398 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
culture in the 1990s led to an increase in fishmeal production and, therefore, use of
bycatch and small pelagics as raw material.
The total volume of fish used for non-food purposes expanded to over 0.4 million
tonnes in the 1990s but has since fallen and was about 0.35 million tonnes in 2003.
However, most of the fish used for non-food purposes is of pelagic origin, the shrimp-
trawler bycatch accounting for about 20 percent of the total.
In the coastal areas of southern India, some of the poor benefit through employment
and income from feed fisheries conducted outside the subcontinent. They do so
because these foreign fisheries provide the fishmeal that is included in the industrially
manufactured shrimp feeds used in Indian shrimp culture.
There do not seem to be any figures on the employment in Indian shrimp farming.
If labour productivity is similar to that in Madagascar, employment may be in the order
of 0.1 million; however, as much shrimp farming in India is of the smallholder kind,
employment productivity is not likely to be as high as in Madagscar, and, therefore,
total employment in the shrimp culture industry is considerably above 0.1 million
(man-year equivalent), with a large share of those employed being unskilled and
unorganized.
Any national or international policy originating in a desire to lessen the use of
fishmeal as an ingredient in shrimp feed that leads to a fall in the production of cultured
shrimp in India would initially lead to increased poverty in some coastal areas of the
country, and, therefore, a worsened food security situation of concerned households.
Naturally, with time, pond owners will attempt to culture species not dependent on
fishmeal and fish oil, or will find uses for their ponds that are outside aquaculture
(although the increased soil salinity will reduce the possibilities).Japan
The country regularly uses more than 0.5 million tonnes of fishmeal a year, but
produces only about 0.2 million tonnes. The difference is imported. The fishmeal
ingredients used in the farming of Japanese amberjack and red seabream should not
exceed 0.1 million tonnes per year (or 1.2–1.3 percent of food-fish supply). Given
that most fishmeal made in Japan is also used within the country, the Japanese feed
fisheries and manufacture of fishmeal have no direct implications for the poor and
undernourished elsewhere.Viet Nam and Indonesia
The shrimp culture industries in Indonesia and Viet Nam are in almost the same
situation as that just described for India. Although both countries have local fishmeal
factories, their supplies are not based in feed fisheries, and as they do not produce
enough fishmeal for their respective needs, imports are needed. Also in these countries,
the employment of coastal poor in shrimp culture is tied to imports of fishmeal, which
almost always is high-quality fishmeal based on feed fisheries and complemented
with fish offal. It seems that in both countries, if the only source of raw material is
bycatch, then local fishmeal plants have difficulties in competing with other sectors.
The volumes are small at any one point^48 and the competition from other uses and the
fresh fish market, are too severe.5.2.5 Fattening of Bluefin Tuna
Beyond the Asia-Pacific region, the direct use of wild fish as aquaculture feed is
uncommon. It is only in recent years, with the advent of an industry based on the(^48) Edwards et al.(2004) reported that a fishmeal plant in Viet Nam would need daily supplies of about
120 tonnes of raw material to keep the plant operating economically.