What is “feed fish equivalency ratio” (FFER)?
A. FFER is a means of estimating the amount of wild forage fish used to produce a unit of farmed fish. This measurement of the dependency on forage fish for aquaculture production is also referred to as a “fish in : fish out ratio.” The calculation takes into account the yield of forage fish live weight to dry fishmeal weight, the efficiency of feed use (the feed conversion ratio or FCR) and the inclusion rates of fishmeal and fish oil in feed. The calculation can be undertaken for a single farm or net-pen or applied more broadly for an entire industry depending on available data. It can be used to evaluate the trend in dependency on wild fish resources over time, or to compare this dependency across farms or species produced. In the context of the Aquaculture Dialogues, FFER (rather than FCR) is being considered as a potential indicator for individual farm performance. It is highly likely that one or more of the Dialogues will choose to use it as an indicator and each of these Dialogu
