Manufacturers belonging to the Japan Fish Feed Association will not meet new Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) feed standards, leaving Japan with only one major fish feed maker that is likely to meet the updated requirements: the Japanese subsidiary of Stavanger, Norway-based Skretting.
The London, U.K.-based ASC launched its new Feed Standard V1.01 on 15 June, 2021, and the standards became effective starting 14 January, 2023, allowing feed mills to apply for certification under the new standard beginning early this year.
In June, The Minato Shimbun newspaper reported that members of the Japan Fish Feed Association, representing most of the aquafeed mills in Japan, will not meet the new standards because its members use fish waste – including trimmings, unsold fish, and other byproducts – collected from distributors and retailers in their production processes.
Because these producers do not separate and track the source of each bit of waste they use, they would not qualify for certification under the ASC’s new traceability rules.
Though the use of waste byproducts in aquafeed is environmentally friendly and reduces waste – Japanese law requires its collection for this reason – it may contain traces of fish of which the ASC does not approve.
“ASC requires all marine ingredients in aquafeed to be assessed for the risk of deriving from illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing, use of endangered species, and the risk of being caught using forced or child labor,” the ASC told SeafoodSource. “These risks can only be assessed if traceability is in place. We recognize that byproduct traceability is more challenging, and so some flexibility is offered in the risk-assessment process; however, we likewise aim to ensure these worst practices are not present in supply chains of ASC-certified feed mills. It is a matter of fact that other certification schemes have adopted similar requirements.”
The decision moved the Japan Fish Feed Association, which consists of 12 feed manufacturers, to switch to Marine Eco-Label Japan (MEL) certification – for now.
MEL, however, is also developing its own certification standards for fishmeal, fish oil, and compound feed, and whether MEL’s Aquaculture Eco-Label (AEL) standard is more accommodative than ASC requirements is still unknown.
The updated ASC standards have also left other members of the Japanese seafood industry in limbo.
“Since the supply of ASC-certified aquaculture feed that we use will not be halted, there will be no problem with the production of ASC-certified fish (yellowtail and kampachi),” the company told SeafoodSource. “However, we are concerned that the number of options for manufacturers will be reduced.”
The new ASC standards, while meticulous, are not the first to stipulate using fish waste in feed production may pose both ethical and health risks, and the ASC isn’t the first organization to push for higher standards.
Members of Anti IUU Forum Japan, a group including WWF Japan, Seafood Legacy Co., The Nature Conservancy, and others, have called on the government to increase transparency throughout the country’s seafood supply chain.
Studies have also found the use of fish waste in feed could be problematic.
“The utilization of [urban fish biomass] should be promoted in economic and ecologic aspects; however, in use of the [fishmeal], there remains a risk of intra-species recycling that might lead to transmissible spongiform encephalopathy,” a 2020 report titled “Fish Oil and Fish Meal Production from Urban Fisheries Biomass in Japan” states. Furthermore, we must take into consideration the possibility of contamination of fishery products from at-risk species and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fisheries due to the lack of regulations in Japan.”
The study found that producers used 844,909 metric tons (MT) of fish material for the production of fish oil and fishmeal in Japan in 2018, and 79.4 percent of that total stemmed from byproducts. In the early 2000s, 31.7 percent of those byproducts came from fishery processors, while 68.3 percent came from wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants. Not all of that goes into aquaculture feed; some, for example, goes into fertilizers.
Veronique Jamin, a spokesperson for the London-based IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organization, which represents the fishmeal industry, said her organization supports the use of fish byproducts as raw material to produce fishmeal and fish oil.
“We like to highlight that there is no such thing as waste. With about one-third of all global marine ingredient production now coming from byproducts, what we mean is the reuse of those food-grade products not desired for direct human consumption, so we turn them into indirect consumption by feeding them to our future food,” she said.
IFFO’s website notes that 30 percent of the world’s fishmeal and 51 percent of total fish oil is derived from byproducts. The organization, though largely supportive of its use, still worries about traceability. IFFO recently held a webinar on fish byproducts, and how to trace them back to their origins, which highlighted MarinTrust – a marine ingredients certification program that provides a framework through its upcoming Factory Standard.
In the meantime, the ASC has not given up on working with the Japanese feed mills.
“We recognize that the marine byproduct supply chain in Japan … poses challenges to the requirements,” it told SeafoodSource. “We are in contact with feed mills and plan to further engage with the Japan Fish Feed Association to discuss how to overcome this issue. The mentioned model is specific to Japan and has not been raised as a concern by other markets. It is definitely not our intent to exclude any country or region but rather collaborate with the sector to find meaningful solutions from an environmental sustainability perspective.”
ASC-certified farms have until 14 January, 2025, to ensure their feed is compliant with the council’s new standards.
Photo courtesy of ASC
