Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications: a global synthesis 43
and fish oil consumed by the aquaculture sector within the region in 2004. Projections
concerning the future market availability and the price of fishmeal and fish oil within
the region are that supplies will remain tight and prices high. As in Europe, there is
a need to reduce the dependence of the aquaculture sector on fishmeal and fish oil
through the use of alternative, locally available feed ingredient sources, the production
of which can keep pace with the growth and specific requirements of the aquaculture
sector within the region.
The use of low-value (in marketing terms) whole feed-fish species (trash fish) by
the aquaculture sector within the region is relatively small and is currently restricted to
the on-growing and fattening of tuna in Mexican waters with locally caught sardines
(Sardinops sagax caerulea), with total use in 2006 estimated at about 70 000 tonnes.
However, the use of feedfish as baitfish for commercial and recreational fisheries
within the region (primarily in the United States of America and Canada) is believed
to be greater than the use of feedfish by the aquaculture sector within the region and is
conservatively estimated to be about 100 000 tonnes.
In summary, an increasing proportion of the marine fish catch is expected to be
processed for direct human consumption within the region, primarily in the form of
easy-to-use and affordable processed fish products, including canned marinates and
stabilized surimi-based fish products (Tacon, 2009).
7.3 Africa and the Near East
The main issues of regional importance in Africa and the Near East are those of food
security and poverty, and these are not just national problems (Hecht and Jones, 2009).
There are 1.1 billion people in the world living in acute poverty, at least 25 percent of
whom live in sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 2004). While poverty (when people
earn less than the local equivalent buying power of US$1/day) in North Africa and
the Near East has decreased over the last 20 years and hovers around 2 to 3 percent,
the number of people living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa has nearly doubled over
the same period (World Bank, 2004). Countries where more than 50 percent of the
population earn less than US$1/day include Zambia, Burundi, the Central African
Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Sierra Leone (World Bank, 2004).
The examples from Morocco and Kenya (Abila, 2003; Naji, 2003; Nyandat, 2007),
where fish protein that was affordable to the poor in the past is now no longer
available because of “value-adding”, raise social responsibility questions and issues.
Clearly, where such imbalances exist they need to be addressed by governments and
fishing companies such that the distribution of the resources is equitable and does
not have a detrimental effect on basic nutritional needs of local communities. The
pelagic fisheries for dagaa in Lake Victoria and for almost all small-pelagics, for that
matter, involve straddling stocks and hence need to be managed using multinational
fisheries management procedures. These should take particular cognizance of the
social consequences in each country, as the action of one user in a multiuser fishery
can affect the returns and, in some cases, the food security of others. Therefore,
regional cooperation in managing shared fish resources using principals that promote
sustainability is imperative (Hecht and Jones, 2009).
- 4 Asia and the Pacific
It has been estimated that of the 40 million tonnes of fish caught by the capture fishery in
the Asia-Pacific region, 9.8 million tonnes (approximately 25 percent) are used directly
(e.g. as fishmeal) or indirectly (e.g. as animal food), and contributes to a production
of 28 million tonnes of foodfish for human consumption (Funge-Smith, Lindebo
and Staples, 2005; FAO, 2007). FAO (2007) also highlighted the potential competing
use for trash fish/low-value fish and suggested that the market that will channel this
resource to different usages, a contention that is hard to reject. However, the results of