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Towards understanding the impacts of the pet food industry on world fish and seafood supplies
journal contribution
posted on 2008-10-01, 00:00 authored by S De Silva, Giovanni TurchiniGiovanni TurchiniThe status of wild capture fisheries has induced many fisheries and conservation scientists to express concerns about the concept of using forage fish after reduction to fishmeal and fish oil, as feed for farmed animals, particularly in aquaculture. However, a very large quantity of forage fish is being also used untransformed (fresh or frozen) globally for other purposes, such as the pet food industry. So far, no attempts have been made to estimate this quantum, and have been omitted in previous fishmeal and fish oil exploitation surveys. On the basis of recently released data on the Australian importation of fresh or frozen fish for the canned cat food industry, here we show that the estimated amount of raw fishery products directly utilized by the cat food industry equates to 2.48 million metric tonnes per year. This estimate, plus the previously reported global fishmeal consumption for the production of dry pet food suggest that 13.5% of the total 39.0 million tonnes of wild caught forage fish is used for purposes other than human food production. This study attempts to bring forth information on the direct use of fresh or frozen forage fish in the pet food sector that appears to have received little attention to this date and that needs to be considered in the global debate on the ethical nature of current practices on the use of forage fish, a limited biological resource.
History
Journal
Journal of agricultural and environmental ethicsVolume
21Issue
5Pagination
459 - 467Publisher
University of GuelphLocation
Guelph, Ont.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1187-7863eISSN
1573-322XLanguage
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2008, SpringerUsage metrics
Categories
Keywords
aquacultureforage fishlow valued fishpet food industrytrash fishScience & TechnologySocial SciencesArts & HumanitiesLife Sciences & BiomedicineAgriculture, MultidisciplinaryEthicsEnvironmental SciencesHistory & Philosophy Of ScienceAgricultureSocial Sciences - Other TopicsEnvironmental Sciences & EcologyPhilosophy
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