Farmed Aquaculture Omega-3 Sourcing and Welfare

The feed sourcing for farmed fish raises welfare concerns about reduction fisheries that harvest wild forage fish at massive scale.

Key Facts

Farmed salmon, trout, and shrimp require fish meal and fish oil from wild-caught forage fish
Approximately 20% of global wild fish catch is reduced to fishmeal and fish oil for aquaculture feed
Anchovies, herring, sand eels, and capelin are primary reduction fishery targets
Reduction fisheries collapse can affect seabirds, marine mammals, and larger fish that depend on forage fish
Alternative omega-3 sources including algal oil eliminate the forage fish harvest from the supply chain
Some salmon farms now use algal omega-3 as partial replacement for fish oil
The IFFO certification aims to ensure responsible sourcing of fishmeal from sustainably managed fisheries

Welfare Considerations

Reduction fisheries harvest fish by the billions using purse seine nets - the animals die by suffocation as they fill the net holds. Whether these fish suffer during the process is uncertain but the scale - billions of animals - means the potential welfare concern is enormous. Collapse of forage fish populations cascades through marine ecosystems affecting seabirds and marine mammals who depend on them. Algal omega-3 sources eliminate this welfare concern from the feed supply chain entirely.

What You Can Do

Choose farmed salmon from operations using algal oil in their feed for reduced forage fish impact
Support aquaculture certification standards requiring responsible forage fish sourcing
Advocate for science-based forage fish harvest limits protecting ecosystem function
Support research scaling alternative omega-3 sources including fermentation-derived and algal oils
Engage aquaculture companies on transitioning to non-fish omega-3 sources in feed formulations
Donate to marine ecosystem research monitoring forage fish population health and recovery