Use of wild fish in aquaculture and its effects on income and food for the poor 397
apparent consumption of about 8 kg per person per year. If all the fish now used for
non-food purposes were eaten, it would mean that each inhabitant would consume an
additional 11 kg per year.
The population of Morocco is relatively well off nutritionally; less than 5 percent of
the population is undernourished (FAO, 2008a), although between 10 and 20 percent
of children are reported to be underweight or stunted. Animal protein consumption in
Morocco is low, some 16 g per capita per day, but fish contribute no more than 15 to 17
percent of this amount. Consumption of proteins is within the recommended amounts
(FAO, 2008a). Fish consumption has increased over the last few decades but seems to
have stabilized at about 7 to 8 kg (live-weight equivalent) per person during a 15-year
period ending in 2003.
Morocco has a long-established and modern fish canning industry based on small
pelagics. It exports high-quality canned products worldwide. Thus, Moroccans
have access to cheap fresh fish and high-quality canned and processed products at
competitive prices. These has been made available because of the pelagic fisheries, not
in spite of them. Just as in South Africa, in Morocco fishmeal industries cannot be seen
as having had a negative influence on food availability for the poor.
Europe
The poor and undernourished are few in Europe and found mainly in the eastern
parts. Although some carp culture is carried out in those regions, and modern farms
include some fishmeal in the fish feeds used, feed fisheries cannot be said to have any
measurable impact on the poor and food insecure of Eastern Europe. Neither will
fishmeal plants have significant impacts in the areas of Western Europe where they are
located.
Asia
Most fishmeal production in Asia makes use of bycatch, or of “surplus” catches in food
fisheries of small pelagics and, increasingly, of heads, guts and viscera from industrial
fish processing. However, in Japan the large-scale culture of Japanese amberjack
(Seriola quinqueradiata) of about 150 000 tonnes became possible as large volumes of
low-value fish (sardines and sandlance) were landed and used as direct feed. In recent
years, fishmeal, as part of pelleted feeds, has replaced a considerable part of the direct
feed as landings of sardine fell.
China
The country is a large net importer of fishmeal and fish oil. In 2006, imports amounted
to just under 1 million tonnes, having been substantially higher in 2004 and 2005 (FAO,
2008b). At the same time, exports amounted to only a few thousand tonnes. Fishmeal
use in shrimp and fish feed is reported to have been about 526 000 tonnes in China in
2006 (Tacon and Metian, 2009). This was 41 percent of all fishmeal used for livestock.
The shrimp culture and fish culture industries are large employers of poor and unskilled
staff. Without access to imported fishmeal, employment in these industries would have
been substantially lower.
India
The country has no feed fisheries of its own. Fishmeal is produced from bycatch and
from excess landings of small pelagic species. However, the standards of the fishmeal
industry are comparatively low. Few plants separate out the fish oil and at the time of
writing, the shrimp culture industry imports the fishmeal it needs in feeds.
Non-food uses have traditionally been low in India and are of little consequence
for country wide nutrition (quantities have generally been below 0.1 kg per capita
per year). Nevertheless, an expanding poultry industry and a boom in marine shrimp