A study in the journal Fish and Fisheries points to a new source of seafood for human consumption: the tons and tons of food-grade fish that is ground into fishmeal each year and used in aquaculture and other places, says the NPR blog The Salt. A quarter of the world’s annual fish catch, 20 million tons, is used for fishmeal and the new study says 90 percent of it is suitable for “direct human consumption.”
The lead author of the study, Tim Cashion, says fishmeal increasingly is being used to feed tilapia and carp, species that previously were given vegetable-based feed or that filtered their food from the water. “But there’s evidence the trend can go in the other direction as well. The salmon industry has been making strides in lowering the amount of fishmeal and fish oil in its feed by incorporating alternatives like soybean or algae,” says The Salt.
New York chef Dan Barber told NPR that part of the challenge is “creating a culture of desiring” the “oily, healthy fish,” such as herring and anchovy, that commonly go into fishmeal. “One doesn’t covet a sardine the way we covet a halibut,” he said.