An Environment-Friendly Protein: Insects for Fish feed

New companies are growing insects off of food waste, then feeding these insects to fish and other livestock.

Insects are an excellent food source: both humans and wild fish eat insects. Even in the western world, bodybuilders are jumping on board the insect-eating bandwagon to get their muscle gains. 

Why? Insects are packed with protein.

Usually, it’s expensive to produce high-quality animal protein. Livestock production uses a lot of resources, like plant crops, vitamins, medicines, and land. The west’s overconsumption of protein comes with a massive environmental strain. 

Insects might be an environmentally-beneficial protein source. 

Growing insects fed on food wastes reduces waste. Considering 1/3rd of all food is wasted, we’d have plenty of food for the insects. To put this in perspective, if waste were a country, it would be the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases, after China and the USA. 

Not only does it reduce waste, but it turns that waste into something valuable that can be sold in the economy. Processes like this are called “value-adding”. 

Insect protein could be used to feed fish, reducing the need for aquaculture to rely on soy or other fish stocks for protein. Soy cultivation causes deforestation and use of fertilizers and pesticides, while fish stocks are being depleted, many of which are at risk of extinction. In comparison, insect protein in fish feed would be a big improvement. 

The downside? Fish still need to be fed omega-3 fatty acids, which can only be sourced from marine sources. Even if they were fed on insects, aquaculture production would still need fish stocks to supply the omega-3 fats. 

Some companies are working on cultivating algae to produce omega-3 fats. Others are working on genetically-modifying terrestrial plants to produce omega-3 fats. 

We have the technology to stop relying on wild fish. But wild fish are still cheaper and more readily available than these alternatives. 

Until the consumers and policy demand that we stop overfishing, the price point will drive production towards the use of wild-caught fish to supply aquaculture with the omega-3 fats and protein it needs.