IRISH FISH FEED
Fishmeal is a primary product, produced using only fresh, whole wild fish and fresh
trimmings from the food fish processing sector. It is not a by-product. There is no
question of land animal or poultry products being present in Irish fishmeal. No salmon or
salmonid by-products, or salmon mortalities are used in the production of salmon feed.
Feed for Irish farmed salmon contains fishmeal, fish oil, cereal, non-GM soya, pigment,
vitamins and minerals.
Fishmeal is manufactured in purpose built plants through a contained and carefully
controlled process of cooking, pressing, drying and milling. Strict quality, hygiene and
safety controls are applied at all times, subject to regular checks throughout the
production process. Plants are accredited to ISO 9002 quality standard and also ISO
14001 environmental standard. Irish farmed salmon is fed mostly on fishmeals derived
from pelagic stocks caught off the northwest coast of Ireland.
Despite a massive increase in farmed salmon output during the last 15 years, during that
period fishmeal and fish oil production has not increased significantly and has in fact
been reduced during periods of El Niño such as in 1998-99. What has happened is that
use of fishmeal has shifted away from land animal feeds. These shifts are as a result of
economic pressure meaning that fish feed manufacturers can afford to pay more for
fishmeal than, say, poultry feed producers. Fish that are used for meal and oil production
are species that are not used for direct human consumption, which would otherwise be
caught and discarded.
Currently aquaculture utilises around one third of fishmeal production with the remaining
two thirds being used in poultry and animal feeds. However global aquaculture is set to
triple in the next 10 years, and in doing this aquaculture would take up more and more of
the world production of fishmeal. Because of the huge and ultimately economically
unsustainable demand this would place on the use of fishmeal in the production of fish
feed, extensive research is currently being devoted to developing vegetable oils and
proteins that would replace much of the fishmeal and oil content of feeds.