Use of wild fish and other aquatic organisms as feed in aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific 89
Although fishmeal production in Asia is still relatively small, it is growing, albeit
slowly. The fact that a nation such as Myanmar produced nearly 12 000 tonnes of
fishmeal is of importance to the region, and in this instance the raw material used is
considered to be unsuitable for direct consumption. There are 14 reduction plants
for this purpose employing over 300 persons (Lay, 2006). The financial gains from
this additional employment may well exceed the equivalent food security value of
this resource if the fish were used for direct human consumption. In all of the above
instances, a potential waste is eliminated and employment is created, indirectly
contributing to poverty alleviation and food security (Aye et al., 2007).
Asia is the world’s major aquaculture producer, and given the current trend towards
increased production of species that require feeds with relatively high protein content
(i.e. fishmeal) and the relatively limited fishmeal and fish oil production in Asia, Asian
aquaculture development is bound to be impacted by global trends.
In Tables 7 and 8, three projections for the growth of Asian aquaculture and the
corresponding use of fishmeal by the sector are made based on production increases
of 10, 15 and 20 percent from the level in 2004, a corresponding increase in the use of
compounded feeds for certain groups, a decrease in the amount of fishmeal used in the
feeds and improvements in conversion efficiencies. The latter two criteria are admittedly
subjective, but the improvements expected are based on those achieved over the last
TABLE 7
Asian aquaculture production (tonnes) for groups of species farmed on fish feeds that include fishmeal
Species group (^199020002004) Projected 2004–2010 increase in
production
(10%) (15%) (20%)
Crustaceans 618 178 1 644 365 3 338 706 3 672 577 3 839 512 4 006 447
Marine/diadromous fish 964 115 1 586 385 2 158 865 2 374 752 2 482 695 2 590 638
Milkfish 399 554 429 622 514 656 566 122 591 854 617 587
Others 564 561 1 156 763 1 644 209 1 808 630 1 890 840 1 973 051
Freshwater fish 6 277 800 18 342 611 22 431 118 24 674 229 25 795 785 26 917 341
Anguillidae 163 505 218 035 238 508 262 359 274 284 286 210
Catfishes 74 791 136 388 270 101 297 111 310 616 324 121
Cichlidae 285 561 953 202 1 398 723 1 538 595 1 608 531 1 678 468
Include all other cultured marine species.
Source: FAO (2006a)
FIGURE 13
The estimated fishmeal use in compounded feeds in Asian aquaculture
0
500 000
1 000 000
1 500 000
2 000 000
2 500 000
3 000 000
1990 2000 2004 2010a 2010b 2010c
Source: Data from Table 8