Eurofish Magazine 2 2013

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ISSN 1868-5943

April 2 / 2013 C 44346

April 2 / 2013 Eurofish Magazine

Lithuania EUROFISH International Organisation

The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU has an ambitious agenda European Seafood Exposition: The countdown has begun Aquaculture: Live feed in hatcheries Technology: Refurbished processing machines can be a good alternative is a member of the FISH INFO network

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In this issue

Lithuania guides the CFP reform process to its conclusion Lithuania: The rotating six-monthly Presidency of the Council of the European Union goes to Lithuania for the first time in July this year. In the area of fisheries this will be a period of significant developments – the Common Fisheries Policy is entering the final stages of a once-in-a-decade reform process that will have to be carefully steered through the different EU institutions to a final and broadly acceptable conclusion. The three main regulations in the CFP reform package are the CFP regulation, the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) regulation, which together will determine the future of European fisheries. Next year also marks the start of a new programming period (2014-2020) so Lithuania will have to close the current period and establish new rules for the next one. Vigilijus Jukna, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania talks about Lithuania’s priorities for its Presidency. Read more on page 23 Netherlands: The aquaculture sector in the Netherlands is based primarily on the extensive culture of mussels and oysters on the coastal sea bed, and the production of various species of fish in intensive recirculation systems on land. Bivalve production is subject to considerable fluctuation as the cultivation is dependent on the natural environment. The weather, presence of predators, and above all, the availability of seed are all factors that influence output. Recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) are widely used in the Netherlands for the production of several different species of fish including tilapia, catfish, eel, turbot, sole, and even tropical shrimp. A RAS offers advantages in terms of a completely controlled environment and very limited use of water but they are expensive to build and run and this is reflected in the price of the product. With the economic crisis in Europe consumers have been switching to cheaper imports to reduce costs. The aquaculture industry in the Netherlands has considerable strengths on which to build including its high standards of production, close collaboration between research institutions and companies, tireless innovation, and a strong culture of entrepreneurship. Read Dr Manfred Klinkhardt’s article on page 35 Hatchery feeds: Marine fish larvae are delicate creatures with specific requirements for their nutrition that cannot always be met from dry feeds. While salmon larvae are relatively large and can be started on dry feeds immediately, other farmed fish species such as bass and bream have much smaller larvae and for them it is necessary to have live feeds. These are typically the larvae of artemia, a small crustacean, as well as rotifers and other ciliates, and microalgae. Hatcheries produce and administer the live feeds under strictly controlled conditions to minimise the risk to the sensitive larvae. Read more on page 39 Omega-3s: Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC PUFA) are the panacea for a long list of ailments – or are they? These fatty acids have been studied since the seventies and are associated with a number of health benefits affecting different organs in the human body. Despite a vast body of evidence showing these positive affects, every now and again research is published that makes claims to the contrary. Despite this, LC PUFA have caught the attention of the public as a way to a longer and healthier life, and the food industry is therefore adding these fatty acids to an increasing array of products. Another way of getting the required dose of LC PUFA is to consume fishoil capsules, but they are not a real substitute for fish. Fishoil is not the only source of LC PUFA today. As interest has grown in these fats researchers are studying ways to improve the cultivation of LC PUFA-containing fungi, bacteria, plants, and microalgae on a commercial scale. Read more on page 43 Farmed shrimp market: Whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) is the most popular variety of shrimp that is farmed in the world with a production in 2010 that was close to three times that of the next most cultivated species, giant tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon). The combined production of the two is over half the total global production of major species of farmed shrimp. The growth in production of whiteleg has been explosive for a variety of reasons, but mainly the availability of disease free and disease resistant varieties that made farming more predictable, stable, and efficient. Farmers have therefore been switching to whiteleg shrimp farming at the expense of other species. Read more on page 47 www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Table of News 6 International News

Events 12 Retail Seminar, North Atlantic Seafood Forum, Bergen, 5-7 March 2013 Spread of discount chains drives fresh fish consumption 14 AquaMed 2013, Milan, 19 February Labels on Italian farmed fish should emphasise the country of origin 16 European Seafood Exposition / Seafood Processing Europe, Brussels, 23-25 April 2013 New products, services, and policies launch at ESE 16 Latvia P-4419 Riga Sprats is only part of the variety on offer 17 Denmark 4-5923, 4-5927, 4-6015; 5-329, 5-429; P-4601, P-4709, 5-124 Equipment manufacturing and processing strengths on display 18 Estonia 5-241 Pelagic fish from the Baltic and high value freshwater species for export 19 Turkey 11-2100, 11-2101, 11-2110, 11-2201, 11-2301 Adding greater value to farmed fish 20 Croatia 9-4247 Purveyors of Adriatic pelagics, seabass and seabream, and squid 21 Thaifex – World of Food Asia 2013, Bangkok, 22-26 May 2013 New seafood event to launch this year

Lithuania 23 Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy enters the final phase External fisheries policy of particular importance for Lithuania 25 Lithuania takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Successful passage of the CFP reform elements is the primary goal 32 Vichiunai’s new whitefish processing facility to open in summer 2013 Exploiting its strengths in production and distribution in Central and Eastern Europe

Netherlands 35 Aquaculture in the Netherlands: traditional methods and modern technologies Near-natural shellfish cultures and fish production in recirculation systems Front cover: The fresh fish assortment at a Lithuanian hypermarket.

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Contents Aquaculture 39 Live feed for fish and shrimp larvae in aquaculture Dry feed still not a substitute for Artemia and rotifers

Research 43 Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids Increasing number of products enriched with omega-3s

Trade and Markets 47 Weak world economy, slack demand and low prices Difficult times for the global shrimp industry

Technology 51 Second-hand seafood processing equipment Yesterday’s machines, today’s profit 54 Metalbud Nowicki prioritises customer satisfaction Machinery for the fish and food processing industry

Species 56 Halibut is a popular, but expensive fish that is proving difficult to farm Marked differences between black and white halibut

Worldwide Fish News Fish Info Network News Bahrain

page

10

Canada

page

7

Denmark

pages

Germany

page

8

Iceland

page

10

Norway

page

6

Poland

page

8

UK

pages

USA

page

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Vietnam

page

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59 Events 60 Publications

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Guest Pages: Reine J. Johansson 63 Control and inspection have been priorities since the inception of the BSRAC Working to achieve long term yields in Baltic fisheries

7, 10

Service 62 Diary Dates 66 Imprint, List of Advertisers

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] USA: Updated BAP standards emphasise social responsibility The latest version of the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) standards for finfish and crustacean farms from the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) are expected to go live in spring 2013 after the end of the 60-day public comment period and further scrutiny by the Standards Oversight Committee. While the previous BAP standards were

individually tailored to different species, shrimp, salmon, tilapia, pangasius and catfish, the new standards cover all production systems for finfish and crustaceans with the exception of cagefarmed salmonids for which separate standards exist. The new standards differ from the old also in that they lay far greater emphasis on the awareness of

social responsibility – and the need to ensure that workers on farms and in processing plants are safe and treated fairly. Dan Lee, the BAP standards coordinator, attributes this to the fact the industry has come a long way since the first standards were launched 10 years ago. Requirements are now detailed so that applicants know exactly what

is required of them. Issues such as child labour, bonded labour, benefits, overtime and worker health and safety are among those addressed by the standards. By including these issues Mr Lee feels that private standards are playing an important role in countries where labour legislation does not exist or is weakly enforced.

Norway: New international study to further document benefits of seafood consumption Twenty-six partners from four countries are to investigate the impact of seafood on diabetes, mental health and obesity in a new study co-funded by the Norwegian fisheries and aquaculture research fund (Fiskeri og havbruksnæringens forskningsfond — FHF), reports the Norwegian National Institute of Nutrition

and Seafood Research. The Fish Interventions Studies project will have a duration of four years and, with an investment of NOK70m (EUR9.4m) of which over half (NOK45m) is provided by FHF, is the biggest research effort in Norway to study the relation between seafood and health. The partners include universities and

research institutes from Norway, Germany, Denmark, and China, as well as private companies from the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Since 2011 Norwegian authorities have recommended the consumption of fish two to three times a week on the basis of its documented positive effects on heart health. The new

project will endeavour to further document the health benefits of seafood including its influence on a range of illnesses, including brittle bones and reduced muscle mass among the elderly, obesity among the young, and concentration and learning abilities as well as depression in different age groups.

Denmark: Sophisticated system draws crowds at salmon processing equipment event A record total of 226 customers from 28 countries from as far away as New Zealand and Chile, gathered in Norresundby, Denmark, for Marel’s 12th Salmon ShowHow in February. Staged in the salmon division’s facility the event featured live demonstrations of the latest equipment and systems for salmon processing, underscoring Marel’s position as a leading supplier of systems and equipment to the global salmon industry. One of the highlights was the demonstration of a new portioning and robot loading system that automates the process of portioning and loading of fixed-weight salmon portions into retail packs. The fully 6

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integrated solution enables a seamless flow of the salmon portions without manual handling and it can process up to 150 pieces a minute. The system cleverly collects data, including portion weights and dimensions, throughput, and product yields, both historical and in real time, from the portioning process to optimise the operation.

Another highlight was the launch of the innovative retail pack slicer, I-slice 3300, which will set new standards in the production of retail-packed salmon portions.

Each fillet is weighed and scanned before the slicing process, which then slices and delivers fixed

weight, or fixed number of slices on card boards or trays, at very high accuracy and virtually without manual handling. The machine can also send head and tail pieces to a bin under the conveyor so that

all boards contain the right weight or the right number of slices.

For more information, contact Michael Hjortshøj, Marketing Manager, Marel Salmon, michael.hjortshoj@marel.com

The Salmon ShowHow event in Norresundby, Denmark demonstrated several of Marel’s latest innovations for the salmon processing industry. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Canada: Four-yearly sturgeon conference to focus on alarming stock status

UK: Fishers and scientists work together to preserve sustainability of fishery

The seventh edition of the International Sturgeon Symposium, an event co-organised by the World Sturgeon Conservation Society and held every four years, will be conducted this year from 22 to 25 July in Nanaimo, Canada. The symposium will focus on the themes identified at the sixth edition of the event held in Wuhan, China in 2009. These include the conservation of sturgeon in its natural habitat, the culture of sturgeon to restore stocks, and the commercial production of sturgeon for caviar and meat. Over the last decade the condition of sturgeon populations worldwide has deteriorated to the point where some species face extinction. The dire state of so many populations point to the need for rapid and effective measures to conserve

Close collaboration between the NAFC Marine Centre and the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO) has lead to a mutually agreed adjustment to the boundaries of areas closed to scallop dredging in order to preserve environmental characteristics of the areas. Two years ago the SSMO with the help of the NAFC Marine Centre developed a spatial management plan that included areas called biogenic reefs where marine plant and animal species were protected.

The Marine Centre recently

Paul Vecsei

its habitat, counter the threats it faces, and to rehabilitate the fish.

Today there is much greater awareness of the environmental and economic importance of the fish and extensive efforts to conserve and protect the fish have grown in many range states, but there is a need to intensify these efforts and vigorously police them if they are to benefit their target. Among the topics that will be addressed at the symposium are the human impact on sturgeon stocks and mitigation measures; aquaculture; and caviar processing and marketing. The World Sturgeon Conservation Society is an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of scientific sturgeon-related information that can contribute to the rehabilitation of sturgeon stocks.

The seventh International Sturgeon Symposium to be held in Nanaimo, Canada in July will discuss the status of wild sturgeon stocks and how they can better be restored. The image shows Acipenser transmontanus.

surveyed these protected areas again as some doubts had been raised about the validity of the data on which the creation of these areas was based. During the survey work fishers voluntarily decided to close areas to facilitate the survey work. The new study has resulted in comprehensive data that has now enabled the boundaries of the closed areas to be adjusted, and is an example of close cooperation between scientists and fishermen for the benefit of the environment, the fishery and the surrounding community.

Denmark: Bright prospects for sand eel fishers The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended a sand eel quota of 322,000 tonnes bringing it back to the level in 2011, the year when Danish fishers’ earnings were the highest in a decade.

Sand eel is fished primarily by Danish and Norwegian fishermen and the ICES recommendation will form the basis for an EU

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decision on annual quotas. Last year an extremely low quota had a profound impact on the gross earnings in the fishery, which fell from DKK3.19bn (EUR428m) to DKK2.9bn, a drop of nine percent.

This was primarily attributable to the low sand eel quota in 2012, which resulted in earnings from the sand eel fishery falling 78 to DKK99m.

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Germany: Improvements to packaging machine lead to energy savings and greater effectiveness Multivac’s R 535 thermoforming packaging machine has been subject to a number of improvements to make it both more energy efficient and more effective. In order to reduce the energy consumption of the thermoforming packaging machine, the company’s engineers have replaced a number of compressed air operated components with servo drive units. The components affected include the lifting units for the forming and sealing stations as well as the film punch. In addition to this, the R 535 is equipped with a vacuum pump, which consumes less energy than comparable pumps.

The introduction of servo drives

allows the movements of the lifting units to be controlled exceptionally accurately as regards their speed and opening width. This contributes to an overall increase in the cycle output. This new technology also simplifies the use of packaging materials with different thicknesses. In addition, the use of cooling water flow control means that the machine uses considerably less fresh water than traditional machines. By using servo motors and segmented cutting tools in the sealing and cutting stations, the utilisation of the packaging material has been optimised. These innovations allow the size of the partition between

the packs to be reduced and enable a smaller film edge trim.

Other improvement include a drawer system to reduce the downtime when changing the dies and the integration of the control of

line components such as labellers and printers into the user terminal of the thermoforming machine making for fewer cables and simpler procedures when putting the systems into operation.

Changes to the thermoforming packaging machine have resulted in lower energy consumption and better utilisation of the packaging material.

Poland: Polfish to cement Poland’s reputation as producer of high quality processed seafood Polfish, the 12th International Fair of Fish Processing and Seafood Products, the only exhibition dedicated to the fish and seafood industry in Poland and one of the largest such events in Central and Eastern Europe, will be held at the AmberExpo Exhibition and Convention Centre, Gdan’sk, 22-24 May 2013. Although fish consumption in Poland is modest at 12.1 kg/

capita in 2011 or just over half the average in the EU (23 kg/capita) Poland is an important processor of fish and seafood, according to a report by the Sea Fish Industry Authority in the UK. Of the 360 to 380 thousand tonnes of processed fish produced annually in the country almost 60 is exported to European and non-European countries. Production takes a vari-

ety of forms including smoked, canned, marinated and fresh and frozen whole fish and fillet.

Many of these products will be on display at Polfish, which is co-located with fairs for the baking, and dairy sectors, as well as with an event showcasing equipment for the HORECA industry.

The programme includes multiple

AmberExpo, the site of Polfish and other events, is one of the most modern exhibition and convention centres in Europe with excellent public transport links and car parking facilities.

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meetings within the industry, training sessions, professional seminars, consultation and advice for individual customers with the participation of experts from Poland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Among the seminars and workshops are those relating specifically to the seafood and bakery sectors as well as to nutrition more generally. For example, traceability and labelling of fish products and the nutritional value of fish are two conferences organised by the Polish Fish Market Development Association. Other seminars and workshops will discuss fast food and health, and the chemicals used in nutrition and their influence on the body. In addition, there will be various culinary demonstrations. Two prizes will be awarded at the fair; the Mercurius Gedanesis Medal for best product and a special prize, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Cup. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Shrimp imports into the EU from Vietnam decline As the second biggest market for shrimp in the world after the US, the EU is an important destination for shrimp producing companies around the globe. In 2012 however the economic and currency crisis in several European countries meant that shrimp imports were significantly lower, reports Vasep, the Vietnamese association of seafood exporters. Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the EU in 2012 reached US$317.7 million (~EUR244.25m), down 24.5 percent over 2011.

Germany, the U.K, the Netherlands, France and Belgium were the top five shrimp importers in the EU accounting for 80 percent of the total shrimp exports from Vietnam to the region. Shrimp exports to the Netherlands saw a reduction of 5.5 percent, while exports to the four

other markets dropped by 28 to 32 percent.

In September 2012 the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of DG Sanco carried out an audit in Vietnam to assess the monitoring of fisheries products that are exported to the EU. The audit mission concluded that the competent authority in Vietnam and the control regime implemented offered sufficient guarantees concerning the public health conditions of fishery products exported to the EU. However the audit found that the controls applied to fishing vessels, landing sites and ice factories were deficient and therefore agreed on a plan with the Vietnamese authorities to solve the problem.

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Denmark: Fisheries Council agrees to ban discards altogther by 2019 Danish fishers will no longer have the option of discarding mackerel, sand eel, herring from next year. EU fisheries ministers have decided that a discard ban will be phased in from 2014 with a complete ban on discards by 2019. Right up to the end the negotiations were fraught with the possibility that the discard ban would be diluted to the point where it would be unrecognisable. European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki said that the Commission proposal was more ambitious, but that the Council took a decisive stance for a real discard ban, with a clear and binding timetable and covering all species. The agreement

means that the discard of pelagic fish such as sand eel, mackerel and herring will be banned as of next year, while discards bans on other species will be introduced between 2015 and 2018 in the Baltic and from 2016 to 2019 in the North Sea. The discard ban does not cover species that are known to survive after being discarded and there is the occasional exception with regard to fisheries where it is difficult to avoid by-catches. For these fisheries discards of 7 will be allowed after the agreement is in place.

The Council must now enter into negotiations with the European Parliament on the final agreement which should be in place

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Denmark: Marine phospholipids may Bahrain: Fisheries and aquaculture have advantages over refined fish oils management policies need to take climate change into account Interest in marine phospholipids (MPL) from fish and krill products is increasing. MPL contain high levels of the two important omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA), which have documented beneficial effects on human health. In addition, MPL have a number of advantages compared to refined fish oils.

For example, MPL may be more resistant to oxidation (and hence deterioration) than fish oil and studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids from MPL have a higher bioavailability than omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.

A new PhD study by Henna Lu Fung Sieng from the National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark has investigated the potential of MPL for food fortification.

A secondary objective of her study was to investigate the physical and oxidative stability of MPL emulsions while identifying the important factors affecting their stability. It was documented that it is possible to produce emulsions of high oxidative stability if MPL preparations of high quality and with a high content of phospholipids and antioxidants and a low content of prooxidants (e.g. trace metals) are used. The oxidative stability and sensory properties of yoghurt enriched with MPL was also investigated.

