44 Fish as feed inputs for aquaculture – Practices, sustainability and implications
the present analysis are contrary to the suggestion that there will be an increase in the
channeling of the trash fish/low-value fish resource into aquaculture; overall, by the
year 2010, there will be a significant decrease in the use of these resources to support
an increase in aquaculture production.
In Asia, there is a need to minimize the direct usage of trash fish/low-value fish and
encourage fishfarmers to use formulated feeds, which requiere the use of significantly
less trash fish/low-value fish and have higher overall environmental integrity (De
Silva and Turchini, 2009). The aquaculture sector in the region has to improve its
collaboration with the feed industry. One area of aquafeed development in the
region that has not kept pace is the utilization of animal industry by-products in feed
formulation. Unlike in the west, in the region, apart from the poultry industry, the
animal processing industries are relatively less centralized. Consequently, there is no
large-scale producer of blood meal and bone meal. This, however, is not an unsolvable
problem, and improved dialogue between sectors and targeted research could facilitate
the necessary progression.
In Asia, almost all aquaculture, as is the case for agriculture, is small scale, rural and
clustered. These small holdings generate synergies and work in harmony. In the case
of marine finfish culture, there is an urgent need for these smallholders to adopt better
feed management practices, commencing with a shift from using trash fish/low-value
fish as the sole feed source to available formulated feeds. There is a general impression
that such changes are difficult to bring about. This is untrue, as exemplified by the
recent developments with regard to the adoption of best management practices among
small-scale shrimp farmers in India (Umesh, 2007).
Feed development for a wide range of cultured aquatic species, in particular the
newly emerging marine finfish species, has lagged behind and is at a far lower echelon
than in the animal husbandry sector. With the changing public perceptions on the
use of fishmeal and fish oil as well as trash fish/low-value fish for feeding cultured
stocks, it is imperative that there be a concerted effort to develop diets with a lower
fishmeal/fish oil content and to wean small-scale farmers from using trash fish/low-
value fish as a feed source for cultured stocks, perhaps through a regional initiative that
brings together researchers, feed manufacturers, raw material suppliers and farming
communities. In this regard, there also needs to be an emphasis on the improvement
of “farm-made” feeds, an important element in Asian aquaculture. This point has been
advocated previously (De Silva and Davy, 1992; New, Tacon and Csavas, 1995), but it
is unfortunate that little headway has been achieved. Here again, it may be necessary
to adopt a regional approach to determine ways and means of improving the efficacy
of farm-made feeds and disseminating appropriate strategies (De Silva and Turchini,
2009).7.5 On going work of interest
7.5.1 Europe
Improved sustainable management of feed-fish stocks
In Europe, most work on northern stocks is through ICES, which includes a number
of relevant working groups:- Planning Group for Herring Surveys;
- Planning Group on Northeast Atlantic Pelagic Ecosystem Surveys;
- Regional Ecosystem Study Group for the North Sea;
- Study Group on Assessment Methods Applicable to Assessment of Norwegian
Spring Spawning Herring and Blue Whiting Stock; - Study Group on Regional Scale Ecology of Small Pelagics;
- Study Group on the Estimation of Spawning Stock Biomass of Sardine and
Anchovy; - Working Group on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities;