What’s the alternative to fish meal in fish feed?
A company in down town Vancouver, British Columbia is working on a project where the mass production of maggots from a certain fly species is used as a substitute for raw materials in fish feed usually obtained from South American fisheries for pelagic species like anchoveta and horse mackerel. While the fisheries for these Peruvian and Chilean fish stocks are generally considered sustainable by independent observers, there is a push on for more of these resources to be utilized for human food purposes. For this and other reasons, the price of fish meal has recently jumped, and other alternatives are being pursued for freshwater reared finfish (mainly catfish, tilapia and rainbow trout) as this article by Cindy Snyder of Ag Weekly explains;
Increasing demand and environmental disasters are pushing the price of a key ingredient in aquaculture diets higher. As demand for aquaculture products worldwide has increased and Asian - particularly Chinese - farmers have increased production to meet that growing demand, the demand for fish meal has also increased. By January, demand was outpacing supply and prices had topped $1,000 (~€ 816) per ton, up from $800 and $900 in June 2009. After Chile experienced a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in late February 20 to 30 percent of the country's fish meal production capability was destroyed. U.S. fish meal prices jumped to just under $1,200 to $1,500 a ton by mid-March. And then a deep water oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and crude oil began spewing into the one of the world's most productive Menhaden fisheries. The Gulf of Mexico accounts for 10 to 15 percent of the world's fish meal production. While the largest Menhaden processor in the Gulf of Mexico claims it is within its five-year averages for catch and the fishery remains open, buyers panicked and sent fish meal prices soaring. Ron Hardy, director of the University of Idaho Fish Culture Experiment Station at Hagerman, said fear that fish meal won't be available is pushing prices higher. He attributes half the price increase to the earthquake in Chile and the oil spill in the Gulf, and the rest to increased demand from China. Traders don't expect to see U.S. fish meal prices drop below $1,000 per ton again.
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FINDING ALTERNATIVES "All of these factors affecting feed prices are out of your control," Rick Barrows told aquaculture producers during the Idaho Aquaculture Association's annual meeting in Twin Falls in mid-June. Barrows is a nutritionist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and is based at both Bozeman, Mont., and Hagerman, Idaho. He has led efforts to find alternative protein sources for fish diets for many years.
Locally grown barley continues to be one of the most promising alternatives. Barley meal, 19.55 percent protein, is available, but Barrows is more excited about barley protein concentrate that is 55 percent protein. He likes barley protein concentrate because it does not contain anti-nutrients that either harm fish growth or make the product unpalatable to fish. However, producers are still waiting for a processing plant to be built in Idaho. Once barley protein concentrate is commercially available, Barrows believes locally grown barley could replace up to 45 percent of fish diets. Corn protein concentrate is commercially available and a good protein source, but pigment must also be fed to keep the filets from turning brown. Soybean meal also has potential but Barrows calls it the "poster child for anti-nutrients." Including soybean meal can lead to enteritis in fish, but breeders are working on soybean varieties with fewer anti-nutrients that may offer greater potential for fish diets. One of the problems with feeding grain based diets is that the fish manure is looser than when fed diets containing animal byproducts. Another problem is that diets must be supplemented with specific minerals and vitamins that animal-based proteins carry but plant proteins do not. Recent feeding trials at Hagerman demonstrated that fish grew equally well on the ARS-plant based diet when it was properly formulated as fish fed a diet where poultry byproducts were used to replace fish meal or those fed a traditional fish meal based diet. "All the formulas were more expensive than the reference (fish meal) diet, but it proves that you can go fish meal-free and still get good weight gain," Barrows said.
