Feeds for Aquaculture

Potential alternative include meals and oils from plants (the greatest source of protein and edible oil on earth), fish processing waste, yeast, bugs and other special meals, and even seaweed. Potential alternative ingredients already in use include soybeans, barley, rice, peas, canola, lupine, wheat gluten, corn gluten, other various plant proteins, yeast, insects and algae. Farmed seaweed has significant growth potential as a source of food and fiber for both aquaculture feed and human consumption. In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a key ingredient for fish feed, called taurine, needed to make plant proteins similar to other animal proteins. Researchers have been successful in identifying alternatives that grow fish and help maintain the human health benefits of eating seafood. 

Future growth of marine finfish and shrimp aquaculture will need protein and oil sources greater than current fishmeal and fish oil production can satisfy. NOAA labs are developing new ways to feed even the most finicky of carnivorous fish on non-marine based diets. NOAA, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), launched the NOAA-USDA Alternative Feeds Initiative in 2007 to accelerate the development of alternative feeds for aquaculture. The purpose of the Alternative Feeds Initiative is to identify alternative dietary ingredients that will reduce the amount of fishmeal and fish oil contained in aquaculture feeds while maintaining the important human health benefits of farmed seafood.

In addition to looking for substitutes, research is examining how farmed fish utilize feed, varying formulations, timing dietary needs with developmental stages, and other strategies to improve feed use efficiency.

Ultimately, the initiative will lead to the commercialization of alternatives for some species that will result in reduced dependence on marine fish resources by feed manufacturers and seafood farmers worldwide. The biggest challenges for researchers are to develop alternative ingredients that fish will eat, that supply the nutrition fish require to grow, and to make available alternative ingredients that are commercially viable.  Current research, including that being done through the NOAA-USDA Alternative Feeds Initiative, and directly at NOAA labs is making great strides toward overcoming these challenges.