Vil UK sætte en stopper for tobisfiskeriet? MID svarer på høring

Den 19. oktober  2021 udsendte Storbritanniens “Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs” også kaldet DEFRA, en høring angående fiskeri efter tobis og sperling. I høringsoplægget lægger DEFRA blandt andet vægt på, at tobis og sperling spiller en rolle som fødegrundlag i det bredere marine økosystem. DEFRA overvejer at indføre restriktioner mod fiskeri efter to arter i britisk farvand.

Danmark har langt den største andel af kvoterne for tobis og sperling og eventuelle forhindringer i fiskeriet efter de to arter, ville være katastrofalt for den danske produktion af fiskemel og fiskeolie.

Her er et uddrag af MID’s høringssvar, som du kan læse i fuld længde her.

Fishmeal and fish oil play an essential role in global food security
Fishmeal and fish oil are important marine ingredients and the cornerstone of providing healthy seafood to consumers worldwide. Produced from both forage fish and by-products from the fish processing industry, marine ingredients are key ingredients for aquafeed, providing aquaculture fish with recognized superior nutrition. Those nutrients are then passed on to a very wide range of consumers.

Fishmeal and fish oil play an essential role in global food security, providing feed for a growing global population. The world’s population has quadrupled in the last 100 years, and will reach an estimated 10.9 billion people by the end of the century, according to the UN. Farmed fish has a vital role to play in feeding a growing global population and aquaculture production is projected to reach 109 million tonnes in 2030, an increase of 32 percent (26 million tonnes) over 2018.

As a critical source of nutrition generating relatively low average environmental pressures, blue foods present an opportunity to improve global nutrition with lower environmental burdens, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals to improve nutrition (Goal 2), ensure sustainable consumption and production (Goal 12), and sustainably use marine resources (Goal 14).

Small pelagics: Low carbon footprint and well documented health effects
Fish constitute 29% of the global animal biomass and is a sustainable alternative to land-based protein sources. Fish is a renewable resource that can be harvested repeatably. Ocean fisheries don’t cause soil erosion, don’t blow away the topsoil, don’t use any significant freshwater, don’t use antibiotics and don’t have anything to do with nutrient releases, that devastating form of pollution that causes algal blooms in freshwater and dead zones in the ocean. After extensive studies, it turns out that some fish have the lowest greenhouse gas footprint per unit of protein. Better even than plants. Sardines, herring, mackerel, anchovies…. (Læs hele høringssvaret)