Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Resolving Biofouling in Marine Aquaculture

by Parx Materials, the Netherlands

The Abalone is a mollusc notable not only for its resemblance to the human ear, earning it the nickname “ear-shell,” but also for being one of the most expensive varieties of seafood in the world today. Especially valued in Southeast Asian cuisine, Abalone is known in Japan as the “truffle of the sea.”

In a recent field trial conducted by an experienced and long established marine aquaculture farm, culture tanks were brought ashore to harvest abalone that was set out to grow six months before. During the six-month period, the delicacy grew to its full size in the plastic culture equipment set out in water. In total several hundreds of tanks were used for growing the shellfish.
 


Usually during this time, the plastic culture tanks can get covered with unwanted aquatic species that obstruct the flow of fresh water through the tanks, which is usually a common problem in marine aquaculture, but not this occasion.

For this trial a number of the tanks (about 100 pieces) were produced using Saniconcentrate™ from Parx Materials.  Following six months in the ocean the tanks were still clean, and completely free of any fouling. The treated tanks also allowed the abalones to develop significantly better, growing larger than in the normal tanks. This increase in size means a higher yield of the valuable product and more profit for the aquaculture farm.

Sustainably Improving the Material
Saniconcentrate™ is a modified polymer concentrate that is added to plastics prior to the manufacturing process of the tanks. The concentrate contains the trace element zinc, a nutrient with ‘utmost biological importance’. The incorporation of this trace element is achieved by use of a novel and patented method developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists specialised in biomimicry, biochemistry, material science and polymerisation processes. Saniconcentrate™ is inspired by the defence mechanism in the human skin, where the trace element of zinc is vital for a healthy immune system protecting us against bacteria and viruses.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Biorigin company profile


Biorigin is a Brazilian company which mobilises knowledge and technology to promote health and quality of life. Using biotechnological processes, it produces natural ingredients for flavor enhancement, sodium reduction, shelf life extension in food market; and nutritional enrichment of feeds and substitutes for antibiotics.


It is a business unit of Zilor, a company with more than 65 years of experience and one of the largest Brazilian producers of ethanol, sugar and electricity from sugar cane.

Biorigin was founded in 2003, and in 2008 acquired the companies PTX Food Corp in The United States and Immunocorp and Animal Health, in Norway, expanding and strengthening its international presence.


Visit the website HERE.


The Aquaculturists

Monday, December 21, 2020

ORIVO and BioMar to develop next generation DNA-based feed analysis

ORIVO has been granted funding from the Norwegian Research Council to develop the next generation DNA-based analysis for feed products and feed ingredients. Among the partners in the project is the Danish sustainable aquaculture feed producer, BioMar, who sees the value of evidence-based transparency in their industry.

The goal of the project, which has a total budget of NOK 8.6 million (US$995,424), is to develop a quantifiable DNA-analysis method to enable precise determination of the species composition in feed-related samples.
 
Image credit: ORIVO
'The DNA-based analysis methods currently available in the market are either unreliable in terms of quantifiability or unable to detect unknown species present in a sample. With this project we aim to expand our existing analysis platform with a method that solves both these issues. Our goal is to offer players in all parts of the feed value chain a tool to precisely determine the species composition of their samples,' says ORIVO´s CEO Svein Erik Haugmo, who thinks it is time to raise the bar and start moving to more evidence-based transparency documentation. 'There is no doubt that there is an increasing demand from modern consumers for more hard evidence such as laboratory test results. The tool we are developing can be used by companies either to make sure that the products they are buying has the right specifications, or to document sustainable sourcing to clients in a value chain where transparency is becoming more and more important.'

To help develop the analysis method, ORIVO has brought together a group of highly recognised academic and commercial organisations with different areas of expertise. 'Complex challenges such as the ones we will be faced with in this project require a multidiscipline approach. We are both delighted and proud to be joined by such an excellent team of highly skilled researchers from organisations such as The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, SINTEF and Haploid AS' Says CTO in ORIVO and project manager, Erik Fuglseth.

One of the key stakeholders in the project is the Danish aquaculture feed producer BioMar. The company has been collaborating with ORIVO for many years already and Morten Holdorff Møjbæk, Global Sourcing Director believes the ability to document responsible sourcing through laboratory testing will be key in near future.

"At BioMar we strive for full transparency and traceability throughout our supply chain. Sourcing raw materials like marine ingredients where there is overfishing of 33 percent of fish stocks comes with a huge responsibility and that is why knowing the identity of the fish species is critical to us. Having this verified through ORIVO´s testing platform adds a very important extra level of insurance for us. We are therefore glad to support the further development of this platform to expand its application areas and make it even more useful to us and our clients."

The project will launch in February 2021 and will last for three years, but ORIVO aims to introduce the service to the market sooner. The first version is planned validated within 12 months after project launch and will be offered to key clients. Further improvements will be implemented continuously and will address an increasingly broader market, including the pet food industry.

Visit the BioMar website, HERE, and the ORIVO website, HERE.


