This is a fairly badly formulated question, as fish meal as protein source does not create any growth problems in fish. On the other hand, fish meal (as well as fish oil) is a finite source and needs to be replaced/supplemented with other protein sources. Already, most commercial salmon feeds have a significant amount of plant proteins included.

Thanks for asking this question that is very interesting to discuss. It has been a long time since the supply in fish meal is not enough to cover the whole cultured fish production. That is the reason why we have introduced soybean meal, which is rich in proteins (and lipids) as well, even though perhaps less well balanced in amino-acid (tell me if I'm wrong). However, considering that soybean might also become limitative in a near future (and therefore expensive), other sources of protein for fish nutrition are needed.

To my knowledge, there is a tendancy to diversify protein sources as much as possible. Recently, other Fabacea, rapeseed and wheat gluten have also been industrially added to feed so as to be able to adapt the formula to the yearly variations of vegetables production. There are also researches for using local plants and animal by-products (e.g., snail Pomacea in Amazonia), but it doesn't represent much of the production at the moment. Question: will the production of vegetable be enough to sustain the growth of the aquaculture sector for long ?

I have already said this, but to my opinion, the future resides in the pond culture of fish species that need less proteins for growth. I don't see the culture of piscivorous fish requiring more than 40-45% of proteins in the ingrowing feed increasing that much. What do you think ?

You're correct Neil in that the major fish feed producers do not keep to set amounts of each protein source, but utilize databases on the composition, quality and price of each protein source, to create each batch of feed.

There's work being carried out in Sweden, both on the use of mussel meal and microfungi (Zygomycete, Rhizopus oryzae), as alternative protein sources, but so far, this is on limited, experimental scale.

i guess..it will b the waste from different poultry, meat, and other related industries...

I do agree with Sajid and Abdullahi that the waste from agriuclture and animal rearing systems should effectively be utilised for aquaculture production. It is well proven that aquaculture animals are energy efficient as their are cold blooded and ammonia excreters. But a system has to evolve like biofloc technology, where the waste generated in the system has to be converted as bacteial biomass. This concept is practised in tilapia and shrimp culture systems. The problem is, it requires intensive investment on machines. In my view, the single cell proteins and bacterial biomass will replace the costly protein input in near future or these two may directly form a supplement to human protein need and replace entire farming concept.

Can be microalgae, phyto- and zooplancton a reallystic option?

Currently, a new protein source originally from insect and micro algae now are being developed to enrich feed sources in fish cultured. Meanwhile, fish byproduct processing and waste product of food industry available in some regions can be used as protein resource in fish feed.

The European Commission authorized today feeding fish with pig and poultry meal. Against the recommendations of the French agency of food safety. No one in Europe has forgotten the Creutzfeld-Jacob crisis. It 's a disaster.

Creutzfeld-Jacob is really a disaster, but we need protein sources, and without poultry and pig meal, we don't have many options. And these are wastes that we can utilize. It should exist a corpus of studies guaranteeing security... I supuse

Thanks Mochamad !!!!

Well, here in Bangladesh, poultry byproducts are extensively used. But still huge amount of byproducts are wasted and the rest are not properly utilized. I believe if processed in proper way these byproducts can certainly be the most promising source of protein for aquaculture. In addition, different oil cakes are also extremely important source of vegetative protein. And also as Paulraj Jawahar mentioned, biofloc technology could be an excellent idea. What do you think...

How about transgenic high-protein plant sources? Are they experimented/evaluated in fish feeds?

I agree that a shift to herbivorous/omnivorous fish is probably the best direction and the economics will eventually push things in that direction. However, we do love to eat those carnivorous fish! For these feeds, the answer will be a mixture of protein sources as mentioned above, probably dominated by improved plant proteins. People are breeding soybeans with better amino acid profiles and fewer anti-digestives. Some of the legumes have great amino acid profiles. Barley is also pretty good. There are enormous amounts of these produced each year and market demand for the special versions that can substitute for animal proteins will drive more planting. This is already happening as scarcity drives up the price of fishmeal and it will continue. The key challenge is getting the costs of concentrating the proteins down to a reasonable level. The reason you need a diversity of sources is that the target fish need more than just protein and you have to craft a balanced nutrition. Further, people will always chase costs in their ingredients and the natural supply-demand for each will lead to substitutions (and I think that this is a good thing).

