The Aquaculturists: 2018

Friday, December 21, 2018

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from The Aquaculturalists and International Aquafeed

The team here at The Aquaculturalists blog and International Aquafeed magazine would like to thank all of our readers, for your continued support.

In 2018, our magazine and blogs have only continued to expand and excel, we are excited to say that International Aquafeed and The Aquaculturalists will only continue to improve in 2019.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news

Thursday, December 20, 2018

100-year anniversary of the Zheng Chang Group

by Tuti Tan, Events and circulation manager, International Aquafeed

The Zheng Chang Group came together to celebrate 100 years of leading animal feed production in China. Perendale Publishers were represented at the auspicious celebrations by Tuti Tan, Circulation and Events organiser.

More than 100 dignitaries joined with senior staff members from Zheng Chang as they looked back on 100 years of innovation at the forefront of animal feed technology.

The atmosphere of the celebration was warm and the performances such as "Encouraging the New Era", "Innovating the World" and "The Power of Endeavour" all represented Zheng Chang’s 100-year culture and century glory.

President Hao Bo gave a speech to the gathered delegation at the stadium in Liyang Jiangsu.

He said, “innovation is the fount of Zheng Chang’s permanent development. Zheng Chang was founded by the name of Zheng Chang Oil Mill in 1918 and transformed into a public-private joint venture in 1956. It was successfully restructured in 2003 into the Shanghai Zheng Chang International Machinery Engineering Company Ltd. To start exploiting the international market we responded to the national “One Bet One Road” initiative in 2014 and founded Zheng Chan Brazil Co Ltd in 2015 as the first base in South Africa. By then we had automated manufacturing, and filed in many gaps. Up to now, Zheng Chang has grown into a national grain storage engineering company that specialises in offering stable, reliable storage projects and total solutions.”

He went on to outline Zheng Chang’s development, praising the “decades of professionalism and craftmanship” which has enabled Zheng Chang to become a “global leading feed equipment, storage equipment and integrated system service provider.”

“Zheng Chang has made groundbreaking achievements in many areas, such as having built more than 3,600 feed and storage projects at home and abroad, attracted all types of global enterprises top invest in Liyang, and shared its fruits with others. In the past century full of hardships, Zheng Chang has grown so big and strong: the staff of Zheng Chang has moved ahead at a steady pace to continue the writing of the centennial history and create brilliance with the spirit of struggle, innovation, valiancy, pioneering and devotion with support and help from the leaders at all levels, our clients and friends.”

Read more HERE.

Aliphos company profile

Aliphos is the feed ingredients division of Ecophos, a company developing processes and selling technology licenses for the phosphates industry.

The particularity of Aliphos is its strong knowledge of feed phosphates and its innovative spirit. Aliphos has been producing phosphates for nearly a century and is continuously improving its products in order to fulfill the needs of its customers. Today, Aliphos offers customers around the world the largest range of high quality feed phosphates, as well as a range of other feed ingredients.

In a world facing demographic and environmental challenges there is a need to supply high quality ingredients. Aliphos wants to be the global leader in inorganic feed phosphates that will contribute in feeding the world’s fast growing population.

Improving the animal nutrition is the aim of Aliphos; while focusing on a sustainable process we supply high digestible, value-adding and innovative products to our customers.

Visit the Aliphos website, HERE.

Joel Newman to retire after 15 years as AFIA’s President and CEO

The American Feed Industry Association's President and CEO Joel G. Newman formally announced to members today that he will be retiring from the association effective December 2019. The association has formed a selection committee to facilitate the transition process over the next year and hired Kincannon & Reed to assist in recruiting Newman's successor.

"It has been my privilege to represent the industry and lead AFIA through a period of exciting and significant change," Mr Newman said. "I am very proud of the many achievements and successes that we have accomplished together. My deepest thanks go to the AFIA members and staff who have supported and made this success possible."

