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August 27, 2008 8:50 AM
by Rob Taylor
CANBERRA - Pampered house cats may pose a bigger risk to world fish stocks than humans, Australian researchers said, with gourmet felines chewing through more than two million tonnes of seafood each year.
The global cat food industry was using an estimated 2.48 million tonnes of sardines, herrings and anchovies annually, led by well-fed U.S. felines who downed more than 1.1 million tonnes, Deakin University researchers said.
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Close behind were European felines, which consumed 870,000 tonnes each year, and Japanese house cats, which ate their way through 132,000 tonnes of fish. Canadian cats accounted for 111,000 tonnes, fish nutrition researcher Giovanni Turchini said.
"Our pets seem to be eating better than their owners,"
Turchini told Australian newspapers.
"I think giving a nice chunk of fish to a pet is important
to satisfy the personal hedonistic needs of the owner, not the
nutritional need of the cat. Cats will be very happy to eat the
offal from a trout," he said.
The research, published in the Journal of Agricultural and
Environmental Ethics, said Australian cats ate 13.7kg of
fish each year, well over the 11kg fish and seafood
eaten on average by humans.
Almost 80 per cent of the world's ocean fisheries are fully
or over-exploited, seriously depleted, or close to collapse,
according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
More than 200 million people worldwide base all or part of
their income on fishing, and about 90 per cent of the stocks of
large predatory fish stocks are already gone.
Turchini said sardines, herrings and anchovies were an
important link in the marine food chain and the diets of larger
predatory fish like tuna and swordfish.
At the same time, pet food makers are increasingly turning
to super premium and costlier foods for cashed-up pet owners.
"Forage fish could be better used for human consumption
directly, particularly amongst the poorer nations of the
world," Turchini said.
(Reuters Life!)
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