The results showed that new methods to improve the quality of commercial MPL preparations must be developed before MPL can be used for food products.

This knowledge will be important for the further development of high quality MPL preparations in both academia and industry.

UK: Call for closer cooperation as Scottish fleet struggles with poor market prices for fish The Scottish fishing industry is suffering from the low prices for fish that currently dominate the market. According to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), the combination of an economic crisis which is suppressing Scottish exports and the greater supply of fish from northern Europe as well as imports from Asia, are among the factors pushing prices for Scottish-caught fish to the floor and severely affecting the industry. In a press release the federation has urged all parts of the seafood sector and the government to work together to develop a “net to plate” strategy that will boost demand for 10

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Scottish fish by focusing on its provenance and quality. The fall in prices for Scottish fish is seriously hitting the economic viability of the fishing fleet expecially against the background of rising fuel and other operating costs, says Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the SFF, and all the relevant agencies need to work more closely together to identify the reasons for the poor prices for fish and develop solutions and strategies that will help rectify the situation. The Scottish Liberal Democrats, a political party, has urged the Scottish government to promote the consumption of locally caught fish.

Climate change can have a severe impact on global fisheries, warns Izzat Feidi, former FAO Chief, Fish Utilization and Marketing Service, in an editorial in the Arab Agriculture 2013 Yearbook, and management strategies for fisheries and aquaculture need to take this into account. Rising temperatures in the world’s oceans and their increasing acidity due to the absorption of carbon dioxide are provoking changes in aquatic ecosystems that are modifying fish distribution patterns, as well as fish size and productivity. This will have an impact on the sustainability of fisheries, on aquaculture and on the communities that depend on these activities. Low lying coastal populations are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and changing patterns of precipitation will affect inland fishing and farming activities. The potential

impact of these changes on fisheries and aquaculture underlines the necessity to plan for them.

This calls for greater knowledge of the timescale over which these changes are expected to occur, the areas where their impact will be most keenly felt and the scope for adaptation. Better understanding of the consequences of climate change should result in adapation and mitigation strategies that secure the viability of fisheries and aquaculture and the future of the communities dependent on these activities.

However, as Mr Feidi points out, the impact of climate change on fisheries only adds to some of the existing challenges faced by the fisheries sector such as habitat depletion and overfishing.

Addressing these latter issues will go some way towards adapting fish stocks to the pressures brought on by climate change.

Iceland: Belt weighing machine gently handles large volumes of fish A new belt weigher from Marel can handle large volumes of pelagic species, whitefish, or salmon in a continuous flow and is ideal for measuring the volume of fish coming in from a fishing vessel or the amount of raw material coming in and leaving a specific process. The brain behind the weigher is Marel’s Innova software that accumulates the data generated by the product being carried by the belt and registers the total for each lot.

The software can be tailored for each customer, vessel, or other parameter, and can use the flow information to generate reports of

the data depending on the need.

Another aspect of the belt is that it was specially designed to handle sensitive products. The gentle treatment of the fish ensures that quality is maintained throughout the weighing procedure. The weigher has a capacity of 100 tonnes per hour and has all the necessary certifications for use in the EU and the US. Marel designs and manufactures advanced equipment, and provides systems and services to the fish, meat and poultry industries. The company has offices and subsidiaries in more than 30 countries around the world. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ EVENTS ] Retail Seminar, North Atlantic Seafood Forum, Bergen, 5-7 March 2013

Spread of discount chains drives fresh fish consumption Bright and sunny, Bergen proudly opened its doors to 650 delegates from 43 countries attending the 8th North Atlantic Seafood Forum on 5-7 March 2013. A hub for the seafood industry both in Norway and internationally, with 1,100 seafood companies and 4,500 employees, Bergen this year became the arena for the largest seafood conference in the world cementing its name as the capital of the global seafood industry.

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rganised by Jorgen Lund, Conference Managing Director, Pareto Security, FAO and Marelife along with the Norwegian Seafood Council and other partners, the 8th NASF included a kaleidoscope of new themes and traditional meetings with a total of ten seminars during the three days of the event. As in previous years one of the most popular seminars was the 3rd NASF European Retail Seminar, which included speakers from leading European retail groups such as Marks & Spencer, Swiss COOP, and Norges Gruppen, who shared their opinions about current changes in consumer trends, the drivers of growth for sustainable fish and seafood, and current challenges.

Retailers need to communicate more effectively Chaired by Leendert den Hollander, Young’s Seafood, the session started with an overview of the drivers of growth in seafood retailing and how to make this growth sustainable. Encouraging people to eat more fish as part of a healthy diet was underlined by more effective communication needed from the side of retailers since consumers generally already know that fish is healthy. The sustainability of fish sold in retail was another factor that would encourage consumers to eat more fish and therefore joint actions by the industry, fisheries, and aquaculture producers will ensure that more consumers 12

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will enjoy sustainable fish in the coming years. Frequency of fish purchases was highlighted as an important element since 80 of the UK consumers would like to eat fish more often.

According to Jonathan Banks, Jonathan Banks Associates, the UK market has recently seen some new changes in consumer behavior. Ready meals have won the confidence of British consumers by far outperforming whitefish, salmon and take-away fish, and there has been a rise in the number of middle-class consumers who can afford to buy more products and posses more space for storing them. Another trend was the booming popularity of discounters and their sales of fish, which however, should not be attributed to the consequences of the financial crisis, but to the increased availability of discount stores. In the category “private label” fish, both premium, standard and value fish products showed a rise.

Attracting younger consumers to fish a priority The UK retailer Marks & Spencer is committed to making this retail chain the world’s most sustainable fish retailer by 2015. Its fish has a 14 share on the UK market, and all of it is under its own brand with complete traceability for any ingredient. As noted by Hannah Macintyre, the opportunities for the retail chain in the future include

the introduction of new species, educating and engaging consumers with the help of social media, fresher fish and fish with longer shelf life, simple added-value products, which provide “solutions”, and attracting and keeping younger consumers.

The largest vendor of organic fish in Switzerland with an assortment of over 50 species, Swiss COOP confirmed the interest in organic fish on the Swiss market. The products with COOP’s own-label sustainability brands and sustainability quality labels account for 14 of COOP retail turnover, and fish is high on this list. According to Reto Kaufmann, about 35 of all farmed fish and about 70 of all farmed shrimps sold in Coop are certified organic. The ratio of MSC certified fish in the whole wild-caught fish assortment is 52, and 63 in the category of fresh, frozen and smoked fish. Altogether 40 of all the fish and seafood sold in COOP are either from certified sustainable fishing (MSC) or certified organic aquaculture. The range of organic seafood at COOP included salmon, shrimp, trout, pangasius, fish sticks (pangasius), seabass, seabream, meagre, Arctic char and blue mussels.

Jump in sushi consumption in Norway Vidar Olsen from Norges Gruppen which is Norway’s largest retailer with 47 of the market, shared his views on emerging tendencies in

the category of fish and seafood. In 2012, the total seafood development was up by 4, and the category of fresh fish enjoyed an increase of 17 thereby becoming the most traded seafood category. The main factors behind this increase are that fresh fish has become part of the assortment of discount stores, which offer a diversified range of fresh convenience products like ready-to-cook boneless and skinless fish fillets. Premium and high quality fish products are of growing interest for consumers, for example fresh “sashimi extra quality salmon fillets”. Finally, the segment of sushi was up by 40 in 2012 compared to the year before driven by young consumers. “I think we can say that we have a seafood revolution now and we have never seen so many innovations in terms of products before”, said Vidar Olsen.

While the future for sustainable fish products in the view of the retailers is rather bright, the main challenge related to sustainability is the risk of consumers failing to relate to sustainability. This was a problem with organic products on many markets, since organic products did not have a strong enough message for consumers. ”The way forward for sustainable fish products are brand equity, integrity, quality, value for money and other values” concluded Jonathan Banks.

Ekaterina Tribilustova, Eurofish katia.tribilustova@eurofish.dk www.eurofishmagazine.com

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HAPPY PEOPLE We provide millions of people with pelagic fish which is an essential part of their daily menu.

HEALTHY FOOD We provide our international customers with healthy, nutritious, high-quality pelagic fish such as Herring, Mackerel, Horse mackerel, Blue Whiting, Silver Smelt, Sardine, Sardinella, Sprats and Sandeel.

RESPECT FOR ENVIRONMENT We use sustainable production methods with a relatively small ecological footprint.

European Seafood Exhibition Brussels Standnr 4149 / hall 9

W. van der Zwan & Zn Fishing for food

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Tel. : +31 (0)70 354 5466

E-mail : info@wvanderzwan.nl

Fax : +31 (0)70 350 6069

www.wvanderzwan.nl

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[ EVENTS ] AquaMed 2013, Milan, 19 February

Labels on Italian farmed fish should emphasise the country of origin The principle event of its kind in Italy, AquaMed 2013 was organized in Milan on 19 February 2013 for the second time. The sustainability and future development of the aquaculture industry in Italy were the key issues at the event, which was held as a one-day conference and exhibition in the Congress Centre of Michelangelo Hotel in Milan.

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he conference was organized by Artenergy Publishing with the support of Friend of the Sea, the Italian Fish Farming Association (API – Associazione di Piscicoltori Italiani) and the Association of Mediterranean Aquaculture (A.M.A. – Associazione Mediterranea Acquacoltori). Thirteen exhibitors including Eurofish International Organisation, Eurofishmarket, Italiana Membrane, DNV Business Assurance, and Xylem Water Solutions were present.

Rainbow trout farmers actively certify their production The conference programme was very ambitious and included four main sessions: aquaculture, fish consumption and health; technological innovation and sustainable aquaculture; future of fish feed in aquaculture; and finally, a round table on the distribution of aquaculture products.

Pier Antonio Salvador, the President of the Italian Fish Farming Association, opened the first session which stressed the cultural and social components of aquaculture products and highlighted the concepts of security and safety. Certification is another very important issue for Italian aquaculture, especially in the rainbow trout sector where Italian companies have been very active in certifying their products.

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Organisers of the AquaMed conference were gratified to see that the event was heavily oversubscribed.

Far more than the expected 250 came to this event dedicated to the Italian aquaculture sector.

The session led to a lively debate about the use of various certification schemes for Italian farmed seafood products and about the creation of a “Made in Italy” label, which would unite all Italian aquaculture products.

Various issues, such as how consumers choose between Italian rainbow trout marked “Bio” and, for example, pangasius with the label “Ecological” which has been observed in Italian retail stores, provoked several responses from participants and representatives of the industry.

Learning about new species from other countries’ experiences The second session was continued by Paolo Bray, the founder of Friend of the Sea, a certifier

of sustainable seafood, who presented international developments in aquaculture and new opportunities for the Italian fish farming sector in terms of new species based on his experience from all over the world. Atlantic cod, albacore, tope shark, anglerfish, Atlantic bonito, turbot, and more exotic species like octopus, sea cucumber, pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), seahorse and sea urchin were among various species categorised into three groups depending on the success achieved at cultivating them. The future of fish feed in Italian aquaculture was the topic of the third session, which was led by Marco Gilmozzi from the Italian Fish Farming Association. Various speakers presented the problems related to fish feed in freshwater and saltwater sectors.

The final session was an interactive round table moderated by Valentina Tepedino, Director of Eurofishmarket, and 13 representatives from large aquaculture producing companies, such as Cromaris, Eredi Rossi Silvio Azienda Agricola Troticultura, Sea Group, big retail chains like Conad Centro Nord, Iper La Grande 1, Carrefour Market, importing companies such as Foods Import F.lli Monti Spa, Coldiretti Impresa Pesca, and consumer organizations like Movimento di Diffesa del Cittadino (the movement for the protection of citizens’ rights), Legambiente (the biggest environmental NGO in Italy), and others. The topics at the round table discussions included: – key-characteristics of high quality aquaculture products – branded products www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ EVENTS ] –

understanding consumers’ preferences and their support of choice for Italian fish, consumers’ bewilderment at the variety of labels, the retail sector’s need for common standards for traceability and transparency, Italian farmers ability to compete with Greek and Turkish producers.

Better communication with the consumer needed

representatives of the industry, who felt there was an urgent need to stress Italian farmed seafood’s Italian origin with its connotation of quality. Efficient communication to consumers is another point that will contribute to the development of the sector.

Because high quality has a high cost, the Italian aquaculture sector has to maintain the current level of quality, innovate, reduce costs, and at the same time, effectively communicate this quality to consumers.

One of the responses to these issues was given by Dario Fantinato, Carrefour Market, who stressed the need for small companies to consolidate into larger unions to work with large retailers more efficiently. The creation of a common label containing the word “Italy” for farmed fish, was a suggestion from several

The conference was very well received by the participants, whose number greatly exceeded the 250, who were expected. The popularity of the event and the growing interest from all parts of the sector from farmers, traders and distributors to producers of equipment and retail chains was explained by Dr. Giuseppe Elias,

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the Counselor of Agriculture of the Lombardy region in Italy. He said the event was becoming a center of knowledge transfer and technology innovation for the Italian aquaculture industry, so that the achievements of the sector become aparent to all. He also highlighted rainbow trout as an example of a product for which an effective distribution network had been established. The Italian aquaculture sector has indeed started to transfer its achievements to Italian consumers. “The most important achievement of our freshwater aquaculture sector is the introduction of domestically farmed rainbow trout for Italians in kindergartens and schools in Lombardia region”, says Pier Antonio Salvador, the President of API. As in many countries, fish is eaten by adults, while the young tend to ignore it. Moreover, in the northern part of Italy fish is consumed

when dining out rather than at home. The primary task for the sector is educating consumers about the benefits of eating fish and teaching young people in particular how versatile, simple to prepare, and tasty fish can be.

Artenergy Publishing, the organisers of AquaMed, promotes and organizes fairs and conferences on aquaculture and algae culture, renewable energies, climate change, energy savings and other themes in Italy, Brazil and Argentina. The next AquaMed convergence is planned in February 2014, and will again bring together leading players of the Italian aquaculture sector to share their experiences, accomplishments and to review the challenges facing the industry.

Ekaterina Tribilustova, Eurofish katia.tribilustova@eurofish.dk

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[ ESE-SPE PREVIEW ] European Seafood Exposition / Seafood Processing Europe, Brussels, 23-25 April 2013

New products, services, and policies launch at ESE

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he European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe will open their doors at the Brussels Exhibition and Conference Centre on 23 April to welcome the global seafood industry. While new seafood events have been added to the calendar and others have dropped off, the ESE/SPE, which started in 1993, continues to earn its billing as the world’s biggest and most international seafood event drawing exhibitors from over 70 countries and visitors from over 140 in 2012.

Europe as a region is both wealthy and with a tradition for eating fish that extends from the south to the north of the continent and from west to east. Domestic production is limited and the European seafood industry imports two thirds of its requirement of fish and seafood making it an attractive market for producers and exporters from all over the world. And the market is not standing still. According to FAO data from 2009 (the latest available) there has been a slight uptick in consumption of fish and seafood

per capita in the EU-27 since 2005 from 22.2 kg capita to 23 kg.

Altogether in 2012 the fair was visited by over 25,500 buyers, suppliers, and other seafood industry professionals including media representatives. All the major European supermarkets have their buyers at the fair keeping an eye open for new products the best of which are entered into the Seafood Prix d’Elite competition. While there is of course only one winning product in each category runners up and nominees are also drawn into the spotlight and get coverage in the media. In addition to supermarkets representatives from virtually all other institutional buying sectors,

hotels, wholesalers, catering, restaurants, bars, airlines, hospitals, schools, the military, and local governments, among others are present. To make the most of all these potential customers companies from a country or belonging to an association are often grouped into pavilions. These enhance visibility and for small producers offer all the advantages that come with being part of a group. Some of them are profiled over the next pages.

Latvia P-4419

Riga Sprats is only part of the variety on offer majority of exports are frozen and chilled fish (chiefly sprats) which are destined for the CIS countries Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan.

Some EU countries also absorb sprats and cod in different product forms. Canned fish products are exported to several countries around the world, and altogether Latvia can claim to export to over fifty countries around the world.

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he Latvian fish processing industry established its reputation with a single product, canned sprats, that has a tradition going back to the nineteenth century. Today canned sprats are still a favourite among consumers not only in Latvia, but in several countries in Central and Eastern Europe. To maintain the quality and the reputation of the product members of the Latvian Fish Processors Union have created the quality label Riga Sprats in Oil, which lays down

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strict rules on how canned sprats are to be produced. Since the 50s however the processing industry in Latvia has diversified firstly into other canned fish products, and more recently into a variety of smoked, marinated, vacuumpacked, shrink-wrapped, and modified atmosphere packaged fish and seafood. While cans are still widely used, glass jars, trays, plastic tubs, and other packaging is also common though mainly for the domestic market. If cans are not included the overwhelming

and to diversify the selection of fish and seafood available on the domestic market. Imports come from all over the world though the majority is from neighbouring countries, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Estonia. The main imports (70 of the total) are pelagic fish frozen herring and herring fillets, frozen sardinellas and sardines, salmon fillets, and mackerel.

But while fisheries is considered an export sector Latvia is also a keen importer of raw material to meet the needs of its processing sector The Union of Latvian Fish Processing Industry pavilion is co-funded by the European Fisheries Fund.

For information about the companies and their products contact: Mr. Didzis Smits Canned Fish LV

Atlantijas iela 5 LV 1015 Riga Latvia Tel.: +371 2636 4252 Fax: +371 674 96401 didzis.smits@cannedfish.lv www.cannedfish.lv www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ ESE-SPE PREVIEW ] Denmark 4-5923, 4-5927, 4-6015; 5-329, 5-429; P-4601, P-4709, 5-124

Equipment manufacturing and processing strengths on display

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his year too Denmark will be well represented at the European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe with a total of three pavilions. The Danish Export Association, a group of suppliers specialised in equipment for the fishing industry, will be present in force at Seafood Processing Europe with stands 4-6015, 4-5923 and 4-5927.

Twenty-two members of the association including some of the best-known Danish names in the equipment industry will be exhibiting. Danish equipment is known

for its innovativeness, high quality, and competetive pricing. Companies invest heavily in research and development and work closely with the end users when designing and building machinery. Whether it is a stand-alone piece of equipment or a complete processing line a Danish suppliers will be happy to develop a solution customised for the client.

