Where does the fishmeal and fish oil come from?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 90% of world fishmeal production is from oily fish species such as mackerel, pilchard, capelin and menhaden. Less than 10% is from white fish offal such as from cod and haddock. Only 1% is produced from other sources such as shellfish and whales. The majority of fish meal is “whole”, that is, only water and some oil are extracted from the fish. Generally, these fish are unsuitable for human consumption because they are small and bony and it would not be economically viable to process them. Most of these fish are caught off the coast of Peru and Chile and in the North Atlantic , North Sea and the Baltic. There have been suggestions recently that these species are over fished. While the FAO 2000 State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report concludes that 18% of fisheries are over exploited, the report refers to all species fished primarily for human consumption. The species classified as over
