Evaluation of fisheries by-catch and by-product meals in diets for red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus)

Abstract

By-catch and wastes from processed fish and shrimp constitute a sizeable portion of commercial fishery landings. This discarded material is potentially valuable, for its content of fish meals and other substances. Fish meals, in particular, are increasingly in short supply for the manufacture of animal feeds, including feeds for farmed fish. Therefore, in this study, various by-catch and by-product meals of marine origin were evaluated with red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), a carnivorous fish species native to the Gulf of Mexico that has been cultured over the past two decades for stock enhancement as well as for food. Four different kinds of by-catch or by-product meals [shrimp by-catch meal, shrimp processing waste meal, red salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) head meal, and Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) meal] were substituted for Special Select™ menhaden fish meal at two different levels (33% or 67% of crude protein) in prepared diets for red drum. Another treatment consisted of shrimp processing waste meal formulated on a digestible-protein basis to replace 33% of the protein from menhaden fish meal. Levels of calcium carbonate were reduced in two additional diets containing Pacific whiting, to evaluate the effects of ash content. Diets were formulated to contain 40% crude protein, 12% lipid, and 3.5 kcal digestible energy/g. Each diet was fed to triplicate groups of juvenile red drum in 38-l aquaria containing brackish water (7 ± 1 ppt) in two separate 6-week feeding trials. Survival, weight gain, feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio and body composition responses were measured in each trial. Fish fed the by-catch meal at either level of substitution performed as well as fish fed the control diet containing protein solely from menhaden fish meal; whereas, fish fed the shrimp processing waste meal diets did significantly (P ≤ 0.05) worse than the controls, even when fed a diet formulated to be equivalent on a digestible-protein basis. Fish fed the red salmon head meal diet fared poorly, probably owing to an excessive amount of lipid in the diet that tended to become rancid. Overall, by-catch meal associated with shrimp trawling appears to be a very suitable protein feedstuff for red drum.