Ehime University has succeeded in cultivating red sea bream with insect feed such as mealworms, and will ship test fish to the market from April.It was raised by Professor Takeshi Miura of the Graduate School of Agriculture with donations from Taiyo Oil.Ehime Prefecture produces the largest amount of farmed red sea bream in Japan, so the research group is considering domestic production of insect feed.
According to Ehime University, the feed for farmed red sea bream is conventionally mixed with about 50% fishmeal in vegetable ingredients, but the new feed contains larvae of insects called mealworms instead of fishmeal. From July 2022, about 7 red sea bream were fed with insect feed at a farm in Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture, and grew to a weight of about 8,000 kg.
When we held a tasting event at a fisheries company in Tsukiji, Uwajima, many said that the taste was comparable to farmed red sea bream raised on conventional feed.It will be the world's first farming and shipping of red sea bream using insect feed.
Insects are attracting attention as a new source of protein amid fears of food shortages around the world due to population explosion in developing countries, especially in Africa, progressing global warming, and depletion of marine resources due to overfishing. .
Most of the fish meal used as feed for farmed fish is imported from Peru and Chile.Ehime University is considering future prospects in cooperation with local fisheries companies and others, assuming that it will be possible to cover this with insects by domestic production.
