Aquaculture production has surpassed capture fisheries as the main
source of seafood for human consumption, with farm-raised fish and
shellfish production expected to exceed the total fisheries landings
within the next ten years (OECD/FAO, 2015). The aquaculture industry
is growing and simultaneously becoming more intensive and reliant
on industrially compounded aquafeeds (Tacon et al., 2006). As a result,
demand for raw materials to produce commercial aquaculture feeds
is growing (FAO, 2014) and, in some cases, outpacing growth of the
aquaculture industry itself (Tacon and Metian, 2008). Fish meal (FM)
and fish oil (FO) obtained from marine forage fish species have been
the key protein and lipid sources used in formulated feeds, particularly
those made for high value carnivorous marine fish that demand
protein-rich, energy-dense diets (Tacon and Metian, 2008; Olsen and
Hasan, 2012). Like many other capture fisheries, reduction fisheries
landings have been relatively static; though some stocks are predicted
to support modest increases in the future, recent observations have indicated declining trends in the global production of FM and FO (Tacon
et al., 2011). Complicating the issues of availability are the average
prices of FM and FO, which have increased substantially over the past decade.