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

140 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications

anchovy is a widely

consumed commodity by

low-income communities

in the country and, even

so, as much as 50 percent

of the anchovy catch

is reduced to fishmeal

(Directorate of Fisheries,

Ghana, 2003). Since the

anchovy catch in Ghana

totalled 52 629 tonnes

in 2004 (FAO, 2006b),

this would equate to the

reduction of approximately

26 300 tonnes of anchovy

during the same year. However, there is no record of fishmeal production in Ghana in

the FAO statistics (FAO, 2006c). These inconsistencies are problematic in undertaking

a review of this nature. While both data sets should be viewed with circumspection, it

is likely that the data presented in Table 3 are closer to reality than the data reported

to FAO. Similarly, FAO (2006c) reports that fish oil production in Morocco totalled

13 474 tonnes in 2004, whereas the Fishmeal Information Network estimates the

production for Morocco at around 25 000 tonnes for 2004 (FIN, 2005), which is almost

double the figure cited by FAO (2006c).

Similarly, there are inconsistencies in reported export quantities of fishmeal. For

example, Atmani (2003) reports that fishmeal used to be exported from Morocco

to Europe. However, because of the demand by the domestic animal feed industry,

fishmeal exports have been suspended. FAO statistics, however, show that an average

of 21 831 tonnes per annum was exported from Morocco over the last ten years (FAO,

2006c) and, although there is considerable annual variation, there was no evidence of a

reduction. Furthermore, FIN (2005) reports that fishmeal was exported from Morocco

for the first time in 2000 and that 34 000 tonnes were exported in 2004. This is

43 percent more than that cited by FAO (i.e. 23 766 tonnes; FAO, 2006c) and moreover,

fishmeal exports from Morocco have been reported as far back as 1976 (FAO, 2006c).

TABLE 3

Reduction of small pelagic fish to fishmeal and fish oil in Africa and the Near East, 2004–2005

(tonnes)

Country** Wet weight fish Fishmeal production

Morocco 262 500* 63 000

South Africa 449 013* 107 763

Ghana 26 300 6 312*

Namibia 31 454 7 548*

Egypt 521 * 125

Kenya 18 150 4 356*

Angola 20 833* 5 000

Senegal 2 950* 708

The Islamic Republic of Iran 42 937* 10 305

Yemen 3 212* 771

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 1 629* 391

Total 859 499 206 279

*Calculated figure based on a reduction rate of 24 percent.

** Excluding countries that produce fishmeal from tuna cannery trimmings (e.g. Seychelles and Mauritius).

Source: Directorate of Fisheries, Ghana (2003); Fishing Industry Handbook (2005); AFMA (2006); El-Sayed (2007);

FAO (2006c); Poynton (2006); Hecht (2007)

FIGURE 11

Fish oil imports into Africa and the Near East

Source: FAO (2006c)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Thousand tonnes

Year

Other (50 countries)

Algeria

South Africa