The Aquaculturists

Algae adoption in salmon feed: From research to retail

By Chris Haacke, Global Aquaculture Lead, Corbion, The Netherlands

Driven by increasing demand from consumers for healthy seafood that’s rich in nutrients and responsibly raised, stakeholders across the supply chain, from salmon farmers and feed producers to retailers, have been challenged to rethink how fish are fed. This has led to unprecedented development activity in novel aquaculture feed ingredients, including insect meal, single cell ingredients, and algae.

Algae has emerged as one of the first of these novel ingredients to be adopted at scale and AlgaPrime™ DHA, Corbion’s algae omega-3 ingredient, has been produced at scale and incorporated into salmon feed since 2016. Algae omega-3s have catapulted to the top of novel ingredient adoption in aquaculture feed, in part due to the looming constraints of fish oil.
 


According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), global consumption of farmed seafood has surpassed wild seafood and is an important contributor to food security and healthier populations. In fact, aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food producing sectors in the world. One of the reasons why salmon is a very popular seafood choice is that it is one of the best sources of important long chain omega-3s (EPA and DHA fatty acids). Long chain omega-3s are found in the fish filet because salmon eat forage fish and accumulate high levels of omega-3s. Thus, when salmon are farmed, fish oil is a critical nutrient in the feed as it is the primary source of long-chain omega-3s. As aquaculture continues to grow, fish oil supplies are not expected to keep up with this growth.

Opportunity for innovation
Recognising this looming resource constraint, scientists turned to the original source of long chain omega-3s: marine microalgae. In the wild, marine microalgae are at the base of the food chain for fish. By growing marine microalgae via fermentation, Corbion, a Netherlands-based ingredients company, are producing an abundant, clean and sustainable source of long chain omega-3s called AlgaPrime™ DHA, that can help towards reducing the dependency on fish oil in aquaculture feed and help improve fish health, ocean health, and our own health.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Fibras Industriales SA company profile




Fibras Industriales SA (FISA) has more than 70 years’ experience in the production and commercialisation of nets for the fishing and aquaculture sectors, with great participation in the areas of agriculture, sports, mining, construction, among others.


Innovation and quality
The constant research and innovation in their production processes allow them to offer products of the highest quality standards and services tailored to the needs of their clients globally.

Wide range of products
FISA have a complete range of products. They can offer all types of nets existing and used in the world, cages for farms, sports, among others and the widest variety of ropes, twine and floats.

The main markets they work in are:
- Fishing of all species
- Farming centre for all species
- Sports (Baseball, Golf, Soccer, Lacrosse, among others)
- Construction and Mining Safety
- Farming

Visit the FISA website, HERE.


The Aquaculturists

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Good VIBES for environmentally friendly salmon farmer

Scottish Sea Farms' pioneering work to recycle hatchery waste into nutrient-rich agricultural fertiliser has been recognised with a VIBES Scottish Environment Business Award.

The VIBES invited businesses this year to share their stories of how they have adapted their way of working, products or services as a consequence of COVID-19 or have continued to progress low carbon opportunities despite the pandemic.
 
Lead Engineer for Barcaldine RAS Hatchery, Ewen Leslie
Image credit: SSF


Scottish Sea Farms, which operates along the west coast of Scotland and in the Northern Isles, was praised by the award organisers for its work to capture fish waste from its new £58 million salmon hatchery at Barcaldine, near Oban, and recycle it as fertiliser to enrich farmland.

The project is part of the company's drive to set a new benchmark for sustainability in the sector and contribute to the Scottish Government's ambition to be net zero by 2045.

Throughout the growing process, the hatchery's innovative recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) ensures that the fish have a continuous supply of clean, oxygenated water that's maintained at a steady temperature.

During this same ongoing cycle of cleaning and recirculating water, any waste material, such as fish faeces or uneaten feed, is removed and captured for recycling.

'Using technology by Norwegian engineering company Scanship AS, we first aerate the waste to prevent any unwanted bacteria from germinating, then we bind it together into larger particles via the addition of a cationic polymer,' explains Lead Engineer for Barcaldine RAS Hatchery, Ewen Leslie.

'That done, the waste is filtered to separate the solids from the water. These solids, which are now of a sludge-like consistency, are then collected in a storage tank.'

Scottish waste management company Rock Highland, part of the Avanti Environmental Group, ensures the sludge is both safe and suitable for agricultural land.

Once the sludge has been certified as being safe for use on agricultural land, the nutrient-rich by-product is then uplifted by tractor and barrel for use on farmland.

'We first started out by working with one or two of Scotland's whisky distillers, helping recycle nutrient-bearing effluent originating from barley into fertiliser,' says Rock Highland Divisional Director Neil Barker.

'Over 15 years later, we're now working with distilleries from the Orkney Islands all the way down to the Central Belt, spreading around 175,000 tonnes of distillery effluent per annum back to the land via a network of registered landbanks across the whole of Scotland.

'Recent years have seen us diversify and apply the same sustainable service to Scotland's salmon farmers, with our proven model now collecting sludge from most of the salmon hatcheries across the Highlands and islands of Scotland.'

Responsible for bringing the two companies together was Northern Light Consulting which project managed the new hatchery from feasibility study through the final construction.

'After working closely with Scottish Sea Farms to investigate every viable option to deal with the hatchery waste sludge, we were delighted to recommend Rock Highland's sustainable back-to-land solution,' says Northern Light Consulting Director Sarah Riddle.

