 tonnes reported caught by Icelandic
vessels were frozen for human consumption and 78 000 tonnes (58 percent) were
processed into fishmeal and oil. Such low capelin catches favour a higher proportion
of these fish going for human consumption. An examination of the trend in Icelandic
capelin usage over the last ten years indicates a recent increase in the volume of capelin
used for human consumption (Figure 9).

6.1.2 Trash or low-value fish
There is also an increasing conflict between the use of low-value/trash fish for
terrestrial animals/fish and for human consumption, especially in Asia (Funge-Smith,
Lindebo and Staples, 2005). Supplies of low-value/trash fish are finite and as indicated
by a recent increase in price, demand is outstripping supply. It has been argued that
it would be more efficient and ethical to divert more of the limited supply to human
food, using value-added products, etc.

Proponents of this argument suggest that using low-value/trash fish as food for
poor domestic consumers is more appropriate than supplying fishmeal plants for an
export income-oriented aquaculture industry producing high-value commodities. In
contrast, it can be argued food security can also be increased by improving the income
generation capabilities of poor people, and that a large number of people employed in
both fishing and aquaculture has a beneficial effect via income generation rather than
direct food supply.
Without external interventions (such as incentives and subsidies), it will be the
economics of the different uses of low-value/trash fish in different localities that will
divert the use of fish in one way or the other. For example, in Viet Nam, as the national
demand for fish sauce is predicted to double over the next ten years, there appears to
be direct competition for mixed low-value/trash fish between producers of Pangasius
feeds and producers of low-cost fish sauce. In contrast, operators of culture farms
raising high-value marine finfish and lobsters can afford to pay more for anchovy than
fish-sauce manufacturers in central Viet Nam.

FIGURE 9

Icelandic capelin production by product type, 1994–2005

0

50 000

100 000

150 000

200 000

250 000

300 000

350 000

400 000

199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005

Year

Capelin, frozen Capelin roes, frozen Capelin oil Capelin meal

Production (tonnes)

Source: FAO (2006a, 2007)