Aquaculture Feed and Fertilizer Resources Information System
 

FISH-e: FAO’s tool for quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions arising from aquaculture

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) there is a need to understand how and why they arise. In meeting this challenge, FAO has developed a user-friendly tool that quantifies aquaculture greenhouse gas emissions. The tool is called FISH-emissions (or FISH-e for short). It calculates the emission intensity (in kg of GHG per kg of live weight) for the main aquaculture commodities, including catfish, cyprinids, Indian major carps, salmonids, shrimps and tilapias. Users can change key parameters, such as species, location, ration composition and feed conversion ratio, and on-farm energy and fertilizer use; and explore how these influences the emissions intensity. The emissions intensity of fish farming is intimately linked to the mix of feed materials in the ration, and of course, the efficiency with which these are then converted to live weight gain. Default rations are included in FISH-e for the most common aquaculture commodity/location combinations. In order for a more accurate calculation of emissions intensity, however, users can also enter specific ration compositions. They can also specify their energy and fertilizer consumption, which can also be important sources of GHGs in some systems. Once the information is entered, FISH-e calculates the emission intensity (or carbon footprint) and provides a graphical breakdown of the emissions by source, thereby enabling users to quickly identify the main sources of GHGs in their system. Having identified the sources of emissions, farmers will then be able to target specific actions at their farms, that can contribute to a reduction in GHG emissions. Combined with the conclusions and outputs from the workshop in Liberia, Costa Rica, Governments, feed suppliers, farmers, and research and development organizations will be able implement strategies that aim to improve the overall sustainability of aquaculture production globally.

The GHG tool is available from this link


Installation of feed mills and farmers’ training in Kyrgyz Republic with support from GCP/KYR/012/FIN

Since 2009, FAO has been promoting aquaculture development in the Kyrgyz Republic. With financial support from the Finnish Government, FAO is currently implementing GCP/KYR/012/FIN “Towards Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries Development in the Kyrgyz Republic”. A component of this project is to promote the development of small-scale carp hatcheries and feed manufacturing capacity in the country.

In April 2016, three small-scale aquafeed mills were delivered to the project regions of Jalal-Abad and Issyk-Kul. The production systems have a feed production capacity of 600-800 kg/ hour and are based on ring dye technology. The systems comprise three major components: a) a hammer mill (18.5 Kw), with a capacity to mill raw feed ingredients at a rate of 600-800kg/ hour to a 0.8 mm particle size. The hammer mill is fitted with a 5.5 Kw high pressure fan and 0.75 Kw airlock, cyclone and dust collector, b) a double batch mixer (100 kg capacity) and lift and, c) 18.5 Kw ring dye pelletizer (capacity: 600-800 kg/hour). The ring pelletizers are supplied with 1.5, 3, 4 and 6 mm pellet dyes. The machines were procured from China at a cost of approximately US$10 500 per set.

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FAO TCP Project on “Enhancing aquaculture production for food security and rural development through better seed and feed production and management with special focus on public-private partnership (TCP/BGD/3501)”

Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has approved a Technical Cooperation Programme Project entitled Enhancing aquaculture production for food security and rural development through better seed and feed production and management with special focus on public-private partnership to be implemented in Bangladesh in January 2014. The project comprises 12 outputs, six on seed, five on feed and one in support of better farming, namely, facilitated access to credit for small-scale farmers, hatchery operators, and feed producers and is to be implemented in 24 months (May 2014 – April 2016) at an estimated cost of US$451,000. The inception workshop of the project was held on 28 and 29 May, 2014 in Dhaka. You can download the report of the inception workshop and other information of the project from this link. For any further information, please contact [email protected] and/or [email protected].

Please see workshop presentations


FAO TCP Project on “Enhancing aquaculture production for food security and rural development through improved feed value chain, production and use (TCP/KYR/3502)”

Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has recently approved a Technical Cooperation Programme Project entitled Enhancing aquaculture production for food security and rural development through improved feed value chain, production and use to be implemented in the Kyrgyz Republic. The project comprises 6 outputs (altogether 28 activities) and is programmed to be implemented in 24 months (June 2014 - May 2016) at an estimated cost of at a cost of US$337 000. For further information, please contact [email protected]

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FAO TCP Project on “Improvement of feeding and feed management efficiency in aquaculture production in the Philippines (TCP /PHI/3404)”

Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has approved a Technical Cooperation Programme Project entitled Improvement of feeding and feed management efficiency in aquaculture production in the Philippines in October 2013. The project comprises 4 outputs (altogether 20 activities) and is to be implemented in 24 months (April 2014 - March 2016) at an estimated cost of US$345,000. The inception workshop of the project was held on 22 to 23 April, 2014 in Quezon City. You can download the report of the inception workshop and other information of the project from this link. For any further information, please contact [email protected] and/or [email protected].

Please see workshop presentations


Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) – Responsible Feed Standard

Farmed seafood depends heavily on compound feed to complete their production cycle. The production of ingredients that make up the various aquaculture feeds, create various negative environmental impacts. Examples are pressure on fish stocks used for fishmeal and  fish oil production and land clearing and fertilizer use for the production of plant derived ingredients. Within the ASC Responsible Feed Project, the mission is to define guidelines for responsible sourcing of the main ingredients used for fish feed production. There are marine derived ingredients, terrestrial plant & animal ingredients, micro ingredients and general feed mill requirements. The ASC works closely with GlobalGAP and GAA to make sure that all three organizations can use this standard. More information on this project can be found here: http://www.asc-aqua.org/index.cfm?act=tekst.item&iid=311&iids=313&lng=1 or via [email protected].