The aquaculture industry – and the non-governmental organizations that scrutinize it – rely on complex tools to calculate the impact, effectiveness, and value of marine ingredients to the aquaculture industry.
IFFO, the international trade body that represents the marine ingredients industry, recently completed a review of the primary metrics used to analyze the sector, using the latest available data, reviewed the industry’s performance over the last 20 years.
The four metrics commonly used in the analysis of aquafeed performance are the feed-conversion ratio (FCR), fish-in:fish-out ratio (FIFO), forage-fish dependency ratio (FFDR), and the lifecycle assessment analysis (LCA). For years, FCR and FIFO have been the preferred tools for analyzing the industry, but lately, FFDR and LCA have gained in favor. IFFO found an improving trend across all four metrics between 2000 and 2020 due to improved technologies, nutritional knowledge, and feed-management strategies. Feed is now more precisely tailored to meet individual species’ needs, and nutrients are delivered more efficiently, according to IFFO…