Giving Compass' Take:

• The New Food Economy reviews a new report on if using plant-based fish food will make the aquaculture industry more sustainable, stating that although using plants comes with many of its own environmental trade-offs, there could be some unforeseen consequences. 

• How can we support more innovative practices for a socially-conscious and sustainable seafood industry?

• Learn more about rethinking feed for aquaculture. 

Replacing fish food with plants may not be as planet-friendly as it seems, according to a new study on the ecological impact of feeding soy and other land-grown crops to farmed seafood. These plant-based feeds are an alternative to, well, other sea creatures, which is what many species like shrimp and salmon eat in the wild. Published in the science journal Sustainability, the new study—which involved an international team of aquaculture researchers—quantifies the effects that plant-based feeds have on land, water, and fertilizer use. The numbers that emerge challenge the prevailing notion that simply swapping fish-based fish food for plant-based fare can minimize the environmental footprint of aquaculture.

The interlocking limitations of fish-based feed, also known as fishmeal, have long confounded the aquaculture industry. For one, its ingredients—small, wild fish lower in the food chain, known as forage fish—are a finite resource. And as the global appetite for seafood continues to rise, so does the pressure to catch more. That means that fishmeal is becoming more costly and harder to source. As a result, producers have been trying to reduce their reliance in recent years.

Read the full article on potential ways to make aquaculture more sustainable by Jessica Fu at The New Food Economy.