NEWS
International research puts the dangers of Chinese aquaculture sector under expert gaze
T
he University of Stirling has contributed to a major inter national research project to investigate the dangerous pressure China’s aquaculture industry is putting on world fish supplies. In a new paper in the journal Science, the researchers offer the clearest picture to date of the enormous impact China is having on wild fisheries and present a more sustainable alternative to the current practice of using wild-caught fish to feed farm-raised fish. China is the world's leading producer, consumer and processor of fish, contributing onethird of the global supply. Its booming aquaculture industry relies increasingly on fishmeal made from wild-caught fish, a practice that depletes wild fish stocks and strains fragile ocean ecosystems. One of the researchers - the University of Stirling’s Wenbo Zhang, who conducted the research whilst completing his PhD at the University’s internationally renowned Institute of Aquaculture, said: “Our research shows that so significant is China’s impact on the world’s seafood supply chain – the future availability of global seafood will be dependent on how China develops its aquaculture and aqua feeds sector.” Fishing in the coastal waters of China is poorly regulated and often indiscriminant. The result is that large volumes of assorted “trash fish” – species that are undesirable for human consumption – end up in animal feeds, including in fishmeal that is fed to farm-raised fish. Many of the species of wild fish used for feeds have been fully exploited or overexploited, and reducing this demand will help protect fragile ocean ecosystems. One promising solution is to recycle the waste by-products from seafood processing plants across China. This waste,
which can be 30-70 percent of the incoming volume of fish, is often discarded or discharged into nearby waters. The team’s analysis shows that these processing wastes could satisfy between half and two-thirds of the current volume of fishmeal used by Chinese fish farmers, replacing much of the wild fish currently used in feeds. Zhang added: “Issues of quality and food safety are two possible obstacles to implementing this fish processing waste alternative because the waste is lower in protein than wild-caught fish and its use also raises concerns about contamination and disease transmission. “However, these concerns could be addressed by adding alternative plant-based protein sources to the fish feed, and through conducting fur ther research on the safety risks and introducing more efficient regulating of using fish processing waste.” Lead author, Ling Cao, a postdoctoral scholar at the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford Univer sity said: "This is a critical juncture for China. If the countr y makes proactive reforms to its aquaculture sector, like using fish processing wastes instead of wild fish, and generally reducing the amount of fishmeal in aquafeeds, it can greatly improve the sustainability of the industry. If not, the consequences for the entire global seafood supply chain are going to be really serious." Led by Stanford University, USA, the research brought together a consortium of scientists from around the world. Zhang worked with colleagues from Leiden University, the Netherlands; the University of Wollongong, Austr alia; Stockholm University, Sweden; The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden; and Shanghai Ocean University, China.
The importance of preserving aquaculture experience and insight
T
he Aquaculture Communications Group, LLC (ACG) has launched a project to capture the experience of pioneering and veter an aquaculture industry members in their own words while there is still time. Many of this generation are either retiring or have retired/ passed away. The modern global aquaculture industry is almost 50 years old, which means that those who were the early entrepreneurs are now approaching or have reached the end of their working lives. ACG believes it is of great impor tance to preser ve as much of these veter ans´ stories as possible before they are lost to history. It is important for current and future generations practicing aquaculture to be able to go back and learn from history in order to build an even better future. “Aquaculture is full of colorful and spirited, intelligent and persevering individuals that have learned so much from the school of hard knocks; we must capture their experience in their own words before it is too late” said Tor-Eddie Fossbakk, Founding Partner of ACG. To date ACG has interviewed and recorded the stor ies of nineteen pioneer s and industry veterans from around the world using high definition video and posted them on the ACG website. Common for most of the inter viewees is how the industry developed from low tech solutions, often engineered on site, to today´s high tech and sophisticated solutions. The early days of
January-February 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 9
“trial and error” have been replaced by solutions based on science, research and development. “We were interested in finding out how or why these people became interested in an industry most people had never heard of,” Mr. Fossbakk said. “For many of them the answer was shor t, Jacques Cousteau”. Their interest was bor n while watching Cousteau’s television shows while growing up. The project should also have a wider audience than just the global fish farming community. The general public will find many of the inter views and the stories being told of great interest to understand where the industr y star ted, how it has developed, and all the hard work that has been put into building it to what it is today. Mr. Fossbakk said that this first round of interviews was self-funded by ACG because the company strongly believe in the impor tance of the project. However, in order to continue recording interviews and bringing them not only to the aquaculture community but also to the general public, ACG needs financial assistance from corporations, institutions, organisations and individuals who share the vision. Learning from the people that helped build the modern aquaculture industr y will enable current and future generations to be better equipped to succeed. Please contact Mr. Fossbakk (tor-eddie@aquacomgroup. com) should you want to contribute to this very interesting and important project.