'As the aquaculture industry continues to work hard to reduce its environmental impact, new opportunities arise and we look forward to working together on innovative solutions towards achieving zero waste.'

Scottish Sea Farms' freshwater team are now developing phase two of their fish waste recycling plans, with the goal of removing the remaining water content and converting the sludge into dry pellets.

'The benefit to the environment of moving from wet to dry form longer-term would be a reduction in the volume of waste material, thereby reducing the number of tankers and road miles required to transport it from hatchery to farmland,' says Ewen Leslie.

'For land farmers, dry form would provide an even more nutritional and valuable natural fertiliser alternative that's easy to handle.'

As a primary food producer, Scottish Sea Farms has continued to operate throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, adapting shift patterns at its farms and introducing social distancing precautions at all workplaces, including on shore, helping to safeguard job security for people living in the remote areas of the UK.

Visit the Scottish Sea Farms website, HERE.


The Aquaculturists

the interview | Alistair Lane, Executive Director of the European Aquaculture Society


Our guest this month is Alistair Lane, the Executive Director of the European Aquaculture Society. He’s talking to us today about EAS Events, about Covid-19 and the state of the industry in Europe in general and hopefully a little bit wider than that. So welcome Alistair and thank you for joining us!


Well top of my list of questions is, what has Covid-19 meant for your membership, how has it impacted the organisation and how has the organisation responded?
As you can imagine, it has been the biggest thing that has hit aquaculture for years. We talk about escapes, we talk about disease but actually closing the market or having the market closed by forcing people to stay indoors in many European countries has flattened out demand completely - not just in the direct purchase sector but in the hotel, restaurant and catering sector; which more or less came to a standstill.
So it’s been difficult for aquaculture producers. The European Union Market Observatory for Aquaculture (EUMOFA) from February to July published weekly newsletters to inform people about the status, especially for these two sectors.
What we saw basically was demand more or less flattening out. A lot of producers had to continue harvesting but they had to freeze a lot of product. The farms that suffered more were the shellfish producers who can’t freeze, they had stock in the water potentially with disease implications as we went through the spring – with spawning as well as the water getting warmer.
For the smaller fish producer, not having the capability to freeze meant having to rely on producer organisations or they were unable to provide to markets. So the financial losses were significant and serious.
In terms of our membership that is mainly in the research sector, there were issues because experiments with live animals had to keep going, people had to keep feeding fish and other species that were under experimentation. That meant a slow down in terms of the amount of science being generated. The priority was keeping the experiments going while effectively working from home as much as they could.
 

Do you think there was an uplift in uptake of fish through supermarkets and domestic demand, or was this insignificant in the whole scheme of things?
In Europe, and in Asia, producers and their organisations were having to develop new lines to market. Some of these were the frozen market, which has increased quite considerably. But also online sales, delivery to homes or even local food trucks with fresh fish coming from the ports.
Every early on the European Commission put together, let’s call it, a ‘rescue package’ or a ‘financial aid package’ for fisheries and aquaculture which was part of the European Union Maritime Fisheries Fund, whereby money was fast-tracked and available for the fishing fleets that were kept in port but also for aquaculture producers for loss in revenue against operating costs.
 

What do you think is the long term impact or consequences, positive ending for the industry?
First of all that frozen seafood, there is a market there. Having been forced to a certain level it has shown that with freezing techniques that we have now, frozen product can be just as good as fresh product.
The difference is the live market that is small in Europe but is fairly significant in Asia. But these have shown new possibilities as well in shortening the supply chain - as we are seeing with a lot of other products, especially vegetables, fruits, etcetera. I think that the resilience of food chains is the big question here and I think seafood has shown itself very resilient to this type of challenge.
 

Do you think as a consequence that we might see production returning to normal levels quickly or maybe even surpassing as demand increasing?
Demand is definitely coming back as consumers understand the benefits of seafood products, their health benefits and as we now know that we need to keep ourselves in good shape to try to ward off infections from Covid-19.
Seafood is a logical candidate for that. So demand could well rise, the problem that we have in aquaculture is long growth cycles. So the time from production, the supply of juvenile fish, to market size is of course longer so there is a lag in the system.
But we could see a potential small rise in Europe. The Commission is certainly focussing as we go through the next programme era, to maximise and increase European fish production, which is something that we’ve been looking towards for many years. Through newer production technologies, cleaner production technologies we are certainly looking to have increases in total production within Europe.
 

Among your membership is there some economic suffering occurring or overall are things looking better than anticipated?
In terms of our actual membership and activities, we’ve in some ways taken advantage of people working from home. We’ve increased quite considerably our series of webinars and podcasts. We have 15 webinars now that are available to EAS members, in the members section of our website. We’ve had more than 1500 people join in those webinars.
We have six podcasts, we’re only just really starting that series but it’s been a way of implementing part of the strategy that we put together for the EAS community a few years ago now to fast track that with services that we can supply to members online for them to network outside of normal conferences and events.
 

