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Raw materials
Two streams feed the factories: whole small pelagic fish landed for the purpose, and trimmings left over when food fish is filleted.
The classic fishmeal factory runs on whole fish — small, schooling, oily species that are cheap to catch in volume and impractical to eat fresh. The single most important of them is the Peruvian anchoveta, which anchors the world's largest producing country. North Atlantic and North Sea fleets, by contrast, lean on blue whiting, sandeel and sprat.
The second stream is by-product meal: frames, heads, skins and cuttings from food-fish processing — tuna plants, whitefish filleting lines, pangasius and salmon harvests. It grows steadily as food-fish output grows, and it is the industry's favourite answer to the zero-waste question: the fillet for the plate, the rest for the feed.
| Species | Where it lands | Notes for the trade |
|---|---|---|
| Anchoveta | Peru, Chile | Engraulis ringens. The engine of world supply; two seasons a year, quota-driven. |
| Sardines | Global, seasonal | Sardinops / Sardina. Classic meal fish where seasonal landings allow. |
| Chub mackerel | Pacific, Atlantic | Dark-meat pelagic; histamine limits watch closely. |
| Blue whiting | NE Atlantic | Backbone of Danish and Norwegian meal and oil output. |
| Sandeel | North Sea | Small, oily, industrial landings. |
| Trimmings | Everywhere | By-product stream; higher ash, lower protein than whole-fish meal. |
- FAO fishmeal & fish oil review (openknowledge) — openknowledge.fao.org/bitstreams/4f0c7282-7a35-4672-ba27-8f1ef84ddd7f/do (accessed 2026-10-24)
- Changing Markets report — changingmarkets.org/report/what-lies-beneath-uncovering-the-truth-about- (accessed 2026-10-24)