Responsible feed: Integral to seafood farming’s future

With the population estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050, and with wild-caught fisheries at capacity, the importance of seafood farming, including species that are fed, continues to grow.

Overall, aquaculture can be a good nutritional and environmental alternative compared to the production of meats such as beef, pork and chicken¹ – which are all fed as well, using many of the same ingredients as are found in aquafeed.

What are the ingredients used in feed and what are the main issues?

There can be up to 50 ingredients in each feed product. This typically includes ingredients from marine, plant, land animal proteins and alternative sources, which each have their own supply chains with impacts and potential risks.

Spotlight on: Marine ingredients

How do you responsibly manage the use of wild-caught fish in aquafeed?

It is often claimed that all fisheries supplying the aquafeed industry are a severe threat to food security and contribute towards a collapse of marine life…

Wild-caught fish used as an ingredient in aquaculture feeds can be a responsible and renewable resource if managed well. That’s why ASC’s approach is to:

• incentivise responsible management of reduction fisheries;
• address sustainability concerns around overfishing and its impact on marine ecosystems;
• use market mechanisms to drive up the demand for improvement.

How much wild-caught fish is needed to feed ASC farmed species?

It is often claimed that feeding farmed species requires a huge volume of wild-caught fish and is an inefficient use of a high-quality protein source…

The ASC Farm Standard uses both Forage Fish Dependency Ratios (FFDR) for fishmeal (FFDRm) and fish oil (FFDRo) as different farmed fish species will use varying amounts of both these types of marine ingredients. FFDR is the amount of wild-caught fish used to produce the amounts of fishmeal and fish oil required.

In the ASC Farm Standard, the FFDR is calculated as follows:

• FFDRm = (% fish meal in feed from forage fisheries) × (eFCR) / 22.2 or 24.0, depending on source of fish
• FFDRo = (% fish oil in feed from forage fisheries) × (eFCR) / 5.0 or 7.0, depending on source of fish

The percentages of fishmeal and fish oil exclude meal and oil derived from fishery by-products, as the FFDR is intended to be a calculation of direct dependency on wild fisheries. Only fishmeal and fish oil that is derived directly from a pelagic fishery (e.g., anchoveta) or fisheries where the catch is directly reduced (such as krill or blue whiting) is to be included in the calculation of the FFDR.

An alternative metric that is used in the industry is the Fish In:Fish Out (FIFO) ratio, which measures the amounts of fishmeal and fish oil used to produce one weight equivalent of farmed fish back to wild fish weight equivalents. FIFO is often used as simplified environmental benchmark and although it remains an important metric, it has limitations². For example, FIFO doesn’t distinguish between by-products and reduction fishery sources.

While these metrics are useful, they cannot be used as the signifier of ‘sustainable feed’ without also looking at other feed ingredients. That is why we developed the ASC Feed Standard to place requirements on the origin and production practices of all ingredients, including marine, plant and other ingredients.

Why is the fish caught for marine ingredients not used to feed local communities?

It is often claimed that wild-caught fish used as ingredients for aquafeed should be prioritised for human consumption in local communities, particularly in Western Africa…

It is outside of the scope of ASC to assess whether a fish stock is used for aquaculture feed or human consumption. The ASC Feed Standard  makes it transparent from which fisheries marine ingredients are being sourced, to ensure they come from a responsibly managed source.

ASC certified feed mills proactively engage with their local communities to identify, avoid or mitigate significant negative social impacts resulting from their activities. They must have a grievance procedure accessible and applicable to the local community and ensure that they do not restrict or negatively affect community and community members’ rights to food security and access to resources.

The suppliers – e.g., fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) factory – of the feed mill must also sign up to a code of conduct which has the same provisions regarding community engagement.

Spotlight on: Plant ingredients

Why focus on plant ingredients and how does ASC ensure responsible sourcing across different plant ingredient supply chains?

It is often thought that marine ingredients are the primary contributor of aquafeed’s environmental and social impacts, and not the production of plant-based raw materials…

“Our focus is that all ingredients come from responsible sources.”

The ASC Feed Standard is the first standard to take into consideration the impacts created across all key ingredient groups and across the entire ingredient supply chain. This includes all major agriculture crops such as wheat, corn and canola, in addition to soy and palm oil, plus marine ingredients.

For terrestrial plant ingredients, just like marine ingredients, ASC certified feed mills are required to record and report all ingredients that make up over 1% of the annual volume purchased and will need to take steps to ensure they have been responsibly sourced. Similarly, feed mills must also work and commit towards ensuring their supply chains become free from risks of deforestation or land conversion – both legal and illegal.

How do the impacts of plant ingredients affect the carbon footprint of farmed species?

It is often claimed the carbon footprint of wild-caught seafood is vastly less than that of farmed species…
A large portion of farmed salmon’s carbon footprint comes from deforestation in the production of soy and land conversion in the production of other plant-based feed ingredients.

The CO2e emissions of farmed-raised salmon are estimated to be 5.1kg CO2e per kilo of food (before transport) whereas wild-caught salmon generates 4.9kg of CO2e per kilo³.

The ASC Feed Standard addresses this issue, imposing strict requirements on the sourcing of feed ingredients and helping to reduce deforestation and land conversion at the start of the supply chain.

Moreover, ASC certified feed mills will have to record and report their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and work to improve energy efficiency, use of renewables, and water usage.