Environmentalist David Suzuki. (Photo Credit: David Suzuki Foundation CC BY 3.0)
New eco-friendly alternative for farmed fish feed
(CANADA, 10/17/2013)
A new product based on insects, which is currently being tested, could provide a satisfactory alternative to industrial feed for farmed fish.
The leaders of this initiative are the environmentalist David Suzuki and Enterra’s CEO Brad Marchant, who devised a maggot-based feed as a sustainable source of protein, the Vancouver Sun reported.
In an official release Suzuki, who is also Enterra’s co-founder, informed that: "What excites me about this technology is not just the animal feed issue, which is a big issue, but that we can recapture the nutrients in food that would otherwise go to waste. We need to learn to use our resources in a way that is more sustainable and this technology imitates nature to do just that.”
The privately-owned firm has as its goal to create and apply sustainable technology and has done so in the past with success.
The new product is being tested as salmon feed but Suzuki clarified he would not be happy to see his new product being used in for salmon farming in the ocean, since he supports the use of closed containment.
“For years we’ve been fighting salmon aquaculture, not because we are against aquaculture, but we felt that [conventional] aquaculture was the wrong way to do it,” explained the enviromentalist to the Vancouver Sun.
Opponents of the aquaculture industry complain that, in order to grow a particular species, such as salmon, for instance, one kind of fish is used to feed another one, which is also detrimental for the health of wild fisheries.
The discovery has also counted with the approval of the scientific community. Alexandra Morton, marine biologist and a strong opponent of conventional open-net fish farming has said the new development makes sense but “what makes no sense is to harvest large amounts of fish from the ocean and drag them the length of the planet to end up with less fish.”
Jay Ritchlin, of the David Suzuki Foundation is of the opinion that while the aquaculture industry has advanced in reducing the amount of both fish oil and fishmeal in fish feed, a system which is based on insects will divert waste food from landfill and could prove a great step forward.
By Gabriela Raffaele
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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