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If you need another reason to stop eating farmed Atlantic salmon, a new study warns that the aquaculture industry faces constraints because its demands have reduced global stocks of forage fish required for the fishmeal and oil essential to aquaculture feed. Combined with warming ocean waters and rising public awareness of the environmental damage from aquaculture, the fragile feed supply could sharply reduce industry’s growth, particularly for high-value products like farmed Atlantic salmon.
The analysis was published in the journal Nature Food and conducted by researchers at universities in the United States, Tasmania, and China. They found that climate change and growing industry demand for feed are expected to reduce global forage-fish catches by nearly 20 percent, resulting in a decrease in production of more than 70 percent for some species of aquaculture. The study cited the 2023 closing of the anchoveta fishery in Peru because of overfishing as an example of the risk.
The researchers framed the issue as a cost and supply challenge for expanding aquaculture in the coming years. But the problem was created by the industry. For decades, the industry has devastated forage fisheries worldwide through its rising demand for small, wild-caught forage fish such as anchovies, sardines, and herring to produce fishmeal and oil for feed. Carnivorous species like salmon require especially large amounts of fishmeal and fish oil. Studies have estimated that 440 small fish are required to produce enough feed for a single farmed salmon to reach market weight.
The industry’s unsustainable practices have contributed to the collapse of wild forage fish stocks and disrupted the marine ecosystem by eliminating food for predator fish and reducing biodiversity. It’s not only other fish that depend on forage species for their survival. So do people. Roughly 90 percent of the forage fish used for aquaculture feed is suitable for human consumption. Three years ago, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the fish feed industry was contributing to food insecurity in West Africa. In countries like Senegal, Mauritania, and Gambia, forage fish are central to local diets and livelihoods. Similar damage is occurring elsewhere.
The researchers propose treating forage fish as a finite resource and advocate accelerating research into alternatives to fishmeal such as insects and algal oil. The study can be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01254-4#:~:text=Abstract,decline%20in%20fed%20aquaculture%20production, but it is behind a paywall. For a brief summary of the new study, see the recent Salmon Business article, “Unstable feed supply could constrain aquaculture growth warns new story.” https://www.salmonbusiness.com/unstable-feed-supply-could-constrain-aquaculture-growth-warns-study/
Image courtesy of Catherin Collins.