Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Credit Citron/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Fish feed is vital for aquaculture, but it is not without its costs. For the farmer operating in an intensive system for predatory fish, feed can exceed more than 60% of their total operational costs.
Now Professor Muki Shpigel (The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, Israel), and fellow scientists have some good news for gilthead seabream farmers. By ditching the fishmeal and using poultry-meal with sea lettuce, they could achieve estimated savings of U$0.45 per kg fish produced – and all whilst retaining the same performance as conventional fishmeal-based feeds.
This article was written for (and can be read in full at) the Sustainable Aquaculture Magazine (open access).