§ Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much food, by weight, is required to produce one kilo of marketable farmed cod; how much raw marine resource, by weight, is required to make one kilo of food; where that food is sourced from; and what the content of that food is. [143013]
823W
§ Mr. BradshawThis Department does not collect data on feed usage and composition from the limited number of enterprises engaged in cod farming in the UK. However, we estimate that between 1.2kg and 1.4kg of feed is needed to produce 1kg of farmed cod of a marketable size.
We do not have information on the weight of the raw marine resource used in feed for farmed cod. The quantity involved will vary depending on the proportion of fishmeal used in the different grades of dry fish feed produced for cod at various stages of growth. Cod, like other farmed piscivorous species are unlikely to consume more natural marine resources through feed than their wild counterparts would consume in the natural environment.
The fish used for aquaculture feed are generally small, bony pelagic species sourced from non food grade fisheries, usually off the coasts of Peru and Chile, and in the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea.
We understand that feed for farmed cod includes protein and oils derived from marine sources, carbohydrate, starch, minerals and vitamins.