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Since 2000, the use of wild fish inputs in the production of farm raised fish outputs, also known as the Fish In: Fish Out (FI:FO) ratio, has been a primary concern of the sustainability dialogue surrounding aquaculture production. Far less attention has been placed on the sustainability of downstream processing, including how by-products are managed. This paper contributes new information on the current utilisation of aquaculture by-products in a case study on the Scottish Atlantic salmon industry. The findings show that there is considerable potential to increase the sustainability of the industry through maximising human edible yield by strategically managing by-products. Supporting the movement towards the full utilisation of by-products, this paper goes a step further by emphasising the need to maximise their use in human consumption and select animal feeds, highlighting the economic, food security, and environmental benefits of doing so. Through exploratory scenarios based on the case study, the paper identifies that Scotland could increase food production from fish farming by over 60%, increase by-product revenue by 803%, and increase the industry bottom-line by over 5%, all without having to put any new cages in the water, or use any more marine resources. As the aquaculture industry moves into a new era of production and processing, where a diverse range of products can be produced from a single species, sustainability will be sought throughout the value chain. It is hoped that the ideas raised within this paper will encourage further discussion and collaboration on this topic going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine ingredients are still regarded as a vital constituent of aquaculture and other livestock feeds. Despite numerous publications that have discussed the sustainability issues, there are few sources that provide detailed information that allow for quantification of marine ingredient environmental impact. A Life Cycle Inventory was compiled from many available literature sources that will allow for Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of marine ingredients using standard methodologies. While this inventory is the most complete to date, there are still important data gaps that the industry should endeavour to fill. Demonstration of the inventory using an economically allocated LCA showed that marine ingredients are very variable in their impact between and even within species, mostly depending on the fuel intensity of the fishery from which they are sourced. Marine ingredients were typically lower in environmental footprint compared to terrestrial ingredients, although LCAs do not take into account the stock status of fisheries, which must be considered separately. • We provide a comprehensive data set of marine ingredients LCIs to produce mass or economically allocated LCAs. • We include the broadest range of species and geographies to date for any marine ingredient LCI. • We include the first demonstration of eFIFO methodology linked to LCA. • Marine ingredients have variable impacts between different species and locations. • Marine ingredients typically have lower LCA impacts than terrestrial ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable intensification (SI) is defined and interpreted in terms of a framework to support production of farmed aquatic animals in Asia and their trade with Europe. A novel holistic perspective to value chain analysis, informed by a range of sustainability tools, is used to explain the dynamic in the trade that is having significant impacts on livelihoods in both regions. The origins of SI in agriculture are first described and their congruence with aquaculture clarified. Asian aquaculture systems, based on their emergent properties, are then located within a SI framework considering possible boundaries (enterprise, zone or whole value chain). The implications of conventional intensification, and alternatives are explored with reference to specific examples and impacts on the local and global environment, human and aquatic animal health and welfare. The challenges to sustainability of such value chains and implications for their governance, food culture and consumer habits are considered. Local consumption of seafood in Asia is found to be a major driver of growth and alternative markets for exports regionally and in Low and Medium income countries (LMIC) are likely to impact on employment and power in the value chain between Europe and Asia. The benefits of viewing farmed seafood as part of broader food landscapes are identified in the analysis, as is a shift in the focus from volume to value in terms of goal setting. More holistic perspectives of sustainability also emerge as necessary to describe and interpret global value chains rather than limited reductionist, production- orientated views. A diversity of trends in the development of farmed seafood is identified in contrast to any simplistic move to intensification, likely informed by economic, environmental and social factors in producer and consumer countries. Statement of relevance Global imbalances in production and consumption of farmed seafood are stimulating trade between Asia and Europe. The dynamic of global value chains around this emergent trade and their alignment with broader sustainability criteria, as applied to sustainable intensification of food production, are highly relevant to global food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiency assessments of marine ingredient use in aquaculture are required to fully understand their contribution to global seafood supply and their impacts on all UN Sustainable Development Goals. Fish In: Fish Out (FIFO) ratios have become the principal metric used to ensure aquaculture does not negatively impact wild fish stocks. However, several approaches have been advocated to calculate the FIFO ratio and there have been criticisms that the different approaches employed lead to over- or under- estimates of the dependence of aquaculture on marine ingredients. Critically, FIFO does not align with Life Cycle Assessment as a measure of other environmental impacts. In this paper we present an alternative method to calculate the FIFO ratio based on the principle of economic allocation (economic Fish In: Fish Out – eFIFO) as commonly used in Life Cycle Assessments. Economic allocation acts as a proxy for the nutritional value of ingredients and places higher importance on the more limiting co-products generated and their relative demand. Substitution of marine ingredients by alternate feed ingredients has significantly reduced the amount of fishmeal and fish oil in aquafeed formulations for most farmed fish species, resulting in a continually decreasing FIFO ratio. Results show that most aquaculture species groups assessed in this study are net producers of fish, while salmon and trout aquaculture are net neutral, producing as much fish biomass as is consumed. Overall, global fed-aquaculture currently produces three to four times as much fish as it consumes. Tracking historical prices of fish oil against fishmeal, the relative higher price of fish oil leads to relatively higher allocation of fish to fish oil compared to fishmeal. This leads to relatively higher eFIFO for species with high fish oil requirements. • Economic allocation is applied to the co-production of fishmeal and fish oil to assess the fish in: fish out (FIFO) ratio. • Economic allocation avoids double counting of fish resources. • Economic allocation gives a higher impact to the limiting feed ingredient, reflecting socio-economic drivers of fisheries. • The economic FIFO (eFIFO) ratio is compared to previously published FIFO ratios for the main aquaculture species groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]