Why supermarkets are being urged to end sales of meat and fish raised on fishmeal and oil from west Africa

British supermarkets have been urged to stop selling meat and farmed fish raised on fishmeal and fish oil from west Africa amid concerns over the impact of the farming practice.

Environmental campaigners have warned that the fishmeal and fish oil industry is causing devestation among coastal communities in the region.

Greenpeace Africa has called for more to be done to stop fish being taken from the region and used in the production of meat and fish products for consumption elsewhere - including more action from retailers.

New research by the group found the amount of fish extracted from west Africa by industrial vessels to be ground up for use in agriculture and aquaculture could feed 33 million people each year.

It found more than half a million tonnes of small pelagic fish - species living in the upper reaches of the open ocean - are taken from the region annually.

They are then turned into fishmeal or fish oil to feed farmed fish and livestock, mostly in Europe and Asia.

“Fishing out overexploited resources otherwise critical for local populations, and grinding them to supply secondary products for industrial food industries in wealthier countries, is fundamentally wrong,” the report said.

It added: “This exposure of West African populations to food insecurity poses a much deeper ethical problem than the dichotomy between poor and rich countries.”

“In reality it is about a resource being overfished from the region and exported to feed animals in third countries which is completely unacceptable considering that coastal communities are deprived of their most essential source of protein.”

Among other demands, the report - by Greenpeace Africa and Netherlands-based organisation Changing Markets - called for retailers to make a commitment to avoid seafood reliant on fishmeal and fish oil inputs from wild-caught fish.

Globally, 69 per cent of fishmeal and 75 pet cent of fish oil is used for aquafeed to produce farmed fish, such as salmon and trout.

A large proportion of the remaining fishmeal is used in agriculture, predominantly for pig feed, while fishmeal and fish oil is also commonly used in dietary supplements, pet food and in cosmetics.

West Africa's production of fishmeal and fish oil has grown 10-fold in the past decade from 13,000 tonnes in 2010 to more than 170,000 tonnes in 2019, the new research found.

In the report, Greenpeace Africa and Changing Markets said the industry is causing devastation among coastal communities in Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia.

As well as placing millions of people at risk of food insecurity, they said over-extraction is putting local, small-scale fishermen and those involved in smoking and drying the catch out of work.

Processing plants generating fishmeal and fish oil have also been blamed for a sharp rise in air pollution and contaminating waterways close to their sites.

Dr Ibrahime Cisse from Greenpeace Africa said: "The fishmeal and fish oil industry, as well as all governments and companies supporting them, are basically robbing local populations of livelihoods and food in contradiction with international commitments on sustainable development, poverty alleviation, food security, and gender equality.”

The report called for West African governments to “phase out any fishmeal and fish oil production using fish fit for human consumption” on the basis of the “negative environmental, social and economic impacts” of this practice.

The two organisations also want small-scale local fisherman and processors to be given a formal legal status to protect their rights to their fisheries.

It also called action from global players involved in the international fishmeal and fish oil supply chain, including governments and retailers.

The research said companies should stop using fishmeal and fish oil to feed other animals, and urged aquafeed companies to stop using wild-caught fish.

"European aquafeed companies and retailers can no longer ignore this major human rights and environmental issue,” Alice Delemare Tangpuori from Changing Markets, said.

"Now is the time to rethink supply chains and rapidly phase out the use of wild-caught fish in farmed fish and other animals, to preserve these fish populations for future generations."

Additional reporing by Press Association