Scottish aquaculture adding to pressure on world fish stocks

Posted on September, 24 2004

As one of the largest fish farmers of Atlantic salmon, the Scottish aquaculture industry is threatening local stocks.

Aberfeldy, Scotland - WWF is calling on Scottish fish producers to stop outsourcing feed from unsustainable fisheries.

According to a new report, commissioned by WWF, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds-Scotland, fish feed manufacturers are plundering already threatened fish stocks to supply salmon feed to the Scottish aquaculture industry.

“Industrial fish farming is the fastest growing sector of the global food economy and Scotland is one of the largest salmon producers in this market,” said Dr Rebecca Boyd of the Joint Marine Programme, a WWF partnership organization.

“To feed these quantities of farmed salmon, serious pressure is being placed on populations of small feed fish and questions must be raised about the sustainability of the feed fish industry, in particular blue whiting.”

Salmon need high-protein diets, and depend largely on fishmeal and oil from wild ‘feed’ fish caught in the North Atlantic and off the coast of South America.

Of the top six feed fisheries used by Scotland’s aquaculture industry, blue whiting from the North Atlantic is particularly at risk, with 2.3 million tonnes — four times the recommended safe quota — being caught in 2003.

“The long-term future of the aquaculture industry, as well as the health of the marine environment, depends on healthy populations of feed fish," Boyd said.

"As a major consumer of feed fish, Scotland has an opportunity to market its product on quality credentials and find a solution that does not just plunder the world’s oceans further afield."

Scotland is responsible for approximately 90 per cent of all UK aquaculture production and ranks third amongst the world producers of Atlantic salmon, after Norway and Chile.

In the next five years it is expected that the global demand for fishmeal will increase by 50 per cent — to reach 3.45 million tonnes — by 2010.

For further informaton:
Jules Weston
Press Officer, WWF-Scotland
Tel: +44 1887 820 449
E-Mail: jweston@wwfscotland.org.uk

Wild salmon underwater.