ON THE HOOK (Feedback)
Executive Summary
Food from the sea provides key nutrients for communities all over the world. However, a reckless approach to safeguarding ocean health means that many fish populations, and the wider ocean food webs which depend on them, are now under grave threat. Future fishery collapses will be a tragedy for ecological diversity and for a well-functioning and healthy ocean.
Aquaculture, or fish farming, is often presented as a solution to address this dual challenge: a way to reduce pressure on fisheries while maintaining or increasing food security. However, key parts of the global aquaculture industry face an Achilles heel. 'Fed aquaculture', which requires some form of feed input to grow farmed fish, is the form of aquaculture most familiar in the global North: the farming of salmon, warm-water prawns, trout and sea bass all rely on external feed inputs. A key ingredient in all the feed used for these forms of aquaculture is wild fish and crustaceans, in the form of fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO): every year around 15 million tonnes of wild seafood is used to create FMFO for a variety of industries.
In other words, instead of escaping our ties to the ocean's ecosystems, these forms of aquaculture tighten the bonds. Among 'fed' farmed fish production, salmon farming stands out as one of the highest value global aquaculture sectors. To explore the implications of this industry's reliance on wild fish for global aquaculture, we have taken as a case study the Scottish salmon farming industry. Though a small proportion of global production, the Scottish farmed salmon industry plays an important role in the global aquaculture industry, setting quality standards and playing a key role in the branding and marketing of salmon products. One aspect of this market positioning has been an emphasis on nutritional quality. In general, salmon farming in Scotland uses a higher level of fish oil in its feed, the key ingredient that contributes to the omega 3 content in the final salmon product. In our previous report, we calculated that the Scottish farmed salmon industry currently uses at least 460,000 tonnes of wild fish per year to produce the fish oil necessary to feed its salmon¹ - roughly equivalent to the quantity of fish purchased by the entire UK adult population in a year. If the industry were to achieve the growth projections targeted by the industry body, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation, we calculated that companies would need to increase their use of wild fish by 310,000 tonnes, to a total of 770,000 tonnes, in 2030².
With the approach of natural limits to the growth of FMFO production, the Scottish salmon industry – and the wider aquaculture industry – is acutely aware it faces a trade-off between increasing production and maintaining high levels of omega 3 micronutrients in its products, through the use of fish oil in feed. To manage this tension and demonstrate its commitment to sustainability while continuing to use FMFO, the sector's approach has largely been to rely on private sector-led certification schemes³.
¹ From these wild fish, a volume of fishmeal can also be produced to be used in other feeds for prawns or pigs for example, but producing this fishmeal is inevitable if we are to produce the necessary volumes of fish oil.
² See Feedback 'Fishy Business: the Scottish salmon industry's hidden appetite for wild fish and land' (2019) for full calculations. Available at: https://feedbackglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fishy-business-the-Scottish-salmon-industrys-hidden-appetite-for-wild-fish-and-land.pdf.
³ See Changing Markets Foundation and Feedback 'Caught Out: How UK retailers are tackling the use of wild fish in their aquaculture supply chains' (2020). Available at: https://feedbackglobal.org/wp-content/.