The global aquaculture industry currently accounts for over 45% of all seafood consumed.
That figure has been projected to increase to 75% over the next 20 years. While the industry is truly on a dynamic growth path, it is nonetheless dangerously dependent upon fishmeal as a key protein constituent in fish and shrimp diets.
The aquaculture industry is not alone however, as cattle, poultry, pig and other intensive forms of animal production use fishmeal as a primary protein source in their diets. Currently ten countries produce 80% of all world fishmeal supply, and three of those suppliers are net importers of product, thereby reducing supply, not increasing it. These include the U.S. and China.
Fishmeal production reached heights of 4.4 million tonnes in 2002 and was consistently above 3.3 million tonnes between 2001 and 2005. A report providing the details may be reviewed here.
Production of fishmeal also decreased 20% in 2006, and prices rose from USD $750/metric tonne to over USD $1400/metric tonne. In 2007 it failed to exceed 2000 tonnes. Is this just a blip or is the downturn in production aligned with other trends? U.S. growers experienced four feed price increases within a 16 month period.
A staggering 25% of all world fish production goes into the low value added pursuits of fishmeal and fish oil production!
Due to the fact that the regions responsible for the majority of world supply are isolated geographically from major markets, every tonne of fishmeal travels an average of 5000 km before it reaches the end user. Obviously, particularly in the face of the present oil crisis, this has enormous economic implications for global intensive animal protein production markets.
As far as aquaculture is concerned, clearly the future demand for fishmeal is on a rapidly increasing track. With world fish stocks, and baitfish stocks in particular, in decline, the stage is set for a bottleneck that could severely limit industry growth.
In order to head off such a bottleneck, the global aquaculture industry must eliminate its dependence upon fishmeal (and fish oil) and develop a portfolio of sustainable dietary protein sources.
The very industry that has been called upon to bridge the gap between demand and wild supply is now dependent upon wild stocks of fish for the vast majority of its protein source .
In order to expand and succeed in the future, the industry must develop its independence from fishmeal and wild sources of feed.
As a theme, the Finfish blog has carried an array of postings about using ‘lower forms’ of life as dietary inputs. Diet ingredients must be produced from sustainable sources to allow the unhindered expansion of global seafood production.
What are other ways in which this problem might be countered? Lets think outside the square on this one!
Key criteria to consider as innovation drivers are as follows:
- maximise capacity for local production
- maximise capacity to meet volume requirements
- minimise cost of production
- maximise ease of handling feed input
- minimise flavour impact
What are the other criteria we must include?