Hi Amir, are you aware of any analysis of the potential market for low value fish?

Polychaete worms are the way forward I believe. They are one of the few organisms which synthesize the essential omega's and can be easily incorporated into many marine hatcheries/grow-out facilities as they feed on fish excrement.

Sea weeds and micro algae can be the best source for protein in fish feed. But surely you need to standardize the culture processes for growing algae, but once that is done, it is cheap, in plenty and good for fishes of all types whether ornamental or others.

The Soy bean is the Best Protein for herbivorous fish, in India we wont have good demand for it but in western countries they know its importance easy digestible, rich in proteins when compared to any other cereal crops. Sea weeds and Algae were also being rich in proteins but it does nt mean that we have to harvest all the sea weeds and algae making the wild fish for starvation we have to standardize the culture and then we have to go for it. Lot of research is going in the soybean crop to increase their yield and varieties using transgenesis.

Vermins are a easily sustainable source of proteins for fish feed, because it can be generated easily and on demand.

I think i agree with Nehal Sha micro algae and sea weeds with fly meals can be the best sources of protein and PUFA not only in aquaculture but in all animal enterprises.However, there is need to find the best culture method that will increase output (optimum production) as well as good methods of harvesting processing and storage since they contain high moisture content

Raji A A UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

I would love to see micro-algae or other protists work out as a source of protein. The amino acid profiles can be great and there is a lot of biodiversity from which to find interesting nutritional composition. However, they are just too expensive to grow and process at the enormous scale that it takes to match aquaculture production.

Certes, il faut s'orienter maintenant sur les protéines végétales (moins coûteux) ; mais il faut sélectionner les espèces les plus riches en protéines ( macro et microalgues, sous produits agro-alimentaires d'origine végétale...)

The source of Protein could differ from place to place.For e.g.in tropical countries,where cereals,oil seeds crops & Leguminous crops are grown,the agricultural sector there has the problem of disposing processing wastes & these can be used as one of the source of proteins.Various types of insects do take a heavy toll on agriculture culture farms & these could be mass captured on a regular basis & used as protein source. Abattoir wastes can be processed & used as a protein source.Pothos creeper which has quite a growth rate & which is edible for both humans & milch animals can be grown in any wet soil (not marine) can be grown on a mass scale & used.

fresh water fairy shrimp are naturally available in stagnant water body such as lake pond and pool its in good sours of animal protein and lipid contents of 54.58 ± 2.8 g kg−1 and 255 ± 2.8 g kg−1 respectively. The highest value for an individual amino acid in fairy shrimp was lysine (140.7 ± 1.6 g kg−1).

my friend from CIBA is about to submit a thesis on replacing fish meal with plant proteins in that he has thoroughly analysed the economics for the material..probably in 2months he l be in a position to publish

@ Jose Martin,

Technically you are right in saying that we need to move one step down in food pyramid & that we need to use salt water nutrients,as they are available in plenty.But the ground reality is a little different.

1) As far as possible,the amino acid acid profile of the feed has to be as near as possible as that of the profile of the culture species,for better FCR.Hence,as this profile is nearer to fish,this is one reason why fish meal is extensively used.Another reason is land based animal protein is costlier than that got from fish meal.

2) Vegetable based protein got from food processing plants (as a waste) fetches better value when used for fish & shrimp feeds,as compared to say when used for veterinary feeds.

Les futures sources de protéines pour l'aquaculture sont tout d'abord les protéines d'origine végétales disponibles en quantité importante dans les déchets et les sous produits agro-alimentaires (déchets de légumes, de fruits, pain... et d'algues déposées sur les plages). Il faut aussi exploiter les déchets de la pêche rejetés en mer et qui sont en grandes quantités et riches en protéines animales. Les produits d'abattoirs sont à éviter pour cause de vecteurs pathogènes contaminants.

Future sources of protein for aquaculture are first the plant origin available in large quantities in the waste domestic foods and in agro-food products (vegetable and fruit scraps, bread and seaweeds deposited on the beaches...). It should also exploit the fisheries waste dumped at sea and in large amounts and high in animal proteins. The slaughterhouse products should be avoided due to pathogenic contaminants vectors