Interpretive Summary: Transforming aquaculture with insect-based feed: restraining factors

By: Vimal Selvaraj, Eugene Won

Implications

• Insect farming presents a sustainable solution for aquaculture feed, with a potential to transform feed production in the face of global food security challenges.
• The sector faces challenges in economically scaling production, ensuring safety, and formulating regulations, pointing to the need for strategic solutions.
• The article calls for focused research, investment, and innovation in insect-based feeds to meet aquafeed demands and maximize its environmental benefits.

The first explorations into utilizing insects as a food source due to the foresight of impending food demand occurred in the 1930s, the period between the world wars (Bodenheimer, 1951). By the 1980s, more structured research underscored the tangible advantages of incorporating insect larvae into animal and aquaculture feeds (Newton et al., 1977; Bondari and Sheppard, 1981, 1987). Nonetheless, the progression of applications from these investigations was overshadowed at the time by abundant, high-quality protein from marine sources (Green, 2016). Fishmeal dominated the feed industry and became the primary protein source for various farm animal diets. In 1980, fishmeal production, totaling 5.8 million metric tons, was predominantly allocated to feed terrestrial livestock, with poultry (49.8%) and swine (36.1%) being the major consumers. As wild marine fisheries reached their limits in the following decade, however, aquaculture—along with its demand for protein feed—rapidly grew to fill ever-expanding seafood markets. Aquaculture surpassed beef production in 2012 and, in 2020, the human population consumed more farmed fish (87.3 million metric tons) compared to wild-caught fish (70 million metric tons). In this same year, the aquaculture industry consumed 85% of the approximately 16 million metric tons of fish being processed for meal. [All fishmeal data from (FAO, 2022)].

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