This article authored by Dr Brett Glencross was first published in International Aquafeed Magazine, September 2024

One of the notable observations in the marine ingredients sector over the past year has been the records set for prices for fish oil. The premium grades were, at their peak in late 2023/early 2024, achieving prices around USD$12,000 per tonne, though aquagrade feed oils were substantially lower. This price increase represented more than a five-fold increase in value compared to just a few years ago. Part of the driver for that price increase was the contraction in supply that occurred due to the El Niño phenomenon off the coast of Peru in 2023, which was critical as Peru supplies around 20% of the world’s omega-3 volume. However, like most economic supply-and-demand responses it was the maintenance of the demand for the oils that completed the price push. So, what was driving that demand?

A major new review on the supply, demand and nutritional qualities of long-chain omega-3 resources for aquaculture was recently published in the world’s number one ranked journal in fisheries sciences, Reviews in Fisheries and Aquaculture Science [https://doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2024.2388563]. The review authored by some of the world’s leading scientists in the omega-3 science area synthesises the latest findings on omega-3 science in the aquaculture, and it also considers what the current resource supplies are, what potential there is for increased production and where that might come from. Importantly, it also provides up-to-date recommendations on the requirements for many of the key aquaculture species as an outcome from that assessment of the latest findings.

Some key highlights that the review provides include the observation that the long-term global production of fish oil and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids has been remarkably stable for the past twenty years. Recent trends also show that the volumes are actually growing (albeit slowly), with part of this is being driven by growth in the by-product oils sector from both wild capture and aquaculture production, but algal oils are also now notable in their contribution.

In terms of demand, aquaculture uses around 74% of total production of fish oils, with salmon aquaculture using about 44% of total production. Though both marine fish and shrimp aquaculture are significant users as well. Of equal scale in demand to marine fish and shrimp, and faster growing, has been the use of fish oils for direct human consumption. The review also highlights the importance of a quantitative assessment of requirements, and the various aspects in which we need to approach this, with definitive recommendations for a range of aquaculture species. We now know that requirements for these nutrients are relative to their total supply (like the way amino acid requirements work). Notably, there has been a lot of work in the past twenty years that attempt to look at various qualitative issues with fatty acids, but without some deferral to quantitative aspects the qualitative work doesn’t deliver much of practical value. But as mentioned at the outset, this all comes back to understanding the value of omega-3 oils.