Stands 5-429 and 5-329 at the European Seafood Exposition will host Danish companies involved in fish farming and

Superior salmon filleting Performance taken to a new level The advanced filleting machine MS 2730 offers: r r r

More capacity Easy operation Better quality

and much more!

Discover it all on Seafood Processing Europe 2013 or contact your local Marel office for more information.

www.marel.com/superiorfilleting 路 salmondivision@marel.com

www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ ESE-SPE PREVIEW ] processing. Danish exports of fish in 2011 amounted to almost DKK20bn (EUR2.7bn) with Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, and the UK the main destinations. Fish is exported both fresh and frozen, whole or in fillets, as conserves, dried, salted or smoked. Pelagics, flatfish, whitefish, as well as salmon and trout

are among the types of fish that are exported. In addition, Denmark has a substantial industrial fishery and is a major producer of fishmeal and fishoil. Exports of these products amounted to over DKK3bn in 2011.

Food from Denmark is a private company promoting Danish

food producers on export markets. The company has the stands

Patio-4709 and Patio-4601 as well as 5-124.

For more information on companies from the Danish Export Association (DEA), contact Michael Bech Hansen at +45 87 20 45 62, or michael.hansen@dk-export.dk.

A complete list of DEA companies participating at the SPE is available at http://www.dk-export.dk/ For more information about Food from Denmark, contact Karsten Nielsen, at + 45 87 52 60 80 or info@foodfromdenmark.dk

Estonia 5-241

Pelagic ďŹ sh from the Baltic and high value freshwater species for export

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stonia produces a variety of fish and seafood products from its own marine and inland capture fisheries as well as

from imports. Baltic herring and sprat caught by the Estonian fleet is frozen into blocks and exported to Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

The processing industry produces altogether between 60 and 70 thousand tonnes and exports over three fourths of this volume, the bulk of which is block-frozen herring and sprat. Much of the catch of pelagic fish is by the members of the three Producer Organisations (PO) that were established in 2005. The POs have their own processing and storing facilities and can supply large volumes of fish; together they account for 95 of the trawling sector.

Freshwater species including pike, pike-perch, perch, and smelt are high-value products that are typically exported to markets in Europe and the US. Estonian processors also produce a range of salted, marinated, dried, smoked and preserved fish. These products use locally caught raw materials as well as imported species, such as Atlantic mackerel and herring, and Norwegian salmon.

Imported whitefish goes into the production of breaded fish products which are exported to destinations across Europe. Like

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Latvia, Estonia too has a canning industry making products for the domestic market as well as for

export to the countries in Eastern Europe and even as far as Central Asia.

For more information about the companies and their products contact: Mr. Valdur Noormagi Estonian Association of Fishery Tel.: +372 6549301 valdurnoormagi@solo.ee; kalaliit@online.ee www.kalaliit.ee

www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ ESE-SPE PREVIEW ] Turkey 11-2100, 11-2101, 11-2110, 11-2201, 11-2301

Adding greater value to farmed fish

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ach year Turkey has a substantial pavilion at the European Seafood Exposition populated with companies displaying farmed and wild fish in the form of fresh, frozen, smoked and marinated products. Turkish capture production amounted to 515,000 tonnes in 2011 while farmed fish production was 189,000 tonnes. However, the value of farmed fish in 2011 was 52 of the total value and thereby slightly higher than that of the capture fishery. The most important farmed fish in volume terms are freshwater trout, European seabass and gilthead seabream, with volumes of 108 thousand, 47,000 and 32,000 tonnes respectively in 2011.

The EU, USA, and Japan are Turkey’s most important trading partners in the fisheries sector. In the case of farmed freshwater trout Turkish exports to the EU have risen markedly from 2,000 tonnes in 2003 to 20,000 tonnes in 2011 an increase of 900.

At the European Seafood Exposition Turkish companies will show their expertise in producing, processing and packaging fish products to customer requirements. Farms and processing factories are certified to international standards giving high quality products. Many companies are moving to greater value addition in their products, www.eurofishmagazine.com

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for example seabass and seabream are no longer just whole gutted, but are filleted and individually frozen or packaged fresh in modified atmosphere. Other companies are experimenting with frozen ready-to-cook, and ready-to-eat meals, combining fish with other ingredients to give a complete meal that can be prepared in minutes.

The hospitality for which Turkey is famous can also be experienced at the Turkish pavilion, where a kitchen will be operating during the show preparing samples of Turkish seafood for visitors to the pavilion.

For more information about the Turkish companies at the ESE this year contact: Mr. Ahmet Sagun President Istanbul Fishery and Animal Products’ Exporters’ Association Tel.: +90 216 561 2020 sagun@sagun.com

Mr. Selcuk Sagban Director Istanbul Exporters’ Associations Tel.: +90 212 454 0731 ssagban@iib.org.tr

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[ ESE-SPE PREVIEW ] Croatia 9-4247

Purveyors of Adriatic pelagics, seabass and seabream, and squid

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he Croatian pavilion at the European Seafood Exposition will host companies from the fish farming and processing sector that will offer a cross section of products using raw material from the Adriatic.

These include salted anchovies, canned products, marinated fish, smoked items, farmed seabass and seabream, and frozen small pelagics. Croatia is set to join the EU in mid-2013 and funds from the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance have contributed to several recent developments in the fishing and fish processing industries. These include processing facilities for demersal fish, which, though only a small proportion of the total volumes landed, are an important export that typically is shipped fresh to nearby markets in Italy. Among the companies is Cromaris, a producer of farmed seabass and seabream, which supplies fresh fish, but more unusually, also offers gutted fish in trays, as well as marinated and smoked fillets. The canning industry is

represented with three companies, Mardesic, Conex Trade, and Sardina, of which the latter two have invested in new facilities.

Arbacommerce produces semiprocessed salted anchovies,

+31 252340687 +31(0) 851043614

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e Visit us at th 40 58 4l al ESE H

salted anchovy fillets, marinated anchovy fillets, as well as fresh and frozen sardines and has completed another processing plant just five years after building the first one. Pelagic products that are exported from Croatia typically to Spain, France, and Italy include semi-processed salted anchovies, frozen sardines, and anchovy fillets which are processed into the final product by the customer. The companies

mentioned above are joined by ZMH Horvat which specialises in cleaned squid. The cephalopods are imported from New Zealand and Patagonia and processed into tubes, tentacles, and rings without the use of any additives.

For more information about companies or products contact: Mr Zoran Radan Croatian Chamber of Economy Roosevelton TRG 2 HR 10000 Zagreb Croatia Tel.: +385 1 4561620 Fax: +385 1 45 61545 zradan@hgk.hr www.hgk.hr www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ EVENTS ] Thaifex – World of Food Asia 2013, Bangkok, 22-26 May 2013

New seafood event to launch this year Thaifex – World of Food Asia 2013, a major food event jointly organised by Koelnmesse, and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, will be held this year in Bangkok, Thailand 22-26 May 2013. The tenth edition of the event will be bigger and better than ever, promise the organisers, with one of the major novelties being the launch of the World of Seafood, a new event dedicated to the ďŹ sh and seafood sector.

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ith 3,500 sq. m of space the World of Seafood will be a platform for innovation and value-addition within seafood with some of the biggest international brands including Bonito Seafood, Hyacinthe Parmentier, John West, Mareblu, and Ventuna Seafood.

Thaifex World of Food Asia was 95 sold out three months before the event in May, says Michael Dreyer from Koelnmesse. Some

80 or the bookings are by repeat exhibitors reflecting their confidence in the fair and in the wider Asian market, he says.

Consumption of seafood increases with higher incomes As incomes grow in poorer countries, consumers’ diets also change moving away from diets rich in staples to more

expensive sources of calories such as meat, seafood, and dairy products. In many low and middle income countries in Asia economic growth has been boosting incomes at all levels creating a demand for more expensive food items. While income growth is one of the key factors behind changing patterns of consumption other drivers include increasing urbanisation, the proportion of women in the

work force, and the availability of information. Urbanisation is characterised by higher concentrations of people per unit area, better education, more working women, higher incomes and less time to spend preparing meals from scratch. Consumers look for convenience as well as taste and nutrition and are more inclined to buy packaged foods. Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, and Vietnam

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[ EVENTS ]

Thaifex – World of Food Asia 2013 in Bangkok is aiming at 27,000 visitors this year, a 10% increase compared with last year.

are among the countries in East Asia where economic growth is creating a middle class that is an increasingly attractive market for producers of packaged foods.

Technical conferences on food safety, packaging, and refrigeration Apart from the launch of the seafood show there will also be a contest for chefs making Thai food and another to identify the best Asian coffee bean. Visitors and exhibitors will also be able to participate in more technical events to get the latest information on food safety, packaging, and refrigeration from leading European, Asian, and American experts. The food safety conference aims at exploring methodologies and strategies such as effective collaboration with suppliers 22

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for complete food safety and customer confidence. Presentations from Arla Foods, Burton’s Biscuit, and the Australian Institute of Packaging among others will inform audiences about innovative forms of packaging that contribute to lower emissions and reduced food waste. The latter is estimated at USD1 trillion annually by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and United Nations Environment Programme, which earlier this year launched a campaign to reduce it. For companies interested in learning how to preserve and extend the shelf life of chilled and frozen products, the Cold Chain World seminar will have a lot to offer in terms of information, ideas, and industry trends.

The fair is aiming at a 10 increase in area to 60,000 sq. m this year as well as 27,000 visitors

over the five days of the event, also a 10 increase compared with last year. The fair is expected to be particularly useful for Asian food importers, wholesalers, distributors and hotel and restaurant professionals.

Country pavilions from Asia and Europe While many of the country pavilions are from Asia there will also be a European presence in the form of a country group from Italy represented by a collaboration between Koelnmesse and Federalimentare (the Italian Food & Drink Industry Federation) which will be next to Fiere di Parma bringing 50 Italian companies and their well-known brands.

Turkey will also be present with delegations from the Turkish Confectionary & Sweet Promotion Group and Turkish Flour,

Yeast and Ingredients Promotion Group. Other new country groupings include the Brazilian Embassy, Korea Fishery Trade Association, and the Taiwan Frozen Food Processors’ Association. After their experience at last year’s event China, Cambodia, Japan, Korea and Singapore will be back again this year with national pavilions. The eighty Korean companies will be housed in almost 900 sq. m of space and the majority of them are new to the Asian market. Korea is putting more resources into the show this year as it considers the event an important launching point into the rest of Asia.

For more information contact: Sharon Teo Tel.: +65 6500 6732 s.teo@koelnmesse.com.sg www.worldoffoodasia.com www.eurofishmagazine.com

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LITHUANIA

Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy enters the final phase

External fisheries policy of particular importance for Lithuania Professor Vigilijus Jukna was appointed Lithuania’s Minister of Agriculture in December 2012 after the elections in October brought a new government to power. In July 2013 Lithuania takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position Minister Jukna will use to ease the passage of the provisions of the Common Fisheries Policy through the EU’s legislative process, so that a new policy can be in place by the start of next year.

EU Fisheries Policy is being radically rewritten with the introduction of several new elements including a ban on discards, ensuring the long term sustainability of stocks, and transferable fishing concessions, among others. What are the priorities for the Lithuanian fisheries and aquaculture sector in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy? What differences, both positive and negative, do you anticipate a reformed Fisheries Policy will make to your fishermen and fish farmers?

Lithuanian priorities of the CFP reform are a better preservation of marine biological resources, in particular the multi-annual plans for fisheries management and the ban of discards, the development of aquaculture, a contribution to ecosystem and environmental policies under the CFP, strengthening of regionalisation aspect and also a full integration of the external policy into the CFP. The external policy of the CFP is extremely significant for the Lithuanian fisheries sector.

According to the European Commission’s common objectives and targets for strategic guidelines on sustainable aquaculture, EU fisheries and aquaculture supply respectively 25 and 10 of the www.eurofishmagazine.com

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EU market with the remainder coming from imports. Although Lithuania is a small EU Member State, our fishing fleet, according to the 2011 data from the European Commission, took 11th place among EU Member States by gross tonnage. So, for our country it is very important to maintain not only aquaculture, but also our fishing sector, and in particular to develop commercially viable fishing partnership agreements with Western African countries (Morocco, Mauritania).

Lithuania supports the implementation of a discard ban because it is harmful and unacceptable waste of fish stocks, however, we consider that before the implementation of this objective an effective and proportional mechanism for its enforcement and also for the exemption of its application should be developed.

We believe that multiannual plans should be sufficiently detailed, providing for the recovery and specific management objectives expressed through biological indicators.

Lithuania is in favour of a voluntary application of transferable fishing concessions and is of the opinion that Member States should be allowed to decide themselves how

Vigilijus Jukna, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, has been in position since December 2012.

they apply this system (for what kind of vessels, stocks, and minimum periods of time).

We think that a reformed Fisheries Policy will make a huge positive difference to our fishermen and fish farmers in terms of a long term sustainability of fish stocks and the financial benefit which a more effective management of fish stocks will bring. Of course, there may be a negative aspect of implementing the restrictions and terms of a reformed CFP. The forthcoming financial period should include sufficient support to help the fishermen and their

organizations adapt to the new policy concerning discards.

As the new Minister of Agriculture since the elections in October last year what new initiatives are envisaged to ensure the growth and profitability of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Lithuania?

As the new financial period approaches, the new operational programme of the Lithuanian fisheries sector for 2014-2020 will be established and the initiatives will be developed by fishermen and their associations.

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Lithuania is in favour of a strong emphasis on aquaculture and considers that scientific activity and innovations are highly important for the sustainable development in this field, while the establishment of new enterprises and creation of added value in aquaculture farms should be supported as well. Also, we strongly support the promotion of the sustainable development of the fisheries regions. We would like to point out that above all it is very important to provide local communities with efficient financial, economic and human resources.

The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at a crucial moment for European Fisheries Policy, which has reached the final stages of a major reform process with the coming threeway negotiations between the European Parliament, the Fisheries Council, and the European Commission. At the same time this will be the first instance of Lithuania presiding over the Council. What influence can the Lithuanian Presidency exert in

order to achieve a satisfactory conclusion to the negotiations and more generally what are the grounds on which you would deem your Presidency to be a success as far as fisheries is concerned.

As far as fisheries is concerned we would consider our Presidency a success if we can steer the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy to adoption, that is, the Basic Regulation, and the Common Organisation of the Markets Regulation, as well as ensure an effective deliberation process for the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Regulation. In addition, a smooth adoption process for the 2014 TAC’s and quotas is also an important criterion for us. In general, the number of adopted legislative initiatives could be seen as one of the indicators of the success of the Lithuanian Presidency.

You have taken over the reins at the Ministry of Agriculture at a crucial period; Lithuania takes over the Presidency of the Council for the first time, a major reform of the Common

The reform of the CFP will benefit Lithuanian fishers.

Fisheries Policy is under way, and a new financial period (2014-2020) will start shortly.

Given these developments, what do you consider the major challenges facing you and where do you foresee opportunities for the Lithuanian fisheries and aquaculture sector?

The major challenge will be the forthcoming Lithuanian Presidency of the European Council, where it will be necessary to forge compromises among

the Member States, as well as negotiate with the European Parliament to successfully adopt the reformed CFP. Lithuania will also close the 2007-2013 financial period and work to establish new rules and a legal base for the new period, tasks which will not be easily resolved. On the other hand, the Lithuanian (and other countries’) fisheries and aquaculture sectors stand to benefit from the new EMFF providing us with the incentive to get it up and running as soon as posible.

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Lithuania takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Successful passage of the CFP reform elements is the primary goal For the first time since joining the European Union in 2004 Lithuania will take over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July 2013. For the fisheries and aquaculture sector this will mean at least two major meetings to be hosted in Lithuania – an Informal Meeting of the Directors General for Fisheries from all the 28 (on the first of July Croatia becomes the 28th EU Member State) EU Member States which will be in Vilnius and an informal meeting in Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea for the fisheries attachés who are delegated by the Member States to their permanent representations in Brussels.

T

his is an important period in the development of European policy for fisheries and aquaculture as the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is in the final stages of a once-in-adecade reform effort, which will introduce several new elements and at the same time seek to redress the structural failings of the old policy. In addition a new seven-year programming period starts in 2014, and the European Fisheries Fund is being replaced with the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. Overseeing all these changes during the Lithuanian Presidency is a new government that came to power at the end of last year.

Focus on the three main items in the CFP reform package Lithuania together with Ireland, the present holder of the Presidency, and Greece, the nation that takes over the Presidency from Lithuania, have developed a common programme for the 18 month period from 1 January 2013 when Ireland started its Presidency to 30 June 2014, when the Greek Presidency concludes. Under the Integrated Maritime Policy this common programme will lay www.eurofishmagazine.com

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down a framework for Maritime Spatial Planning, the plan for and regulation of human activities at sea while protecting marine environments, and implementation of the Blue Growth initiative, a comprehensive growth strategy for the maritime sector as a whole that will cover shipping, offshore wind energy, coastal tourism, desalination, and the use of marine resources in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries also possibilities for development of marine aquaculture. For the fisheries sector the three Presidencies will focus on the CFP reform. Ms Jurgita Skorupskaite, Chief Specialist, Fisheries Products and Market Subdivision in the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture, says that one of the priorities for the Irish, Lithuanians, and Greeks will be to ensure the completion and adoption of the three main regulations contained in the CFP reform package, the Common Fisheries Policy regulation, the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) regulation, and to begin their implementation in 2014. The three Presidencies are also committed to working together with the European Parliament to achieve progress on the multi annual management and

recovery plans that are important tools to achieving the objectives of the CFP. In addition to the Trio Programme each country that constitutes the trio has its own programme for its six month Presidency. The contents of this depend however on how far the previous Presidency gets with implementing the Trio Programme. If progress is slow under one Presidency the priority is to try and get the Trio Programme back on track and the country’s own programme gets sidelined. In Lithuania’s case its programme will focus on the conclusion of CFP reform and the timely adoption of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and Quotas for 2014. The external dimension of the CFP is extremely significant to Lithuania, which has a distant water fleet that comprised 8 vessels in 2012 with total catches amounting to 54 thousand tonnes, the bulk of which came from activities off the coasts of Mauritania (in 2012 Lithuania did not engage in fishing activities in Morocco nor in the South Pacific).

