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Bringing new solutions to a fast-changing European hatchery market Björn Ronge, PTAqua Aiming for specialization and industry-focused research.
In the early 2000s, Japan was ahead on marine finfish aquaculture. There was a prominent scientific focus and experience in Japan not found in Europe at that time. By connecting companies such as Marubeni Nisshin and Chlorella Industries to the European market, PTAqua helped supply their specialized feed solutions to the hatcheries in the EMEA region. PTAqua is an Irish company based in Dublin that has focused on supplying specialized high-quality fish feed to the European hatchery industry since 2004. This product line-up has, over the last decade, become the industry standard, and today more than 100 hatcheries in Europe use Otohime™ and Fresh Chlorella™ as their feed solution.
Developing new feeds for European species As the industrialization of new species in Europe is emerging, a change in the demand for fish feed has been seen. PTAqua aims to meet these demands by developing their own feed specifically for European species. By having a relatively small and focused team with flexible partners all over the world, the company has been able to quickly adapt to changes in the hatchery industry and keep them spearheaded in this market. One example has been fast-growing cleaner fish production in Norway, Ireland and the UK. The early life stages of Atlantic cleaner fish are similar to some Japanese species, as their larvae are sensitive in terms of digestibility and nutritional requirements. Therefore, they need similar quality and traits of feeds that have resulted in high demand for PTAqua products.
Hatchery Feed & Management Vol 8 Issue 2 2020
In cooperation with Alltech Coppens, Marubeni Nisshin and major salmon producers, among others, PTAqua is now developing new feed specialized for ballan wrasse and lumpsucker, the two major species of cleaner fish. Even though hatchery production is steadily improving, there are still major issues to be solved. Especially for the early stages of larviculture, the quality and survival rates necessary to be satisfied have not