And talking about conferences and events Alistair, you’ve had to postpone as have all other event organisers this year. Can you bring us up to date about what’s happening in Ireland or Madeira for instance and the European Aquaculture Society later on in 2022?
We had to take the hard decision to postpone the event that was planned at the end of September in Cork, in Ireland. That’s now going ahead, but as an online event, so not in Cork.
We decided to maintain 2021 AE2021 event in Funchal, Madeira and that will take place as a physical meeting from October 4 to 7, 2021.. And the board of the EAS confirmed back in February, the last time it met physically, and approved the location of Rimini, Italy for Aquaculture Europe 2022.
So we are going ahead with the planning of those events.
But we are very confident that Madeira can go ahead because by the end of quarter two next year we may well have a vaccine available and the travel policy of research institutes and companies might mean they can travel if they’ve been vaccinated or had a recent test  suggesting that they can indeed travel to our events.
We still believe that face-to-face events are interesting to those that attend and we certainly plan to maintain that planning as we look forward to next year and the year after.
 

Well that’s good news as we are all missing the events and the opportunity to meet up and have those face-to-face discussions. What your society and others do is a very important part of keeping the industry together across borders and on implortant issues. I just picked up on Rimini, Italy what were the dates for that?
AE2022 will take place in Rimini from September 27 to 30 and we've already held our first planning meeting. It is an excellent location.
Alistair Lane thank you very much for joining us this afternoon, our time. All the best for your plans with all your plans for AE2020 as an online event. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us today. Thank you very much.

 

 

Algae adoption: From research to retail

by Vaughn Entwistle, Managing Editor, International Aquafeed

With the advent of COVID-19, many companies have turned to webinars to disseminate information about their products and advances made in the industry. On Thursday June 4th, 2020, AlgaPrime DHA and Corbion hosted a joint webinar to promote the advances made in algae-based fish feed, and to report on its acceptance and expansion into the aquaculture industry.

The seminar featured speakers from the whole salmon supply chain ranging from researchers to fish farmers and experts in the retail industry.
 


The moderator was Jill Kauffman Johnson, Head of Global Development, Corbion Algae Ingredients (a Dutch food and biochemicals company headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands) who hosted the panel discussion alongside:

• Keterina Kousoulaki, PhD, Senior Researcher, Nofima: Keterina spoke about the increasing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable seafood. Salmon is an important fish in aquaculture and one of the species with the best ratio of omega-3s-to-omega-6s. In the wild, salmon eat high levels of forage fish and thereby accumulate omega-3s. However, even with one million tonnes of fish oil produced each year, marine fish production cannot catch enough to satisfy the needs of aquaculture. To answer the demand, the aquaculture industry has been researching many alternative proteins to reduce or eliminate the use of fish meal or fish oil in feeds. Algae has been one of the first ingredients to be approved by regulators. Corbion is growing microalgae, one of the original sources of omega-3s in the food chain. This effort is supported by the EU as part of their farm to fork initiatives. The result has been an increase in use of microbial algae in fish and animal feeds, with up to 25 percent of Norwegian salmon feed using microbial algae

• Vidar Gundersen, Global Sustainability Director, Biomar: Vidar explained that 1990 represented the tipping point in global aquaculture, when wild marine fisheries peaked globally. Since then there has been a slow decline, which means that traditional marine fisheries are already fully exploited, and aquaculture cannot take anymore to use in fish feed. This means two things: Firstly, aquaculture must increase its output to meet with global demand; Secondly, fish meal and fish oil from marine ingredients, as the primary components of fish feed, decreased to around 20 percent. The result has been that EPA and DHA levels in farmed fish has also dropped dramatically. Microalgae has been an answer to this. One of Biomar’s customers has replaced the DHA EPA content of their fish by use of microalgae.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Evonik company profile




Evonik is one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies. Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of their strategy, which is supported by their owners, RAG-Stiftung (74.99 percent) and funds managed by CVC Capital Partners (25.01 percent).

Their specialty chemicals activities focus on high-growth megatrends—especially health, nutrition, resource efficiency, and globalisation—and their goal is to enter attractive future-oriented markets.

In 2011 Evonik’s roughly 33,000 employees generated sales of €14.5 billion and an operating result (EBITDA) of €2.8 billion. More than 70 percent of sales are generated outside Germany, providing convincing evidence that our business is global.

Visit the website HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Establishing a prominent fishery sector in Angola

by Dr Gianluigi Negroni, ALVEO Scarl, Italy and Claudio Serangeli, Italy

The economic crisis in Angola, caused by the fall in the price of oil, drove the need to increase and diversify local non-oil production and to increase exports.

In 2016, the Technical Assistance Project of Institutional Support, with the support of the Ministry of Commerce (ACOM, sponsored by EU) identified three priority fishery production sectors for increasing exports; one of which was extractive fishing.
 


Angola has a coastline of about 1,650km in length and rich fishing resources as a result of two systems of marine currents: the “Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem” (BCLME) and the “Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem” (GCLME) whose interaction creates a favourable situation for marine life.

In this article, I will explore Angola’s developing fishery industry, focussing primarily on sea fishing and related activities, without neglecting aquaculture and continental fisheries.

Phase one of the plan to rejuvenate Angolan fishery involved organisation, data research and planning. ACOM communicated to all partners, particularly in the fisheries sector, of the gal to strengthen this industry within the area specified.

