Whilst Atlantic salmon and other products from intensive aquaculture are
relatively expensive human foods they have high market place acceptance
and great potential in human nutrition, they should be viewed as integral
components national food planning. Currently intensive aquaculture,
including nearly 2 million Mt of Atlantic salmon, accounts for less than 10%
of global aquaculture production but has an increasing value of at least US$
20 billion. Under a typical intensive aquaculture system all of the food is
supplied in a sequence of aquafeeds formulated to meet changing nutri-
tional needs of different life-history stages over the production cycle.
Control of feed formulations provides fine-tuning to support sustainability.
For example, Atlantic salmon grow from 0.1 g yolk-sac fry to 4-5 kg harvest
fish in around 2 years. Understanding how and when to change the feed
formulation provides several opportunities for optimising the use of
limited or expensive feed ingredients. Atlantic salmon are carnivorous
ectotherms and current feeds are mainly protein and lipid. In comparison
to terrestrial farm animals the feeds are high in protein, it is therefore
effective to develop alternative protein sources and these will be discussed
in detail. Furthermore, Atlantic salmon can utilise feeds with remarkably
high lipid to deposit large amounts of fatty acids.
Greater knowledge about nutrient requirements and considerable ingre-
dient development underpins a shift from aquafeeds being based mainly on