Among the changes the reform of the CFP aims to bring about is the

Jurgita Skorupskaite, Chief Specialist, Fisheries Products and Market Subdivision, Ministry of Agriculture.

introduction of a voluntary application of transferable fishing rights (individual transferable quotas – ITQ) ; a ban the practice of discards; and more regional decision making. In 2012 Lithuanian quotas for the four main species it catches in the Baltic Sea: cod, herring, sprat, and salmon, moved in different directions. While the quota for cod increased by 15 to 4,317 tonnes, the allocations for herring, sprat, all decreased. Herring by 27 to 2,289 tonnes, sprat to 11,272 tonnes (-22) while salmon decreased by 51 to 1,899 pieces.

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Laura Simonaityte, Head of the Fisheries Policy Division, Ministry of Agriculture.

caught 58 of the cod quota and a paltry 9 of the salmon quota, but fully exploited the herring and sprat quotas with catch rates of 99.4 and 99.8 respectively. The high rates of exploitation for sprat goes back to the development in sprat prices over the last few years, says Laura Simonaityte, Head of the Fisheries Policy Division in the Ministry of Agriculture. For many years sprat prices were stuck at about 10 euro cents a kilo. Now, however, prices have climbed to three or four times that and sprats have become a very attractive species to target especially as current prices for cod are low. There have been some hiccups introducing the new ITQ system due partly to

some fishers’ concerns, but there is broad agreement on the principles of the system.

correct way to implement it, rather than a blanket ban on discards of all species at once.

Authorities, fishers support phased-in discard ban

Algirdas Ausra, Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Fishermen and Fish Processors of West Lithuania, represents an association that is responsible for 70-80 of the Lithuanian catches in the Baltic. He too feels that a discard ban should be introduced in stages. We need to find out what possibilities we have with this fish that would otherwise be discarded, he says. His idea would be to find out whether there was a market for undersized fish perhaps in southern Europe or in Asia. If we can legally land and sell the fish there may be a market for it, but we need to first carry out some trials and see if there is a demand, but this calls for time so a ban should be introduced slowly, he maintains.

Discarding fish is a practice that had become commonplace under the CFP with the European Commission estimating that 23 of all fish caught is discarded, while other estimates put the figure as high as 40. Fortunately, in the Baltic Sea, these numbers are lower. The practice endures because of the system of quotas which forces fishers to discard fish when they exceed their quotas.

Fish that is the wrong species, the wrong size, or otherwise undesirable also gets discarded. Some species can survive being caught and then discarded, but most are returned lifeless to the water. As it stands now the proposed ban on discards will be phased in between 2014 and 2017, but this is yet to be negotiated with the European Parliament. The Lithuanian position on discards is in line with the majority of EU nations, says Ms Simonaityte. We are keen on a ban as discarding is a waste of fish, but we also feel that phasing it in over a period of time that takes into account the different species is the

Mr Ausra is concerned about growing calls for fish to be used for human consumption rather than to be ground up into fishmeal or made into fish oil. For him the choice is a simple one, the market decides the price of fish and if fishmeal manufacturers are prepared to offer higher prices, then he sells his catch to them. In any case, he points out, the argument

Algirdas Ausra, Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Fishermen and Fish Processors of West Lithuania.

that fish should firstly be used for human consumption is specious, as fishmeal and fish oil go into animal and fish feed and so is ultimately consumed by humans. In addition, fish for fishmeal factories does not have to meet quite as high quality requirements and the costs associated with catching for these customers are correspondingly lower. Finally, processors of fish for human consumption often lack the infrastructure for handling and storage that will make it easier for fishers to unload the fish. This means that several hours can be spent unloading the fish, reducing the time that can be spent catching it.

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LITHUANIA

Decentralisation will make for more effective policy Another aspect of the CFP reform is the proposal on decentralising decision-making. This will clarify the roles of the different actors and leave the overall policy including the legal framework, broad targets, indicators, and timescales to be decided at EU level, while devolving the implementing measures that will achieve these targets to the country or region. The advantage of this devolution is that instead of having a one size fits all strategy developed in Brussels the Member States can tailor their management strategies to the particularities of their sea basins.

And where the sea basins are shared the concerned Member States are encouraged to jointly develop management strategies.

As a small country Lithuania is a keen supporter of this approach as it will enable the development of strategies that are customised to the conditions on the ground. We are more motivated to implement a strategy that we have put together and that is relevant to our fisheries, rather than one that has been developed elsewhere, says Ms Simonaityte.

Carp production stagnates while imports of fish and seafood rise steadily The CFP reform will also have a bearing on the aquaculture sector, which has been more or less stagnating in Europe in terms of production since 2000, while showing double digit growth in other parts of the world. The reform calls for the removal of administrative bottlenecks, the allocation of water and space for freshwater and marine fish farming, the promotion of diverwww.eurofishmagazine.com

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sification, and better exploitation of the EU’s competitive advantages such as high standards, innovation, and collaboration between industry and research.

In Lithuania the fish farming sector produces mainly common carp in extensive ponds and production has been broadly stable since 2007 at about 3,250 tonnes. The industry is keen to promote the environmentally friendly nature of extensive carp production which is conducive to the local flora and fauna, sometimes to the detriment of the fish production itself. Vytautas Andriuskevicius, Director of the National Association of Aquaculture and the National Association of Fish Processors, says that birds, for example, especially cormorants, are a significant threat to the fish, yet they must be protected. For the new programming period (2014-2020) an aquaculture strategy has to be formulated and Mr Andriuskevicius is keen that it includes compensation for the farmers for the costs they incur when maintaining the environment.

The main market for farmed fish is the domestic one although about a third of the production is exported to neighbouring countries. The association realises the importance of diversifying from live fish into new products such as fillets, gutted fish, and smoked fish and creating a market for them. Perhaps one of the main threats to the farmed fish industry in Lithuania is the steady increase in the availability of products based on imported raw materials. Supermarkets in the main Lithuanian cities stock a wide variety of fresh, frozen, smoked, marinated, and preserved products. Mr Andriuskevicius complains that fresh salmon imported from Norway can cost the same as carp, which puts pressure on the farmers. He

thinks that diversification into higher value species such as eel, trout, sturgeon, and catfish is one way forward and members of the association have initiated projects for the production of some of these species, introducing recirculation aquaculture technologies.

FLAGs promote inland and coastal fishing tourism Lithuania has embraced the concept of Fisheries Local Action Groups enthusiastically. These are locally established publicprivate partnerships that work towards the development of their fisheries area. Fisheries areas have been defined by the Lithuanian Department of Fisheries as municipalities that meet two criteria: the water area within the

Vytautas Andriuskevicius, Director of the National Association of Aquaculture and the National Association of Fish Processors.

municipal territory must exceed the average for the country (that is more than 4); and at least 50 people must be employed in the

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Tomas Kersys, Chief Specialist, EU Support Division, Ministry of Agriculture.

fisheries (including aquaculture) sector within the municipality.

Development of fisheries areas takes the form of projects that are designed and implemented by the FLAGs with the help of funding from Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund. In central and eastern Lithuania the main fishery activity is fish farming and inland fishing. Projects from FLAGs in these regions are about restoring cultural and culinary traditions, rebuilding stocks in inland waters with fish breeding and releasing schemes, and promoting environmentally-friendly inland fishing tourism. Along the coast in the western part of Lithuania, on the other hand, projects

Petras Cirtautas (left), Chairman, Klaipeda Fisheries Local Action Group, with two colleagues, who are responsible for a project to renovate an old wooden vessel to be used for tourist purposes.

focus on fishers who have no work and can benefit from retraining and gaining new skills.

in the fish business unofficially are included the number is even higher.

In Lithuania there are 12 FLAGs of which the biggest in terms of funding is the Klaipeda FLAG. In terms of its area the Klaipeda FLAG at 98 sq. km is the smallest of all the Lithuanian FLAGs. But Petras Cirtautas, the Chairman, explains that Klaipeda is home to many of the biggest fishing companies in Lithuania and within the city there are approximately 1,700 people working in different parts of the fisheries sector – fishing, processing, sales and marketing, distribution, and fish retail. If the people working

The Klaipeda FLAG borrows from the LEADER approach, a component of the Common Agricultural Policy, which supports the economic, social, and environmental development of rural areas by encouraging local communities to explore new ways of attracting investment, creating jobs, and helping the environment to remain viable and competitive. The Klaipeda FLAG includes public and private bodies, government institutions, and local community bodies.

FLAGs within a country can work

together if it facilitates achieving the desired objective. In the case of the Klaipeda FLAG it has partnered with two other FLAGs, not in Lithuania, but in Denmark and Poland. The Danish and Polish FLAGs are also involved in fishing and fish processing and thus have more in common with the Klaipeda FLAG, than some of the other Lithuanian flags. The three partners plan to exchange experiences, develop new forms of cooperation and to collaborate on projects. Thirteen projects, varying in size from 180,000 litas (EUR52,000) to 500,000 litas (EUR145,000), have been submitted by the Klaipeda FLAG and five have been approved.

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LITHUANIA

Coastal fishing contends with several problems Klaipeda is the only Lithuanian port on the Baltic Sea and therefore the hub of the Lithuanian fishing industry, says Petras Cirtautas, himself a former fisherman. However, along the relatively short stretch of Lithuanian coastline between Latvia to the north and Kaliningrad to the south there is a tradition of coastal fishing which goes back to the Stone Age. This traditional fishing where the tools and methods were passed down from one generation to the next has persisted to the present day. The problem is that while these methods are for subsistence fishing they are not enough today when bigger quantities of fish have to be caught. The gear used for coastal

fishing is usually nets. These are responsible for 95 of the Lithuanian catch from the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Another type of gear that is increasing in popularity is traps as they can also be used in stormy weather.

The coastal fishing industry has to overcome several obstacles both natural and man-made if it is to prosper. Among the natural barriers is the freezing of the sea in winter, and the presence of seals, which can be a menace for the fish caught in nets. The manmade problems include the lack of infrastructure, the absence of fresh fish sales points, and the obsolete and underpowered fishing vessels that characterise the fleet.

There are no marinas along the Lithuanian coast which makes

it more difficult for the fishers to get their boats in and out of the water. Well designed marinas offering different facilities would also make the coastline more attractive for tourists as well as for locals. Another issue is the lack of places along the coast where fresh fish can be bought. Most sales points are in the city centre in Klaipeda while areas along the coast tend to get neglected.

The biggest issue, according to Mr Cirtautas, is, however, the fishing vessels, which have an average age of over 30 years and are relics from the Soviet Union. Apart from anything else this means that they have suffered more wear and tear than if they were under private ownership. Mr Cirtautas is more or less resigned to the fact that no subsidies for fleet renewal or modernisation are forthcoming.

Altogether these issues have contributed to an undermining of the coastal fishing industry in Lithuania and an increasing number of fishers with diminished prospects. Mr Cirtautas hopes that some of the projects that the Klaipeda FLAG has developed will play a role in improving their future.

Among the five projects approved by the Lithuanian authorities are smaller “soft” projects that deal with information dissemination in schools about fishing and fisheries. One of the bigger projects involves the restoration of an old wooden vessel that, when completed, will sail in the Dane river that runs through Klaipeda.

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make Klaipeda attractive for tourists, says Petras Cirtautas, and therefore we are also cleaning and renovating parts of the city as well as developing the banks of the river to create a waterfront.

Neringa municipality seeks its own FLAG

Zigfridas Kairys, President of the Neringa association, Vidmares.

educating the passengers about fishing and shipbuilding traditions as well as taking them to experience the Curonian Lagoon.

However, the vessel will not use sails as it is forbidden to sail in the port, instead it will be equipped with a small motor. The idea is to

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Darius Jasaitis, the mayor of Neringa, and Zigfridas Kairys, president of the Neringa association, Vidmares, point out that Neringa has quite different priorities from Silute. Neringa has both a Baltic

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Sea coastal fishery as well as a fishery in the Curonian Lagoon, while in Silute it is only the Curonian Lagoon fishery that is of interest. In addition the representatives from Neringa who are members and board members of the FLAG find it onerous to travel from Neringa to Silute where the meetings are held, especially in summer. It is a long trip to make and in the summer months Neringa is full of tourists making it a particularly busy time for the local fishermen. The inability to attend meetings means that Neringa’s voice is diminished in

Darius Jasaitis, Mayor of Neringa.

Lithuania and Ukraine cooperate in the ďŹ sheries sector As Ukraine seeks to become a member of the European Union it needs knowledge of the union’s functioning in different fields including fisheries. In 2012 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania supported the project “Aid for the State Agency of Fisheries of Ukraine to strengthen its administrative capacity in the fisheries area for integration to EUâ€?. The aim of the project was to strengthen the administrative and institutional capacities of the Ukraine reforming Ukrainian fisheries policy in order to meet the principles of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. To implement this project Lithuanian experts visited the Ukraine twice and Ukrainian experts came once to Lithuania in 2012. Lithuanian experts from the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and from Fisheries Service shared Lithuania’s experiences when it was joining the EU and provided recommendations and training in the following areas:

1. Implementation of EU fisheries control system; 2. The fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; 3. Enhancement of the role of fisheries sector’s organisations; financial assistance for fisheries; 4. Principles of harmonisation of national fisheries legislation with EU legal acts; 5. Pisciculture system in state water bodies in Lithuania.

The hope is that this project will facilitate the move by the Ukrainian fisheries sector towards more responsible and sustainable fisheries thus ensuring the long-term viability of the sector. The Ukrainian side confirmed the political will and intention to further integrate and adapt its fisheries sector to EU requirements. Both sides are planning to continue this successful cooperation. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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the FLAG’s internal discussions about various issues, and raises the question of whether Neringa’s interests are being properly represented and safeguarded.

Mr Jasaitis says that for Neringa it is important that the FLAG works primarily to improve conditions for the fishermen and to build fisheries infrastructure. For the Neringa fishermen their profession is part of their identity.

Certain products like smoked fish are processed in a way that is typical of Neringa and represent a cultural and culinary tradition that brings tourists from the mainland as well as from other parts of Europe and is definitely worth preserving, feels Mayor Jasaitis. Establishing a new FLAG for Neringa has the support of all the concerned parties – the

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fishers in Neringa, the members of the rump Silute FLAG, and, crucially, also the Department of Fisheries. The potential FLAG has not yet been recognised but the organisation behind it has nonetheless been developing projects that will improve conditions for the fishers. Among these is the construction of two ramps, one in Juodkrante and the other in Nida, that will assist the Baltic Sea fishers in getting their boats in to and out of the water. Another idea that is being discussed is the construction of sheds, in which Curonian Lagoon fishers can store their gear and their boats.

Curonian Lagoon fishers are also interested in the construction of processing facilities so that their catches can be filleted and smoked. Such projects make economic sense says Mr Jasaitis,

as the price for the processed fish is perhaps six times higher than for the fresh. By adding value to the product the fishers will be able to improve their standards of living and will not be dependent on the state for support. Nor, he adds, can the fishers build such facilities on their own as there are too many rules and regulations to be fulfilled. The fishers would need assistance to deal with these issues so making this a FLAG project would be an obvious way to proceed.

Vessels in dire need of renovation Among the other ideas that are being discussed among the members of the FLAG and one which is of enormous interest to the fishers is the renovation of

their vessels, which, as Mr Kairys observes, “are one step from sinking.” The boats used to fish in the lagoon are small and the fishers are interested in support from the government to renew them.

While this is unlikely to be forthcoming, in other parts of Europe producer organisations have considered setting up a fund based on a proportion of the proceeds from fish sales that could be used for the renewal of vessels. Proponents of the Neringa FLAG are aware that there is no money available for projects in the current programming period (2007 to 2013), but are optimistic that over the course of the year the FLAG will be properly established and recognised and can start submitting project for approval for the next period (2014 to 2020).

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Vichiunai’s new whiteďŹ sh processing facility to open in summer 2013

Exploiting its strengths in production and distribution in Central and Eastern Europe Vichiunai established its reputation as a producer of surimi-based items becoming one of the top producers in the world of a vast variety of analogue seafood products. The growth in the surimi side of the business was rapid and led to the brand Vichiunai being indelibly associated with surimi products in the public eye.

Vichiunai however started as a processor of salmon and manufacturer of products in brine including mussels, crayfish tails and pink shrimp, an activity that has continued to the present. The company has been growing and diversifying

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steadily. Among its fish processing activities the company works with whitefish, the volumes of which have increased so much that the company has invested in a brand new processing plant just outside Kaunas in Lithuania.

Kaunas FTZ offers logistical and financial advantages Tomas Bagdonavicius is the head of business planning and analysis for the Vichiunai Group as well as

the director of the new processing factory. Kaunas, he says, was chosen as the site of the plant for two reasons. From a logistical point of view, Kaunas is particularly favourable as it lies on the main highway from Klaipeda on

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Tomas Bagdonavicius, Head of Business Planning and Analysis for the Vichiunai Group and Director of the new factory in Kaunas.

the Baltic Sea to Vilnius, the capital city and then continues on to Eastern Europe. Since the company will distribute its production within Lithuania as well as in to Eastern Europe a production site in Kaunas is convenient. The second reason is financial. The factory is located in a free trade zone (FTZ) which gives the company certain tax benefits. There are other FTZs in Lithuania, in Klaipeda, for example, says Tomas Bagdonavicius, but we found that it was more advantageous to build here. Today there is no real need to build close to the source of the raw material. Logistics are so good that the quality of the fish is not impaired if it spends a couple of hours in a truck before it is processed. In many cases the product is shipped halfway across the world to be processed and is then freighted back again to be consumed.

Support from the European Fisheries Fund The new factory will be used to process whitefish. In the first instance operations will comprise filleting, glazing and packaging of whitefish. The fish will be sourced locally from fishermen landing www.eurofishmagazine.com

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their cod catches from the Baltic Sea at Klaipeda harbour, a couple of hours away, as well as from other parts of the world, such as Argentina (hoki) or the United States (Alaska pollock). Once processed, the fish will be distributed to the company’s target markets in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia as well as locally in Lithuania. Operations are scheduled to start in summer 2013 when the final work at the site is finished.

With an area of 10,000 sq. m and an expected staff count of 200 the facility will have a capacity of 14,000 tonnes of finished product.

The project called for an investment of EUR10m roughly a quarter of which came from the European Fisheries Fund, and most of the rest from bank loans, while Vichiunai took a minor stake.

Vichiunai will have a major role to play in the branding and marketing of the product where it has a lot of expertise and many years of experience.

