Salvage fish: Commodification of fisheries last resort

Open lecture at Lund University with Associate Professor Alin Kadfak, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) on 4 March 2026 15:15 - 17:00

Did you know that since 2022, farmed fish have overtaken wild-caught fish as the most common seafood on our plates? While farmed fish is often presented as a promising solution for food security, it still depends heavily on capture fisheries—specifically small pelagic fish, often referred to as “trash fish”—as the primary raw material for fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO), key ingredients in aquafeed. In this talk, I introduce the concept of “salvage fish,” to examine how so-called trash fish are repurposed from potential human food into FMFO.  

Drawing inspiration from anthropologist Anna Tsing’s idea of the “salvage commodity,” we show how ecosystems already damaged by earlier waves of industrial extraction are not abandoned but instead repurposed for new forms of profit. In this case, depleted fisheries become the raw material base for aquaculture.  

Our analysis focuses on Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand and Vietnam, which have become global hubs of the aquafeed industry. Over several decades, the fishmeal and fish oil sector in this region has expanded by relying on what we describe as “cheap nature” and “cheap labour” to meet the rapidly growing demand for farmed seafood. Salvage fish production is enabled by poorly regulated access to small pelagic fisheries and by labor systems that systematically devalue workers.  

In Thailand, marine ecosystems within the country’s exclusive economic zone have been severely degraded by industrial fishing, making trash fish increasingly important as catches of commercial species decline. Cheap labour is sustained through migrant labor regimes that enable low production costs via harsh working conditions on fishing vessels, informal fish pre-processing jobs, and the unpaid reproductive labor of female migrant workers. In Vietnam, unregulated fisheries, weak enforcement, and the absence of strong labor unions in the fishing sector similarly allow ecologically degraded fisheries to remain profitable.  

By introducing the concept of salvage fish, we challenge the widespread claim that aquaculture is a solution for “feeding the world,” and instead highlight how it often depends on hidden ecological damage and social inequality.  

Speaker: 

Alin Kadfak is an Associate Professor and researcher in the Division of Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Her work addresses key sustainability challenges in seafood governance — including how to make seafood both environmentally “green” and socially “ethical” — by examining labour conditions, resource governance, and global policy mechanisms, particularly in Southeast Asia. Alin leads and contributes to four research projects on labour rights violations, traceability systems in fisheries, policy interventions and marine ecologies, and teaches and supervises students across courses in rural development, natural resource governance, and qualitative research methods.  

Alin’s collaborative networks and projects can be found at Justseafood.org and Fishy Work podcast.   

This event is part of the Perspective Asia Lecture Series.