Retailer Metro Turkey partnered with Skretting Turkey and leading local fish producer, Hatko Aquaculture, to present Turkish consumers with seabass and seabream farmed under optimal conditions and fed on a diet containing algal oil, delivering more omega-3 while reducing the use of wild fish in feed.
In the project, titled Enough for today, ready for tomorrow, Metro Turkey is pioneering the sales of locally produced, farm-raised fish under its own brand, focusing on supporting the sustainable future of aquaculture in Turkey. “As a brand that has been working for a long time to serve the best-quality, traceable products, we apply our experience and knowledge to this project. We believe that it will be a significant project that will support the development of sustainable fishing aquaculture in our country, ensuring more fish reach our dinner tables in healthy methods and contributing to the national economy. We are very pleased to realize this project that will be an example of sustainable fishing aquaculture for consumers, our sector, and our country,” said Metro Turkey CEO, Sinem Türüng.
New feed solution from Skretting
To ensure these ambitions can be met, Skretting Turkey developed a new feed solution for the project. Thanks to this new feed, which includes a percentage of algal oil, the project, which will produce 150 tons of seafood, will prevent the use of 180 tons of wild fish. The algal oil inclusion also ensures that the seafood products will have a higher omega-3 content, providing health benefits to consumers.
“Metro Turkey's project, which brought us together, is a multi-stakeholder movement in the fish production value chain in Turkey. All parties to the project help secure a healthy supply of seafood and support each other in achieving sustainability goals for aquaculture. In order to achieve this, we also need to focus on innovative resources that will increase in availability as the industry grows, such as the algal oil we used in our diets,” said Skretting Turkey general manager, Ziya Özaydın. “Finding and scaling alternative raw materials requires innovation, and we can only sustain this through close collaboration and strategic partnerships along the value chain. At Skretting, we found that the biggest limitation in implementing new content is scale. This project has provided the space for a game-changing dialogue to mobilize the necessary resources and highlight why we are involved in the project. We firmly believe that together with our stakeholders Metro Turkey and Hatko Aquaculture, we can make a real impact on global sustainability.”
A model for sustainable aquaculture in Turkey
“Today, where sustainability gains importance in every field, it is of great importance to keep the effects on the environment and natural resources at a minimum during the production processes of healthy and high-quality seafood products,” said Hatko Group general manager, Baran Ergüven. “In line with our mission in this direction, we produce healthy and high-quality seabass and seabream in accordance with the most up-to-date internationally accepted quality, environmental and social responsibility standards with our trained and experienced team. We believe that our work in the field of sustainability of fisheries within the scope of this project, which overlaps with the mission that we have followed for years, will carry our country and the industry further.”
