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Ref:548/03 |
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UNITED KINGDOM
- Feb 18, 2003 |
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WWF Slams Fish
Farm Sector Over Feed Sources |
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Fish Farming Today
Fish Farming Today
Published on: February 18, 2003
WWF, the conservation
organisation, today claimed in a new report that the global
demand for fish feed is threatening already pressured wild
fish stocks, and that the rapidly growing aquaculture
industry could well be using all of the world’s fish oil and
half of its fishmeal by 2010. |
Fish farmers under renewed
pressure
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organization says its research reveals that
aquaculture, which includes both fish - mainly
salmon, trout, tuna, sea bream or cod - and
crustacean farming, currently consumes 70 per cent
of the global production of fish oil and 34 per cent
of total fishmeal. According to WWF, which has
“conservatively” estimated that four kilograms of
wild-caught fish are needed to produce one kilogram
of farmed fish, the growing demand for fish oil and
fish meal is having dramatic consequences on the
stocks of several small pelagic species, such as
pilchard or blue whiting. WWF says it believes that
further increase in the farming of species like
trout and salmon cannot occur without immediate
changes in their food sourcing, and is calling on
government to develop and encourage alternative feed
resources for the aquaculture industry, such as
by-catch and offals from fishing and plant-based
proteins. WWF also urges the aquaculture industry to
demand sustainable sources of fish oil and fish
feed. "In its
current state, aquaculture is contributing to an
increased pressure on already depleting fish
stocks," said Dr. Simon Cripps, Director of WWF’s
Endangered Seas Programme. |
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