Phase two of the plan involved contacting partners in Angola and validating their data; a final workshop also allowed the consultants to discuss proposals with the beneficiaries. Field mission in the provinces of Kwanza Sul, Benguela and Namibe allowed the team of consultants to better understand the reality of the Angolan industrial and artisanal fishing sector in the coastal strip of these regions.

The provincial governments of Luanda, Benguela and Namibe were contacted as well as associations of fishermen from Luanda, Namibe and Benguela. Expert consultants also learned about the informal flow structure that dominates the domestic and regional pelagic fish markets. The preliminary results were presented to ACOM and Angolan partners (APIEX, as well as interested ministries) with a working meeting. The collected data proved very useful in the elaboration of the strategies proposed in the final part of the study.

Finally, requested documents were produced and received. These, plus the direct observation of the teams and the interviews carried out with the various officials, allowed us to produce some proposals for the Angolan fisheries sector.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

FAMSUN company profile




Muyang Co, Ltd recently announced changing its brand name from Muyang to FAMSUN starting May 2014. This move is prompted by the idea of better illustrating the company’s business and the farm-to-table industry chain it serves. It is consistent with Muyang’s global strategy and its aim of becoming an integrated solution provider in the agro-industry.

FAMSUN originates from “famous, farm, family, sun and union”; it implies Muyang Co, Ltd’s development concept and vision, which is to build a green and healthy supply chain from farm to table together with its customers and to convert traditional agriculture into a modern, profitable and sustainable business with its integrated solutions in feed manufacturing, grain milling, grain handling and storage, food processing, as well as industrial automation.

The creative design of the FAMSUN logo features a beveled letter “F”, a curvy letter “A”, a stretching letter “S” and a friendly letter “U”. It will be the only signage representing Muyang’s business, products, service and solutions. Meanwhile, the company will continue to operate in its current structure, provide follow-up service based on relevant agreement, and its business contacts will remain unchanged. 


Visit the website HERE.


The Aquaculturists

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Comprehensive plan for import substitution - The third part in a series

by Dr Antonio Garza de Yta, President, World Aquaculture Society (WAS)

In this article I will try to finish what I consider to be transcendental issues for the future of aquaculture in Mexico, a campaign to promote the consumption of fish and shellfish, a market access and digitization program and finally, associativity.
 

Although a campaign to promote the consumption of fish and shellfish might sound like something logical and easy, not making mistakes in its execution is still very important.

A well-executed campaign is about promoting national products, but without demeaning imported fish and shellfish, since this would be shooting ourselves in the foot; a negative campaign affects all fish and shellfish. We must also be careful not to exacerbate the issue by trying to promote only products that come from certified fisheries, as we run the enormous risk of leaving small producers and fishermen out of the markets.

It is proven that campaigns which focus on infants have the greatest impact when attempting to promote the consumption of fish, so we have to make every effort to ensure that the benefits of both responsible fishing, aquaculture and the consumption of fish and seafood are part of the plans in our country’s educational programs as soon as possible.

We have already had very successful plans, such as the “Chun Tachun, let's eat tuna” campaign, and there are other programs on the continent such as “Semana do Peixe” in Brazil, “Let’s eat fish” in Peru or the same program “Omega 3 Nutrition for all” from Tamaulipas; with their high impact even recognised by the FAO, so we do not have to start from zero!

Market access
In terms of an increased need for market access and a digitisation program, one of the main problems for small producers is the difficulty of accessing markets directly.

If the pandemic has left us something positive, it is a change in the consumer's mentality and a wider acceptance of digital commerce. This is a golden opportunity for aquaculture in the sense that we can reinvent ourselves and the way that we work, so that the product can be marketed from the producers, whatever their level of production, directly to the final consumer.

In addition, as a short-term challenge, probably the biggest we will face, would be the digitisation of the sector.

This is not limited to selling or buying online, but goes much further, from monitoring water parameters, through inventory control and ending with the scheduling of harvests, processing and product distribution through artificial intelligence.

It may sound like science fiction, but it is already a reality in several primary production industries, including salmon farming. We have to bet on entering this trend, or else we will be left isolated, especially from the markets that can pay more for fresh and quality products; condemning us to depending on third parties.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Zheng Chang company profile



Zhengchang
, established in 1918, has made constant innovations in feed machinery industry and accumulated a wealth of experience in tackling the various challenges facing feed companies and, more importantly, is able to offer a range of comprehensive solutions.

Zhengchang has now evolved into China’s largest manufacture of feed machinery and has 16 branches in China with over 1300 staff and more than thirty offices all over the world. 

Zhengchang to date has successfully constructed more than 2000 turnkey projects world around the world, covering fields of poultry and livestock feed, aquatic feed, pet feed, premix feed, sawdust pellet, fertiliser, silo storage, pasture, electrical control and garbage treatment, etc.

Zhengchang projects are designed to deliver to the client higher feed quality, higher overall capacity and more profits. 
Zhengchang have conquered challenges one after another for the customers and accumulated rich experience over the past 90 years.

They are now making great endeavors to apply their latest achievements to feed, pasture, environment protection, fertilizer, sawdust shaping industries.


