FEED
A new take on FIFO Aquaculture produces more fish than it consumes, as a new model demonstrates. By Björn Kok, Wesley Malcorps, Richard Newton and Dave Little
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recent study from researchers at three UK universities (Cambridge, Lancaster and Liverpool) and the NGO Feedback Global argued that humans should be consuming small pelagic fish like sardines and anchovies instead of using them for marine ingredients (fishmeal and fish oil) in aquaculture and livestock feeds. It was argued that aquaculture would be imposing rather than relieving pressure on fish stocks, due to the use of marine ingredients. The “Fish In: Fish Out” (FIFO) ratio quantifies how much wild fish is used to produce farmed fish and is the principal metric used to measure the impact of aquaculture on wild fish stocks. Yet, the traditional FIFO metric fails to account for different sources of fishmeal and fish oil, such as fish by-products, which have a relatively lower impact on fish stocks than wild fish. The strategic utilisation of fish by-products in feed results in a more efficient use of valuable marine resources. The new proposed method “economic Fish In: Fish Out” (eFIFO) includes market factors (value) by applying economic allocation to the production of marine ingredients. This economic allocation reflects the socio-economic drivers for marine ingredient production. eFIFO achieves this by attributing higher value to ingredients that are more limited, and therefore have a higher economic value. In many existing FIFO calculations, the fish used for the production of fishmeal and the fish used for the production of fish oil are partially double counted, as the proportionate inclusion of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds is rarely the same as the relative yields from rendering. Different aquaculture species have varying requirements for the inclusion of fishmeal and fish oil, where production of some leads to spare fishmeal and others to spare fish oil compared to the yield. For example, the production of salmon uses relatively more fish oil, resulting in spare fishmeal that can be used for the production of other species. The eFIFO methodology works on the principle of “embodied fish” which is attributed based on the relative economic value of fish oil and fishmeal, and that of by-products compared to, e.g., fillets. Historically, the relatively higher price of fish oil leads to relatively
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higher allocation of “embodied fish” to fish oil compared to fishmeal using the eFIFO methodology. Species with high fish oil requirements, such as salmon, will therefore have a relatively higher eFIFO score. Similarly the economic value of by-products is used to attribute an amount of embodied fish to these by-products. As a result, the utilisation of by-products results in a lower eFIFO ratio. In this way, eFIFO represents the quantity of marine resources used and their economic value, providing feed producers with a sustainability metric that is more representative of the motivations and sustainability challenges facing the industry. With these principles in mind, the eFIFO method avoids double counting wild fish resources for aquaculture production. The eFIFO calculations show that efforts to reduce the dependency of aquaculture on marine resources by alternative feed ingredients have significantly improved the efficient utilisation of marine resources. From a global industry perspective, results show that almost all aquaculture species groups assessed are net producers of fish, while farm-raised salmon and trout are net neutral, producing as much fish biomass as consumed. Of the species groups analysed in Above: Should anchovies this research, only the production of eel is a be used for fish and net consumer of fish.
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Adoption of eFIFO would enable policy makers … to make better informed choices
A toolkit to assess sustainability The eFIFO score will also be useful in combination with Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which is used to measure the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life
animal feed? Opposite: Fish oil fetches a higher price than fishmeal
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06/06/2022 14:52:21