i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
News
i i i i i i i i i i
Petter Johannessen
T
Marine ingredients: By and for people
"
he aquaculture sector is a net producer of proteins through its use of marine ingredients, mainly fishmeal and fish oil. It already plays and will continue to play a pivotal role in feeding a growing population. The role that the marine ingredients industry has in the economy and in communities should not be overlooked either. The COVID-19 pandemic offered a clear demonstration of the many positive initiatives created by the sector. Aquaculture’ s contribution to food security throughout the world is based on the marine ingredients’ multiplier effect, which allows 1kg wild fish to give 4.5kg farmed fish across global production systems. Therefore, fish which do not have a strong food market are converted into 4.5 times the volume of fish that people do want to eat. Not only nutritional benefits are multiplied: the ‘multiplier effect’ is a well-established economic concept which refers to value creation in terms of employment. The employment multiplier measures the amount of direct, indirect and induced jobs created (or lost) in a specific industry. Seafish UK, the public body that represents the UK seafood industry, looked at other jobs that the fishing and seafood processing industry supports in a report entitled ‘The economic impacts of the UK sea fishing and fish processing sectors: An input-output analysis’1. It is estimated that one employee in the pelagic catching sector supports 5.6 jobs in the wider UK economy and one employee in the pelagic processing sector supports 5.9 jobs in wider UK economy. “When you consider that the pelagic fleet employs around 300 fishermen, and pelagic processing sector about 2,000 employees, then the figures really begin to stack-up”, Ian Gatt, Chairman of the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group, explains in an interview with The Scottsman, referring to mackerel and herring as premium products requiring sophisticated technologies that need maintenance and servicing. Official statistics to be found in the FAO’s The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (2020), indicate that 59.5 million
people were engaged (on a full-time, part-time or occasional basis) in the primary sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2018 – “20.5 million people in aquaculture and 39.0 million in fisheries, a slight increase from 2016”. The marine ingredients industry not only invests locally but also establishes local partnerships with local companies and communities. It gets involved in community development projects and supports social inclusion in fisheries areas. Let’s focus on the Peruvian case, as one of the many countries where the industry is involved in partnerships with local communities. Peru is the world’s largest producer of fishmeal and one of the largest producers of fish oil. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peruvian fishmeal and fish oil industry has been working in a coordinated way with public institutions in Peru to provide the necessary support. Peruvian processing facilities were shut down as a consequence of national lockdown measures implemented on March 16th and lifted on May 11th. The fishing season officially started on May 13th in the North-Centre of Peru and, in the face of the new context, the industry designed strict biosecurity protocols both for the maintenance stage and for the operation of the fleet and plant. This required an investment of more than 41.3 million soles (the Peruvian currency, equivalent to UK £9.11 million) and made the fishing sector a benchmark for other industries in the implementation of safety protocols. Furthermore, the industry hired the international certification company SGS Peru, in order for them to audit all companies producing marine ingredients, members of the National Fishery Society (SNP) and, therefore, ensure compliance with all safety protocols. Providing accommodation for employees to comply with the quarantine periods prior to boarding, purchasing personal protective equipment, transferring staff members securely to workplaces were, among others, some of the many measures that were put in place when the pandemic started spreading. Nutritional and psychological assistance programs have been set up, loans have been granted and previous loan debts frozen. Beyond investments in the welfare of staff members and in the development of companies’ equipment, local communities also benefited from the industry’s commitment. Donations were made by the Peruvian industry to contribute to the purchase of medical equipment.
Petter Martin Johannessen joined IFFO in 2018 as Director General. He was previously Global Business Director for Risk Management and Sourcing at Cargill Aqua Nutrition and before that Supply Chain Director and Global Sourcing and Purchasing lead at EWOS Group. Before joining the aquafeed and marine ingredients industry, he worked at PwC (Consulting and large international process industry businesses branch). He holds a Diploma in International Marketing and a degree in Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Management. 12 | October 2020 - International Aquafeed