Marine Food Production

Arctic Frontiers 2013 Emerging Leaders

Salve Dahle Akvaplan-niva

Trophic levels on land Trophic levels in the sea

Infrared images demonstrate how cold-blooded animals take on the temperature of their surroundings. Both the gecko and the scorpion are at the same temperature as the air surrounding them

A Lofot cod of 5 kg has consumed on average 30 kg fish Retention of nutrients in edible part (%)

Edible Gross FCR Protein part (%) energy Atlantic 65 1.3 26 21 salmon*

Pig** 52 3.0 17.9 14

Chicken 50 1.9 21.2 12 (with skin)**

Lamb** 38 8.5 4.8 4.7

*Ytrestøyl et al., 2011 **Bjørkli 2002 Norway Marine aquaculture • Area 59 km² (with anchors 420 km²) • Annual production: 1.2 mill tons (2012) • To produce 1 kg salmon is needed 1.15 kg feed (50 % marine, 50 % from agriculture – primary production)

Agriculture • Area 12 000 km² • Annual production of meet: 3-400 000 tons • To produce 1 kg lamb is needed 6 kg feed • To produce 1 kg beef is needed 14 000 l fresh water There are five main sources for animal protein: cattle, poultry, sheep, pork and seafood. The first four are farmed, while more and more of the available seafood is also farmed. One method to measure how productive the different protein productions are is the representative feed conversion ratio (FCR). In short this means how many kilo feed is needed to produce one kilo live animal. If we compare the farmed salmon with the four other main species we find a variation in the FCR between 1.2 and 8.0, where the salmon scores best and cattle scores worst. Wild salmon has an FCR of approximately 10.0. The feed for the different species consists of different ingredients. While the fish feed ingredients include fish oil and fish meal mainly produced from pelagic fish, the other species have feed consisting of mainly corn, grain and soybean. Over time the share of marine ingredients in the fish feed has been replaced more and more with vegetable ingredients.

Fish need no fresh water consumption while to produce 1 kg beef 14,000 litres of fresh water consumption is needed.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated the global 2007 seafood supply to 140 million tonnes, whereof about 95 million tonnes is wild catch. FAO’s estimate for year 2030 is a reduction in wild catch to about 90 million tonnes while farmed seafood will increase from 45 million tonnes to 85 million tonnes. Aquaculture will then supply nearly 50% of all available seafood in the world. Most of the growth will come before 2015. A major international scientific study released in November 2006 in the journal Science found that about one-third of all fishing stocks worldwide has collapsed (with a collapse being defined as a decline to less than 10% of their maximum observed abundance), and that if current trends continue all fish stocks worldwide will collapse within fifty years In this context it is important to remember that fish not suited for direct human consumption is best used in production of other fish species. It is paradoxical to maintain that salmon farming is a problem in the use of industrial fish as long as we know that 50% of all fish meal is used for raising other domestic animals such as pigs, chickens and other warm blooded species. Salmon and trout are champions when it comes to recycling of industrial fish. At the same time they bring the healthy and vital fatty acids into human consumption.