Global alliances such as the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients prove essential to improving sustainability in the fishmeal and fish oil sector by aligning stakeholders, strengthening fisheries management, and maximizing the value of marine resources.
ignoble Marine Materials Innovation session, held on March 3, 2026, at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) in Bergen, the role of marine ingredients in fish growth and welfare is discussed.
“Innovation is happening at the technical and nutritional level, with hidden values being discovered. But it is also happening at the social and governmental level, with new alliances being formed to protect livelihoods and local regulations being strengthened to protect biomass,” Petter Martin Johannessen, Director General of IFFO, highlighted.
“Responsible sourcing of raw materials is also recognized as driving sustainability in the aquafeed sector,” IFFO said, citing a recent peer-reviewed article. It is the desire to increase the availability of responsibly sourced marine ingredients and encourage positive change in major fisheries globally that led IFFO and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership to create the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients in 2021, with value chain stakeholders.
Global Roundtable drives change in key fisheries
Despite its long-term ambitions, the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients was quickly recognized (by the World Economic Forum and Science Advances) as providing a single value chain contact point to address environmental and social challenges in the fishmeal and fish oil sector.
The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients begins with West Africa, where fish meal and fish oil are growing rapidly. “IFFO is a membership association that represents the stakeholders of marine ingredients who have joined voluntarily. Members who produce marine ingredients make 50% of the global volume. Since IFFO does not have members who produce fish meal and fish oil in the region, there is a need to engage with the value chain and understand the socio-economic dynamics of the region”.
The West African subregion faces declining fish stocks due to overfishing and climate change, as well as economic competition and shifting consumer preferences. The region needs to strengthen regional institutional cooperation.
The case of Mauritania highlights the impact of coordinated action
In the fisheries sector, Mauritania’s cooperation with the EU dates back to the late 1980s. The current Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between Mauritania and the EU sets out requirements for European vessels operating in Mauritanian waters and managing fish resources. However, the main export market for fish meal in the country is not Europe but China.
In Mauritania, the expansion of fish and fish oil factories has led to excess capacity. In addition to other stakeholders, the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients engaged with the Mauritanian authorities and contributed to the consultation to design a national management plan for small pelagics. This plan, which comes into force in November 2022, leads to the implementation of new fishing zones and requires vessels and factories to be equipped with freezing units.
Export data from 2025 show that the export of fresh and frozen products from Mauritania increased (from 594,000 tons in 2020 to 677,000 tons in 2024), while the production of fish meal and fish oil more than halved between 2020 (165,000 metric tons, 6024 and 6024 tons).
Fisheries improvement projects strengthen data and governance
Before the Global Roundtable was set up, the value chain had initiated the Small Pelagic Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in Mauritania, involving various companies and partners. The goal is to improve practices and improve fisheries management, and ultimately meet the standards required by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and MarinTrust.
FIP was accepted in the MarinTrust Improvement Program in 2019. It focuses on working with scientists to improve the collection of data on fisheries, landings and stocks, to increase knowledge about the status of stocks and therefore allow management to make informed decisions. FIP has supported data collection on board, at landing sites and at participating factories. It also contributes to the national fisheries management plan and encourages strong collaboration with neighboring countries to achieve coordinated stock management, especially for sardines and sardinella, which are shared with Morocco and Senegal. FIP is currently working on a social component to ensure fisheries have a positive social impact as well as the environment.
Source: Small Pelagic FIP in Mauritania
The social component of FIP builds on the human rights impact assessment, which the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients assigned to a third-party NGO, African Partners, in 2022. This assessment is the impetus for the Global Roundtable to use its influence to gather stakeholders from the region to share data, align on management measures and infrastructure development.
Maximize the value of marine resources
Small pelagic species are highly seasonal and perishable, requiring rapid processing through freezing or canning if not intended for fresh consumption. In areas where such infrastructure is limited, the production of fish meal and fish oil plays an important role in preserving nutrition and maintaining its value in the food chain.
From a global perspective, the majority of fish resources are still directed to human consumption, accounting for 89% of total consumption, significantly higher than grains, of which only 38% are consumed as food, according to the OECD-FAO 2023 report.
#nutrition #global #alliances #key #marine #sustainability