At the 2023 North Atlantic Seafood Forum held in Bergen from 7 to 9 March, feed was not a blind spot, quite the contrary. The Norwegian environmental foundation, Bellona, made it clear : based on the fact that “our food system accounts for 1/3 of the climate footprint, 70% of fresh water use and 80% of deforestation, we have to ask ourselves what salmon should eat”.
Environmental impacts assessment
Never was the link between feed and food systems so evident: Biomar’s “better feed, better food” presentation highlighted the central role that feed plays in the company’s efforts to support food production while reducing carbon emissions. “It all starts with the feed” said Carlos Díaz, “97% of our emissions are in scope 3. The efforts we did in the past to reduce our reliance on fishmeal and fish oil have increased our feed’s carbon footprint”. The future looks to more byproducts (circular feed), single cell protein (restorative feed), low trophic species.
Sustainability is much more than carbon footprint. “We need to address ingredients with a more holistic angle. Greenhouse gases calculation is an area where we can measure across all ingredients. Cargill aims at having aquaculture farmers achieve a 30% reduction of their seafood carbon footprint. It’s a collaborative performance. There are only 6 crop cycles now to 2030.” Cargill‘s Dave Robb insisted.
With 94% of Skretting’s emissions coming from feed, supplier engagement and more primary data are instrumental: 249 suppliers make up 80% of our scope 3, Jorge Díaz Salinas explained.
LCA is the most accepted method to assess the range of environmental effects assignable to products and services. “LCA data will increasingly be part of formulation constraints” stated IFFO’s Brett Glencross. Therefore, IFFO has initiated a data in project based on primary data collection together with the Global Lifecycle Assessment Institute.
Based on current data available, all ingredients have sustainability trade offs. Across the feed sector, including all feed ingredients, there is an urgent need for standardised assessments according to the EU’s agreed PEFCR rules and for reporting the independently representative data.
Shrimp and salmon : driving FMFO consumption
Shrimp and salmon are the trade leaders in seafood according to Rabobank, with Ecuador having become the champion of shrimp exports. China’s leading seafood supplier is Ecuador followed by Russia and Vietnam. As of 2022 China has become a new net importer and Norway the first net seafood exporter, Ecuador ranking second.
Marine omega3 PUFA are core to the reputation of salmon. While it is well established that fish oil is the main source for these, supply of EPA and DHA, the essential fatty acids, has been a major concern recently, as highlighted by Nofima: “essential fatty acids in salmon diets have been diluted by vegetable oils (rapeseed mainly). New research have suggested higher requirement levels for normal physiology welfare and quality of salmon. Further dilution is not an option”.
The omega3 gap
“We are facing an omega3 crunch” said Cargill.
Fishmeal and fish oil remain key ingredients for fish nutrition, with up to one third of fish oil consisting of EPA and DHA. Fish oil supply being limited to 1.2 million mt a year, the omega3 gap needs to be closed using additional ingredients.
While Veramaris and Corbion both presented algal oil’s properties based on essential fatty acids, Nofima discussed high omega3 canola oil : a genetically modified oil that mainly contains DHA.
Market trends
IFFO presented the 2022 market trends: almost 90% of the total fishmeal consumed worldwide in 2021 was used by the aquaculture sector. Pet food is the fastest growing sector among the consumers of marine ingredients (i.e., around 190,000 Mt of fishmeal and 70,000 Mt of fish oil per year), although only premium dry pet food is using them.
70% of fish oil is used by the aquaculture sector. With an estimated annual consumption of 175,000 Mt, direct human consumption through omega-3 supplements and EPA-DHA based medicines is a growing market, up by 5% between 2021 and 2022.
Circularity is not new in the marine ingredients industry but is gaining momentum: 34% of the raw material used for reduction came from by-products in 2021.
Fishmeal 2022 production was lower compared with previous years: it ended up short of 4.8 M mt due to reduced landings in Peru. Fish oil supply on the contrary remains stable at around 1.1-1.2 million Mt.
Steady production is expected in 2023 with a rebound expected in fishmeal production.
9 March 2023