„Laxeldisiðnaðurinn er ekki matvælaframleiðslukerfi — hann er kerfi sem minnkar matvælaframboð. Afurðirnar nýtast fáum, sem hafa efni á þeim, en dregur úr aðgengi að næringarríkum fiski fyrir þá sem þurfa mest á honum að halda,“ segir Dr. Kathryn Matthews, einn höfunda nýrrar rannsóknar sem sýnir að til að framleiða eitt kíló af eldislaxi þar fjögur til fimm kíló af villtum fiski.
Þetta er miklu meira magn en iðnaðurinn sjálfur hefur haldið fram.
Hér á þessari síðu okkar höfum við margsinnis bent á að það er einmitt beinlínis neikvæður próteinhalli í laxeldi. Miklu meira af próteini er sett inn í kerfið en það framleiðir.
Hingað til hefur verið talið að til að framleiða eina máltíð af eldislaxi þurfi prótein og næringarefni sem myndu duga í þrjár til fjórar máltíðir fyrir fólk. Þessi nýja rannsókn bendir til þess að þetta hlutfall sé mun verra því auk villtra sjávarafurða er notað mikið magn plöntupróteina og annarra næringarefna í fóður fyrir eldislax.
Fréttavefurinn phys.org fjallar um rannsóknina:
A paper published in Science Advances exposes the global aquaculture sector’s growing dependence on wild fish. Despite industry claims to the contrary, these findings highlight how the growing appetite for expensive farmed salmon can leave coastal communities struggling to access affordable local fish like sardines and anchovies.
Instead, these small pelagic fish are frequently caught, processed, and „reduced“ to fishmeal and fish oil, almost all of which is used to feed farmed fish. These ‘reduction fisheries’ account for 26% of the global ocean catch.
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The authors […] debunk the industry’s use of the „Fish-in-Fish-out“ (FIFO) ratio—the standard metric used to quantify how much wild fish is used to produce farmed fish.
The FIFO ratio is often used as an indicator of the impact of aquaculture on wild fish stocks.
In the paper, the authors showcase several misleading practices about the FIFO ratio, such as averaging fishmeal and fish oil inputs of carnivores and herbivores together to conceal the high feed requirements of carnivorous species.
This lowers the FIFO ratio, reaffirming the aquaculture industry’s claim that its dependence on fish oil and fishmeal is decreasing. But fish oil, especially, is a limited commodity that is increasingly in demand by salmon farms, which now supply 70% of all salmon consumed worldwide. In 2020, farmed Atlantic salmon alone accounted for 60% of fish oil usage, the authors calculated.
„The salmon industry is a not a food production system—it’s a food reduction system. It benefits the few who can afford it, but reduces access to nutritious fish for those who need it the most,“ said Dr. Matthews.
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Additionally, the authors note the turbulent future ahead for fishmeal and fish oil production. Climate change is impacting fish populations around the world, including the main source of fishmeal and fish oil—the Peruvian anchoveta.
Like many others, this species in warmer waters contains less fish oil. Moreover, continued poor management of these fisheries allows for ever higher catches of juveniles, which also contain less oil.
„Combined, these factors are driving feed manufacturers to look elsewhere for additional oil, including in fisheries which typically provide fish for direct human consumption, like mackerel,“ said Dr. Majluf.