Marine ingredients in feed -- namely fishmeal and fish oil -- are here to stay, and the conversation needs to shift from talking about replacements to how to work together with novel ingredients, Enrico Bachis, market research director at IFFO, told IntraFish.
“I do not like the term 'alternatives' as I consider it to be misleading," he said. “There is a lot of talk of replacing marine ingredients in feed but, as the FAO supports, these ingredients are and probably always will be best for the job.”
The FAO, Bachis noted, has said fishmeal and fish oil "are still considered the most nutritious and most digestible ingredients for farmed fish, as well as the major source of omega-3 fatty acids."
Currently, aquaculture accounts for more than 70 percent of the total annual consumption of both fishmeal and fish oil, so the future demand for marine ingredients is largely related to the future of aquaculture, said Bachis.
In the FAO’s latest SOFIA 2020 report, global annual aquaculture output is expected to grow to 110 million metric tons by 2030, an increase of over 25 million metric tons compared with 2018.
And, according to different academic studies and industry surveys, by 2025 the world should be able to produce between 60 and 70 million metric tons of aquaculture feed to keep up with this growth.
Defiying logic
Achieving aquaculture production goals in a sustainable manner will not be easy, said Bachis, given that all environmental impacts will need to be assessed in a similar way, whether for marine ingredients or vegetable components with their impacts on land and biodiversity.
"The idea that certain ingredients, and in particular marine ingredients -- half of which are certified under responsible sourcing schemes -- should be replaced by others which can’t claim the same level of certification defies the logic of making the most out of the available raw material," said Bachis.
This is something echoed recently by the CEO of Cermaq, who is also calling for a more nuanced debate on the use of alternative ingredients in feed, questioning the sustainability credentials of some, in particular grasshopper meal.
What's more, the numbers simply do not add up, said Bachis.
By 2025 novel ingredients are expected to provide between 100,000 and 600,000 additional metric tons of feed ingredients, either in the form of bacterial or insect protein.
"That means that even the most optimistic production scale of novel feed ingredients would struggle to replace the 3.5 million metric tons of fishmeal used every year within the aqua sector,” said Bachis.
He concedes though, that while marine ingredients’ production and consumption are not projected to decline for the time being, they will certainly be used more and more as strategic ingredients in feed diets made of a bigger variety of feed components.
“We are all expecting aquaculture to grow, and we will need a lot of additional feed to meet this growth," Bachis added. "But you will struggle to find another feed ingredient that offers the same benefits as fishmeal and fish oil."
Nevertheless, IFFO welcomes all additional feed ingredients that can be used alongside marine ingredients.
“We are not concerned by any new products, as we will still be there," said Bachis. “Whether in 10 years or 20 years, what is certain is there will be a huge need for feed and also marine ingredients.”
Whatever the evolution of the market, marine ingredients cannot be replaced, and an alternative product is simply “non-existent," said Bachis.
“The world needs us," he said. "There are not enough feed ingredients out there that have the same qualities as fishmeal and fish oil.”
Why is there even a discussion?
While Bachis does not comprehend why there is even a discussion around replacing marine ingredients he understands even less the argument questioning the sustainability of the product.
“It makes no sense,” he said. “We are really leading the field in terms of certification and we are more sustainable than most."
Take soy, Bachis noted, which is an effective protein concentrate and a useful feed ingredient. Only 2 percent of soy production is currently certified sustainable, compared with 50 percent of fishmeal production.
Sustainable resource
According to the SOFIA report, the harvest of wild fish in the next decade should remain stable at around 96 million metric tons per year, ensuring a steady flow of raw material for reduction.
The reason behind the positive forecast lies in the fact that stocks of certain species have been recovering in recent years thanks to improved resource management. Something that seems particularly true for reduction fisheries, said Bachis.
In 2019, a review of the management of the leading European and Latin American fisheries used for fishmeal and fish oil carried out by conservation NGO Sustainable Fisheries Partnership concluded 88 percent of the volume comes from fisheries that are at least “reasonably well-managed."
The difficulty here, however, is explaining or communicating this to the ultimate consumer of farmed fish.
“The reasoning must be complete, it is not just about fishing," he said. "That is not how you evaluate the sustainability of a product.”
Not going anywhere
The FAO expects the global supply of fishmeal and fish oil to slightly improve over the next decade, although a smaller percentage will come from wild whole fish and more from fish waste and byproducts from the processing industry.
In 2030, around 30 percent of the world’s fishmeal is expected to be produced from trimmings compared with 22 percent in 2018, while for fish oil the proportion should rise from the current 40 percent to 45 percent.
"This adds evidence to the fact that the marine ingredients’ supply is sustainable and will continue to support land animal and fish farming around the world," said Bachis.
IFFO’s own expectation for the medium term remains that of a total average annual supply of 5 million metric tons of fishmeal and 1 million metric tons of fish oil, with ups and downs due to environmental conditions such as El Niño.
In terms of marine ingredients, the expected growth of the global aquaculture industry means that although inclusion rates might continue to decrease, and fishmeal and fish oil used more and more as strategic ingredients rather than commodities, there will continue to be a high need for marine ingredients.
"So we still have a place in the future, and in fact we have projections for growth," said Bachis.
"We are very patient and want to explain these facts to everybody concerned about the importance of marine ingredients in aquafeed. Hopefully, we will be able to work together with the other ingredient producers one day."
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IFFO: Notion of replacing marine ingredients in feed 'defies logic' - IntraFish
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