Joel Newman
Image credit: AFIA

Mr Newman has led AFIA for the past 15 years, in which he has ushered in a landmark era of change. During the early 2000s, Newman worked with members and staff to develop a strategic focus that better aligned the association to meet the future needs of the changing industry and led to the creation of AFIA's four Promises of Member Value.

Over the years, Mr Newman expanded the AFIA staff team, adding top talent to deliver on the four Promises of providing legislative and regulatory representation and member access to top expertise. AFIA's education programs and networking events also saw tremendous growth during this time.

Mr Newman championed an expanded global focus on the development of international food safety standards and opening more international trade opportunities for the industry. Most recently, AFIA has implemented a Sustainability Initiative, which includes the development of collaborative industry messaging to address consumers' concerns regarding the animal protein industry. All of this has led to a more than 50 percent increase in member engagement and increased industry value.

Mr Newman has also served as president of the association's public charity, the Institute for Feed Education and Research, since its inception 10 years ago. He has represented the US animal feed industry on international issues, including serving on the International Feed Industry Federation's Board of Directors, and previously as IFIF's chairman, and as a member of the US delegation to the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Mr Newman has spent his distinguished career in the agriculture and food industries. For the past 48 years, he has held executive positions at Agway, Inc., Maple Leaf Foods, Inc., and United Cooperative Farmers, prior to joining AFIA. He holds an MBA in finance and marketing from Syracuse University and a bachelor's in animal science from West Virginia University.

Mr Newman will continue to serve as president and CEO of AFIA over the next 12 months and will assist with the transition through the end of 2019. As part of its succession planning, the AFIA Board of Directors appointed a selection committee in May to lead the recruitment and succession process.

The committee will be working with Kincannon & Reed to recruit a strategic, collaborative and results-oriented individual who can lead the organisation to deliver on its mission and develop strategies that address its vision for the future. The association aims to conduct candidate interviews in the spring of 2019 with the goal of making a candidate recommendation to the Board for its review by the summer. Pending the Board's final approval, Mr Newman expects to officially introduce and onboard the new president and CEO in the fall of 2019.

For more information visit the AFIA website, HERE.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

TSC Silos company profile

As a specialist in the building of square silos TSC Silos supplies an end product that meets the highest quality requirements and is used in a variety of industries

According to TSC Silos, “We use our focus and expertise to design suitable rectangular silo installations of which we are proud. That is all we do: we design, calculate and build silos; day in day out, year in year out. For your benefit.”

The rectangular silo concept is characterised by an optimum storage capacity and flexible layout options. A clever design produces the best possible product discharge with maximum storage capacity.

With a TSC silo you are also investing in a safe, hygienic working environment.

The organisation is 100 percent focused on this silo concept, from sale and design to production and installation.

They are able to handle projects from A to Z: from the steel support structure to the insulating cladding and from functional design up to and including fitting.

At TSC safety is a given. Their well-trained engineers carry out sound calculations for your silo. TSC designs, calculates and manufactures all the silos in accordance with the latest standards (EN 1991, EN 1993 and EN 1090).

TSC Silos are familiar with ATEX, earthquake coefficients, snow loads and the effects of wind. Everything is worked out using advanced computer software down to the smallest detail.

If you so desire, you can have the calculations checked by independent parties; that’s not a problem.

Their experienced installation teams have all the necessary training and are at home on construction sites.

Visit the TSC Silos website, HERE.

Global Aquaculture awards 2019 open for entry

The 2019 Aquaculture Awards are now officially open for entry, enabling individuals and companies from all aspects of the industry to pit themselves against the crème de la crème of the global aquaculture sector.

Following the success of Aquaculture UK's 2018 Scottish Marine Aquaculture Awards 5m Publishing has announced that it will hold the awards annually. The next round will be held in Edinburgh on the 29 May 2019, and will showcase new developments and highlight the most exciting initiatives taking place in the planet's fastest growing protein production sector. In a change to previous events the awards are open to everyone involved in the global aquaculture industry, no matter how large or small.

