Time to rethink aquaculture sustainability indicators?

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A drive to produce a greater volume of species that are associated with low trophic levels in aquaculture systems “may be unhelpful” for making the sector more sustainable.

So argue the authors of a new paper, which looks at how changes in the ingredients used in compound feeds – notably the reduction in the proportion of fishmeal and fish oil – are essentially lowering the trophic levels of traditionally high trophic taxa, such as salmon, that consume these feeds. Among other factors, this should persuade policymakers to think about ways, other than using trophic level indicators, to improve the sustainability of farmed seafood.