Trash to treasure ? Solving one of Asia’s most challenging fisheries issues

Bagged trawl bycatch, Mersing, East Johore

Duncan LeadbitterSustainable Fisheries PartnershipCoral Triangle Fishers ForumSanur, Bali June 2010

What is SFP?• SFP is an

international non government organisation created in 2006 to promote management improvements in fisheries by engaging industry players at all levels in the supply chain

• SFP is not an advocacy organisation. It works behind the scenes to encourage the private sector to engage in a productive way in discussions about sustainable use.

• Make use of existing tools to analyse fisheries as the basis for discussing solutions

The term trash fish generally refers to fish not directly used for human consumptionAlthough trash fish can be taken by variety of fishing gears the main source is from trawls where the catch of non target species is commonly very high (70% or more)Hundreds of species are involved and there are major concerns about the status of many species and the impacts on biodiversity.In most other countries trawl bycatch is simply discarded at sea or fed to the poor. In Asia, discarding is seen as waste and the use of trash fish is fueling a lot of the growth in aquaculture production. There is now a market for bycatch

Depending on species and volumes trash fish can be processed into human foods such as fish sauces, surimi and various other fish ‘snacks’. There is a huge market for this, and not just in Asia.

A large proportion is used for feeding animals but this is in decline as the prices paid by aquaculturists increases.

Trash fish destined for aquaculture is either fed directly to carnivorous species such as groupers and spiny lobsters or it is processed into fish meal and then used to make formulated feeds for a variety of species such as shrimp and, probably, pangasius, tilapia and many others.

Trawl trash

Major overfishing

problemResistance to using

exclusion devices

Processed human foods

Fish meal

Direct feed

GroupersSpiny

lobstersOthers?

ShrimpPangasius?

Tilapia?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/study-abroad/091022/human-trafficking-seafood-industry

Human Rights

Understanding the situationInformation collection regarding the issue: some good information available generated by directed studies in the period 1999-2004. Little information available subsequently – no management = no data.

Identify and contact Asia based fish meal and feed producers . Need to understand the economic forces at work

Have input to the various standard setting consultations currently underway (AD, GAA, GAP, IFFO)

Challenges faced to dateComplexity and scale – there is no trash fish fishery to point at. Trash fish is sourced from hundreds of trawl ‘fisheries’ but equal to Peruvian anchovy in terms of volume

Lack of information – can’t yet prove that trawl trash ends up in a shrimp or catfish sold in retail (and vice versa)

Lack of awareness of the issue – at all levels, amongst all groupsSolutions that keep useable fish (e.g ponyfish etc) whilst letting others such as juvenile groupers out need to be designed

Solving trash fish issues

Gear solutions – need finer tuned BRDs

Supply chain transparency in aquafeeds

Awareness raising

Continue to push for management

Integration of approaches needed – action at the catching end and the market end

Improved aquaculture feeds