Image credit: 5m Publishing

"The 2018 awards were hugely successful attracting a record number of entrants from around the UK – and we're keen to encourage international involvement this time too. The annual awards are now open to participants in the sector from around the world," says 5m's sales and marketing director Matt Colvan.

The awards will take place at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh following a half-day seminar, the details of which will be announced shortly.

Categories Entries and/or nominations are now open for the following categories:

Applied Research Breakthrough (sponsored by Lloyds Register) - open to any research project involving collaboration between the industry and academic sectors. The winner will be the project that is most likely to have an impact on the industry and has already demonstrated some tangible measures of success.

Sustainability (sponsored by Cargill) - will be presented to the organisation that is able to demonstrate the consistency of its contribution to the environmental, ethical and economic sustainability of the industry. Entrants will need to highlight ways they are addressing each of the three E's.

International Impact (sponsored by BioMar)- an award set to promote companies and/or new initiatives with a truly international impact. Projects that promote cross-industry collaboration and/or make their results freely available for the greater good of the sector will be viewed particularly favourably.

People's Choice (sponsor TBC) – Individuals are invited to nominate a person from within the sector whose attitude and achievements in the last 12 months have been particularly inspirational. The public will then be able to vote for anyone from the shortlist, which will be drawn up by the judging panel based on the best of the nominations received.

Most promising new entrant (sponsorship available) – nominations sought for people, companies or products that have arrived on the aquaculture scene since January 2018.

Animal Welfare (sponsor TBC) - any initiative that has improved the welfare of the farmed animals and/or the wildlife they interact with since January 2018. Initiatives can cover a range of factors, including genetic, pharmaceutical and technological innovations, or improvements in husbandry and farm management protocols.

Tech/Data Innovation (sponsorship available) - an award for the developer of novel hardware or software that has, or is projected to, improve the performance of any aquaculture sector.

Diversity (sponsored by Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre) - the employer, individual or organisation that has done the most to promote diversity in their workforce and/or the sector in general since January 2018.

"We have established a new set of categories which have a greater emphasis on sustainable farming practices, cutting-edge research and technological innovation," says Susan Tinch, event organiser, "and we are delighted that the sector's leading international businesses are supporting the new awards."

Entry/nomination process
To find out more about each of the categories and to enter or nominate, visit the website, HERE. All entries and nominations will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.

Awards timetable
• full list of categories and details of how to enter the awards can be found on the website, HERE.
• The closing date for entries is 1 March 2019.
• The shortlists will be announced in early April and followed by the awards presentation dinner held at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh on 29 May 2019.

For more information visit the website, HERE, or email info@aquacultureuk.com

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Olmix is launches Algimun® during Group’s annual symposium in Berlin, Germany

Olmix Group's annual symposium took place in Berlin, Germany, and shed light on the company's algae-based biosolutions to produce more and better in a changing world.

Image credit: Olmix

Olmix Group wrote another page of the Breizh Algae Tour in Berlin, Germany, where the company hosted its annual symposium in the presence of 400 customers and partners from 51 different countries between the 11th and 14th November.

If last year the event shed light on the scientific and technical research progress on algae and their key role to get a balanced microbiome, the 2018 edition focused on how to boost natural defences of animals, plants and humans through natural, innovative and environmentally friendly solutions, and on how to move towards a low carbon agri-food chain by reducing the use of food chemicals, chemical fertilisers and pesticides and antibiotics.

Read the full article on International Aquafeed website, HERE.

Choosing the correct raw material for aquaculture cage netting

by Elihai Radzinski, Fibras Industriales SA, Peru

In the netting industry, FISA, official name Fibras Industriales SA, is one of the world’s leading fishing net and cage manufactures with over 70 years’ experience.

They are a vertically integrated company that starts their process with the extrusion of polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) followed by twisting and weaving for the twisted knotted netting, braided knotted netting and twisted knotless shogun netting or knitting for the raschel knotless netting.

