Fish as Feed Inputs for Aquaculture
Practices, Sustainability and Implications
Fish as Feed Inputs for Aquaculture – In 2006, global aquaculture production (including aquatic plants) was estimated at 85.9 million tons and valued at US$85.9 billion (FAO, 2008a)2. The average annual percentage growth rate (APR) of the aquaculture sector between 1990 and 2004 was 9.4 percent (FAO, 2008b)3 . In 2005, about 28.2 million tons or 44.8 percent of total global aquaculture production (excluding filter-feeding species such as silver carp and bighead carp) was dependent upon the direct use of feed, either a single dietary ingredient, farm-made aquafeed or industrially manufactured compound aquafeeds (FAO, 2007)
Fishmeal and fish oil are two major dietary ingredients used in compound aquafeeds. Total estimated compound aquafeed production in 2006 was about 25.4 million tons (Gill, 2007)5 and about 42 percent of this amount was consumed by non-filter feeding carps (Tacon and Hasan, 2007)6 .