Black Soldier Fly Larvae in Aquaculture

Farmed fish are largely fed on fishmeal — ground wild-caught fish. The arithmetic is uncomfortable: an industry sold as an alternative to wild fishing depends on wild fishing for its feed.

Black soldier fly larvae are the leading candidate to change that.

Why BSFL Fits

• The protein level is right. At roughly 40–50% protein by dry weight, BSFL meal is in the range fishmeal occupies.
• The amino acid profile is workable for several farmed species, which is not true of every alternative protein.
• It is already what some fish eat. Insects fall into water and get eaten. This is not an exotic input.
• Production does not compete for cropland the way soy protein does, because the larvae are raised on organic waste streams.

Where It Is Actually Used

Aquaculture was the first major market to open up for insect protein in feed, and salmonids have been the most-studied application. Trials across salmon, trout, tilapia and others have generally shown that BSFL meal can replace a meaningful share of fishmeal without hurting growth, with the workable inclusion rate depending on species and life stage.

The usual limiting factor is fat: BSFL are fatter than fishmeal, so commercial insect meal is typically defatted before use — and the extracted fat becomes its own product, largely because of its lauric acid content.

The Honest Constraint

The barrier has never been whether it works. It is price and volume. Insect meal has to compete with fishmeal on cost, and the industry is still building the production capacity to do that consistently.