Feed giants join GSI

By formalizing their partnership, which will be effective in a few weeks, the GSI salmon farmers and feed companies have committed to work together to accelerate progress towards ever increasing standards of sustainability for the farmed salmon industry, and to driving progressive innovation in the feed sector.

Speaking to Salmonexpert at Aquavision today, Steven Rafferty, MD of Skretting’s salmon feed division, explained: “Feed producers play an important role in salmon farming industry. I think it is important that we join this initiative to address challenges together, like diversification of marine ingredients in fish feed. I think this reinforces the need to work together as an industry. In the past, the Chilean and Norwegian industries were working apart, this will help unite and improve local policies and the value chain”.

“Ensuring future sustainability in the sourcing of our feed ingredients is a key focus area for the GSI, and it makes sense to work closely with Biomar, Cargill, and Skretting who are highly valued members of our supply chain and share our vision of improved industry sustainability,” Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO Marine Harvest and Co-Chair of the GSI Feed Taskforce, said in a press release. “By having them join the GSI as Associate Members, it allows us to collaborate on important issues, to share knowledge and expertise, and overall better position us to make the progress needed”.

Farmed salmon is already the global leader in feed conversion ratios for animal protein production and the sector has made great progress in reducing its dependency upon wild fish, so far achieving a reduced fish-in-fish-out ratio of over 75% since the early days of the industry. However, GSI members are insistent that, in matters of sustainability, ‘very good’ is still not good enough. Through activities in the GSI Feed and Nutrition Taskforce, both the GSI members and the new Associate Members will be working together to identify and implement new approaches to further improve these figures.

One aspect of these new approaches is to work with potential suppliers of novel oils rich in DHA and EPA, to help supplement current fish oil use and to use the partnership with the feed companies to help integrate these novel oils into the supply chain as soon as possible.

“The feed tender initiated by the GSI last year identified a number of viable sources of novel oils for salmon feed, and it has sent a strong market signal that there is clear demand and need for such resources,” added Einar Wathne, President of Cargill Animal Nutrition and co-chair of the GSI Feed Taskforce. “We now plan to use the commercial relations we hold as feed companies to propose opportunities for the integration of these novel oils”.

The GSI is pleased to welcome the industry feed companies to join them in their efforts, and is optimistic that by working together they can have a greater impact on shaping the future of the farmed salmon sector.