Stakeholder perceptions and sustainable intensification strategies for European aquaculture

Global trade is central in supplying the growing demand for seafood in Europe, leading to a dependency on finite capture fisheries and aquaculture imports. Urbanisation and rising global income levels drive demand for high-value carnivorous species already farmed in Europe, indicating growth opportunities. However, European aquaculture lacks scale, and growth capacity is undermined by cheaper alternatives. Additionally, European aquaculture is dependent on imported feed ingredients, responsible for most of the costs and environmental impact. Therefore, the aim is to explore two promising sustainable intensification strategies using a stakeholder perceptions survey, nutritional and volume analysis of processing by-products, and a LCA of (novel) feed ingredients. Firstly, strategic processing and utilisation of by-products into food, feed and industrial applications could increase the (economic) output, without the need for additional resources. We find that substantially higher total flesh yield can be achieved if fully processed, compared to fillet only. While large volumes of nutritious Atlantic salmon by-products are utilised, there is potential to increase volumes and value. Available by-product volumes from European seabass, gilthead seabream, common carp, and turbot with interesting nutritional characterisation (e.g., protein, lipids and/or EPA+DHA content) could be increased if more strategically processed. By-products which are unattractive for food applications, with low ash content, could improve the sustainability of animal feed provisioning in Europe as well. Secondly, ingredients that are produced in (semi-)arid areas in Europe, therefore not competing for agriculture resources, while minimizing environmental impact, should be favoured, such as guar and microalgae meal. In theory, these strategies combined show potential to increase the resource efficiency, economic performance, competitiveness, resilience, and environmental sustainability. However, in practice, potential varies between aquaculture species and geographical location, mostly affected by infrastructure barriers and consumer preferences. The importance of knowledge and technology transfer between species and production systems, to overcome these barriers, is emphasised.