Factory size would depend on available waste, so "in some places like the US mid-west [where livestock production is intensive] it would be big," David Drew said, adding that a large factory could produce about 20 tons of maggot protein powder a day.

Elsje Pieterse of the University of Stellenbosch's animal science department, and engaged in research for Agriprotein Technologies, told IRIN: "Magmeal works exceptionally well and is an easily convertible protein for livestock and fish" and does not contain toxins associated with vegetable proteins.

She said production of protein for animal and fish feed from other sources (such as hospital and dairy waste) using the life cycle of the fly, was also being researched.

Protein sources for livestock and fish farming are being investigated by other companies, especially in Asia, and include microbial and algal species, as well as silkworm pupae.

Stable cost base

David Drew said cost would determine the viability of proteins derived from maggots, but fishmeal production costs would always rise, while protein from maggots would have greater price stability, as there were fewer price variants such as diesel costs.

To produce one kilogram of farmed fish requires about 2kg of wild fish used in fishmeal. "With capture fisheries production stagnating, major increases in fish food production [for human consumption] are forecast to come from aquaculture. Taking into account the population forecast, an additional 27 million tonnes of production will be needed to maintain the present level of per capita consumption in 2030," said the 2010 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), published in January 2011.

About 65 percent of the world's fishmeal production is used for aquaculture, according to industry estimates.

Global per capita fish consumption has reached a record high and SOFIA estimates annual consumption at "almost 17kg per person on average," accounting for at least 15 percent of the annual protein intake of more than three billion people.

SFIA spokesperson Karen Green told IRIN: "Fishmeal has gone up dramatically in the past year. It's supply and demand. There are less fish around [especially from the Peru market] causing a higher price - so people have looked to other alternatives [such as soya] - but in aquaculture you cannot really replace fishmeal."

Peru accounts for about 60 percent of world's fishmeal production. Green said Peruvian fishmeal, sourced mainly from Anchovy and Jack Mackerel, sold in 2009 for US$820 a ton; in 2010 it sold for $1,600 ton - although soya prices remained stable over the same period.

The Fishmeal Information Network notes on its website that the types of fish used for fishmeal had rapid reproduction and stock recovery abilities, and that "stocks of Peruvian anchoveta, for example, are severely depleted by a warm current of water (El Niño) every seven to ten years in the eastern Pacific Ocean. However, natural stock replenishment usually takes just 12-18 months, supported by careful fisheries management and surveillance schemes."

Apart from Peru, other top producers of fishmeal are Chile, Thailand, USA, Japan and Denmark.

Ecosystem threat

"Globally the demand for and use of fishmeal has increased rapidly, especially in some of the emerging aquaculture countries in Asia. China is the single largest user of fishmeal," the SFIA factsheet said.

The peak level of catch for fishmeal production was 30 million tons in 1994. Britain consumes more fish for fishmeal than it does for human consumption, according to the FAO. However, SFIA said, "fishmeal production also provides a major outlet to recycle trimmings from the food fish [for human consumption] processing sector, which might otherwise be dumped at extra cost to the environment and the consumer."

Jacqueline Alder, a senior researcher involved in a nine-year study, Forage Fish: From Ecosystems to Markets, published in 2008 by the University of British Columbia in Canada on fishmeal production, reportedly said: "Society should demand that we stop wasting these fish on farmed fish, pigs and poultry. Although feeds derived from soya and other land-based crops are available and are used, fishmeal and fish oil have skyrocketed in popularity because forage fish are easy to catch in large numbers and, hence, relatively inexpensive."

Source:  Integrated Regional Information Networks (http://www.irinnews.org )