Impacts & Issues: Global Protein Loss

Farmed salmon are fed pellets made from other fish, leading to an overall global loss of animal protein.

Global values on feed conversion efficiency rates range from 1.8 to 4.7 kilograms of fish proteins, in the form of fishmeal and fish oil, to produce 1 kilogram of farmed salmon (Tacon, 2005).

In Canada, it is illegal to produce fish feed out of fish that humans could eat, so Canadian feed producers get fish proteins from reduction fisheries in developing countries. This means a net loss of the edible protein available to people in developing nations.

Instead of feeding people in developing countries, highly nutritious fish like herring, mackerel, sardines and anchovy are used for feed for farmed salmon.

Learn more:

• Annual Review of Environment and Resources Examines Impacts of Fisheries on Forage Fish (From Ocean Update -http://www.seaweb.org/ January, 2009)
• Ecological footprint of farmed and caught salmon (Letter to Premier by William E. Rees PhD, 2001)
• Fish Farming isn't Good Economics (Tidepool)