Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission

Tacon, A.G.J.; Hasan, M.R.; Metian, M. Demand and supply of feed ingredients for farmed fish and crustaceans: trends and prospects. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 564. FAO, 2011. 87 pp.

This document was prepared as part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Aquaculture Service’s (FIRA) ongoing regular work programme on “Study and analysis on use of feed and nutrient in sustainable aquaculture development”, under strategic objective “Sustainable management and use of fisheries and aquaculture resources”, and was partially funded by the FAO Multidonor Partnership Programme.

This technical paper was reviewed for technical content by Dr Methil N. Kutty. Pedro Bueno is acknowledged for his comments on the manuscript. For consistency and conformity, scientific and English common names of fish species were used from FishBase (www.fishbase.org/search.php).

The authors would also like to acknowledge the following colleagues (commercial feed manufacturers and/or nutritionists) for their kind assistance in providing information during an electronic survey conducted for this study: Syed Ahamad Ali, Niels Alsted, Michel Autin, Christian Berger, Aliro Borquez, Hans Erik Bylling, Ian Carr, Rodrigo Carvalho, Silvio Coelho, José Duarte, Carlos Mastrokalo Durand, Fabricio Vargas Elias, Abdel-Fattah El-Sayed, Kevin Fitzsimmons, Brett Glencross, Ozlem Guzel, Brad Hicks, Santiago Panné Huidobro, Patricia Infante, Dave Jackson, Jeongdae Kim, Claudio Larraín, Daniel Lemos, Menghe Li, Christian Lückstädt,
Umberto Luzzana, Cesar Molina, Jessica Montaño, Sigve Nordum, Dave Robb, Cheryl Shew, Shi-Yen Shiau, Supis Thongrod, Francisco Velasquez, Miao Weimin, Iannis Zarkadis and Jesus Zendejas.

The authors acknowledge Maria Giannini for her assistance in quality control and FAO house style and Koen Ivens for layout design. The publishing and distribution of the document were undertaken by FAO, Rome. Finally, Jiansan Jia, Chief of the Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department is acknowledged for providing the necessary support to initiate the study and to complete the publication.

Tacon, A.G.J.; Hasan, M.R.; Metian, M.
Demand and supply of feed ingredients for farmed fish and crustaceans: trends and prospects.. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 564. FAO, 2011. 87 pp.

The rise into global prominence and rapid growth of finfish and crustacean aquaculture has been due, in part, to the availability and on-farm provision of feed inputs within the major producing countries. More than 46 percent of the total global aquaculture production in 2008 was dependent upon the supply of external feed inputs. For the aquaculture sector to maintain its current average growth rate of 8 to 10 percent per year to 2025, the supply of nutrient and feed inputs will have to grow at a similar rate. This had been readily attainable when the industry was young. It may not be the case anymore as the sector has grown into a major consumer of and competitor for feed resources. This paper reviews the dietary feeding practices employed for the production of the major cultured fed species, the total global production and market availability of the major feed ingredient sources used and the major constraints to feed ingredient usage, and recommends approaches to feed ingredient selection and usage for the major species of cultivated fish and crustacean. Emphasis is placed on the need for major producing countries to maximize the use of locally available feed-grade ingredient sources, and, in particular, to select and use those nutritionally sound and safe feed ingredient sources whose production and growth can keep pace with the 8 to 10 percent annual average annual growth of the fed finfish and crustacean aquaculture sector.