Wild fish and other aquatic organisms as feed in aquaculture in Europe 259
been growing pressure for independent certification through such schemes as MSC’s
standard for responsible fishing (see Section 4.2.2).
7.2.2 Impact of fisheries on marine ecosystems
There have been an increasing number of reviews of the impact of fisheries upon
marine ecosystems, including:
- ICES/SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) Symposium on
Ecosystem Effects of Fishing (ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57(3), June 2000); - The Workshop on the Use of Ecosystem Models to Investigate Multispecies
Management Strategies for Capture Fisheries (Fisheries Centre Research Reports,
Vol. 10(2), 2002); - The IWC Modeling Workshop on Cetacean-Fishery Competition (Journal of
Cetacean Research and Management, 6 (Suppl.), 2004); and - The Workshop on Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries in the southern Benguela
(African Journal of Marine Science 26, 2004).
7.2.3 Increased utilization of feedfish for human consumption
Small-pelagic fish tend to be highly perishable – the high oil content of the flesh makes
them susceptible to oxidative rancidity, makes the flesh soft and more susceptible to
physical damage and faster spoilage than white fish. The high catch rates also mean that
fish to be used for human consumption must be landed, chilled and processed in large
quantities, and they must be handled rapidly. Much research was carried out in the
1980s in the United States of America into the use of menhaden for surimi, but uptake
was limited because it was not possible to de-fat the flesh to achieve a shelf-stable
product without affecting the taste and texture of the flesh. The Nordic Industrial
Fund supported a Nordic network project entitled “Pelagic fish–New Possibilities”
which includes a homepage that collates technical, scientific and industrial information
about catching and processing small pelagic fish with the specific aim of facilitating
diversification of small pelagic fish products, especially for direct human consumption.
Otherwise, there has been extensive private sector interest in developing processing
techniques both to stabilize small pelagic material and to extract the main protein
components for use in more versatile forms such as surimi.
7.2.4 Greater substitution with protein and oil substitutes
The potential for including higher levels of non-fishmeal protein sources in aquafeeds
has been explored for a number of years with gradual but significant success. As
discussed earlier, the proportion of oilseed and legume-derived meals in aquafeeds will
increase from 17 percent to 24 percent by 2010, resulting in the reduction of northern
hemisphere fishmeal, while vegetable oils will become an important source of oils in
salmonid aquafeeds, accounting for nearly a quarter of the oil content by 2010, again
resulting in the reduction of northern hemisphere, from the feed-fish supplies.
Research is currently being conducted by the major aquafeed manufacturers in
Europe and is being supported by research initiatives from both individual governments
and the European Commission. Current or recent initiatives of interest include:
- Perspectives of Plant Protein Use in Aquaculture (PEPPA) project: a €2.5 million
project over 2001–2004 to (i) replace the greater amount of fishmeal with plant
protein sources in fish diets while improving muscle protein growth, fish quality,
health, reproductive potential and environmental quality; (ii) understand the
metabolic fates of dietary amino acids and carbohydrates as carbon donors and
as an energy source; and (iii) strengthen our understanding of the relationships
between nutritional factors and endocrine control of muscle growth and adiposity
using cellular and molecular approaches.