Efficient production of proteins

Aquaculture is a very efficient way of manufacturing proteins for human consumption for several reasons - both the feed conversion ratio and the yield are higher than in most other types of meat production.

Low feed conversion ratio

The feed conversion ratio is defined as the amount of feed needed to produce a kilo of fish. The ratio is relatively low in the aquaculture industry, e.g. for salmon and trout it is around 1.0-1.2. In other words it takes an average of around 10-12 kg feed to produce 10 kg of fish. This is only approx. 5-15 % of the amount of feed it takes to produce a kilo of edible meat from the most common farmed land animals. Farming in water also means that fish use less energy to counter the effects of gravity than land animals. Fish are also heat-adaptable, which is why they do not use energy to regulate their own temperature, but instead adapt according to the water temperature.

High yield

As there is a relatively high amount of meat and relatively little bone and fins in fish, the yield in relation to weight is high. This is in contrast to farmed land animals, where the yield of edible meat is sharply reduced by bones, hooves, coat, feathers, etc.