Sustainable Marine Fish Production for the Future Juan Pablo Lazo

Talk layout State of the world fisheries Sustainability in aquaculture Efficiency of producing fish as food Fish-in : fish-out concept Sustainable marine fish culture

Status of the World Fisheries What is our current fisheries production? How are our current fish stocks? How much is aquaculture producing?

World Capture Fisheries & Aquaculture Source: Sofia FAO, 2012

Status of the World Fisheries About 75 percent of the world's most valuable marine fish stocks are either fished to the limits or over-fished. Capture has not increased in the last 20 years At the same time world fish consumption has increased from 45 million MT in 1973 to more than 140 million in 2010 FAO estimates an additional 40 million MT of seafood will be required by 2030

Role of aquaculture In order to serve this increasing demand in the long run, sustainable alternatives have to be strengthened. The most promising of these is the aquaculture industry. With a growth rate of 8% per year since the 1980’s, aquaculture is the fastest growing food-production industry Today aquaculture accounts for almost 50% of the fish consumed globally, up from 9% in 1980.

World Capture Fisheries & Aquaculture Source: Sofia FAO, 2012

Fuente: FAO,2012

Sustainable aquaculture The sustainability of aquaculture is crucial if the industry is not to go the way of the fisheries sector It is a concept to guarantee a liveable environment for all people in the long term, encompassing at least three fundamental components of sustainable development: Preservation of a functional environment Economic welfare and Social equity SustainAqua, 2009

Conceptual sustainability SustainAqua, 2009

Producing food protein The efficiency with which various animals convert fed into weight gain varies widely Food conversion ratio (FCR = fed/weight gain) Who is more effective? Cattle Pigs Chicken Fish

Efficiency of fish growth Cattle in feedlots, require 7 kilograms of grain to produce a 1-kilogram gain in live weight For pork, the figure is close to 4 kilograms of grain per kilogram of weight gain For poultry it is just over 2, For farmed fish (such as salmonids, carps, tilapia, and catfish), it is less than 2

Energy efficiency Lovell, 2002 Kg diet/ Kg weight gain FCR Protein (g) Energy (Kcal) Kcal/ g protein Species Per Kg diet Per Kg gain Trout 1.5 350 525 3000 4500 8.57 Catfish 1.8 300 480 3420 5472 11.40 Poultry 2.5 200 500 2950 7400 14.75 Pork 4.0 160 640 3300 13200 20.62 Cattle 8.0 100 800 2500 20000 25.00 Lovell, 2002

Why are fish so efficient?

Why are fish so efficient? Fish spend very little energy on basal metabolism because they are Poikilotherm Floating in water Ammonotelic This saves up to 50-60% of the energy in the feed for growth

Poikilotherm: do not spend energy to control internal body temperature Free Expensive

Fish float: do not need to fight gravity

Ammonotelic: low energy The urea cycle a costly process!

Trend in the use of feeds in aquaculture While feed is generally perceived to be a major constraint to aquaculture development, 35% of all farmed food fish production (20x106 t) is currently achieved without artificial feeding (i.e., oysters, clams, herbivorous fish) However, in 2008, about 31.7x106 t (46.1% of total global aquaculture) were feed-dependent So about 30 million t of feed were used

Fed vs non-fed species Fuente:FAO, 2012

Use of fish meal and fish oil Within the animal productions systems, aquaculture is the largest user of fishmeal and fish oil. Carnivorous organisms (higher-trophic-level) require more: fishmeal inclusion levels of 17–65% fish oil of 3–25% However, low-trophic-level finfish species (carps, tilapias, catfishes, milkfish, etc.) need much less between 2 and 10%

Why we use fish meal and fish oil Fish meal has a high protein content (65% P), excellent amino acid profile and a high digestibility (90% digestibility) Fish oil contains the best oils (long chain highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 HUFAs or omega-3) that are essential nutrients for fish (and humans)

Why we use fish meal and fish oil Fish meal a.a. profile and fish a.a. requirements Fatty acid synthesis Monroig et al., 2011

The solution: alternative proteins and oils Many fish species can be grow with 0% fish meal in their diets (i.e., tilapias, carps, some salmonids) without affecting growth Key alternative proteins include grains (soya bean) and animal by products (poultry by-product meal) Fish oil is a little more difficult to replace Key alternative lipids include vegetable oils rich in omega-3 (e.g. linseed, soybean and canola) and some yeast and marine microalgae Although a reduction in lipid levels in diets would not have any deleterious effect on the health of the fish, there may be reduced health benefits to humans because of lower HUFAs

Reduction in the use of FM and FO In the last 15 years fishmeal inclusion in major fish diets has declined considerably. The FAO projects that, in the next 10 years, fishmeal inclusion in the diets of carnivorous fish and crustacean species will be further reduced by 10–22%, and by 2–5% for omnivorous fishes.

Trends in the use of fishmeal SOFIA, 2012

Fish-in Fish-out balance To fairly compare the use of fish meal and fish oil in aquafeeds we need to transform FM and FO to live weight The global average wet fish to fish meal processing yield is 22.5% and wet fish to fish oil processing yield is 5% (Anon, 2006) With this we can calculate the pelagic live weight equivalent (Tacon, 2008)

Pelagic forage equivalent Tacon, 2008

Calculated pelagic forage fish equivalent per unit of production for major cultivated species Tacon, 2008

The Future of Marine Fish Culture Exposure to global markets has made farmers adopt specialized systems targeting only one economically attractive species (i.e., carnivorous fish) In terms of sustainability, and environmental impacts, coastal aquaculture systems should, among many things, use approaches that minimize dependence upon non-renewable energy, reduce wastes and increase efficiency of resource usage Reducing environmental impacts from aquaculture, and various resource limitations (water, feed, energy, etc.) may be achieved with integrated cultivation techniques. (Troel, 2009)

Integrated Marine fish culture Polyculture: (i.e. multiple species co-cultured in a pond/tank/cage Sequential integration: (PAS, Partitioned aquaculture systems) on land and in open waters (direct a flow of wastes sequentially between culture units with different species) Temporal integration: replacement of species within the same holding site, benefiting from wastes generated by preceding cultured species (Troel, 2009)

Integrated Marine Fish Culture Scientific American, 2011

Food for thought…. Should we continue harvesting our oceans? or Should we increase aquaculture production?