Aquaculture feeds often contain fishmeal and fish oil that have been processed from wild-caught fish. These fisheries are sometimes referred to as ‘reduction fisheries’, where all catch is delivered to a factory for processing.
It is our ambition that all fishmeal and fish oil from trimmings must be able to be traced back to the origin of fishery and species of fish
The small pelagic fish species caught for this purpose are commonly known as ‘forage fish’, and are often small, short-lived species like sardine, anchovy and herring that occupy a low trophic level (LTL) in the marine ecosystem. Due to their specific population biology and dynamics, these species are frequently resilient to fishing pressure if catch is well managed, but overfishing is always a possibility without effective controls.
In some regions these species are important for direct human consumption. Through our sustainability programme, we strive to ensure that marine feed ingredients come from sustainable sources in the short- and long-term. We actively work to align industry incentives to support processes that will lead to improved fisheries management.
In addition to the use of wild-caught fish, the processing of fish for human consumption gives rise to by-product that is not used in the final seafood product. These offcuts generated after processing are valuable as a raw material from which fishmeal and fish oil is often produced, and it is estimated that roughly a third of fishmeal produced is made from seafood by-product from fish for human consumption.
The use of by-products is increasing as more whole fish are used for direct human consumption, and society becomes more successful at collecting the material and fuelling the bioeconomy.
While a large amount of by-products used to produce fishmeal and fish oil comes from wild capture fish processing for human consumption, an increasing amount comes from the by-products of aquaculture processing. Trimmings are collected from seafood processing plants, from processing at retailers, processing plants in aquaculture, processing on board fishing vessels and more.
In 2019, 27% of fishmeal and fish oil in Skretting originated from trimmings and by-products. The majority of these by-products came from wild fisheries, but we see an increase in by-products from processing of farmed species like salmon, tilapia and shrimp.
The use of by-products is increasing as more whole fish are used for direct human consumption, and society becomes more successful at collecting the material and fuelling the bioeconomy.
This table shows the main fisheries from which we purchase some of our fishmeal and fish oil. The exact proportion of fishmeal and fish oil purchased from these fisheries will vary by country, and can vary over time.
The information provided below is adopted from the report by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership “Reduction Fisheries: SFP Fisheries Sustainability. Overview 2019”
Click here to view the report by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Fishmeal and fish oil from forage fish are both finite resources that are shared across a range of users with increasing demands, from direct human consumption to aquaculture to pig and poultry production.
