28 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
4.2.1 FIN “Sustainability Dossier”
When most feed manufacturers state that they only procure from “sustainable”
sources, this claim is usually based upon the Fishmeal Information Network (FIN)
Sustainability Dossier, an annually updated assessment initiated by the Grain and Feed
Trade Association (GAFTA) and funded by the United Kingdom Seafish Industry
Authority (SFIA). This dossier has recently been expanded to reflect wider ecosystem
impacts, based on the latest ICES and FAO advice (see http://www.gafta.com/fin/index.
php).4.2.2 MSC “Principles and Criteria” for responsible fisheries
The concept of sustainability is complex and therefore has implications for the selection
of criteria for “sustainable fishing”. The most widely accepted generic model is the
principles and criteria for “responsible fishing” developed by the Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC). The MSC principles and criteria consider whether a fishery is
sustainable depending upon a demonstration of:- the maintenance and re-establishment of healthy populations of targeted species;
- the maintenance of the integrity of ecosystems;
- the development and maintenance of effective fisheries management systems,
taking into account all relevant biological, technological, economic, social,
environmental and commercial aspects; and - compliance with relevant local and national laws and standards and international
understandings and agreements.
While the MSC criteria respond well to fisheries and ecosystem issues, they do
not provide a specific assessment of the economic or social elements. Huntington
(2004) took the basic MSC criteria and adapted them to specifically suit feed fisheries,
applying them to the five main fisheries that provide the bulk of fishmeal destined for
the Scottish fish farming industry. These criteria are reproduced in Table 11.
Indicators are used to assist the scoring of fisheries “sustainability”. For each
indicator, there are three “scoring guideposts” that assist assessors in determining the
score out of 100. For instance, there are guideposts for what passes at 60, 80 and the
ideal score of 100.
The advantage of the MSC approach is that it provides a vigorous quantitative
approach to assessing the main elements that ensure that a fishery is sustainable. The
main question is whether this approach can be successfully applied to feed fisheries,
whose main species constitute an important forage prey, unlike many of the top
predators that have been the focus of many fisheries certification schemes to date.
While MSC does look at implications of target species removal on ecosystem structure
and function, it has been a challenge to both determine and quantify the implications in
practice. With growing interest in ensuring the sustainability of aquaculture products
throughout the production chain, the certification of feed-fish stocks has become an
urgent priority – indeed this has become a priority with MSC, which has launched
a partnership with the Soil Association to develop certified sustainable sources of
fishmeal and oil for organic farmed-fish diets (www.fishupdate.com, April 2006).
4 .3 Sustainable use of fishery resources for aquafeeds
While a future goal may be the complete or majority use of feedfish from a certified
“responsibly managed” fishery, in the meantime, it is important that intensive
aquaculture makes a committed move towards sourcing from the better managed and
more sustainable fisheries. As mentioned earlier, the main buying criteria for fishmeal
for inclusion in aquafeeds are price and quality. Beyond ensuring that fish are purchased
from stocks that are managed within national and international laws and agreements,
there is little real attempt to limit fishmeal procurement to “sustainable sources”. There
are a number of obstacles that must be overcome if the feed-supply chain is to become