Nordlaks has become the first customer for Skretting’s new commercial salmon feed containing insect meal.
The Stokmarknes, Norway-based salmon and rainbow trout farming company is testing the feed on 360,000 fry, which was produced in Skretting Norway’s factory in Averøy, according to the feed and fingerling producer.
"We expect it to be as good as our regular feed and hope that the commercial test will show the same good results as Skretting has seen in its efforts to improve feed intake," Nordlaks Freshwater Director Eirik Welde said in a press release.
Insect meal is considered a more sustainable alternative than traditional fishmeal-based aquafeed. Skretting has been working to incorporate insect meal made from black soldier fly into some of its feed, and has advanced its processes to the point where its insect meal-based feeds perform at the same level as feeds containing traditional protein sources, according to Siri Tømmerås, the land-based farming lead for Skretting Norway.
"Insects are an important food for the wild salmon, and we see that insect meal can increase the appetite in the fish,” Tømmerås said. “This is an interesting find, and we continue to take advantage of this.”
Insect meal will become an important raw material for aquafeed in the future, allowing producers to scale up production as demand for feed rises while fishmeal sourcing from wild-catch fisheries reaches its natural limitations, according to Skretting Norway Product Development Director Mads Martinsen.
"Our goal is that in the future, ingredients used for aquaculture feed do not compete with food for human consumption. For us it's important to invest in alternatives like insect meal," Martinsen said.
Tømmerås said the biggest challenge for Skretting has been sourcing enough insect meal in Europe. Skretting is currently working with a few promising manufacturers to help bring their operations up to a commercial scale. Skretting is hoping to have at least five different European suppliers, each producing 20,000 metric tons of insect meal per year by the year 2022. That 100,000-metric-ton total is two-thirds of the amount of soybean concentrate Skretting Norway will use annually this year.
"The challenge has been to find manufacturers that can produce enough volume with consistent, good quality. We have seen more than 30 manufacturers, and ended up with a handful of suppliers that we have moved on,” she said. “After a close cooperation for a long time, we have now obtained the raw material at a quality level that we can count on in the future.”
Martinsen said in addition to insect feed, Skretting is also testing feed made with calanus, a plankton eaten by salmon in the wild.
“When we explore further down the food chain, in fact, the Nordic waters have as much calanus as the total biomass of all wild fish and sea mammals combined. The authorities have opened for regulated fishing, and Skretting is already commencing commercial trials with Calanus,” Martinsen said. “Initial results show that salmon also like the taste of this plankton, so here we have a fantastic new resource in addition to insect meal.”
Photo courtesy of Skretting
