This document discusses ways to reduce the ecological footprint of fish feed used in aquaculture. Currently, fish meal is a major protein source in fish feed due to its balanced nutrients. However, overfishing to meet demand for fish meal puts pressure on small pelagic fish populations. The document explores alternatives to fish meal such as terrestrial plant proteins, insects, terrestrial animal byproducts, and algae. These alternatives can help reduce the environmental impacts of aquaculture while still providing balanced nutrition to farmed fish. In conclusion, promoting omnivorous and herbivorous fish species that can eat plant-based diets, along with sustainable production of plant proteins, can help aquaculture be produced with less ecological impact.

1. FISH FEED FOR AQUACULTURE –
WAYS TO REDUCE ITS ECOLOGICAL
FOOTPRINT
Jack Pumpuni Frimpong-Manso
Prof. Dr. Matthias Wolff
th
YOUMARES 12 CONFERENCE

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Fish meal
Problems with
fish meal
Some
alternatives
Conclusion

3. 10/10/2021
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4. FISH MEAL IN FISH FEED
 Fish meal is the major protein source in fish feed
(Abdelghany, 2003).
 Fishmeal has:
balanced amino acid profile
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
Micronutrients
easily digestible
highly palatable (Liu et al., 2016).
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5. PROBLEMS WITH FISH MEAL
 Increase demand for fishmeal has put pressure on
small pelagics (Alexander et al., 2017).
 Some have tried to reduce fish meal in feed
(Agyemang et al., 2018) 5

6. SOME ALTERNATIVES
 Terrestrial plant proteins
 Insects
 Terrestrial animal products
 Algae
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7. TERRESTRIAL PLANT PROTEINS
 Terrestrial plant proteins reduce pressure on finite
marine resources (Naylor et al., 2009).
 Some limitations of using terrestrial plant proteins:
anti-nutrients
absence of essential nutrients: omega 3 fatty acids
(Tacon et al., 2006).
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8. INSECTS
 Insects do not contain anti-nutrients
low in fiber
rich in protein
have essential amino acids
energy, lipids and minerals (van Huis and Oonincx, 2017).
 Black soldier fly Hermetia illucens (L.) can replace
fishmeal in Atlantic salmon's diet (Lock et al., 2015)
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9. TERRESTRIAL ANIMAL PRODUCTS
 Scientists have used livestock by-products such as
meat and bone meal as fishmeal substitutes (Nguyen et
al., 2009).
 By-products from terrestrial animals such as bone
meal, feather meal, meat meal, liver meal and
poultry meal are good protein sources (Yang et al.,
2004).
 Meat, bone and blood meal are deficient in some
essential amino acids such as methionine; hydrolyzed
feather meal is deficient in both lysine and methionine
(Soliman et al., 2017).
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10. ALGAE
 Algae do not contain anti-nutrients and have high
nutrient value and grow fast (Khan et al., 2018).
 Many species of seaweeds contain all the essential
amino acids (Henry, 2012).
 For example, 19 tropical seaweeds (Lourenco et al.,
2002) and 34 edible seaweed products have all the
essential amino acids (Dawczynski et al., 2007).
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11. CONCLUSION
 Aquaculture should be produced with less
ecological impact on the environment.
 Reducing aquaculture feeds' ecological footprint
can be achieved by promoting the consumption of
omnivorous, herbivorous and detritivorous fishes.
 These fishes are flexible in their diet requirements
and can feed on plant protein sources.
 These plant protein sources should, however, be
produced with low impact on the environment.
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12. CONCLUSION
 Feeding fishes with insects provide an elegant
solution to reducing the ecological footprint.
 Insects do not require land clearing for production.
 Insects can be grown in wastewater which reduces
pressure on freshwater resources.
 Insects also have a high nutritional value which also
makes it possible to feed different types of fishes
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Thank you for
the audience
Science is great!

14. LITERATURE CITED
 Abdelghany, A. E. (2003) ‘Partial and complete replacement of fish meal with gambusia meal in
diets for red tilapia “Oreochromis niloticus× O. mossambicus”’, Aquaculture Nutrition. Wiley
Online Library, 9(3), pp. 145–154.
 Agyemang, T. K., Pumpuni, J. F.-M. and Owusu-Boateng, G. (2018) ‘Water and Sediment
Qualities Issues and Growth Performance of Pond-Cultured Oreochromis Niloticus Fed
Different Dietary Protein Levels’, International Technology and Science Publications, 1(1), pp.
1–15. doi: 10.31058/j.water.2018.11001.
 Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Dias, C., Finnigan, J., Moran, D., & Rounsevell, M. D.
(2017). Could consumption of insects, cultured meat or imitation meat reduce global agricultural
land use? Global Food Security, 15, 22-32.
 Dawczynski, C., Schubert, R. and Jahreis, G. (2007) 'Amino acids, fatty acids, and dietary fibre
in edible seaweed products', Food Chemistry, 103(3), pp. 891–899. doi:
10.1016/j.foodchem.2006.09.041.
 Henry, E. C. (2012). The use of algae in fish feeds as alternatives to fishmeal. Int
Aquafeed, 15(5), 10-13.
 Khan, M. I., Shin, J. H., & Kim, J. D. (2018). The promising future of microalgae: current status,
challenges, and optimization of a sustainable and renewable industry for biofuels, feed, and
other products. Microbial cell factories, 17(1), 36. doi: 10.1186/s12934-018-0879-x
 Liu, H., Yan, Q., Han, D., Jin, J., Zhu, X., Yang, Y., & Xie, S. (2016). Effect of dietary cottonseed
meal on growth performance, physiological response, and gossypol accumulation in pre-adult
grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 34(5),
992-1003.
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15. LITERATURE CITED
 Lock ER, Arsiwalla T, Waagbø R (2015). Insect larvae meal as an alternative source of nutrients
in the diet of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) postmolt. Aquac Nutr 22:1202–1213.
https://doi.org/10. 1111/anu.12343
 Naylor, R. L., Hardy, R. W., Bureau, D. P., Chiu, A., Elliott, M., Farrell, A. P., & Nichols, P. D.
(2009). Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, 106(36), 15103-15110.
 Nguyen, T. N., D. A. Davis, I. P. Saoud. (2009). Evaluation of alternative protein sources to
replace fish meal in practical diets for Juvenile Tilapia, Oreochromis spp. Journal of the World
Aquaculture Society 40/1: 113–121.
 Soliman, N. F., Yacout, D. M., & Hassaan, M. A. (2017). Responsible Fishmeal Consumption
and Alternatives in the Face of Climate Changes. International Journal of Marine Science, 7.
 Tacon, A.G.J., Hasan, M.R. and Subasinghe, R.P. (2006). Use of fishery resources as feed
inputs for aquaculture development: trends and policy implications. FAO Fisheries Circular. No.
1018, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 99 pp.
 Van Huis A and Oonincx DG (2017). The environmental sustainability of insects as food and
feed. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 37: 43.
 Yang, Y., Xie, S., Cui, Y., Lei, W., Zhu, X., Yang, Y., & Yu, Y. (2004). Effect of replacement of
dietary fish meal by meat and bone meal and poultry by‐product meal on growth and feed
utilization of gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio. Aquaculture Nutrition, 10(5), 289-294.
 All images are from Google
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16. QUESTIONS?
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