Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources

Aquaculture's pressure on forage fisheries remains hotly contested. This article reviews trends in fishmeal and fish oil use in industrial aquafeeds, showing reduced inclusion rates but greater total use associated with increased aquaculture production and demand for fish high in long-chain ome...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. 36; pp. 15103 - 15110
Main Authors Naylor, Rosamond L, Hardy, Ronald W, Bureau, Dominique P, Chiu, Alice, Elliott, Matthew, Farrell, Anthony P, Forster, Ian, Gatlin, Delbert M, Goldburg, Rebecca J, Hua, Katheline, Nichols, Peter D
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 08.09.2009
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Animal Feed - statistics & numerical data
Aquaculture
Aquaculture - methods
Aquaculture - statistics & numerical data
Aquaculture products
Biological Sciences
environmental impact
Farmed fishes
Feed science
feeds
Fish byproducts
Fish culture
fish farms
Fish feeding
fish meal
Fish oil
Fish Oils
fish production
Fisheries
Fisheries - methods
Fisheries - statistics & numerical data
Fishery economics
Forage
Krill
Marine
Ocean fisheries
Perspective
Salmo salar
Salmon
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Summary:Aquaculture's pressure on forage fisheries remains hotly contested. This article reviews trends in fishmeal and fish oil use in industrial aquafeeds, showing reduced inclusion rates but greater total use associated with increased aquaculture production and demand for fish high in long-chain omega-3 oils. The ratio of wild fisheries inputs to farmed fish output has fallen to 0.63 for the aquaculture sector as a whole but remains as high as 5.0 for Atlantic salmon. Various plant- and animal-based alternatives are now used or available for industrial aquafeeds, depending on relative prices and consumer acceptance, and the outlook for single-cell organisms to replace fish oil is promising. With appropriate economic and regulatory incentives, the transition toward alternative feedstuffs could accelerate, paving the way for a consensus that aquaculture is aiding the ocean, not depleting it.
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Edited by Thomas F. Malone, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, and approved July 17, 2009
Author contributions: R.L.N. and R.W.H. designed research; R.L.N., R.W.H., D.P.B., A.C., M.E., A.P.F., I.F., D.M.G., R.J.G., K.H., and P.D.N. performed research; D.P.B. and K.H. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; R.L.N., R.W.H., A.C., M.E., D.M.G., I.F., and P.D.N. analyzed data; and R.L.N., R.W.H., D.P.B., A.C., M.E., A.P.F., I.F., D.M.G., R.J.G., and P.D.N. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0905235106