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Contract processing services for the whitefish industry The factory represents the expansion of an activity, contract processing of whitefish, that Vichiunai has carried out at its other facilities until now. Building a big new factory represents the importance Vichiunai attaches to this activity and also focuses production, so that one site concentrates on one kind of product rather than having a facility where a wide range of different products are processed. As Mr Bagdonavicius says, the bigger the assortment of items manufactured, the more it affects the cost of production. By specialising in a single type of product one makes optimal use of the staff and their competencies. Thus Vichiunai’s processing factories tend to specialise; each of the three

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LITHUANIA

The 10,000 sq. m factory has a capacity of 14,000 tonnes of finished products and will employ 200 people. It is scheduled to start production in summer 2013.

plants in Plunge in Lithuania, for example, focuses on different products (salmon, surimi and herring), while another plant in Estonia concentrates on breaded products.

Well established operations in Central and Eastern Europe With the new whitefish production facility in Kaunas Vichiunai is counting on its strengths as an efficient producer and trader with its own extensive distribution network and highly developed brand management skills to attract potential customers. These will be companies interested in supplying whitefish to markets in 34

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the Baltic States, or further east in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, or even Kazakhstan, where Vichiunai has logistics and distribution companies with their own fleet of vehicles, warehouses, and customs clearing agents. Vichiunai is flexible about the kind of agreements that it enters into with these potential customers. They could supply the raw material that we process and then hand back, says Mr Bagdonavicius, or we can provide the raw material and sell the finished product, it all depends on what the client wants. For its raw material needs the company has initiated discussions with the local fishermen about supplying raw material and these negotiations are ongoing.

We all know each other in the business, says Mr Bagdonavicius, and hopefully we will come to a mutually favourable agreement.

With its new whitefish processing factory in Kaunas Vichiunai

Vichiunai Group Vichiunai Group V. Kreves av. 97 LT-50369 Kaunas Lithuania Tel.: +370 37 314484 Fax: +370 37 310830 www.viciunaigroup.eu tomas.bagdonavicius@vici.eu

is hoping to capitalise on its strengths as a processor and trader with extensive distribution networks in Central and Eastern Europe. Companies interested in this region will find Vichiunai a useful partner.

Company Fact File Tomas Bagdonavicius, Head of Business Planning and Analysis Facility: New 10,000 sq. m processing facility scheduled to start operations in summer 2013 Products: Filleted, glazed, packaged whiteďŹ sh Capacity: 14,000 t of ďŹ nished product Employees: 200

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NETHERLANDS

Aquaculture in the Netherlands: traditional methods and modern technologies

Near-natural shellfish cultures and fish production in recirculation systems The Netherlands have a long tradition as a fishing nation but aquaculture plays only a minor role in the country’s economy. Two sectors stand out within the industry: extensive shellfish cultures in coastal waters, and onshore fish farming that is operated almost without exception in intensive recirculation systems. The Dutch are among the pioneers of this technology in Europe. They never tire of looking for profitable new fish species that might be suited to farming in recirculation systems.

T

he farming of mussels and oysters in aquaculture off the Dutch coast began as far back as the end of the 19th century.

Although these maricultures have in the interim been developed further they are today still based on traditional methods. Mussels grow almost without exception in extensive bottom cultures under natural conditions without any additional feed (only six companies that together produce about 700 t/year grow their mussels on ropes.) No use is made at all of chemicals or medication. This means that mussels and oysters are purely natural products even if they come from aquaculture.

What is an advantage for product marketing, however, constitutes a problem for the farms because they are dependent on environmental factors and the vagaries of nature. The annual amount of mussel seed that can be harvested fluctuates, and the plankton that is needed to feed the mussels does not develop the same every year; starfish steal from the mussel cultures, and weather conditions often cause damages. Under these conditions yield fluctuations are hardly to be avoided and they are sometimes considerable. In the www.eurofishmagazine.com

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1990s the farms produced about 100,000 t of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) per year. Today, production sometimes amounts to only half of that (56,227 t in 2010).

What makes life particularly hard for mussel farmers is a lack of mussel seed. This is taken from natural mussel banks, but large spat falls did not occur in recent years. Added to that, the farmers are not permitted to take as much seed from along the coast as they want, for seed removal is regulated by a quota system. Large areas of the shallow, lucrative Wadden Sea are closed to “seed gatherers” in order to leave enough juveniles in the mussel banks and to give sea birds sufficient feed. There have been strict regulations for the accessible marine regions since 1993 which state how much seed can be removed. Scientists investigate seed occurrence every year in spring and autumn and check the condition of the mussel stocks to enable estimation of how much seed can be removed. If there is too little seed, which was often the case in recent years, other coastal regions can be closed, too. Environmental groups pay scrupulous attention to make sure the quotas

are not set too high. This doesn’t make it easy for the seed gatherers to find enough seed to satisfy the farms’ demand, particularly since

they are only permitted to collect seed during two short periods of the year. Demand for seed is high: in bottom cultures about 1 kg of

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In its heyday eel farming was carried out in nearly 50 eel farms like this one in the Netherlands, together producing nearly 5,000 t of eel per year.

mussel seed is required to produce 1.5 to 2 kg of marketable mussels.

Special boats use dredgers to scrape the mussel seed from the sea bed at a length of about 2 to 3 cm and take it to carefully cleaned and prepared mussel fields, called plots, on which it is then spread evenly. The plots are usually 1 to 5 hectares in size and are located in shallow coastal waters which are particularly rich in nutrients. In the southwest of the Netherlands these areas include particularly the Wadden Sea and the deltas in the province Zeeland, the Eastern Scheldt and the salt Grevelingen Lake. It takes one to two years for the mussels to grow to a marketable size of 6 to 8 cm. During that time they are lifted repeatedly by boats to prevent the cultures silting up, to remove starfishes and mud and – if necessary – to take the mussels to other plots that perhaps have better growth conditions and provide more plankton.

New ways being tested for attaining mussel seed Although Holland’s mussel farmers use other methods, too, to ensure an adequate supply of seed mussels, they have so far still not found a satisfactory solution to the problem. Part of the seed is imported, for example, from 36

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Ireland, although environmentalists contest this practice because they fear that diseases and parasites will be introduced. In 2007 a pilot project began (and is still on-going) with the aim of enabling the production of blue mussel seed in onshore hatcheries. Hopes are high that experiments with seed collectors, similar to in oyster farming, will prove useful. The collectors offer the mussel larvae optimal settling conditions when they progress from the planktonic life stage to a settled existence. A solution to the seed problem is urgently needed for the current production level will have to rise further if jobs are not to be lost in the long run. In the coastal regions of the Netherlands just under 300 people working in about 50 farming companies earn their livelihoods with mussel farming.

Not only are blue mussels produced in mariculture but also oysters. Some companies have specialised in oyster farming and produce nothing else, but often the oysters are farmed as a second species by mussel farm operators.

Pacific cupped oysters (Crassostrea gigas) account for more than 90 of production with an annual production level of about 30 million oysters. This adds up to a total volume of about 3,000 t, although the sum can vary from year to year. The best results so far were achieved in 2010 with 3,860 t. Most of the nearly

30 oyster farming companies, of which many are located around the town of Yerseke (Province of Zeeland) produce not only C. gigas but also the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) which is much more popular with connoisseurs.

About 1.5 million of these oysters are farmed per year, equivalent to a production volume of 70 to 100 t. Like the blue mussels these oysters grow in bottom cultures which involve higher losses than the methods that are common in France where the oysters grow on tables.

Oyster farming is based on natural seed, too. After the plots on which the oysters are to grow have been thoroughly cleaned and prepared the sea bed is covered with mussel shells shortly before the point in time at which the oyster larvae settle on firm substrates. Due to the occurrence of the dangerous Bonamia parasite in a lot of places along the Dutch coast European flat oysters can only be farmed in the saline water of Grevelingen Lake which is about 11,000 ha in size. It takes about four to five years for these oysters to reach a marketable size of 70 to 100 grams. Pacific cupped oysters are resistant to Bonamia and can thus also be grown in the southwest of the country in the shallow waters off the coast. This oyster species generally reaches a marketable size already after three years. Like blue mussels the oysters are lifted by special boats several times during their growth to clean them and sort out poor qualities.

Whilst oysters are delivered directly to restaurants, retailers or wholesalers, mainly in Belgium and France, mussels are sold via a specialised mussel auction in Yerseke. Two thirds of blue mussel production is sold as fresh products in 2 or 2.5 kg vacuum packs to France and Belgium, the rest are

cooked or prepared in some other way and mainly enter the market as canned products. All mussel farming locations, the entire farming procedure and the processing conditions are subject to constant controls by the state supervisory authorities in accordance with the valid EU requirements.

Heated recirculation systems dominate inland aquaculture Compared to the mussel farms off the coast, inland aquaculture activities produce a relatively low volume of fish. However, it is a very dynamic sector. 70 to 80 years ago the Dutch government tried to increase yield from inland waters through regular stocking measures. At that time the semi-governmental Organisation for Inland Fisheries Improvement (OVB) introduced large quantities of glass eels, young pike and carp to Dutch waters. There are still comparable programmes today, although under different responsibility and with much smaller scope. For the stocking programme the Dutch government founded several smaller hatcheries at the start of the 20th century which bred trout fry in concrete channels and flowthrough ponds. About five of these companies that were privatised during the 1930s still exist today.

They finance themselves mainly through put-and-take ponds for sports fishermen (for which about 300 to 400 t of trout are produced annually) and the hatching of stocking fish (about 40 t/year).

Four outdoor companies grow cold-water ornamental fishes for garden ponds, among them goldfishes (Carassius auratus auratus), ides (Leuciscus idus) and sturgeon (Acipenser spp.)

Indoor activities within Dutch fish farming are considerably more wide-spread and larger than www.eurofishmagazine.com

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the outdoor fish farms. About 90 companies which together have an annual production capacity of nearly 10,000 t produce fish for consumption in heated recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS). It would be hard to find such strong usage of this sophisticated technology in any other country throughout the world.

Nearly every fish for consumption that is produced in aquaculture in the Netherlands comes from a recirculation system. The Dutch have succeeded in optimising RAS technology and adapting it to the requirements of different fish species. As a result of this experience their skills and knowhow are in demand worldwide, as can be seen from the system producer HESY International from The Hague. Founded in 1984 the company already designed and built over 170 intensive RAS for numerous fish species in 28 dif-

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ferent countries. Indoor systems with integrated water recycling mean that the water can be used several times over and circulates within the system, making farm operators largely independent of climatic conditions in their chosen location. Such systems are to be found nearly everywhere in the Netherlands, particularly in the southern provinces.

Introduction of RAS throughout Holland was probably only possible because with European eel (Anguilla anguilla) a fish species was found whose production led to sufficient profit to cover the costs of the construction and operation of these expensive systems. There were sometimes nearly 50 eel farms operating in the Netherlands which together produced just under 5,000 t eel with a “farm gate� value of 40 million EUR. Due to the enormous

problems of glass eel supply, however, production has fallen again, and today fluctuates around 3,000 t per year. Small eels weighing up to 150 grams mostly remain in the Netherlands. They are usually smoked, filleted, packed in MAP and sold at markets, to fishmongers and supermarkets. Larger eels of weights exceeding 500 g (which only account for a small share of production, however) are exported fresh, preferably to Belgium and Germany.

African catfish, tilapia and other exotic fish species Although eels helped move the introduction and acceptance of RAS forward, the spectrum of fish species produced in heated recirculation systems grew considerably over the years. Dutch fish farmers are undoubtedly among

the pioneers in Europe with regard to the introduction of new, often exotic fish species. The aquaculture sector was given important support from research institutes in the country, too, for example from Wageningen University & Research Centre which already in the 1980s was involved with the reproduction and culture of the North African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in recirculation systems. The Dutch were among the first Europe-wide to grow this fish in aquaculture.

Production of Clarias catfish rocketed to start with and reached a volume of 4,500 t per year but then disillusionment soon followed. The unknown fish species was not easy to market and could only be sold for relatively low prices so that a lot of farms lost money. Current production of Clarias catfish amounts to slightly above 3,000 t, with most of the fish being farmed in superintensive RAS that work with high

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According to FAO statistics 250 t of turbot were produced in recirculation systems in the Netherlands in 2010.

The company Solea operates a hatchery and a recirculation system in IJmuiden for growing sole (Solea solea).

fish densities. Nearly all the fishes are marketed as fresh or smoked fillets, a small share as value-added, ready-to-cook products. About 60 to 70 of the fishes are exported to Germany, Belgium and France.

are constantly being tested for their suitability to recirculation systems. GrovisCo, a company in Stavenisse in the southwest of the Netherlands which mainly produces turbot and saline plants (Salicornia, Seeaster) has, for example, investigated whether amberjacks (Seriola spp.) are suited to production in RAS.

Developments in Dutch aquaculture were much the same where tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was concerned. Production grew rapidly at first, reaching its peak in 2006 when the five tilapia farms in the Netherlands together produced 1,250 t. In the meantime production volume has decreased sharply and FAO statistics for 2010 name only 100 t. Tilapia are also mostly traded as fillets, mainly in Holland, but with some going to France, too. The fact that Clarias catfish and tilapia failed to fulfil, or only partly fulfilled the high expectations placed in them has in no way, however, curbed the Dutch fish farmers’ enthusiasm for experimenting, and undeterred they try out new species which are difficult to farm and species that are largely unknown and thus not easy to market.

Dutch aquaculture does not only offer eel, Clarias, and tilapia but a whole host of other species, too.

On the southwest coast of the country where there is access to sea water, turbot (Psetta maxima) are produced, for example. Production currently amounts to about 250 t/year. The necessary fry for stocking are imported from 38

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France. In IJmuiden one company operates a hatchery and sea water recirculation system in which sole (Solea solea) are raised. The sole spawn naturally in circular tanks of the hatchery. The fry grow in an ongrowing facility in shallow channels that are arranged shelf-like in seven rows on top of one another.

It takes about two years for the sole to grow from the egg stage to a marketable weight of 200 to 300 g. Production volume in 2010 is stated at 20 t in the FAO statistics.

Two other farms are involved with farming barramundi. A farm in Groningen went into operation in 2005, and a second in Urk has been producing since 2007. The necessary fry are imported from Australia. Zander are also hatched and raised to a marketable size in the Netherlands in RAS. The company Excellence Fish hatches the fish throughout the year and also carries out a selective breeding programme. The stocking fish from the company in the Dutch town of Horst are in demand from a lot of zander farms throughout Europe.

Even tropical shrimps (Litopenaeus vannamei) are produced in an indoor facility which makes use of the heated water from a neighbouring power station. The Happy Shrimps Farm in Maasvlakte near Rotterdam went into operation in 2006. About 30 t of shrimps grow every year in the farm’s 24 basins which together contain six million litres of water. New species

Code of Practice defines standards of sustainable aquaculture Dutch aquaculture is well organised. Mussel and oyster farmers are members of their respective producer organisations. A lot of fish farmers are members of the country’s fish farmers association “NeVeVi”. This association drew up a Code of Practice for fish farmers which was accepted by the members. It defines among other things standards for sustainable, responsible, and environmentally oriented aquaculture.

Despite their huge know-how, their high production standards and entrepreneurial abilities, and the quality of their products a lot of fish farmers have experienced quite some pressure in recent years. After production volume grew for many years it is now decreasing for a lot of species. The reasons for this are numerous, as a research team headed by A. P. van Dujn from Wageningen University found out when they analysed the situation in 2010. They found a

clear concept for the development of aquaculture was lacking, and that production does not always meet market needs, particularly since a lot of the products are destined for export. Consumer wishes in the target countries were too little considered and, added to this, there were the effects of the economic crisis in Europe. A lot of aquaculture products were simply too expensive and so the customers sooner chose cheaper alternatives particularly since locally produced fishes hardly differed from the cheaper imported fishes.

The problem of high production costs is a difficult one to solve for RAS are very expensive in both investment and running costs.

Added to this are harsh environmental laws, national production regulations, and numerous EU requirements that in their sum make fish farming even more expensive. And production volumes from small farms were also frequently found to be too low for the big retail chains and the farmers often saw one another as competitors instead of co-operating with one another. The future of Dutch aquaculture will probably also depend on how fast and how well the industry succeeds in solving the aforementioned problems, in becoming more market oriented, and in developing marketing chains that enable more value adding and are thus more profitable. mk www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ AQUACULTURE ] Live feed for fish and shrimp larvae in aquaculture

Dry feed still not a substitute for Artemia and rotifers Although work on the development of an artificial starter feed for fish and shrimp larvae has made considerable progress live feed continues to be indispensable in a lot of areas of aquaculture. Marine fish larvae, in particular, often have very high dietary requirements and during the first days of their lives have to be fed on Artemia larvae, rotifers or the even smaller ciliates.

Producing this live feed is by no means easy.

C

ompared to a lot of marine fish larvae, raising salmon fry is child’s play: the larvae already measure about 20 mm in length when they hatch; they are fairly robust and, after consuming the yolk sack, they can immediately be fed on dry starter feed. In contrast, marine fish larvae are sometimes only 3 or 4 mm long and extremely sensitive. In a lot of cases there is no artificial feed mixture that would be acceptable to the tiny organisms during this tricky phase. For that reason hatcheries mostly fall back on live feed. Of course, the best would be wild plankton but this is rarely available in the required quantities and quality. That is why other organisms are used that are always available and can be produced in the desired quantity at the right time. They include for example microalgae, ciliates, rotifers or Artemia (brine shrimp) nauplii. The production of this feed demands considerable effort but it has long been routine in hatcheries. In some companies that grow marine fish and shrimp species the departments in which the live feed is produced are just as big as the sections where fish eggs and larvae are kept.

Brine shrimp or Artemia are an almost universal live feed for aquaculture. The life cycle of these www.eurofishmagazine.com

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shrimps is about one year. The females that have reached sexual maturity eject eggs about every six days and, given good living conditions, the nauplii will hatch immediately. Under poor conditions, for example if the salinity of the water rises above 150 ppt or if oxygen is lacking, they produce cysts that are extremely resistant and can even survive temperatures of minus 190°C or boiling water. This ametabolic state of life that is entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions is called cryptobiosis. Artemia cysts can remain in this state for over two years, only to hatch within just a few hours once more favourable conditions prevail. This attribute makes the cysts particularly suited to use in aquaculture because they are available in large quantities, easily storable and relatively inexpensive. The 0.4 mm nauplii can be hatched at exactly the required time for immediate use as feed.

