Farm Raised Fish
The world's farmed fish industry no longer relies entirely on fishmeal to feed its most valuable products such as salmon and trout. A big reason was a doubling of the price of fishmeal in 2006, the result of a number of factors including lower catches in Peru associated with an El Nino event. China's growing economy allowed it to buy up a sixth of the 6-plus million metric tons of fishmeal available on the world market each year.
The prices of fishmeal and fish oil surged from the $700-a-ton high a few years ago to a high of $1,400 a ton in 2006. Supplying 45 percent of the world's fish supply in 2006, aquaculture must find ways to grow beyond fishmeal and oil supplies to feed a growing population's appetite. Decades of research has shown that proteins derived from grains such as corn, wheat and barley can provide the protein-rich ingredients needed in feeds for farmed salmon and trout. Growing ethanol production, particularly the use of corn to make the alcohol-based fuel, could be a boon to some types of fish farming.
February 21, 2007 6:53 AM | Category: Fish