The investigation, which was commissioned by IFFO (the marine ingredients organisation), and undertaken by researchers at Stirling University, examined the use of fish by-products in fishmeal and fish oil production. Nearly 20 million tonnes of fish-based raw materials are used annually in the production of fishmeal and fish oil, but the model showed that this could be increased to 35 million tonnes should all the by-products of these fish be utilised.
These results were published in the IFFO’s first ever Annual Report, which also gives succinct summaries of the organisation’s core areas of work – including stakeholder engagement, technical projects and market research. IFFO will present the report to members at this week’s annual meeting in Barcelona, which will be attended by 157 members from 27 countries.
The report also contains details of the three member events hosted by the IFFO, which were attended by 869 delegates in total; as well as the outlines of 90 market reports it made, 24 of which focused on the fast-growing Chinese market. Throughout the year IFFO worked hard to expand its methods of data collection by gathering production and/or trade annual data for 109 countries, monthly data for 30 countries, and weekly data for around 10 countries. Data is collected from multiple sources to ensure accuracy, with the most important source being IFFO’s members, which represent more than 50% of the total production, and between 75% and 80% of the total annual trade, of marine ingredients worldwide.
The report summary adds that, in a bid to promote successful stakeholder engagement, IFFO worked with press, academia, regulatory bodies, governments, NGOs and the wider industry. In 2016 they represented members at an international working with Codex (Fish oil standard), the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous (UNTDG) goods and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) (antioxidants), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (data and statistics), and not least with the European Commission during its work on the reauthorisation of ethoxyquin in the EU. A particular highlight was the interaction with the UN-TDG, where a change in the wording relating to the shipping of fishmeal has been proposed. Finally, IFFO’s Annual Conference in Bangkok brought many of our stakeholders together to give a 360-degree overview of the marine ingredients industry.
IFFO Director General Andrew Mallison stated that: “This report is intended to give an overview of who we are, what we have delivered in 2016 and what we are trying to achieve in future. We look forward to producing more reports of this kind in the future to draw together all IFFO’s important work.”
