by Anne MacLennan
Salmon farming is unsustainable according to a report published last month. Aquaculture is the fastest food production system in the world. Farmed fish have outnumbered wild-caught fish since 2022.
Seventy percent of salmon are now farmed, with production forecast to grow 40% by 2033. Salmon are carnivorous so farmed salmon are currently fed mainly on wild-caught fish, in the form of fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO). FMFO production cannot increase by more than 9-12% because 90% of wild fish stocks around the globe are already at capacity or overexploited.
Output can’t grow with dwindling inputs. Even Forbes, the business magazine, has picked this up as a ‘material financial risk’ for business: Feeding the future or eating the ocean? ‘Business as usual’ risks biodiversity collapse, food insecurity, and supply chain disruption thus is environmentally unsustainable, as well as being economically reckless.
There is a clear need to find sustainable and diversified feed ingredients. Fish trimmings and algae are being tried, but can’t meet projected future needs. The report recommends absolute reduction for FMFO, but warns that deeper transformation may be needed. Perhaps abandon carnivorous species like salmon and cultivate species which don’t need external feed inputs, like mussels and oysters as advocated by Climavore. Plant-based seafoods are also up for consideration.
Then there are the ethical implications of diverting edible fish into feed while so many people lack adequate nutrition. Over 90% of fish used in FMFO could be eaten by humans. In 2020, Norwegian salmon farms used nearly two million tonnes of wild-caught fish for salmon feed, including up to 144,000 tonnes harvested off West Africa, ‘plundering’ African fish stocks which could have fed 2.5 to 4 million people for a year. Added to this is the fact that the wild-caught fish in FMFO have higher concentrations of key micronutrients than farmed salmon, so the latter are not as healthy as often promoted, but deny the nutritive value of the wild catch to local (hungry) populations. What does Mōwi Kyleakin use?
A Norwegian fish farm factory. Source: Blue Empire: How the Norwegian salmon industry extracts nutrition and undermines livelihoods in West Africa
There are parallels in land-based intensive agriculture with diversion of human-edible crops, so is the goal to feed people or corporations? Animal agriculture is responsible for about 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Beef (41%), soy, and palm oil are responsible for 60% of tropical deforestation with all of the implications for climate, biodiversity and sociocultural disruption.
Soybean production has exploded around the world, increasing 1198% from 1961 to 2022 (aided by genetic engineering and liberal glyphosate use). Most of it however, is not used for human consumption, but for animal feed and industrial processes. Of the 20% which feeds humans, most is used for soybean oil, a major vegetable oil often found in processed food. Just 6-7% goes for traditional soy-based foods like milk or tofu.
But all is not lost (yet). Most of the individuals and organisations calling out about the problems are also sharing ways of transitioning to a more sustainable, cleaner, fairer, less conflicted world.