project research

project research, three different thesis scenarios will be analysed for assessing the environmental impacts of salmon fishfeed.

• Scenario 1: The fish-feeds which are high in soy protein content can replace the traditional fish feeds because they are more environmentally friendly. (The composition of fish feed used for the marketable product 1 kg salmon will be provided by Salling Group).
• Scenario 2: The soy used for the production for the target specie of the research is sustainable (Conventional vs organic analysis).
• Scenario 3: The fishmeal-based feeds are more sustainable than soy-based fish feeds (Literature based). According to Salling, this is the best comparison, and it is also the most relevant as the company is looking to shift away from soy wherever possible, so it would be nice to know if that one place could be fish feed with no soy or marginal soy-content.

The purpose of this research is to

• Compare a soy-based fish feed product with one that does not have soy (or has marginal soy-content)
• Collect the inventory data provided by Salling’s vendors, apply the SimaPro software for conducting the material flow analysis and quantify the estimations.
• Measure and evaluate the environmental impact(s) of soy-based fish feed compared to fishmeal through Life Circle Assessments (LCA).
• Consider the environmental impacts that soy-based fish feed has on the salmon production considering the parameters of fish growth stage and feed conversion.
• Assess Salling’s direction to shift away from soy if possible and see if that one place could be fish feed.

Collaborative partners:

My master thesis will be run in collaboration with Salling Group, Denmark’s largest retailer which owns several chains of food stores (Føtex, Netto, Bilka and Salling). The product porfotlio of Salling group includes a variety of private label salmon products which differentiate in upstream regarding the production methods and units. I chose the target product 900 gr fresh salmon which is close to the Functional Unit of 1 kg, thus can be applicable for the research assessment. I will collaborate with XXXX who responsible Procurement Consultant in the Quality Department group of Salling and the information is will be shared (CC) with XXXX who is also part of this department. Moreover, I will collect the production data from the fish product buying department of Salling who by their side will gather these data from their supplier, Leroy Schlie A/S in Hirtshals, DK.

Research question:

“Can a fish feed with marginal soy-content or no soy-content replace soy-fish feed in the production of 1 kilo marketable salmon in terms of a sustainable fish feeding and fish growing?”

Fig. 2: Anna Nobre, Aquafeed evaluation under specific farming conditions -A RAS application-, University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro. EAS online event, 14.04.2021, Aquaculture Europe 2020, April 12-15, 2021

In RAS farms, monitoring feeding efficiency indicators is very important for the economics of feed conversion, the feed conversion rate and for the metabolic and physiological process of fish. The objective of this study is to compare two different fish feed products according to:

• Feed conversion
• Days needed to reach the marketable salmon size (1 kg)
• Nutrient wastes
• Protein retention

Aquafeeds is one of the major challenges that aquaculture has to deal with, and it can have social, environmental and economic impacts. In this research, I will primarily focus to the environmental impacts of the two comparable aquafeeds which depend on:

The choice of