Wild fish and other aquatic organisms as feed in aquaculture in the Americas 197
- SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 Summary of major findings
The following are the study’s major findings:
- Capture fisheries production within the region was 26.25 million tonnes in 2004,
representing 27.2 percent of total global capture fisheries landings. The region is
home to three of the top four countries in the world in terms of capture fisheries
landings, after China (17.3 million tonnes in 2004), namely Peru (9.6 million
tonnes), Chile (5.3 million tonnes) and the United States of America (5.0 million
tonnes).
- Commercial aquaculture production within the region is of recent origin, totalling
2.1 million tonnes (or one-twelfth of capture fisheries production and 3.5 percent
of total global aquaculture production by weight in 2004), in 2004 the major
country producers being Chile (695 000 tonnes or 33.2 percent of total regional
production), the United States of America (606 000 tonnes or 29.0 percent
of total regional production), Brazil (270 000 tonnes or 12.9 percent of total
7.3 Overview of strategies to address regional issues
Three main strategic approaches are recommended:
- Strategic approach 1 is to decrease the overall proportion of the marine fish catch
destined for reduction and non-food uses through the increased use of traditional
forage fish species for direct human consumption:
o country/species focus: Peru – anchoveta, Chile – jack mackerel, United
States of America – menhaden
o processing focus: canned marinated products and boneless minced meat
products
o product focus: easy-to-store and ready-to-eat fish products
o target group focus: children, rural and urban communities
o nutrition focus: under-nutrition, brain food, vitamins A and D, iodine,
omega-3 fatty acids
o methodology: product development and education/media promotion,
school meals
- Strategic approach 2 is to reduce the dependency of the resident aquaculture
sector within the region upon the use of fishmeal and fish oil through the
development and increased use of cost-effective locally available agricultural feed
resources:
o species/country focus: salmon – Chile and Canada; shrimp – Ecuador and
Colombia
o farming focus: salmon – net-cages; shrimp – ponds with zero-exchange
o ingredient focus: rendered products, plant proteins, single cell protein
(SCP), plant oils and marine polychaetes
o methodology: laboratory and pilot-scale diet testing to market size and
economic evaluation
- Strategic approach 3 is to reduce the dependency of the commercial and sports/
recreational fisheries sector within the region upon the use of marine fish bait
species through the development and use of farmed fish bait species and artificially
prepared fish baits using fish processing wastes:
o species/country focus: lobster – the United States of America and Canada;
Tuna – Mexico and the United States of America
o bait focus: farmed freshwater fish and milkfish; fish sausages/attractant
combinations
o methodology: laboratory/field testing of fish baits and economic
evaluation with target species