Zhengchang is more than a professional partner who can provide advanced machinery, technology and management ideas.

It is also a true problem solver who knows you well during your development. Zhengchang is with you every step of the way.


Visit the website HERE.


The Aquaculturists

GEAPS/AFIA announce education partnership

The Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) have announced a partnership with the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) to share educational programming across both member organizations.

GEAPS members will receive a discount on AFIA's distance education courses, including its Fundamentals of Feed Manufacturing Online course offered live or on-demand through Kansas State University.
 
Image credit: AFIA/GEAPS

Members of the AFIA will receive discounts on GEAPS's online training courses.

GEAPS Executive Director Steve Records explained the overlap between the organizations, 'A big part of GEAPS includes the 'Processing' operations for the industry. Our member facilities supply all avenues of the food chain, including the feed industry,'

'Many of AFIA's members receive, store and process grain as part of regular operations. The principles of safety and efficiency that work in a grain elevator will also apply in feed mills. This is a great opportunity to expand access to information to members of both organizations and this collaboration allows both GEAPS and AFIA to deliver more member value without recreating or duplicating efforts,' added Mr Records

'Over the past few months, our members have remarked about the value of distance learning and education to enhance their current and new employees' skills, especially amid current COVID-19 precautions and travel restrictions,' said AFIA's President and CEO Constance Cullman.

Ms Cullman continued, 'We recognize going forward that the 'new normal' will entail more flexible solutions to meet employers' schedules and budgets and are excited to expand our offerings with a partner like GEAPS in 2021.'

The full schedule of 2021 events include:

  •  AFIA-KSU 500 courses: Feb. 2 - March 9; March 30 - May 4; Aug. 3 – Sept. 7; and Oct 5 – Nov. 9. Register at afia.org/events.
  • AFIA-KSU 500 On-Demand modules offered throughout the year at afia.org/afia-ksuondemand.
  • View GEAPS 2021 course schedule online at geaps.com/education

To participate at the discounted rates, GEAPS and AFIA members should contact their respective events staff.

Visit the AFIA website, HERE.
Visit the GEAPS website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

Nutreco to prevent deforestation with industry first soy sourcing policy

Nutreco have announced the launch of its milestone soy sourcing policy.

The aim is to simplify complex certification schemes for its procurement teams in Skretting and Trouw Nutrition, and facilitate the complete removal of deforestation from its supply chain by 2025. The policy forms part of Nutreco’s Sustainability Roadmap 2025.
 
Image credit: Nutreco

Deforestation is one of the major sustainability challenges for the agri and aquaculture sector. Soy and oil palm are major deforestation drivers, with over half a million hectares of rainforest, peatland and savannahs destroyed each year for the expansion of these crops.

Annually, Nutreco buys around 1.5 million tonnes of soy ingredients and 80,000 tonnes of oil palm products.

Certification schemes and standards are numerous, and provide a variety of deforestation assurances. These assurances vary per certification and they are continuously evolving, to reflect increased knowledge and ambition levels.

To address the challenge of ensuring compliance with certifications, Nutreco procurement teams have launched a transparent policy, highlighting soy-producing regions on low and high risk of deforestation, and outlining the procurement requirements in areas of higher risk.
 


Despite the Nutreco Sustainability Roadmap deadline of 2025 for deforestation-free soy and oil palm ingredients, ambitious intermediate milestones have also been determined for Skretting.  Further milestones for specific regions and/or species are being evaluated, for both Trouw Nutrition and Skretting.

Emese van Maanen, Managing Director of ProTerra Foundation says, “The concrete targets outlined in Nutreco’s new policy highlight the commitment to sustainable production, conservation of natural resources and also ensuring that local communities are treated with dignity and respect.

We recognise the genuine concern for the regions from which they source ingredients and are in full support of this landmark approach.”

Robert van den Breemer, Skretting Procurement Director says, “Procurement is about buying the right product at the right time, price and place.

When it comes to soy and oil palm, buying the right product is difficult, and I am excited that with this policy, the Nutreco purchasing team now has a tool to make it easier to do the right thing. Because ending deforestation is the right thing, and we in Nutreco don’t just talk, we actually act.”

“There is immense satisfaction in seeing our corporate divisions Skretting and Trouw Nutrition coming together and moving forward with ingredient purchasing policies that are pragmatic and can be implemented by our procurement managers in over 37 countries,” says Jose Villalon, Nutreco Sustainability Director. “These policies are fully aligned with our corporate sustainability strategy, RoadMap 2025.

Visit the Nutreco website, HERE.


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Veramaris wins prestigious award for innovation

Algal oil producer hailed as 'inspiration to the industry' as it takes silver medal at Best Microalgae Awards ceremony

Veramaris has beaten over one hundred entrants to take a silver medal podium position at the Best Microalgae Awards.
 
Image credit: Veramaris

The independent non-profit global competition involves judges from industries around the world. Its aim is to reward innovators and help highlight their work in the field of microalgae.

The award in the category of Sustainability and CSR Initiative asked for entries that could help 'build pathways to a better future'.  Veramaris won the silver medal for its sustainable natural marine algal oil, produced at a zero waste, state-of-the-art facility in Nebraska, USA.

