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Click below for an interesting report from NOAA on fish food, dated Dec. 2011:

The Future of Aquafeeds

Excerpt from NOAA's website:

"The final report was subject to and incorporates public comment.  It was written by scientists at NOAA, USDA, USFWS, and academia.


Select Key Findings of the Report:


    1.    Fish meal and fish oil are not nutritionally required for farmed fish to grow meaning that even carnivorous fish can be fed diets containing no fish-based ingredients.
Aquaculture is among the most efficient ways to produce high quality animal protein and for human consumption.


    2.    The net environmental effects of the production and use of alternate feeds should be considered.
Some options include recovery and utilization of fisheries and terrestrial animal processing waste, the by-products of biofuel production, and numerous crops currently used for terrestrial animal production.


    3.    Solutions need to be cost-effective.

Change already is occurring in the feed industry. As fish meal and fish oil prices rise, the feed  industry is developing and using other sources of protein and fat.


    4.    It really comes down to a couple of key nutrients.
The demand for long chain omega 3-fatty acids for both direct human consumption and feed ingredients is likely to increase beyond the amounts available from marine resources. Fish processing trimmings and marine algae production are two viable options to produce these long chain omega-3 fatty acids."

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Replies to This Discussion

Being in the feed industry myself, I have followed this subject closely for many years.  Ironically, I was reading this piece yesterday.  While this whitepaper gives a lot of "optimism" to fishmeal alternatives, a few big problems still remain.  One of the biggest is that the concentrated plant proteins (CPP) required as fishmeal replacements are processed largely through solvent extraction methods and leave solvent residues in the CPP product post processing.  One of the more popularly used chemicals is hexane, a by-product of gasoline refinement and a known neurotoxin.  There are several other issues to contend with still such as anti-nutrients that exist in plant and oilseed products which inhibit or outright block proper amino acid absorption.  While we are "getting there", my opinion is that the industry is still many years off from a truly well balanced, cost competitive plant based alternative.

Hi,   I have been experimenting with making my own fish food.    I have taken the recipies off the net and have made jello fishfood, which works great.  

I have been thinking recently about using peanut butter instead of other protein, combined with moringa leaves, and then making a dried flake from this recipe.    Still in the formulation stage, but I am targeting finding my own alternative.

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