Question: Is Fish ‘Farming’ Logical ?; Fish Farming Industry Sourcing from Overfished Fisheries

2003-02-19 | Gland, Switzerland - WWF yesterday warned in a new report that the global demand for fish feed is threatening already pressured wild fish stocks, and that the rapidly growing aquaculture industry could well be using all of the world’s fish oil and half of its fishmeal by 2010.

New research from the WWF report Food for thought: the use of marine resources in fish feed reveals that aquaculture, which includes both fish - mainly salmon, trout, tuna, sea bream or cod - and crustacean farming, currently consumes 70 per cent of the global production of fish oil and 34 per cent of total fishmeal. According to WWF, which has conservatively estimated that four kilograms of wild-caught fish are needed to produce one kilogram of farmed fish, the growing demand for fish oil and fish meal is having dramatic consequences on the stocks of several small pelagic species, such as pilchard or blue whiting.

WWF believes that further increase in the farming of species like trout and salmon cannot occur without immediate changes in their food sourcing, and is calling on government to develop and encourage alternative feed resources for the aquaculture industry, such as by-catch and offals from fishing and plant-based proteins. WWF also urges the aquaculture industry to demand sustainable sources of fish oil and fish feed.