The potential of these tiny crustaceans for use in aquaculture was recognized in the 1970s and since then demand for them has risen continuously. In Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) alone, which covers about 90 of global requirements, 2,000 to 3,000 t of Artemia cysts are gathered per year. Other sources such as Lake

Urmia (Iran), Bolshoye Yarovoye (Siberia, Russia) or some salt lakes in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are becoming increasingly significant, too. The biggest buyer of Artemia worldwide is China with an annual demand for 1,500 t

cysts, part of which they can satisfy themselves, however, with cysts from Bohai Bay and Aibi Lake. The rise in demand for Artemia cysts led to a rise in price.

Whereas in the 1980s one kilogram of cysts cost about 25 USD

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[ AQUACULTURE ] they otherwise lack. These are then absorbed and digested by the fish larvae during feeding.

The production of live feed is a routine process in hatcheries, but one that demands close monitoring.

they can cost 80 USD or more today. The price depends heavily on the cysts’ quality. Important quality criteria are, in particular, the hatching rate (in per cent) and the efficiency (number of nauplii per gram of cysts), as well as synchronicity of hatching.

Under conducive conditions (salinity approx. 35 ppt, temperature about 25°C, pH value around 8.0-8.5) and intensive aeration (the eggs should be constantly in motion and not lying on the bottom) the incubation of the cysts rarely causes problems so that the nauplii will hatch after one to two days. The exact time of hatching depends on the temperature, the cysts’ origin, their age, and other factors. To remove the nauplii it is sufficient to switch off the aeration. The empty cyst shells rise to the surface while the nauplii gather on the bottom of the tank. Because the larvae move towards the light it is possible to concentrate them in a suitable place using a light source so that they can then be sucked in with a tube over a tight meshed sieve.

In the hatcheries whole batteries of incubation vessels are usually in operation so that nauplii are available for feeding the fish larvae whenever they are needed.

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Enrichment improves the nutritional value of live feed Due to their yolk reserves freshly hatched Artemia nauplii are relatively nutritious. Depending on the species of incubated brine shimp (in practice not only Artemia salina are used but also A. franciscana, A. parthenogenetica, A. gracilis, A. sinica and some other species) the nauplii contain between 37 and 71 protein and up to 30 fat which, although it contains unsaturated fatty acids, hardly contains any EPA and DHA which are of particular importance to marine fish larvae. Added to this is the fact that the nauplii quickly eat up their own yolk reserves.

The more time passes before they are fed to the fish larvae the more nutritional value is lost. Because Artemia as live feed do not contain all nutrients in the composition and quantities that the young fishes need to enable their healthy development the nauplii are often enriched with the missing substances prior to feeding. To do this the nauplii are fed with unsaturated fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, pigments, minerals and trace elements as well as, if necessary, medicaments. After enrichment, the intestines of the nauplii thus contain all the nutrients that

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Using this simple method (which is also called bioencapsulation) it has been possible to solve some of the dietary deficits and developmental disorders that had previously often occurred during marine fish farming. The occurrence of backbone deformation and pigment defects decreased noticeably. Of course, enrichment is only possible once the Artemia nauplii have reached a certain age and their intestines are fully developed. As a rule that is about eight hours after hatching when the nauplii are in the second larval stage and have moulted. Often it is sufficient to feed the nauplii with phytoplanktonic algae (green water) or yeast cells. These substances contain valuable nutrients that the tiny crustaceans otherwise lack. There are also industrially produced concentrated supplements that are exactly geared to the nutritional requirements of fish larvae.

The tiny microparticles of these concentrates spread out in the water to form an emulsion that is filtered out of the water again during the non-selective feeding of the nauplii and consumed.

As far back as the 1980s a technique was developed for freeing the Artemia cysts of their thick shells (decapsulation) with the help of chemicals, for example through treatment with sodium hypochloride. The embryos are then practically naked but still fully viable and vital. The decapsulation of the cysts offers the great advantage that a lot of microbial germs are also removed with the shell, thereby quasi disinfecting the cysts. This is particularly useful where sterile, germfree conditions are necessary for example in shrimp hatcheries

that grow SPF postlarvae. Apart from that, decapsulation prevents the remains of shells from entering the tanks containing the fish larvae during feeding with nauplii. The hard shells are not digestible and can block the intestines of the fish larvae and even cause their death. When nauplii hatch under normal conditions and have to break open the thick shell of the cysts they also use up a lot of energy. This effort is not necessary in the case of decapsulated cysts with the result that the nauplii have 30 to 55 more energy which makes them much more nutritious for the fish larvae.

A further option for the use of Artemia is to feed the adolescent, sexually mature organisms to suitably sized larger fishes. Adult males of brine shrimp reach a length of about 8 to 10 mm, the females are somewhat larger at 10 to 12 mm.

Rotifers – optimal starter feed for a lot of marine fish larvae Despite their tiny size Artemia nauplii are still too big as a starter feed for a lot of fish larvae. If this is the case rotifers are usually used.

The word “rotifer” is derived from a Latin word meaning “wheelbearer”, due to the crown of hairlike cilia around the mouth that when in motion resembles a wheel which is used to waft feed into the mouth cavity. Some rotifers are only half the size of Artemia nauplii. Of the approximately 2,000 rotifer species that are known up to now it is mainly two species that are used in marine and brackish water aquaculture: Brachionus plicatilis (“L”-strain, size = approx. 0.200.36 mm) and Brachionus rotundiformis (“S”-strain, size = approx.

0.12-0.22 mm). Rotifers constitute an optimal live feed for smaller marine fish species because they are very small, too, have a soft body www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ AQUACULTURE ] and are highly digestible. They spread out evenly in the water and swim so slowly that they easily fall prey to the fish larvae. Apart from that, they reproduce quickly and can be fed easily with microalgae in special cultures.

From one single rotifer a population of several thousand rotifers can develop within just a few days. Under ideal conditions the individual number in a rotifer population can grow by 50 per day. Under practical conditions in hatcheries the growth rate is mostly lower but even there considerable rates of 20 to 30 are attainable. These reproduction rates are achieved through parthenogenesis, an asexual reproduction mode for which no male organisms are needed. Under favourable conditions (22-28°C, pH 7-8.5, oxygen content over 4 ppm, salinity 10-35 ppt) the

females simultaneously eject up to 7 eggs from which only females will develop that will in turn eject their own eggs after 12 to 18 hours.

In this way the number of individuals in a population can rise astronomically within just a very short time. If the environmental capacity is exhausted and living conditions deteriorate the rotifers can also reproduce sexually and, like Artemia, produce very resistant cysts.

When growing rotifers for use as live feed in hatcheries either seedstocks of parthenogenetic rotifers or cysts are used.

Two methods are commonly employed for the cultures. The first is to use batch cultures, discontinuous techniques in which the rotifers are usually produced at four to five day intervals. On the first day rotifers are added to the culture and they develop

quickly with daily algal feed and partial water exchange. At the end of the cycle when the rotifers have reached a density of about 500 organisms per millilitre the whole population is harvested (one part will be added to the next cycle), fed to the fish larvae and the culture restarted. The second method is continuous cultures.

These provide rotifers daily over a longer time period but require much more effort and are more susceptible to failure. Continuous cultures work on the principle of a recirculation system in which circulating water is repeatedly cleaned with particle and bio filters and protein skimmers and the germ count reduced with ozone or UV light. The more stably the water quality can be kept at a level that is conducive to rotifers the more productive the culture will be in general. Algae pastes are mostly used for feeding. These

are dispensed from machines. In well adjusted continuous cultures rotifer densities of 1,000 to 5,000 and more organisms per millilitre are possible.

Before they are fed to the fish larvae the rotifers are rinsed several times over in clean salt water. In order to ensure high survival rates and good growth the fish larvae should be “swimming in” feed.

To grow red seabream (Pagrus major) successfully the feed density should be about 2 to 4 rotifers per millilitre. For black seabream (Spondyliosoma cantharus) 5 to 10 rotifers / ml or even more are necessary.

Like Artemia nauplii, rotifers have a relatively low nutritional value and should thus be enriched with unsaturated fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA and other nutrients before being fed

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08_Aquaculture.indd 41

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[ AQUACULTURE ] to larvae in the hatcheries. You could almost say that rotifers are only as nutritious as the feed they have just consumed. As filterers, rotifers waft almost any feed that arrives in front of their hair-like crowns and fits into their mouths.

Particle sizes usually range from 0.001 to 0.010 mm. As a rule, their feed today consists of microalgae that are mostly put into the water in aquaculture in the form of highly concentrated algae pastes (green water technique). This saves the effort of preparing additional algae cultures and is very efficient because the algae concentrates mostly have a high quality. On average about 1 to 1.5 ml of algae paste per million rotifers is required daily. As soon as the algal density decreases more has to be added since the rotifers must not be without sufficient feed for longer than a few hours.

Aquafeed industry looking for acceptable alternatives The mouth cavities of some fish larvae are so small, however, that even “normal” rotifers would be too big for them. For example, the fact that some grouper species are very difficult to raise is not least due to problems concerned with feeding. Ciliates are often fed to these fish species, single cell wheel animals whose best known representative is probably Paramaecium caudatum. With a length of almost 0.3 mm its size is similar to that of the rotifer but due to its slender body shape it can be picked up much better by a lot of fish larvae. Apart from that, the group of ciliates comprises about 6,000 species so that the choice of potential live feed is very large. For feeding marine fish larvae tintinnides and species of the genus Euplotes are often used.

Because ciliates have a low nutritional value the diet is changed 42

to enriched rotifers as quickly as possible once the fish larvae are large enough to pick these up.

Like Artemia and rotifers ciliates can also be produced quite easily in mass cultures. Most simply this can be achieved by pouring water onto hay which in a short time leads to the mass development of various ciliate species.

Ciliates reproduce by cell division. Under normal temperature conditions of around 20°C they divide about once in 24 hours. By raising the temperature to 26°C

The feed industry is going to great effort to develop high-quality alternatives to the use of live feed in aquaculture. This would be an effective contribution towards lowering effort and costs of raising and stabilising production of fry. In the meantime it has been possible to bring forward the point in time at which larvae can switch from live to dry feed (weaning) for some species but apart from occasional successes

the industry is still a long way from finding a solution to this problem. At present live feed cannot be replaced in the early phase of farming of a lot of fish species. Although its nutritional value does not always match the exact needs of the larvae live feed does offer some advantages. The swimming movements of the live feed awaken the larvae’s hunting instinct, it can be swallowed more easily, and it is closer to the preferred flavour of the fish larvae than is at present the case with dry feed. mk

Cromaris farms seabass and seabream

In-house control over hatchery feed production safeguards quality A Croatian producer of seabass and seabream Cromaris has its own broodstock and hatchery for the production of the fish larvae. In common wih other hatcheries for these species Cromaris produces its own live feed (rotifers) to feed the seabream larvae once these have consumed the yolk sac. In the case of seabass the first feed given to the larvae is artemia. Irrespective of the species, this is a delicate stage in the life cycle of the fish and hatcheries want complete control over all the parameters including the feed to keep mortality rates within tolerable limits, says Gordana Sarusic, the hatchery manager.

Cromaris has invested significantly in trained personnel, equipment, and space to produce rotifers and the phytoplankton on which they feed.

The larvae feed on the live organisms for about 40 days in the case of seabream. Rotifers are added to the tank at regular intervals to ensure a density that is high enough for the fish larvae to have easy access to their food. Phytoplankton is added to the rearing tank, which provides additional food for the rotifers.

The presence of phyoplankton also improves the water quality in the tank by limiting the development of bacteria and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loads. After about 20 days the artemia is introduced to the fish as well, so the fish are gradually weaned off the rotifers. Finally, the artemia is slowly substituted with dry feed only. Seabass larvae go through

Eurofish Magazine 2 / 2013

08_Aquaculture.indd 42

division frequency can be double or even triple that rate.

Rotifer production at the Cromaris hatchery.

the same procedure except they are fed only with artemia.

We certainly remain aware of developments in the feed industry and if we find compelling reasons to switch to dry feed we will certainly consider them, says Ms Sarusic. For the moment, however, we find that the fish do well with live feeds and being able to control the whole production process is an added advantage that we will not dispense with lightly. www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:30 PM

[ RESEARCH ] Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

Increasing number of products enriched with omega-3s In 2006 a review assessing the effects of long and short chain omega-3 fats on total mortality, cardiovascular events, cancer and strokes, published in BMJ (British Medical Journal) found no evidence of a clear benefit of these fats on health. More recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article by a team of researchers studying the impact of omega-3 fatty acid consumption on the risk of major cardiovascular disease.

T

he scientists conducted a meta-analysis of 20 studies involving close to 70,000 patients and concluded that the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids was not associated with a lower risk of cardiac disease incidents such as heart attacks, strokes, or death due to coronary disease.

Both studies provoked a storm of debate in the scientific press as well as in popular media.

Researchers specialised in the subject criticised the British study for methodological errors, bias, and inaccuracies, while in the case of the JAMA article experts questioned the size of the sample, the tight definition of statistical significance used, and the fact that many of the people studied were taking medication that may have had an effect on the outcomes.

more importantly, the debate about omega-3 fatty acids also influences policy decisions nationally and internationally. Official dietary guidelines, to name one example, to eat more or less of certain foods are built on research.

In addition, there are commercial forces too that have an interest in the issue. Judging by the number of products fortified with omega-3s that are available on the market today, a number that is steadily increasing, companies that believe in the promise of omega-3s have made substantial investments. There are thus a lot of interests with a stake in the debate, which explains why developments in the field are followed closely by scientists as well as the media.

Scientific and popular interest in fish fats

But first some background on what omega-3 fatty acids are and where they can be found.

Omega-3 fats are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) that are essential for the human body. Essential in the sense that it is necessary to get them from external sources as the body cannot synthesise them itself. The best-known kinds of omega-3 fatty acids are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid),

Why should a relatively academic subject produce such a storm of debate? Partly because it is a subject, human nutrition, that strikes a chord with most people. Why else are food, cooking, recipes, and other nutrition-related subjects so much a part of the popular media today? Perhaps www.eurofishmagazine.com

09_Fisheries.indd 43

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). The two former are found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, her-

ring, sardines, and tuna, while the latter, ALA, is found mainly in vegetable sources including walnuts, flaxseed (linseed), rapeseed and

The conflict over mackerel does not bode well for the future and it may be just the beginning of further global controversies if stocks redistribute.

9

9

9

9

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[ RESEARCH ]

Eating fish oil capsules, while a convenient way of ingesting the important omega-3 fatty acids, does not give the same benefits as consuming fish.

their oils, and some green leafy vegetables. EPA and DHA are long-chain fatty acids with 20 or 22 carbon atom in the chain and therefore also known as LCPUFA, while ALA has 18 carbon atoms. The human body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA but it is an inefficient process that transforms about 15 of the ALA absorbed by the human body in to EPA and even less into DHA. Fish is a richer source of omega 3 fatty acids compared with other forms of proteins as can be seen in Table 1.

Fat-rich fish such as herring, mackerel and salmon contain high proportions of the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.

Chemically, polyunsaturated fatty acids are fatty acids that contain more than one double bond between their carbon atoms.

All PUFAs have an acid group (COOH) at the starting or alpha end and a methyl group (CH3) at the terminal or omega end.

The position of the first double bond counting from the methyl end of the chain determines the name of the molecule. Thus, in omega-3 fatty acids, the 3 refers to the position of the first double bond between the third and the fourth carbon atoms. In omega-6 fatty acids the first double bond is located between the sixth and seventh carbon atoms.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been extensively studied since the 70s and have been implicated in beneficial impacts in relation to a huge variety of medical conditions from heart disease to Alzheimer’s. Research into omega-3 fatty acids was provoked when in 1968 an article in the Danish Medical Society’s weekly journal drew attention to the fact that Inuits on Greenland despite a diet rich in animal fat from seal meat and fish had a low rate of death from heart disease. The article provoked two Danish researchers, Jørn Dyerberg and Hans Olaf Bang, to travel to Greenland in 1970 to study what was happening. After

Table 1 Nutrients in marine and terrestrial sources of meat Salmon, farmed Salmon, wild

Carp

Tilapia

Chicken

Ham

Protein

g/100g

20.4

19.8

17.8

20.1

18.6

20.3

Total lipid (fat)

g/100g

13.4

6.3

5.6

1.7

15.1

10.6

Water

g/100g

65

69

76

78

66

69

Ash

g/100g

1.1

2.5

1.5

0.9

0.8

1.1

DHA + EPA

mg/100g

1966

1436

350

91

40

3

Source: FAO, USDA National Nutrient Database

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multiple trips and the collection and analysis of blood samples taken from the Inuit population the scientists concluded that the low incidence of heart disease was due to the high levels of PUFAs that the Inuits got from the fish they ingested regularly. Since then a vast body of research has identified a number of area where omega-3s play an important role in the proper functioning of the body. The Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) at Oregon State University in the United States specialises in research into nutrients and their role in preventing disease and promoting health. Summarising some of the work done in the field the LPI mentions that omega-3s are an important component in cell membranes, affecting properties of the membrane including its flexibility, permeability and the activity of enzymes. DHA is found in high concentrations in the membranes of retinal cells and in the brain’s grey matter suggesting that it has a role to play in vision and in the function of the central nervous system. EPA in the cell membranes is metabolised www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:31 PM

[ RESEARCH ] to eicosanoids, chemicals that are involved in a number of effects such as the constriction and dilation of blood vessels, the transmission of nerve impulses, fat metabolism and changes in respiration. Omega-3s are also implicated in the modulation of gene expression including those that play a role in the metabolism of fats and inflammation.

Internationally recognised benefits In January 2010 two United Nation bodies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), convened a Joint Expert Consultation on the risks and benefits of fish consumption. The Expert Consultation was tasked with comparing the health benefits and the risks associated with the consumption of fish and concluded that among the general adult population the consumption of fish lowers the risk of mortality from coronary heart disease.

In addition the Expert Consultation found convincing evidence that long chain omega 3 fats are important for optimal brain development during gestation and infancy, while maternal fish consumption during gestation and nursing lowers the risk for suboptimal brain development in their children. The strength of the evidence of the positive impact of seafood consumption on a range of other medical condition varied from “possible” to “probable” to “convincing”. The medical conditions included cardiovascular diseases, mental illnesses, as well as inflammatory diseases and cancer. The Expert Consultation highlighted the risks and benefits from all the constituents of seafood, but the health attributes are due in large part to the omega-3 fatty acids. The Consultation concluded that to avail of these www.eurofishmagazine.com

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benefits it was enough for adults to consume 250 mg of omega 3 fats per day while for children the figure was 150 mg.

