Resource utilisation of Norwegian salmon farming in 2012

Summary

This report follows up the work on resource utilisation and eco-efficiency of Norwegian salmon production in 2010 and contains a resource budget for the Norwegian salmon production in 2012 showing the flow of major nutrients from feed to whole body and edible product. The retention in whole body and fillet of protein, fat and energy as well as the retention of the essential ω 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and phosphorus, are calculated. The marine sustainability indicators often used to evaluate aquaculture productions (FIFO, marine protein dependency ratio, forage fish dependency ratio) is also calculated for the Norwegian salmon production in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, 1.27 million tons of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was slaughtered in Norway. The salmon industry has been criticized for the use of fish meal and oil in the production of salmon feed. At present, 20 % of the global fish meal production and 53 % (FAO 2012) of the fish oil production is used in feed for salmonids worldwide. Two decades ago, the main ingredients for Norwegian salmon feed were fish meal and fish oil. However, in 2013 only 30% of the ingredients were of marine origin, and the remaining 70% of plant origin. The content of marine ingredients in the diet decreased by 15 % between 2010 and 2013. The forage fish dependence ratio (FFDR) is the amount of forage fish used to produce the amount of fish oil and meal required to produce 1 kg of salmon. This ratio has decreased from 7.2 to 1.75 for fish oil and from 4.4 to 0.73 for fish meal between 1990 and 2013. Information of ingredients used for feed production in 2012 was provided by BioMar, Ewos and Skretting. Lerøy Seafood provided data on nutrient content in salmon fed diets from Biomar, Skretting and EWOS in 2012. Based on this information, the flow of energy, protein, dry matter, phosphorous and the important marine fatty acids EPA and DHA in Norwegian salmon farming was estimated. In 2012, Norwegian salmon farming used 1.63 million tons of feed resources, with an energy content close to 35 million GJ, and 577 000 tons of protein and x tons of lipid were used in the feed production. In total, 820 000 tons of salmon fillet, containing 9.45 million GJ, and 156 000 tons of protein was produced. Salmon is an important source of the nutritionally important fatty acids EPA and DHA, and of the 49 373 tons of EPA+DHA in the feed, 12 909 tons were retained in the edible part. This amount is sufficient to cover the recommended daily intake of EPA and DHA of more than 120 million people for a whole year (recommended intake by ESFA, 0,25 g per day). The retention of EPA and DHA was 58% in the whole body and 26% in the fillet. The retention of protein and energy were 27 and 23% in the edible part, respectively. The retention data obtained in the present study can however not be compared to single productions or controlled studies, since all losses during the production of feed and salmon are included in the data.