Denmark-headquartered aquaculture company BioMar Group has posted a record-low forage fish dependency ratio (FFDR), announcing the achievement in its 2024 Sustainability Report.
“We have had an impressive sustainability year,” BioMar Group CEO Carlos Diaz said.
FFDR measures the amount of wild fish used in fishmeal for aquaculture as one way to quantify the environmental impacts of fish farming. In a 24 March release about the news, BioMar reported that the sustainability goal was achieved through the use of alternative ingredients and trimmings.
Diaz said that the company’s 2024 sustainability results prove “that being sustainable is not only the right thing to do but also makes good business sense.”
He attributed the company’s success with alternate feeds to an “early investment in innovation and raw material development [that] is paying off” and said that he believed the company would achieve further feed sustainability in the future.
BioMar produced almost 1 million tons of microalgae aquafeed in 2024, amounting to about 70 percent of the company’s total aquafeed volume. The company’s use of microalgae as a sustainable source of omega-3 began in 2016, and it debuted its Blue Impact Feed in 2022, which has since been adopted by salmon farmers like Loch Duart and Akaroa King Salmon.
In 2023, the company became the first aquafeed company to meet stringent carbon reduction targets set by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Of the company's 2024 accomplishments, Diaz said that he was proud of the company’s progress toward a company-wide “sustainability mindset” and that the company is on track to meet its commitment to reducing its feed carbon footprint by one-third by 2030.
According to the report, BioMar also made progress on its labor and human rights goals. New policies around parental leave, health and safety, and supply chain compliance were implemented in 2024, and the company said that “the target for 2030 of 100 percent living wage reached 99.9 percent this year.” BioMar is now halfway toward achieving all of its 2030 Sustainability Ambitions.
The “results are the outcome of strong collaboration with our partners and a clear focus on delivering long-term value through responsible innovation,” said Diaz.
