Feed ingredients are central to aquaculture sustainability and animal welfare. Wild fish inputs in feed create demand for industrial fisheries, while plant-based and insect-based alternatives raise their own welfare considerations.
The welfare implications of aquaculture feed ingredients extend beyond the farmed fish to include the billions of wild fish harvested for fishmeal and fish oil production. Industrial reduction fisheries catch entire schools of small pelagic fish in conditions that cause significant crowding and oxygen deprivation stress. While these fish are not individually welfare-assessed, the scale of their use warrants consideration. Insect-based feeds raise questions about invertebrate welfare during mass rearing. Plant-based feed ingredients sidestep these concerns but may reduce nutritional value and require land that displaces other species.