In Europe average per capita consumption of fish and seafood is 28 g a day, according to the European Nutrition and Health Report from 2009, ranging from 9 g a day in Hungary to 63 g a day in Nor-

way. Official fish and seafood consumption recommendations vary somewhat from country to country with most national authorities laying down the minimum number of times per week it should be eaten by the average consumer and with more specific advice to pregnant women. In general 125150 g at least twice a week including a portion of oily fish would

seem to cover most people’s requirements.

Sources of omega-3s Like humans most fish also get their omega-3s from their diet – when farmed, through the fish oil in their feed, and in the wild from marine microalgae. Microalgae are microscopic plants that are found

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[ RESEARCH ] in marine and freshwater bodies.

They are responsible for half the atmosphere’s oxygen, which is a by-product of the photosynthetic process whereby the microalgae use sunlight to fix carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. They are also the fastest-growing plants known with an ability to double their biomass in the space of a day if the conditions are right. Microalgae are important sources of nutrition for aquatic animals providing fats, including omega-3 and other fatty acids, carbohydrates, and proteins. An interesting aspect of microalgae is that their chemical composition can be varied by changing environmental factors such as illumination, temperature, pH, carbon dioxide supply, or nutrients. As the primary source of omega-3s interest in the commercial cultivation of microalgae to extract these fatty acids has grown in proportion to the increasing knowledge of the health benefits that they offer. Bacteria, fungi, and plants are also being studied for their potential to produce long-chain omega-3s on a commercial scale, but according to a paper co-authored by Peer Schenk from the University of Brisbane, microalgae have some advantages over the other candidates. Among the drawbacks of fungi cultivation is that they have long growing periods, while cultivating plants has the disadvantages that they require space, time, and, in addition, they cannot produce longchain PUFAs. Microalgae grow rapidly and can be produced on non-arable land. Systems for the commercial production of microalgae include open ponds and closed photobioreactors both of which have their advantages and drawbacks. Research into microalgal production systems continues to make them cheaper and more productive.

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3

HOOC

CH3

eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 w-3)

3

CH3

HOOC docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6 w-3) All PUFA have an acid group (COOH) at the starting (alpha) end and a methyl (CH3) group at the terminal (omega) end.

Krill, the common name for a group of about 85 crustacean species, found in the Antarctic Ocean is another source of omega-3 fats.

Most species of krill measure between 8 and 70 mm and they feed on microalgae. Krill stocks are substantial, but fishing them is expensive. From 2009 to 2010 production volumes jumped 70 to 215,000 tonnes mainly because of a huge increase in Norwegian catches. Krill has high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and is additionally interesting because of its low level of heavy metals and toxins. In contrast to a lot of other regions of the world’s oceans the Antarctic waters are still largely free from harmful substances such as PCB, dioxin, etc. which make krill oil a good substitute for fishoil. According to Jogeir Toppe, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Dept., today about 80 of the global production of fishoil is used in fish feed, however, despite the worldwide increase in farmed fish output this proportion seems to be falling, partly due to an increase in demand for fish oil for direct human consumption.

The benefits offered by DHA and EPA have been enthusiastically

taken up by the nutraceutical and the food industries. Fish oil is available as capsules for those seeking the benefits of omega-3s, yet for whom the consumption of fish in the requisite quantities poses problems. These could be due to its price or availability, or a person’s religion, personal preferences, or lifestyle.

Fish offers more benefits than fish oil Eating fish oil capsules, while a convenient way of ingesting the important omega-3 fatty acids without consuming fish, is not without its detractors. Tom Sanders, a professor of nutrition and dietetics at Kings College, London, says that in addition to supplying omega-3s, eating fish provides other nutritional benefits. Fish and seafood contain important nutrients proteins, choline (a member of the vitamin B family), vitamin D, essential amino acids, and minerals. While these are also found in other foods, “the health effects of fish consumption may be greater than the sum of its individual constituents”, according to David James an

FAO consultant and author of the Globefish publication Risks and benefits of seafood consumption.

Thus, while fish oil supplements may benefit some people, they may not substitute all the advantages of eating seafood.

This does not seem to deter the food industry which is developing increasing numbers of product that are fortified with fish oil including baked goods, dairy products, drinks, fish fingers as these are typically made with meat from whitefish, which have a lower proportion of fat, and even minced beef! The problem is that some of these products (such as deep fried and salted snacks) are unhealthy in the first place and adding omega-3s is not going to compensate for the negative affects of too much oil, starch, and salt. Other products while not particularly unhealthy may contain such small quantities of the omega-3 fats that any meaningful benefit could only come from consuming such large quantities of the product that any advantages from the omega-3s are negated and all the consumer is left with is a big bill. bt

www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] Weak world economy, slack demand and low prices

Difficult times for the global shrimp industry When a female shrimp that had been caught in the wild spawned for the first time in a test facility in Florida in 1973 the farming of Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), usually known simply as white shrimp, began. It has been an unprecedented success story, for today this species is the most produced shrimp in the world’s shrimp farms. Production is stable and brings forth such large quantities that supply sometimes even exceeds demand.

D

uring the last four decades we have seen rapid growth in aquaculture production of white shrimp. They were first hatched and reared in 1973 and since 2003 white shrimp has been the most produced shrimp species throughout the world’s farming facilities. An amazing triumph for this little shrimp which originally comes from the coastal waters between Mexico and Peru in the East Pacific where temperatures of above 20°C prevail all the year round. Up to the 1990s white shrimp were only produced in Latin America, mainly through extensive farming in ponds. Thanks to selective genetic breeding it was soon possible to improve the economically significant performance parameters of the shrimps, and the life cycle of white shrimp in aquaculture was finally closed fully. This made the farms independent of wild parent shrimps and natural stocking because the necessary postlarvae could now be produced in hatcheries. The constant supply of highquality stocking material to the farms is one of the most important prerequisites for meeting demand. The real breakthrough came, however, when in the 1990s experts succeeded in Hawaii in producing pathogen free (SPF) and pathogen resistant (SPR) L. vannamei lines. These www.eurofishmagazine.com

10_TM.indd 47

More than 2.72 million tonnes of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) were produced in aquaculture in 2010.

developments made shrimp farming overall more stable and vannamei shrimp highly attractive for shrimp farmers in Asia, too. A large number of farms in Asia that had previously produced black tiger shrimp switched to white shrimp. After a decade ago more vannamei shrimp were produced in worldwide aquaculture than monodon shrimp the white shrimp became the most produced shrimp in global aquaculture.

Although Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) grows to a maximum length of 23 cm and is thus one third smaller than the giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) which can grow to a length

of up to 36 cm white shrimp has a higher yield: 66 to 68 per cent more shrimp meat from vannamei shrimp compared to 62 per cent from monodon shrimp.

White shrimps also tolerate low salinities and can even survive in fresh water. This means that vannamei shrimp offers more possibilities for farm locations than black tiger shrimp which can only be farmed under marine conditions. The biggest advantage, however, is the availability of SPF and SPR postlarvae because this drastically reduces the need for chemicals and medication.

The development of pathogen resistant and pathogen free lines was only possible after the closing of the vannamei shrimp life cycle

in aquaculture. For monodon shrimp this has proved possible only in individual cases. Monodon shrimp postlarvae are in the meantime mainly produced in hatcheries, too, but a lot of the parent shrimps are still taken from wild catches. This constitutes a further high risk that the parent shrimps will pass on to their offspring diseases which can then be brought into the farms.

In the past it was often chance occurrences or hardly controllable diseases that decided the fate of shrimp farming facilities.

Thanks to the progress made with vannamei shrimp and the farming and technological achievements with this species shrimp

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farming has become less susceptible to disease, more constant, safer and ultimately also more efficient and more planable. Production is in the meantime so stable that it actually endangers its own commercial success. It sometimes happens that production from shrimp farming is in excess of actual demand.

Important farming countries trying to cut back shrimp production At the end of the second half of 2012 it again became apparent that more shrimps were being produced worldwide than the markets can absorb. A considerable share of the products could only be sold at strongly reduced prices. The situation on this very special market is extremely complex. The interplay of demand and supply is rarely balanced which is why it constantly has to be readjusted. When demand rises this adjustment process presents no big problem since the short production cycles of shrimp allow relatively fast production increases: depending on the climatic zone two to three harvests a year are possible. The opposite case is much more difficult to tackle: it is not easy to reduce production once farming has really got going.

At the beginning of 2012 a lot of the forecasts were still relatively pessimistic. Vietnam, after China and Thailand in the meantime in third place in global shrimp aquaculture, reported considerable harvest losses. Virus epidemics such as NHP and IMNV had led to huge damages, first in the Mekong Delta and then later in the northern and central regions of the country. In some areas the shrimps developed a higher susceptibility to disease due to unusually strong fluctuations in day and night temperatures. Production losses meant 48

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that a lot of farming enterprises got into the red with the result that they were then often no longer allowed loans by the banks. In some cases farms produced so few shrimps that individual processing companies even had to import raw materials from abroad in order to fulfil their export obligations to their customers. To make matters worse, Japan, the most important export market for Vietnamese shrimps, authorised that shrimp products from India and Vietnam should be more strictly controlled.

During routine controls they had come up against ethoxyquin residues in excess of the permitted 0.01 ppm. Ethoxyquin is a kind of antioxidant agent which is mixed with the feed as a means of protecting against spoilage under tropical climatic conditions.

Whilst in Vietnam production losses were rather the result of the conditions prevailing there, other producing countries intentionally tried to cut back shrimp production in the second half of 2012.

This was the case in Thailand and Indonesia, for example, because demand and prices remained weak. Indonesia’s government reduced its production targets for the shrimp farms to 300,000 t and additionally set up a promotion programme for supporting the marketing of shrimps on the domestic market. Thailand, after China the second biggest shrimp producer and at the same time the world’s most important export nation for shrimps, faces even bigger challenges. The intensive shrimp farms in Thailand operate under very high production standards and this leads to higher costs which in turn make the shrimps more expensive. This is a considerable competitive drawback, particularly when the economy in the target markets is slack and demand low. A support programme set up by the

Globefish, Figis

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ]

Production volume of the two most important shrimp species in global aquaculture.

Thai government succeeded in stabilising ex-farm prices with support purchases but this is naturally only possible in the short term. Sales problems could even be exacerbated as shrimp production continues to rise worldwide and competition and price pressure are increasing. Of further concern for Thailand’s shrimp industry are the new GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) regulations for exports to the EU. Should these take effect as planned in January 2014 it would make shrimps from Thailand even more expensive. Export duties for raw shrimps will rise by 4.2 to 12, for cooked and cocktail shrimps by 7 to 20 per cent.

More and more farms in India are switching to vannamei shrimp production One reason for the current turbulences on the shrimp market is developments in India which had long held back from importing and producing vannamei shrimps because they felt that the risk of infection through diseases and ecological and social risks was hardly calculable. In the face of the production achievements made in particular in

Thailand and Indonesia through the use of SPF and SPR shrimps India gave up its resistance a few years ago, also and particularly due to the fact that their traditional shrimp production which was mainly based on black tiger shrimp had fallen by 7.7 during the period from 2005 to 2009 when a lot of farms were hit by diseases. Following the success of initial attempts to farm vannamei shrimp on a 10,000 hectare pond area in the state of Andhra Pradesh white shrimp farming is now growing fast. More and more shrimp farmers are switching from farming monodon shrimp, whose production has allegedly already fallen by half, to vannamei shrimp. Official production figures speak of only 130,000 t vannamei shrimp but insiders estimate that the actual production volume is considerably higher, perhaps even double the official figure. Farms that do not produce for export are hardly registered and their production is – if at all – only recorded carelessly.

Domestic demand for shrimps on the Indian market is high, particularly for the smaller counts above 70 (HOSO per kg). Larger counts usually go into export. Some European countries have increased www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ]

This is to be made possible by increasing vannamei shrimp production and by extending and modernising the country’s processing facilities in order to be in a position to produce more value-added products for export.

Frozen and storage capacities, in particular, are being expanded.

Some producers are also investing in processing machines too, however, because wages in the seafood processing industry have risen fairly strongly by Indian www.eurofishmagazine.com

10_TM.indd 49

standards. The success of Indian shrimps on the international markets is putting additional pressure on the country’s shrimp industry because the currently low demand and subsequent low price level is also a burden on India’s shrimp farms. Export-oriented companies, in particular, reported lower

production figures for the second half of the year but sometimes the decreases are not caused by intentional reductions in production but more by the poor quality of the stocking material. The hatcheries are currently having difficulties coping with the massive growth in demand for vannamei shrimp

postlarvae and even low-quality shrimps are quickly snatched up.

Euro problem in Europe affecting the shrimp market After three relatively stable years in which demand and prices

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their imports from India, and the USA are also importing more than in the past. US imports from India rose by 59 to 48,100 t in 2011 compared to 2010. This hurts Thailand in particular since their export industry had traditionally supplied the US market. Compared to Indian shrimps Thai shrimps are about 10 to 20 more expensive which leads to considerable price pressure. A lot of exporters can currently only sell their products with hefty price reductions. Although the low-price vannamei shrimps at present only contribute about one third towards India’s shrimp exports (at the moment vannamei shrimp account for 35 of shrimp exports, monodon shrimp’s share has dropped from formerly 82 to 61 per cent) they are reaping record sales for the country’s seafood exporters. In the business year 2011/2012 India exported fish and seafood worth 3.5 billion USD, with shrimps accounting for nearly half, or 1.7bn USD. Although the export of Indian shrimps to Japan has become more difficult due to excessive ethoxyquin residues sales of farmed shrimps to South East Asia have more than doubled in volume terms, and even tripled in value terms. This success has whet appetite for more and the MPEDA, the authority responsible for promoting seafood exports, is hoping for an increase to 4.5bn USD for the current fiscal year.

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03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] displayed neither strong rises nor falls the shrimp market suddenly collapsed in mid-2012. The price for black tiger shrimp (16/20) from Bangladesh that cost 12 to 13 USD/kg in June suddenly fell by two dollars within just one week. Although a lot of importers negotiated new prices and passed them on to their customers they were not able to sell all of their stocks. And even the low price level could not stimulate the sluggish demand lastingly.

The continuing euro crisis and the economic problems of some EU countries have caused demand in Europe to remain low. Consumer buying power has decreased and the weak euro makes imports more expensive. Under these conditions cheaper shrimps are more popular, for example from Bangladesh, which benefits from

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GSP, or from India. Thailand was able to assert its position as the most important supply country for the EU market but Bangladesh, which increased its exports to Europe by 35.7 and India, whose exports rose by 22.2, benefited much more strongly from the current developments. Because customers mainly look at the price per kilogram when buying shrimps importers sooner choose smaller piece weights for vannamei shrimps under the present conditions. In Spain 60/80 counts are particularly popular and in France even smaller 80/100/kg shrimps.

The usual stimulation of business at the end of the year failed to happen. It is hardly to be expected that the EU market will recover rapidly and find its way back to its usual strength under the present general economic conditions.

The fact that demand for shrimps in the UK remained almost stable is probably thanks to the Olympic Games in the summer of 2012 which livened up the market considerably. The German market also displayed only few changes.

The effects of the euro crisis were to be seen most strongly in Spain where demand fell by one fifth in 2012. Although demand in Italy decreased to about the same extent the economic effects of the slump in demand are harsher in Spain because Spain is the biggest importer of shrimps from aquaculture in the EU. Demand in the USA is also relatively low on account of the economic problems there and a lot of importers are waiting to see what happens. Although shrimps continue to be the most important seafood product consumption preferences have shifted.

Whilst shrimps used mainly to be consumed in restaurants a lot of consumers now choose to eat them at home to save money. This

About one million tonnes of black tiger shrimps (Penaeus monodon) were available in 2010. 781,581 t came from aquaculture and 209,662 t from wild catches.

improves the market chances for convenience products but exporters have mainly ordered non-processed frozen (head-on and head-off, raw or cooked) shrimps. It remains to be seen whether a better offer of value added shrimp products might succeed in stimulating demand again. Shrimp products that have undergone further processing have the advantage that in contrast to raw shrimps they are rarely subject to anti-dumping penal duties. For value added products it is generally of no importance whether the products were produced using black tiger or white shrimp. The two species differ only slightly from a culinary point of view. However, consumers in the USA seem to be of a different opinion here, as a test of the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida recently confirmed. According to this, vannamei shrimp are considerably more popular among American consumers than monodon shrimp. The Americans favour shrimps that have grown in water with a low salt content. Apparently their aroma, smell, appearance and texture are better then.

The shrimp market in Asia is at the moment fortunately less gloomy.

Although the economy in China is no longer growing quite so

dynamically as in previous years, demand is still very high. About three quarters of Chinese shrimp production is consumed within China itself. Demand is growing in other Asian countries, too, although not sufficiently strongly to offset the drop in demand in Europe and North America. In Japan, which buys about 80 of its shrimp imports from Asian countries, particularly Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and China, demand even rose in the first six months of 2012 by more than 2.

The ethoxyquin residues detected in Vietnamese and Indian shrimp imports have apparently hardly worried Japanese consumers or stopped them from buying – particularly since the favourable shrimp price is a convincing sales argument.

Experience has shown that consumers in Europe react much more sensitively to such occurrences. And this means that the EU regulations, maximum residue limits and import controls are accordingly severe, with the zero tolerance principle applying to some chemicals and antibiotics.

The standards are equally high on all other important markets, whereby in the USA there is also a very strong focus on hygiene standards such as HACCP, as on flavour and sensory quality parameters. mk www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TECHNOLOGY ] Second-hand seafood processing equipment

Yesterday’s machines, today’s profit The purchase of refurbished equipment for the start-up of a new seafood processing business or the expansion of an existing one can help keep costs under control. Still, it is a substantial investment, and a wrong decision can have serious consequences.

According to Ulf Grönqvist, “The life expectancy of a machine depends on how it is maintained.

Normally, a machine can last for a minimum of 20 years. A completely renovated machine can last for an additional 10 to 20 years. One of today’s stainless steel machines can probably last forever”.

Grönqvist has led the Swedish firm SEAC AB as president for 20 years. The company has more than 40 years experience with machines made by Arenco and VMK for processing pelagic species. It has been one of the main global suppliers of refurbished fish processing machines and now also manufactures its own line of equipment.

