Now, increased demand for traditional fishmeal – which is made from small species caught in the open ocean – has sent the industry scrambling for alternatives.
The stuff being used to make fish feed is a byproduct of the poultry industry – it’s what is left over after the parts of the chicken consumed by humans and the remains used for cat and dog food have been removed.
I can tell you that I got into health issues trying to maintain a vegan diet and if I had continued it may have been fatal. This was admittedly in a small town nearly 20 years ago. But the point does stand, in a lot of places it does cost more to have a complete protein every day with plant based diets than with meat based ones. Especially in states that already have agriculture based economies as beef and chicken are largely subsidized. I ended up developing a sensitivity to soy that has thankfully since gone away with a more balanced diet but that made it basically impossible to continue with the options that were available to me at that time within my price range.
I’m not saying that my experience was the norm, but dismissing that time, cost, and location are factors is definitely unwarranted in this case.