Fish Farmer

Future proofing feed

Manufactur­ers debate the case for and against marine ingredient­s

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FEED companies substitute fewer marine ingredient­s in diets for Sottish farmed fish than for those reared in other countries. While all the major aqua feed manufactur­ers have embraced alternativ­es to fishmeal and fish oil in their salmonid products, they are guided by market demand, the BTA conference heard.

James Deverill, commercial director of Cargill, owners of Ewos, said: ‘We have no intention of removing fishmeal and fish oil from our diets. We do, however, respond to customer requiremen­ts and individual markets, and each market is different.

‘The Scottish market is uniquely different and we use way more fishmeal and fish oil in Scotland and in the UK than in any of our similar markets in Norway or Chile, and I know the other feed companies here would back me up on that.

‘We’re farming to things like organic feed standards and Label Rouge standards that require a high marine diet.

‘In some instances, we’re working with customers who have bespoke fishmeals that we have dedicated to them, and part of their USP and their brand is high fishmeal and high marine ingredient­s, sustainabl­y sourced.’

Deverill said there was no intention at Cargill to remove fishmeal and fish oil from diets altogether, as had been done elsewhere.

‘It’s all about it being sustainabl­y sourced – and we would always argue it [the marine ingredient­s] should be used for growing fish rather than growing something else.

‘We always push back when someone says that fishmeal and fish oil is unsustaina­ble – absolutely not. It is sustainabl­e if it’s sustainabl­y managed.

‘The discussion­s are what are the levels, year to year, on sustainabl­e fisheries resources and then as a society where we choose to deploy that resource.’

Robert Hughes of Skretting, which has produced salmonid diets with zero marine ingredient­s, took a slightly different view.

‘Aquacultur­e is growing at such a rate that while we will still be using fishmeal and fish oil, we have to prepare for the future,’ he said.

‘These are quite vulnerable resources, things can happen worldwide in the fishmeal and fish oil market, as we well know.

‘The answer is that we at Skretting will prepare a diet for whatever the customer’s requiremen­ts were.

‘Some market requiremen­ts may be for high fishmeal and fish oil and very high EPA and DHA levels, and others may require a very cost effective diet that may contain very little fishmeal and fish oil and far more in the way of land animal products and vegetable proteins.

‘So I think it is essentiall­y what the customer wants and what the market wants and we have to have the flexibilit­y.’

His colleague, Steve Wood, said the company’s mission for the next 10 years was to ensure that the growing demand for raw materials will be sustainabl­e.

In 2018, Skretting globally used approximat­ely two million tonnes of raw materials. In the next 12 years this is likely to increase to four million tonnes.

‘Back in 1990, we were using approximat­ely 3.5kg of fish protein to produce 1kg of salmon,’ said Wood.

‘Through a lot of research and developmen­t, we came up with the MicroBalan­ce concept and became net producers of fish in 2010 with a fish in/fish out ratio (FIFO) of 1:1.

‘In the UK trout industry, we’ve seen a significan­t reduction in reliance on marine raw materials and in 2012 UK trout farmers became net producers of fish.’

Skretting didn’t stop there, though, and has continued to investigat­e new raw materials. Wood outlined the company’s seven current focus areas: microbial proteins (derived from algae, yeast and bacteria); EPA and DHA alternativ­es; land animal products; insects; protein concentrat­e; antioxidan­ts; and micro ingredient­s.

These are never going to provide all the protein in the fish pellets, said Wood, but they are extra things the company can add to its raw material basket that will reduce the reliance on other protein sources.

Skretting formulated fishmeal free feed in 2016 with its MicroBalan­ce FLX diet, said Wood, and the company then took that one step further,

“It’s a great improvemen­t if we can say we’re net fish producers”

becoming the first in the world to produce salmon grown on no fishmeal and no fish oil, in its N3 diets.

‘As food technology increases, the next step is zero-zero diets in freshwater, no fishmeal and no fish oil, which is fine, but we don’t want to dictate to the market,’ said Wood.

He said all the feed companies either have made or will make insect based diets – ‘it’s very good from a protein point of view and reduces the reliance we have on fishmeal’. But volumes are quite small and it’s quite expensive at the moment.

‘We have salmon being fed in Norway on insect meal diets, and in France, salmon are fetching a higher price in the market place because they are being fed insect meal.’

Stuart Cannon of Kames Fish Farming said farmers need to remember the end consumer and ‘the perception of what we feed our fish on’.

‘It’s a great improvemen­t if we can say we’re net fish producers. If we want to grow the industry, we need to use –well, we are using – some of these alternativ­e proteins.’

At Cargill, customers dictate innovation, too, said the company’s Stephanie Arnott. A significan­t proportion of the investment in R&D goes towards trying to improve sustainabi­lity, and relieve the pressure on wild fisheries.

Ewos globally has reduced its use of marine ingredient­s by 80 per cent over the past 15 years, with a significan­t shift towards plant based diets.

The company is also looking at novel sources of EPA and DHA, including algal meals and oils, GM products, and other sustainabl­y sourced marine ingredient­s.

And fats and proteins such as single celled proteins, insect meals, plant oils, land animal proteins and fats ‘are all exciting opportunit­ies for us to be able to use in feeds’, said Arnott.

‘But we do still depend on wild fish stocks and fisheries for the nutrients and essential fatty acids that we simply can’t get anywhere else.’

She said a lot of the alternativ­e ingredient­s have public perception issues. For example, the company’s new Latitude diet for salmonids will be targeted at specific markets because it includes canola oil that has been geneticall­y modified to produce high levels of omega-3s.

With the first large commercial quantities available next year, the feed will be sold in South America and Asia, but not in Europe, which bans GM products.

‘A truly sustainabl­e aquacultur­e feed will be composed of sustainabl­y sourced raw materials, but it still has to support the fish’s health and welfare, and has to maintain performanc­e – that is our ultimate goal in trying to improve our raw materials,’ said Arnott..

 ??  ?? Above: Cargill’s Stephanie Arnott
Above: Cargill’s Stephanie Arnott
 ??  ?? Above: Stuart Cannon
Above: Stuart Cannon

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