From 2000 to 2023, the number of species comprising 85% of aquaculture production grew from 14 to 22.
Does this account for the >1 trillion fish fry artificially propagated in China per year, a large share of which are probably fed live to mandarin fish? See my post here, and some (higher) estimates here. My sense is that these fish arenât counted in the FAO stats, because theyâre not slaughtered for food, and fish fed to mandarin fish are from a smaller number of species. From my post:
Li and Xia (2018) wrote âAlmost all prey for mandarin fish is provided through artificial propagationâ, and single out mud carp as the favourite feed fish, although others are reported elsewhere, e.g. FAO:
Common live foods for mandarin fish include mud carp (Cirrhinus molitorella), Wuchang fish (also called Chinese bream, Megalobrama amblycephala), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (H. nobilis), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), crucian carp (Carassius carassius), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), stone moroko (Pseudorasbora parva) and other wild and trash fish. Wuchang fish fry is preferred at the start of food intake, then feeding bighead and silver carp follows. When body length reaches 25 cm, common and crucian carps are fed.
And âsilver carp, bighead, grass carp, Wuchang fish or tilapia fryâ (Kuanhong/âFAO, 2009).
Thanks for linking to your post! I rely solely on FAO-reported tonnage here and assume market-size animals destined for human consumption when converting live weights to individual counts. Feed fish are a structurally distinct welfare context I donât really account for here, and probably needs a different intervention approach altogether.
Does this account for the >1 trillion fish fry artificially propagated in China per year, a large share of which are probably fed live to mandarin fish? See my post here, and some (higher) estimates here. My sense is that these fish arenât counted in the FAO stats, because theyâre not slaughtered for food, and fish fed to mandarin fish are from a smaller number of species. From my post:
Li and Xia (2018) wrote âAlmost all prey for mandarin fish is provided through artificial propagationâ, and single out mud carp as the favourite feed fish, although others are reported elsewhere, e.g. FAO:
And âsilver carp, bighead, grass carp, Wuchang fish or tilapia fryâ (Kuanhong/âFAO, 2009).
Thanks for linking to your post! I rely solely on FAO-reported tonnage here and assume market-size animals destined for human consumption when converting live weights to individual counts. Feed fish are a structurally distinct welfare context I donât really account for here, and probably needs a different intervention approach altogether.