Veramaris is the only winner operating in the field of aquaculture. The breakthrough innovation means the richest possible algal oil can be produced on a mass scale meaning it can be competitive on price, with fish oil.

The feed ingredient which is used in aquaculture and pet food contains twice the level of EPA & DHA Omega-3 compared to fish oil. Fish fed on Veramaris' algal oil have higher levels of EPA & DHA Omega-3, essential for heart, brain, eye and skin health.

Award Lead at Best Microalgae Awards Renaud d'Avout d'Auerstaedt said, 'Veramaris is an inspiration to the entire industry, showing that it is entirely possible to create positive impact on our food systems at a massive scale. They have cracked the holy grail of producing the two limiting micro nutrients in aquaculture, EPA & DHA Omega-3 fatty acids, in truly unlimited amounts, which can help us to stop depleting the oceans.'

Karim Kurmaly, CEO of Veramaris said, 'Our sustainable algal oil is a game changer and an enabler towards a more sustainable aquaculture industry. This breakthrough innovation is our ability to produce the richest algal oil with the highest levels of EPA & DHA at the kind of scale that provides value for our customers and the sustainability of our oceans. We are delighted to receive this award from such a prestigious organisation.'

The competition is organised by the European Algae Biomass Association.

The original face-to-face awards ceremony was due to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland but was postponed indefinitely because of Coronavirus.

Now finalists and runners-up will have the opportunity to present their pitches live to more than a thousand industry professionals at a meeting which will be held exclusively online.

Visit the Veramaris website, HERE.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Register now for Triott Group’s third Feed Forward webazine episode on the future of milling

Dutch feed and food production specialist The Triott Group has announced that the third episode of the Feed Forward webazine will take place December 17 at 11am CET, with an eye firmly on the future.

Episode three of the Feed Forward webazine – with contributions from leading players from three continents is entitled, 'The future of feed milling: what's in store?,' and will focus on how new technology and thinking is shaping the industry, including the practical opportunities and benefits to the feed-mill, both short-and-long term.

 


Topics covered will include:
• How greater use of data and digitalization can enable production of feed more consistently, using information to deliver new added-value services.
• Valuable insight, advice and explanations on using technology now and in the future, on a pratical level.
• A glimpse into the long-term future, with a long-running internal Triott project called Milling 2030 and concepts like the 'digital twin' and 'milling as a service'.

How can we turn strategy into action? This question will be discussed by recently appointed Head of Innovation and Technique, Rene Ottevanger with Marijn Laurensse, the recently appointed Managing Director of Triott's Inteqnion business, and Auke Markerink, head of customer accounts for Ottevanger Milling Services and three video guests: Mario Cesar Ocampo, CEO from NutriAvicola in Columbia; Wayne Cooper a veteran American consultant and former feed mill manager; and Albert Getkate, a Dutch independent senior consultant to the feed industry.

'Because it has been such a challenging year for everyone in the industry, we wanted to end 2020 on a positive and forward-looking note by exploring the untapped potential for feed milling in the future,' says Rene Ottevanger, Head of Innovation and Technique, The Triott Group. 'A major aspect of my new role at Triott is to identify how new technologies and techniques can benefit our customers both today and longer term – and I look forward to sharing our thoughts on both topics in this latest Feed Forward episode.'

For more information and to register for the livestream visit the Ottevanger website, HERE.

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Fish oil: critical qualities

by Petter Johannessen, Director General, IFFO

As winter is approaching and the Covid-19 pandemic still spreading, supplements containing Omega 3 fatty acids are experiencing a growing demand as a means for people to boost their immunity systems.

Fish oil capsules are highly sought-after. It is not a mystery why that is. Fish oil is a critical source of Omega-3s (EPA, DHA).
  

Reducing risks of cardiovascular disease events
GOED, the trade non-profit organisation at the heart of the global Omega-3 industry, has published a comprehensive meta-analysis that connects increases in EPA and DHA Omega-3 intake to positive cardiovascular outcomes. The study compiles data from the complete body of scientific evidence: 40 clinical trials representing more than 135,000 study participants. It found that EPA and DHA supplementation is associated with statistically significant risk reductions in several cardiovascular outcomes.

The study also found that the protective effect increases with dosage. An additional 1g/day of EPA and DHA results in an additional 5.8 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease events and a 9.0 percent reduction in the risk of heart attacks.

Providing the right balance between Omega-3s and Omega-6s

Professor Doug Tocher, from the Institute of Aquaculture (University of Stirling, UK) explains very clearly that Omega-3 and Omega-6 are meant to work in balance to control and regulate physiology. “However,” he says, “in the last century or so, industrial agriculture and the rise of vegetable oils has seen a huge shift in this balance with dietary Omega-6 now exceeding Omega-3 by over 20-fold resulting in many metabolic conditions.”

The Omega-3 gap needs to be filled in, and doing so in ways that respect both nutritional needs and biodiversity of all kinds of species, while being financially viable in the long term, should be a matter of public concern.

That said, it is worth underlining that fish oil is far more than Omega-3s and plays a role in the global food system, well beyond the nutraceutical market! Fish oil is essential in global protein production (that is, production of farmed fish, with aquaculture using almost 70 percent of fish oil produced worldwide in 2019 according to IFFO figures)

Read more, HERE.


