Sustainable Aquafeeds: Using Aquafarmer Preference to Inform a Multi-criteria Decision Analysis

Aquafeed is a major contributor to the sustainability of food production using aquaculture. Therefore, improving the environmental, economic, and societal performance of aquafeeds provides an opportunity to significantly enhance the sustainability of aquaculture practices, which make up the fastest-growing food sector. Fish meal and fish oil are traditionally the main sources of essential nutrients (e.g., protein and fatty acids) in aqua diets. However, increases in supply prices and limited natural resources (e.g., forage fish) have encouraged some stakeholders to seek alternative nutrient-rich options. This work provides a multidimensional assessment of current and promising future aquafeeds, utilizing multi-criteria decision analysis. The considered parameters include cost, environmental impacts, and nutrient inclusion. The results based on varying stakeholders' perspectives indicate that the replacements of fish meal with plant-based soybean meal and fish oil with plant-based canola oil are the most favorable alternatives among those investigated to enhance the overall aquafeed performance in aquaculture food production.