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Extensive fish use in animal feed
A nine-year study by the University of British
Columbia has found that 90% of small fish caught in the world's oceans every
year such as anchovies, sardines and mackerel are processed to make fishmeal and
fish oil.
28 miliion tonnes consumed
According to the study,
factory-farmed fish, pigs and poultry are consuming 28 million tonnes of fish a
year, or roughly six times the amount of seafood eaten by Americans. The study's
findings, to be published next month, warn this use is unsustainable, given
current rates of global over fishing and increasing threats to global food
security.
University of Columbia senior researcher Jacqueline Alder said:
"Society should demand that we stop wasting these fish on farmed fish, pigs, and
poultry. Although feeds derived from soy and other land-based crops are
available and are used, fishmeal and fish oil have skyrocketed in popularity
because forage fish are easy to catch in large numbers and, hence, relatively
inexpensive."
Current figures show 46% of fishmeal and fish oil is used
as feed for aquaculture, 24% for pig feed and 22% for
poultry.
Global taskforce
The US-based Pew Institute
for Ocean Science Institute, which funded the research, plans to set up a global
taskforce of leading scientists and fisheries policy experts to find new ways of
making forage fisheries more sustainable.
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