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Leiber company profile

Now with more than 140 employees, with each one a specialist in his or her domain, Leiber has a well-proven team in a company following a clear strategy for more than 50 years: working with values.

“What makes us unique? We focus on what we know best. Yeast. Production on the highest level of quality. Latest technology. New findings from science and research. The performance of a team of specialists. 

This is what defines Leiber´s strategic orientation. This is what makes us truly entrepreneurial”, as explained on the Leiber website.

“The markets´ requirements are changing - we are able to follow. This is how we became one of the leading manufacturers of specialised yeast products”.

Visit the website HERE.






















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Monday, December 14, 2020

Fish Farming Technology Guest Tech Editor, Dr Michael Bech

by Dr Michael Bech, CEO and owner of Nordic Aquaculture Consult ApS

Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector within food production and the land-based recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) is booming worldwide right now.

The year of 2020 has been completely affected by the Covid-19 and I believe the present pandemic will be pushing us even further towards increasing self-sufficiency to focus more on local production.
 
The focus to limit emission of CO2 will also make the air freight of fish from remote net cage areas less attractive in future, pushing the development towards land-based farms because they can be located close to their markets such as New York, Beijing, Tokyo or Paris.

The use of RAS makes it possible to farm any species anywhere because the physical and chemical conditions of the system’s water are being controlled. It is possible to farm Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) in a land-based facility in Denmark at a constant temperature of 21 degrees Celsius despite the cold climate and the fact that Kingfish doesn’t even exist at that latitude.

The increasing degree of recirculation in the latest generation of RAS makes it easier to find suitable sites because the need for new intake water is limited and the discharge can be cleaned to meet any environmental restrictions.

A modern salmon farm can be located inland and it is possible to clean whatever source of intake water available with powerful tools such as microfiltration, ozone and UV.

In a RAS the toxic ammonia from the excretion of the fish is continuously transformed and detoxified to nitrate by the bacterial nitrification process in the biofilter.

The volume of new intake water mainly dictated by the volume needed to dilute the internal nitrate concentration below a threshold value of often 80mg nitrate per litre. By adding a denitrification step where nitrate is transformed to free nitrogen (N2) by an anoxic bacterial process it is possible to reduce the need from 300-500 litres to 30-50 litres per kg of feed.  This reduction of intake water and discharge water will only make it easier to find new suitable locations for the expansion of RAS.

Read more, HERE.

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Kaeser Kompression company profile




Kaeser Kompression provides products, services and complete systems for supplying production and work processes with quality compressed air. The system solutions comprise compressed air generation and treatment and are designed for optimal overall efficiency. The company was founded in 1919 and is represented throughout the world by a comprehensive network of branch offices and strong partners.

Visit the Kaeser Kompression website, HERE.

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Sunday, December 13, 2020

International Aquafeed's December Nutrition Editor's Column

by Prof. Simon Davies, Nutrition Editor, International Aquafeed 

Although we now have 2020 almost behind us, there will be many of the 2020 events for aquaculture now rescheduled, delayed or even cancelled due to this exceptional year.

As a fish nutrition scientist, it was sad not to have been able to return to South Korea for the International Symposium on Fish Nutrition this year. This would have been a really important meeting of minds dedicated to our industry and where we could disseminate our findings, catch up with colleagues and friends to share ideas, discuss our plans and foster new collaborations.
 

This symposium is held every two years and is now out of sequence but hopefully, it will get back on track.

Likewise I was due to attend scientific conferences and exhibitions in China, Thailand and Europe that have now been kicked well into touch for the time being. I have realistically planned to resume my globetrotting activities in 2022 when things should settle down and the pandemic may be well and truly quenched.

Nonetheless, my other activities have been progressing thanks to the technology that exists to connect us together.

The fish farming industry has a capacity to recover and aquaculture has continued to provide its share of global seafood demand, with the feed sector continuing its quest to develop novel platforms of research and applications. It is still impressive to see investments in new avenues of aquaculture system design especially in land-based systems (RAS) and deeper offshore facilities.

In fact, I am currently associated with several consortia hoping to roll out aquaculture within my own region of SW England and Wales, who are also looking to engage with selected educational institutions for their experience in a consultancy capacity. Our focus will be to evaluate the potential for both established fish species and even exotic non-conventional types.

An endless challenge

With the growing list of emerging species being investigated for culture, it’s an endless challenge to obtain a detailed inventory of their biology, environmental preferences, breeding, early development, growth and feeding behaviour and nutritional requirements. In aquaculture, the multidisciplinary approach is paramount and together will lead to successful rearing of fish under captivity.

In this final month of 2020 we have seen many challenges, as I have stated throughout the spring and summer months. Like in fish farming, we see new technologies in disease control and scenarios we are all familiar with globally.

However, we can be optimistic with announcements of vaccines for COVID-19 and hopefully mass immunisation will protect us all, with a level of normality returning in 2021.

With the US Presidential election now over and a new President in office from January, we will see how the American policy for agriculture will develop and the Federal government’s commitments to aquaculture. I have previously been involved in advising the USDA on specific growth areas and investments in fish farming technology.

Read more, HERE.


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