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Our Fish, Notre Poisson

It is time to put a stop to the practice of extracting whole, wild fish in their millions to supply the global feed industry! When fisheries improvement projects fail to deliver New blogpost

Tackling industrial fishmeal and fish oil production in West Africa

Fish is a staple food for many communities around the world. However, the growing appetite for farmed fish in the Global North is driving the demand for fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) production, which is having a detrimental impact on the ocean and communities in the Global South.

Our campaign, Our Fish, Notre Poisson, is a collaborative project with partners in Europe and West Africa, that shines a spotlight on this huge, but often overlooked issue. We’re calling for an end to whole, wild-caught fish being taken from local communities and diverted towards farmed fish production elsewhere.

What's the problem?

Currently, feed for salmon and other farmed fish requires huge quantities of wild-caught fish in the form of fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO). Around one-fifth of the world’s annual marine catch is processed into FMFO every year, most of which is used to feed farmed fish and other animal livestock.

The global FMFO industry has expanded into West Africa, with the number of FMFO factories quintupling in the past decade. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of these wild fish are being taken across the West African coastline, processed and exported to feed farmed salmon and other animal livestock elsewhere in Europe, Norway and Asia. In Mauritania, fish oil exports surpassed 75,000 tonnes and fishmeal reached 121,000 tonnes in 2020, putting the country in the top 10 producers worldwide. This production model creates food-feed competition: where fish that could be caught and eaten locally in the Global South are being used to feed the fish consumed by the Global North.

This is a huge cause for concern:

  • Taking jobs. Catching, processing, and selling wild-caught fish has been a vital source of jobs and income for many people across the West African region for decades, and a critical part of their identities and traditions. By taking and exporting thousands of tonnes of wild-caught fish each year, the FMFO industry is leaving nothing left for local people to sell.
  • Threatening food sovereignty. Diverting fish from coastal communities impacts these communities’ ability to feed themselves. An international market that favours feeding the salmon of the Global North with the fish of the Global South is furthering dietary imperialism – a form of wealth extraction where the tastes of the privileged few control the resources and food production of the rest of the world.
  • Inefficient and wasteful. It is a hugely inefficient use of nutritious food-grade fish that could be eaten directly by humans. Each year, over half a million tonnes of fish are caught and processed into FMFO to feed farmed fish and livestock: the same amount could feed over 33 million people. In Mauritania, 90% of the fish used to produce FMFO are fresh, whole fish.
  • Emigration. Many people are being forced to seek jobs and sources of income elsewhere, leaving behind friends and families, and often taking forms of transport which put their lives at significant risk.
  • Destroying the ocean. The production of FMFO is plundering fish populations through overfishing, disrupting the delicate balance of marine ecosystems, and polluting local water systems. Eating wild fish instead of using it as feed would allow nearly 4 million tonnes of fish to be left in the sea.
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What's the solution?

To protect fish populations, unique marine ecosystems, and create an equitable food system which feeds everyone now and for years to come, we need a transformative shift within the FMFO industry and its affiliated sectors to ensure better regulation of the industry’s activities across the West African region, and ultimately end its use of fish fit for human consumption.

By exposing the reality of the production of farmed fish and amplifying the voices of coastal communities and those working in the fish sector in Senegal, Mauritania, and Gambia, we aim to increase pressure on aquafeed companies who source from West Africa (and associated aquaculture companies) and hold them accountable for their sustainability promises.

The projects collaborative partners: Regional Network of West African Marine Protected Areas (RAMPAO), Greenpeace Africa, the West African Association for the Development of Artisanal Fisheries (WADAF), the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), and Lancaster University, and in close collaboration with grassroots organisations representing coastal communities across the region.

This work is made possible through the support of Oceans 5, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

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Latest updates in this campaign

The hidden harms of your Christmas salmon
The hidden harms of your Christmas salmon

Leaving salmon off the holiday recipes has become unthinkable. During the festive…

Statement on the sourcing of aquafeed for farmed salmon in Scotland and Norway
Statement on the sourcing of aquafeed for farmed salmon in Scotland and Norway

Following our research and campaigning highlighting the supply of fish oil sourced…

Senegalese community mobilises against the harmful fishmeal industry
Senegalese community mobilises against the harmful fishmeal industry

In Senegal, the artisanal fishing community is making sure that their voices…

WHEN FISHERIES IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FAIL TO DELIVER
WHEN FISHERIES IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FAIL TO DELIVER

In a recent article, the Mauritanian Institute for Oceanography and Fisheries, French fish…

View more updates
60 Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food sector, it will account for 60% of global fish consumption within the next 10 years

What can you do to make a difference?

Blue Empire: How the Norwegian salmon industry extracts nutrition and undermines livelihoods in West Africa

Feedback's report shows how the Norwegian salmon industry’s voracious appetite for wild fish is driving loss of livelihoods and malnutrition in Africa. Farming carnivorous fish in Europe harms fishing communities in West Africa by depriving them of a resource fundamental to their nutrition and their livelihoods. Salmon are carnivorous, and farmed salmon depend on the nutrients provided through fish oil in particular, gained through grinding up smaller, wild fish. At Feedback, we have evidence that in feeding these smaller fish (sardines, sardinella, ethmalosa, etc.) to Scottish farmed salmon, major micro-nutrient losses occur.

Read now
"Off the menu"

This report, taking the Scottish farmed salmon industry as an example, shows how farmed salmon fed on wild fish is an inefficient and environmentally poor way to produce micro-nutrients for human diets. The report explores how we could meet our micro-nutrient needs without depleting ocean resources.

read the report