The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) is inviting organizations interested in developing novel oils that are high in omega-3 for fish farming to share their proposals and to supply GSI members with between 25,000 and 200,000 metric tons (MT) of product annually for a minimum of two years.
The salmon farming industry uses approximately 350,000 MT of fish oil each year, a figure that is expected to grow by approximately 5 percent each year in line with industry growth. It’s hoped the additional resources from this initiative will significantly increase the availability of omega-3 rich oils and support the sustainable use of marine oils in fish feed.
“Ensuring a long-term supply of our feed resources has always been a key focus for the GSI, and through this commitment to new novel oils, instead of waiting for the market to act, we hope to accelerate the development of viable novel oils at a commercial scale to improve the long-term stability of our supply chain,” said Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO of Marine Harvest.
For this project, GSI member companies will work in partnership with feed producers Biomar, EWOS, Havsbrun, Salmofood and Skretting to ensure the properties requested of non-marine sourced novel oil are sufficient and appropriate to meet the Request for Proposal (RFP) objectives.
“We know there are exciting developments in terms of alternative resourcing for fish oils, and through our partnership project we hope to understand and assess the real potential and environmental benefits of using such novel oils, and hopefully identify a supplier of novel oils to meet the requirements of our industry,” said Einar Wathne, CEO of EWOS.
The invitation is open to any organization that is able to supply novel oil resources and meet the requirements stated in the RFP document. The deadline for proposal submission is 31 October 2015. After this date, the GSI will assess all the proposals received in terms of suitability and viability.
The GSI anticipates a decision will be reached by the end of this year.