After finishing their products with pre-shrinking, heat setting and applying the most adequate bonding, FISA transfer the netting and ropes to their 28,000m2 specialised net loft where the process of rigging nets for purse seiners or cages, for all species of farming, will take place. In FISA’s previous article, from July 2017, they covered the importance of abrasion and UV resistance for fish cages and specified in detail the different benefits of various type of products such as FISA’s Polymax and Polytar ropes.

FISA emphasised the importance of accelerated abrasion and UV tests, thus reflecting the behaviour of the material over time and the effect these forces have over the products. This effect can possibly lead to a situation where a product with a higher initial breaking strength turns out to have a very low UV and/or abrasion resistance and after a short period of time (12-18 months).

On the other hand, what seemed like a lower resistance product retains more of its characteristics and turns into a longer life product. Following, there will be a short description of the differences and potential advantages or disadvantages of the different raw materials available for manufacturing the netting used in aquaculture fish cages.

Read more HERE.

GePro company profile

GePro Gefluegel-Protein Vertriebs- gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG is a group company of PHW, one of the largest producers of poultry products in Europe

As a member of PHW, GePro is part of a completely integrated poultry production.

GePro headquarter is in Diepholz (Germany) with global sales offices located in Bangkok (Kingdom of Thailand) and Moscow (Russian Federation).

GePro transforms poultry by-products from the slaughterhouse into valuable ingredients for animal nutrition and biofuel (SP-Power)

With the state of the art production systems, our products are of extremely high quality and are regarded as benchmarks in the industry. The entire process is under strict veterinarian control leading to consistent flawless quality and great value proposition for our customers.

Visit the GePro website, HERE.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Expert topic: Japanese amberjack

by Matt Holmes, Features editor, International Aquafeed

Japanese amberjack (Seriola quinqeradiata) culture began in 1927 in the Kagawa prefecture of Japan where wild juvenile amberjacks were first reared in shore enclosures.

Waste accumulation and poor water quality led to this type of culture becoming swiftly obsolete, and so refined commercial production began in the 1940s, which expanded rapidly in the 1960s. By 1970, amberjack production was exceeding 43,000 tonnes, reaching a peak in 1995 of nearly 170,000 tonnes. The industry hit a record height in the late 1990s, where production reached between 132,000 and 160,000 tonnes.

Plentiful production
Japanese amberjack features in the fisheries of the Western Central Pacific Ocean, from Japan and the eastern Korean peninsula to the Hawaiian Islands, but its farming occurs primarily in Japanese waters. The Republic of Korea is the only other country reporting production to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The aquaculture production of Japanese amberjack constitutes over 50 percent of the total farmed marine finfish production in Japan, a surprisingly high amount when considering the rarity of this fish in the Western market. Amberjack can be eaten as sashimi or grilled when sold as fillets. It has a firm white, mild tasting flesh.

The common name of Japanese amberjacks varies with size. Those that weigh under 50g are called ‘mojako’, whilst those weighing between 50g and 5000g are named ‘hamachi’. ‘Buri’ is the name granted to the amberjack which weigh in at over 5000g. These fish spawn along the 200 mile contour in the East China Sea, juveniles migrating north towards Hokkaido, where they feed for three to five years until reaching sexual maturity, when they migrate south for spawning.

Adults of 70-80cm approach the western coast of Kochi prefecture, Japan, in March-April. From season to season, various sizes can be caught in different parts of Japan. The optimum rearing water temperature for Japanese amberjack is 20-29 ºC and the optimum salinity is 30-36 percent.

Read more HERE.

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.

Aquafarm 2019: Sustainable production of food from water

Aquafarm, the conference and trade show for the sustainable production of food from water, will be enriched by moments of discussion and analysis. The show will take place at the Pordenone Exhibition Centre in the Venice Area, Italy from 13-14 February. International Aquafeed magazine will be in attendence reporting on the event.

Below you will find a preview, continuously updated, of the conference program:
• Fishfeed and fish quality
• Fish health and wellness
• Technologies for the farming environment
• Short and medium term prospects for aquaculture
• Processing and packaging of farmed fish
• Retail and consumption
• Hatcheries: genetic selection, special feeds, additives, health and wellness, controlled environment

Aquafarm: International Network
Join Aquafarm 2019 and become part of the international network of the operators within the Mediterranean basin: Slovenia, Coratia, Albany, Balcanic Area up to Malta, Greece, Turkey, Spain and Portugal.

