Experts urge catfish farmers to obey feed standards!

In response to recent health concerns surrounding consumption of catfish, the Council of Fellows, CoF, of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, FISON, has admonished its members on the need to set standards of feeds in the industry. Making the call in Lagos, the Society said that even though the recent reports on ‘the catfish bad fats’ is a myth and propaganda to hinder local production, steps still needed to be taken for public assurance. They maintained that if there were standard of feed in the country, the issue of the catfish bad oil wouldn’t exist because it would have served as a regulatory mechanism in the industry. The Executives, who argued that there hasn’t been any evidence of any reported case of catfish consumption linked to all the raised health concerns, noted that focus should rather be on imported frozen fish as various analyses they have fallen below the recommended levels by the World Health Organisation. Meanwhile Secretary of CoF of FISON, Mr. R Akande in his presentation explained that although catfish oils contain saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is also a rich source of omega-3 and omega-6 which is balance of the essential fatty acids critical to healthy living Akande further said while omega-6 has potential to promote inflammation, it only does so in response to the amount of omega-3 received by the body, hence any reaction by the two depends on the ratio. However, the President of FISON, Dr Olajide Ayinla remarked that stakeholders in the business must be prepared to open themselves for auditing to show what they have been involved in. “We must continue to improve on our practices and we are ready to even contribute financially towards reaching it,” because by providing best practices like the body of water, standards of feeds and general environmental hygiene which affects the fish, we can be sure we are feeding consumers in the right direction. The FISON boss said with all these attempts, the level of catfish export currently at $60 million as against the $800 million of imported frozen fish would be improved.