Exhibiting spaces: last call
Over 70 percent of spaces is already booked. Hurry up and confirm your booth to exhibit at Aquafarm 2019.

View the list of current exhibitors, HERE.
Visit the Aquafarm 2019 website, HERE.

For more information contact
Lucia Prosdocimo (Project Manager) - +39 0434 232111 - prosdocimo@fierapordenone.it
Raffaella Piacentini (Sales) - +39 02 87213851 - piacentini@fierapordenone.it

Erik de Graaff joins Van Aarsen International as new Sales Director

Erik developed from Salesman to General Manager and Sales Director, with both national and international responsibilities.

During his career he worked in different industry fields, both national and international, but the majority of his working years he has been active in the area of solids handling and processing in several industries like petfood, plastics and the chemical industry.

Erik de Graaff
Image credit: Van Aarsen

The last decade he has been in the area of pelleting, grinding and conditioning in, amongst others, the animal feed industry. This specific knowledge and his broad experience has given the Van Aarsen management team enough confidence to appoint him as the new Sales Director.

Erik intends to strengthen the global position of Van Aarsen as one of the leading companies in feed mill design and construction. By strengthening the agent network, creation of partnerships with customers and further development of the sales team, his aim is to secure the continuous growth of Van Aarsen.

He is proud to be part of an experienced group of experts, and is always striving to serve our global customers in the compound feed industry to his best abilities!

For more information visit the Van Aarsen website, HERE.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Marine Harvest supports Broughton Archipelago path forward

Marine Harvest Canada has announced that it supports the path forward regarding salmon aquaculture in the Broughton Archipelago in Victoria by the Government of British Columbia and the Governments of the Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa'mix, 'Namgis, and Mamalilikulla First Nations.

Image credit: Julia Manzerova on Flickr
(CC BY-ND 2.0)

The plan, as announced by B.C. Premier John Horgan, representatives of the First Nations, and salmon farming companies including Marine Harvest Canada, will protect wild salmon, address longstanding First Nations concerns about finfish aquaculture in the area, and protect resource jobs.

"We approached these discussions seeking solutions that would both address the concerns of the First Nations and maintain our commitment to the wellbeing of our employees, support businesses, and stakeholders. Going forward, we see the implementation of the recommendations as a positive step toward building mutual goodwill, trust, and respect as we work to earn First Nations consent of our operations in their Territories, said Marine Harvest Canada Managing Director Dr Diane Morrison.

Read the full story on the International Aquafeed website, HERE.

ROV mort removal: The remarkable Foover from UCO

by Mick Bower Divisional Director, Underwater Contracting, Scotland

Mick Bower has made a splash back into the aquaculture industry after leaving it almost 15 years ago to pursue senior diving roles in the oil and gas field.

With a wealth of knowledge from both industries, Mick has developed an innovative new system for fish farms – the Foover. Although he had the idea several years ago, Underwater Contracting (UCO) was launched last year and the Foover systems have since completed more than 20,000 dives in commercial operations around Scotland.

The ‘patent pending’ system consists of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with a collection cage attached, that when dropped into a fish pen, hoovers up dead fish. The collection unit can cram up to 750kg of fish into the cage which equates to around 150 large salmon. As well as having a large capacity, the Foover works very quickly. It takes one minute to plunge 30 meters into the depth of the pen, just three or four minutes to collect 150 morts, and another minute to return to the surface.

The sites where the system is currently operating report that the whole process takes no more than six minutes in total. Impressively, a 10-pen site in 25 meters of water with an average amount of morts, can be rendered 100 percent mort free with visual verification through the camera system in under 2.5 hours.

Customers are mainly using the Foover for mort removal; but once on site, they can really see the potential for other uses. This generally involves net inspections and the cleaning of cages and pipes leading back to the feed barge. The Foover is easily installed on-board typical workboats with deck space of less than three square metres and can be deployed and recovered from the pen using the workboat crane. It’s simple to control with a joystick from the wheelhouse of the boat, with a monitor that displays information from the ROV, whether it’s inside the pen or performing operations outside of it.

UCO maintain that at this stage the Foover doesn’t necessarily replace divers, but it does significantly reduce the amount of time personnel spend underwater. The traditional method carries inherent risks, while working for longer times and deeper depths, with no restrictions on the amount of diving undertaken. When Mick was a fish farm diver, the cages were 15-20 meters deep but now they are closer to 30 meters in the centre. Therefore, there is higher risk of decompression implications and diver illness adding to the risk of scuba diving in fish cages.

Read more HERE.

Making floating and sinking feed with twin-screw technology

by Alain Brisset, Clextral, France

Today’s worldwide consumed sea food can be split between aquaculture production and wild capture: this represents respectively 80 million metric tons (53%) for breaded animals and 71.2 million metric tons (47%) for the captured fishes.

These aquatic animals include finfish, crustacean and mollusks. Among the cultured animals in 2016, some are fed manufactured feed (56.6 million metric tonnes), whilst some are not fed manufactured feed (23.4 million metric tonnes) Finally, it is estimated that 35 to 40 million metric tonnes per year of feed is needed for the aquaculture industry.

Floating and sinking feed
In order to meet this demand, feed may be distributed as food wastes or/and as prepared feed. Different technologies are available to prepare the feed such as mixers, pellet-presses, expanders and extruders.

Extrusion technology is a relatively recent technology used in the aquaculture industry, originating approximately 40 years ago. Extrusion is a thermomechanical process consisting in forcing a product through a small size hole, under pressure and temperature thanks to a mechanical device named an archimede screw. The functions of an extruder are generally considered to be for feeding, conveying, compressing, cooking and shaping continuously. The expansion is due to the water flash off caused by the pressure difference out of the die.

Twin-screw extrusion
A fundamental difference between single and twin-screw technology is the mixing ability of a twin-screw extruder (TSE). This unit operation is generated by the two intermeshing screws co-rotating in a closed cylinder (the barrel) while a single screw extruder (SSE) works with only one archimede- type screw.

Conveying in an SSE relies on friction between the material being processed and the inner surface of the barrel, while a TSE can transfer any mixture from pure water to high viscous doughs even containing high levels of fat, similar to a positive pump.

A TSE is not sensitive to “slip-inducers” such as water and fats. The mixing properties of TSE allows a very homogeneous transfer of mechanical shear and temperature in the processed dough, giving it a homogenous form of cooking and viscosity. It is also possible to mix into a TSE liquid such as water and fat, in order to fine-tune the final expansion degree.

Read more HERE.

IDAH company profile

IDAH’s ultimate goal is to be world’s number one with customer satisfaction.

IDAH’s vision is to build on our solid traditional manufacturing roots and expand out to be a full-service solutions provider: offering value-added system designs and turnkey project consultation services.

Through this expansion, we hope to create an international platform where technology could be shared and integrated for the benefit of our customers.

By upholding the IDAH Spirit, the passionate team members of IDAH are committed to achieve this vision.

The IDAH Spirit

"Creativity, Honesty & Quality "

Creativity is what gave birth to IDAH in 1974 and consequently the birth of the feeds manufacturing industry in Asia.

Innovation through creativity is what has enabled us to be the industry driver from our inception until now. IDAH is committed and well positioned to lead the industry of tomorrow.

If creativity is the engine that has rapidly pushed IDAH forward; Honesty is what keeps us moving in the right direction.

IDAH has been firmly grounded on the virtues of quality, honour, and accountability. Our main business is to safeguard the trust that customers have given us and be a dedicated upholder of the highest quality standard.

Visit the website HERE.

Friday, December 14, 2018

WorldFish and Skretting sign MoU to develop aquaculture in Africa

WorldFish and Skretting have solidified their growing partnership to address food and nutrition security in Africa through collaborative aquaculture support and innovation.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the world population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. It is predicted that half of this growth will come from nine countries, five of those in Africa. To contribute to feeding this growing population, Africa must increase aquaculture productivity at a faster rate than the global average.

Image credit: Tam Warner Minton on Flickr
(CC BY 2.0)

The partnership will initially focus on two key areas. The first is understanding and analysing the structure of the aquaculture industry in Africa. Knowing the different stakeholders involved and their impact on the value chain allows for better decision-making and public policy. The second is analysing and improving farming practices. The partners will work with a panel of fish farmers to develop best management practices, and test new technologies using mobile applications to gather and feedback data to the farmers to enhance performance.

"We believe that strategic collaborations with the private sector are essential for accelerating the sustainable development of aquaculture in Africa's developing economies," says Dr Gareth Johnstone, Director General, WorldFish. "Our partnership with Skretting will enable the scaling of tried and tested technologies and best practices—one of our core goals—paving the way for fish to boost more nutritious diets and secure steady incomes and improved livelihoods across the continent. WorldFish and Skretting share a common vision for how science and innovation must underpin this process, and we will work together to roll out affordable solutions that effectively target and reach the millions of people who depend on fish."

"Skretting wants to help achieve food security in Africa, a goal that is in line with our mission of 'Feeding the Future'," says Rob Kiers, Managing Director Skretting Asia and Africa. "Fish is an important part of the diet in African countries, where 18.4 percent of animal protein intake comes from fish. We will work with WorldFish to develop the local aquaculture industry in a shared-value approach and collect data to deliver fish farmers the right feed according to their needs."

Skretting and WorldFish have been working together for over two years at the WorldFish Aquaculture Research and Training Centre in Abbassa, Egypt on tilapia nutrition and raw feed material evaluation. They have also collaborated on Skretting's Community Development Project in Zambia.

The solidification of the partnership will enable both parties to further develop aquaculture, have a greater positive impact on the livelihoods and well-being of small-scale fish farmers and contribute to achieving food and nutrition security in Africa. Initial projects in Egypt and Zambia are due to start in 2019.

Visit the Skretting website, HERE.
Visit the WorldFish website, HERE.

Thursday, December 13, 2018

AFIA launches new website focusing on policy issues impacting animal food manufacturers

The American Feed Industry Association has announced the launch of its new website to better communicate the animal food manufacturing industry's key legislative and regulatory priorities to policymakers and the public.

The revamped, mobile-responsive website (afia.org) will also feature an optimised search function and resource centre that allows its roughly 5,500 monthly web visitors quickly find and share content about the animal food industry.

www.afia.org

"One of AFIA's four promises to members is that we will convey one powerful, unified voice that represents every segment of the animal food industry to members of Congress, federal regulators and the public," said Victoria Broehm, AFIA's director of communications. "With AFIA's Marketing Committee, the communications team developed a one-stop-shop online resource that provides even more information about the issues impacting America"s 6,200 animal food manufacturers and arms AFIA"s members with communications tools to be effective in their advocacy efforts."

The website organises the association's policy issues impacting US animal feed and pet food manufacturers into five overarching categories, including: the access and availability of technology; feed and food safety; the availability and cost-effectiveness of ingredients; global competitiveness; and health, safety and the environment. It boasts an improved advocacy section that allows members to directly contact their elected officials on urgent issues.

The resource centre allows members to quickly search through hundreds of AFIA news updates, advisories, reports, guidance documents and more by topic. Web visitors can also quickly find facts and stats on the industry and all of AFIA's multimedia content in the #FeedFacts section.

Web visitors can still register for one of the association's many conferences and/or webinars via the events page and search AFIA's Online Buyers' Guide, the industry's go-to resource for searching for feed, pet food, ingredients and equipment.

In addition, AFIA's members will have access to an all-new, members-only dashboard that allows them to easily update their profiles, search the member database and pay their invoices.

Visit the new AFIA website, HERE.

Pages