He recalls buying used VMK stainless steel machines that were built in 1985, and were still in operation. He has seen Arenco machines from the 1960s still functioning and points to two Arenco SFD-300s in Denmark, built in 1958 and 1959, that are still running. “These machines were particularly well built and seem able to run for 20 to 30 years without any trouble. But of course, www.eurofishmagazine.com

11_TECH.indd 51

they must be maintained”. He shrugs, “If you don’t take care of them, they won’t last long”.

SEAC AB.

I

n addition to the advantage of a smaller investment, purchasing refurbished equipment provides the opportunity to buy a well-built machine that has stood the test of time and proven its success at performing a particular operation.

Buyer beware!

There are many types of secondhand processing equipment with different origins and varying levels of quality. For example, a plant might be shut down as a company downsizes or goes out of business, and processing lines can be replaced or re-equipped. The condition of the equipment can range from almost new to showing various amounts of wear and tear.

A VMK-16 nobbing machine during complete renovation.

Challenges in buying pre-owned equipment include determining the level of renovation that you either require or can afford, and finding a reputable dealer. Each firm has its own standards and way of working when it comes to selling pre-owned machines. They can be offered simply as is, or they can be partially or completely renovated.

A renovated machine is stripped to its basic frame, it is cleaned, and parts are replaced as necessary when the machine is reassembled.

Modifications can also be carried out to incorporate improvements made by the manufacturer since the machine was first developed, for example, modifications to allow the processing of additional species.

the completeness of a renovation. Grönqvist, who worked for years without success to introduce a form of certification, proposes a four-level classification of second-hand equipment (see the box on page 53) that might help buyers and sellers agree whether the renovation brings the machine to an acceptable standard of robustness and longevity, at an acceptable price.

What standards?

“There are many things that are not immediately apparent. For example, you can’t see if the gearbox is worn out. The

Currently, there are no universally accepted standards for grading

Buying a used machine will cost considerably less than purchasing a new one, but Grönqvist is adamant that it’s important to buy a good machine that costs a bit more because, in the end, a machine that requires constant repair will be more expensive.

important thing is having a good guarantee. Sometimes, refurbishing the machine takes as long as building a new one”.

Roberts Dlohi, a member of the board of directors of the Latvian firm Peruza, agrees. “A large-scale renovation can often cost as much as a new machine. If the machine was well made originally, as is the case with the machines that Grönqvist mentions, the renovation will take less effort. But for machines that are not well made or are close to the end of their useful life, the renovation may not be worth it. The economics of the venture must add up”.

David Boyd, Chairman and Managing Director of Boyd Food Machinery, sees the process as a dialogue between the customer and his firm. “We are totally flexible according to the customer’s

Eurofish Magazine 2 / 2013

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03/04/13 8:32 PM

Peruza Ltd.

[ TECHNOLOGY ]

Grönqvist believes that the EU doesn’t wish to fund the same machine twice. He says, “I told them that our machines were manufactured before we entered the EU, but that didn’t help. It’s a bit of a contradiction. The EU wants us to save resources and the environment. If we can use the same machine again, isn’t that saving resources?”

A view of the Peruza production floor. The company is located in Riga, Latvia.

wishes. Our job can be as simple as cleaning and tidying up a machine or as complex as doing a complete renovation. Our seven engineers, working in our dedicated workshop, tailor solutions to the customer’s requirements.

“Some customers want a guarantee and others don’t need it”, he says. “In some cases, we offer a guarantee called Boyd Approved, which indicates that the machine has been stripped down and all of the hydraulics, electrics, and pneumatics, whatever is relevant, have been totally rebuilt”.

acquired Arenco, which in turn led to the creation of two Swedish competitors, Norden and VMK, staffed by former technicians and management staff from Arenco.

VMK acquired Norden in 1989.

Ulf Grönqvist had been working at Norden when he joined the newly formed company SEAC AB in 1992. It started refurbishing old machines immediately.

The voice of experience

After the Second World War, two companies emerged in Europe as the leading fish processing machine manufacturers. The Baader Group was founded in 1919, and by 1955, it was the most active fish processing equipment manufacturer internationally.

With this extensive background, Grönqvist is well qualified to offer advice about judging offers from the several companies in Europe that offer second-hand machines.

“Today, there are many ways to renovate second-hand machinery, as well as a number of levels of quality”, he says. “This is often confusing for the customer. Prices for the same renovated model can vary by as much as US$10,000 to US$15,000”.

The Swedish company Arenco was founded in 1927, although it traces its earliest beginnings to 1877. It combined the manufacture of fish processing machinery with a diverse range of products, including machinery to make matches, cigars, and wall paper, as well as machines for packing and tube filling and printing. In 1979, Baader

Grönqvist suggests that the first thing that a prospective buyer should ask is does the seller have any connection with any of the companies mentioned above. A working knowledge of the most important brands will contribute to a good renovation. Does the seller have his own workshop?

How skilled and experienced

A little history

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machines to refurbish. I suppose that’s because we have already sold so many refurbished ones”.

are the firm’s engineers and technicians?

The seller should supply a list of parts that have been replaced and the work performed. Does the seller guarantee the renovation?

How long is the guarantee period and what is included? Grönqvist notes that “today, there are a number of different companies in Europe offering second-hand equipment, some small, some large. But among them, only a few offer any guarantee”. Does the seller offer any post-sales service?

Can the seller supply spare parts?

Does the seller offer installation and staff training? Finally, can the seller supply a reference list of other customers?

An EU sea change SEAC started refurbishing machines in 1992. Last year, however, the company changed its focus to manufacturing and selling new machines. In 2012, they sold ten new machines and eight refurbished machines. There are two reasons for this change. First, EU subsidies are not granted for refurbished machines. Second, as Grönqvist put it, “We are back to making a new machines again because we have trouble finding old VMK and Arenco/Norden

Customers in most EU member states, especially new EU member states, are buying only new machines because of the support available. According to Grönqvist, the grants can cover 50 and up to 90 of the purchase price, depending on the location of the buyer and the seller. “Because of the EU ruling, 99 of the EU market for renovated machines is closed to us”, he comments. “But this has the advantage of pushing us into making new machines again. We are forced to search for new markets outside of the EU. For example, we have sold machines in Australia, Thailand, and Peru, among other non-EU countries”.

Peruza’s Roberts Dlohi offers a further explanation. “Support for the purchase of new equipment multiplies the benefits. They are felt by both the final user and the machine’s producer. The economy is stimulated at least twice.

Refurbishing machines doesn’t encourage industrial growth.

I think that’s the logic behind it”.

To refurbish or not to refurbish For Dlohi, there are other downsides to refurbishing machines.

“Someone in the market to buy a second-hand machine is very conscious about getting a low www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TECHNOLOGY ] price. Often, refurbishing a machine takes more effort than it’s worth”. Dlohi says that manufacturing new machines is often preferable to renovating old machines. “When we make new machines, we can better meet the customer’s needs and demands”.

Dlohi reveals that most of Peruza’s work is for export because of the limits of the local market, a situation similar to that of SEAC and Boyd Food Machinery.

Although Peruza was established in 1991, immediately following Latvian independence, the experience of its founders and specialists had been gained long before, working in the equipment-engineering shops of Latvian fishermen’s cooperatives and for the well-known Latvian enterprise VEF (State Electro-technical Factory).

Dlohi says that one of the company’s original founders, Arnis

Petranis, still steers the company, providing the knowledge that allows the company to develop new machinery and technological solutions, up to and including complete turnkey plants. He explains that “limited resources in the past forced us to be creative in finding solutions to problems in the most cost-efficient way. That helps us to honour our company motto, ‘smart budget equipment specialists’. It doesn’t mean cheap.

It means getting value for money”.

Classification of second-hand equipment

More than a low price

A reputable firm will make clear the extent of the work done to pre-owned machinery. However, no universally accepted classification of second-hand seafood processing equipment exists. Here is a suggestion for classifying equipment, based on a presentation given by Ulf Grönqvist, president of SEAC AB, Sweden.

David Boyd cites his company’s 15 years experience refurbishing equipment, and notes that their number-one selling point isn’t actually price. “A full refurbishment of a machine is cheaper than a new machine, but it’s not 20 of the cost of a new machine.

It is a significant investment”. He explains, “We actually sell a lot of our equipment based on quick availability rather than price.

As is

The equipment can be in any condition. Even if the seller’s description is qualified by words like average, good, or excellent, it is impossible to predict its working life. No guarantee is offered.

Overhauled

This has been inspected by the seller, and some parts have been replaced. Sometimes, the machine has been painted but not dismounted prior to painting. No guarantee is offered.

Partially renovated

This has been partially refurbished. Broken and some worn parts have been replaced. This step is similar to “Overhauled”, but offers greater reliability. Often, some form of guarantee is given.

Completely renovated/ rebuilt

The following work is included.

Dismount the entire machine. Technicians experienced with this model check all parts, including the guards.

Dismount each gearbox; mount new gears, if necessary.

Replace all worn or damaged parts, including guards. This includes bushings, rings, hubs, lubricators, etc. Some parts are remanufactured specially, including shafts, hub wheels, and guards. Shafts have to be checked carefully because a defective bushing will damage the shaft.

Blast and paint galvanized steel frames and castings with protective paint in the original colour. Immerse stainless steel frames and undamaged guards in an acid bath.

Parts newly designed by the original manufacturer are added to the machine.

New water and electrical systems (with CE-compliant motors) may be mounted.

Post-sales service, including installation and staff training, must be included. The seller must demonstrate the ability to supply spare parts reliably. A guarantee of at least one year must be included.

www.eurofishmagazine.com

11_TECH.indd 53

“Last week a customer needed a machine very quickly to replace one that had gone down. He had only one machine remaining in the factory. We were able to ship the machine within one day of receiving the order. He couldn’t have gotten a new machine in that amount of time. It would have taken at least 13 weeks to supply a new machine.

We did it in 13 hours!”

Boyd says, “Most of the time, we have these machines in the warehouse, rebuilt and ready to go. If not, we have a huge database of our customers around the world, and we can usually find what the customer needs very quickly”. The company has 20 employees, seven of whom are engineers. The entire sales staff is based in the company’s office; there are no agents in other countries. But staff members speak many different languages, allowing

the firm, like the other companies mentioned here, to search for business globally, most recently in Australia, Spain, France, South Africa, Denmark, and Malaysia. More than 90 of their sales is outside the UK. Boyd says that repeat business is very important to the company.

“For example, if we sell someone a machine or a complete line to do 500 kg per hour and future increased sales leads to demand for two tonnes an hour, we will buy back the 500-kg-per-hour equipment and sell them the two-tonne machinery”. Although the EU does not encourage the business of second-hand seafood processing equipment, innovative firms within the EU have found ways to turn yesterday’s equipment into today’s profit.

William Anthony

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Eurofish Magazine 2 / 2013

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03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TECHNOLOGY ] Metalbud Nowicki prioritises customer satisfaction

Machinery for the ďŹ sh and food processing industry The Polish ďŹ sh processing industry is highly dynamic producing between 360 and 380 thousand tonnes of product annually (in comparison Germany with twice the population produced just over 490 thousand tonnes of processed products). About 60% of the volume is exported to countries within and outside Europe, among them Germany, the UK, France, and Denmark.

The high-speed rotation vacuum cutter Typhoon II is designed to produce all kinds of homogenised fish mince with different degrees of crumbling (e.g. for fish sticks). Bowl capacities range from 60 l to 750 l.

Vacuum tumblers are designed for marinating the fish, (herring, trout, and other species) in a vacuum to ensure a high quality product. The capacity of the tumbler can vary from 200 l to 10,200 l.

P

processing fish, meat and other foods. The company emphasises the need to invest in research to ensure the steady evolution of its machinery and the development of new ideas. It therefore has a team of dedicated engineers, technicians, designers, and machine operators to study, design, build and test its machin-

olish processors produce a variety of items including smoked fish, marinades and salads, canned fish, as well as fresh and frozen products. The presence of a significant fish processing industry has also spurred the development of a domestic industry producing machinery for fish processing.

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Highly trained team constantly improves machinery One Polish supplier of processing machinery is the company Metalbud Nowicki which was established in 1974 in Rawa Mazowiecka in the centre of Poland and builds equipment for

ery before releasing it on to the market. The competence of the employees ensures that no task within the field of processing is insurmountable and as the products manufactured in the fish processing industry have increased in sophistication the machines to produce them have followed suit. www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ TECHNOLOGY ] and only fault-free elements to be used in the production.

Products for any processing requirement Altogether Metalbud Nowicki produces some 20 series of products comprising a total of about 150 machines, all of which are made with stainless steel and conform to EU and US statutory requirements.

Metalbud Nowicki produces some 150 machines in stainless steel, all of which conform to EU and US legal requirements.

Production of the processing equipment uses sophisticated digitally controlled machinery for cutting, including water, plasma and laser cutting tools; plastic forming; and welding. As the quality of the final product depends on the raw material that goes into its produc-

tion the company has quality controls that start with the raw material and continue along each stage of the production. The comprehensive quality control system is computer monitored to enable any components that do not meet the quality standards to be eliminated

Apart from individual machines the company also produces complete processing lines tailored to the customer’s requirements.

Among the machines the company produces are injectors, tumblers, cutters, grinders, cleaning equipment, ice makers, smokehouses, cookers, and refrigerating machinery. The company has a global network of agents that covers 45 countries on all the five continents.

Metalbud Sp. z o.o.

Company Fact File

96-200 Rawa Mazowiecka Podlas 3 Poland

Products: Equipment for fish and food processing including complete lines Types: Tumblers, cutters, grinders, cleaning equipment, ice makers, smokehouses, etc.

Distribution: Sales offices in 45 countries

Tel.: +48 46 8145500 Fax: +48 46 8142215 metalbud@metalbud.com www.metalbud.com

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Eurofish Magazine 2 / 2013

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03/04/13 8:32 PM

[ SPECIES ] Halibut is a popular, but expensive fish that is proving difficult to farm

Marked differences between black and white halibut When people talk about halibut in Europe they usually mean Reinhardtius hippoglossoides: Greenland halibut or black halibut. The name halibut is derived from haly (holy) and butt (flat fish) due to its popularity on Catholic holy days.

Names of black halibut Danish:

hellefisk,

Dutch:

helibot, zwarte helibot, Groenlandse helibot

English:

halibut, black halibut, blue halibut, mock halibut

Finnish:

grönlanninpallas

German:

schwarzer Heilbutt, Grönland Heilbutt

French:

flétan noir

Greenlandic:

qaleralik

Icelandic:

grálúpa

Italian:

halibut di Groenlandia

Japanese:

karasugarei

Norwegian:

blåkveite, legekveite, svartkveite

Polish:

halibut niebieski

Portuguese:

alabote-da-gronelândia

Russian:

paltouss

Spannish:

hipogloso negro

Swedish:

helgflyndra, lilla haelleflyndra, mindre haelleflyndra

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12_SPECIES.indd 56

reveals a number of noteworthy differences.

Manfred Klinkhardt

T

he species’ geographic range extends along the Norwegian coast as far as the cold North Atlantic waters off Greenland, Iceland and Spitzbergen. It is thus to be found in the same habitat as the Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a relatively close relation that is considered to be the “real” halibut in a lot of other countries. Although the two species are similar in appearance and behaviour closer examination

The world’s biggest flatfish Whilst black halibut only grows to an average length of one metre – males about 80 cm and females 1.20 cm – the record for Atlantic halibut is 3 m and 320 kg. Atlantic halibut is thus considered to be the biggest representative of the flatfish species worldwide. The two species also differ in colour, although Atlantic halibut is not really white: but the grey-brown darkly marbled shade on the eye side is visibly paler than is the case with black halibut. The differences on the blind side are even more marked: whilst Atlantic halibut– like nearly all flatfishes – is pure white, black halibut has the same colouring here as on the upper side.

One difference that could be of particular significance – and not only for gourmets – is the difference in the culinary attributes of the two flatfishes. Flavour and consistency of black halibut are probably sufficiently known for hot smoked pieces of black halibut are part of the standard range at northern European fishmongers’. Its snow white flesh is short-fibred and very soft. This is due to the high fat content which over the course of the year rises to above 20 and even at spawning time when the fishes eat

White halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is a sought-after species, but catches amount to only some five and a half thousand tonnes.

less and become haggard rarely falls below 10. These product attributes set certain limits on the possible usages of black halibut in the kitchen. The fish is particularly suited to grilling, baking and frying. In the north of Scandinavia and on Greenland the fillets are also often dried or preserved through salting. Salted halibut roe is considered a particular delicacy.

Atlantic halibut – an expensive delicacy The flesh of the Atlantic halibut is also white but, in contrast to that of black halibut, is much firmer and has a considerably lower fat content with average fat content fluctuating around only 6. Sometimes it can sink so low that the fillet is almost too dry.

If a fishmonger or good restaurant offers Atlantic halibut it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to enjoy this fish which is one of the best the northern oceans have to offer, something which is also to be seen in the price, for Atlantic halibut costs about twice as much as black halibut. Examination of the catch statistics soon explains this price difference. The global average annual catch of black halibut is 120,000 t (FAO, 2010), of Atlantic halibut only 5,600 t.

Demand for Atlantic halibut is high, supply limited, and the price accordingly attractive. It would be hard to conceive of better preconditions for producing a fish in aquaculture! And so for a lot of years Norway, Iceland and other countries invested considerable sums in the development www.eurofishmagazine.com

03/04/13 8:33 PM

[ SPECIES ] of farming techniques for Atlantic halibut. The bottleneck so far was above all the production of sufficient juveniles to enable regular stocking of the net cages in the sea. Production has stagnated at about 1,800 tonnes for the three years to 2010 with Norway responsible for almost all the tonnage. Although Atlantic halibut will presumably never achieve the market success of salmon, if it picks up aquaculture might in this case, too, make a decisive contribution towards giving this excellent fish a firmer place on restaurant menus.

But the Greenland or black halibut is also a valuable food and on account of its high fat content very recommendable. Its fat is highly rich in polyunsaturated Omega 3 fatty acids which are

said to have numerous health giving benefits – a fountain of youth for the human organism, so to speak. And black halibut also contains minerals, trace elements and essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce themselves. One hundred grams of halibut cover the higher daily needs of vitamin D in growing children and pregnant women.

Black halibut is a voracious feeder These “inner values” are no accident, either, for black halibut is a fish that loves the cold and prefers to live in the icy water of the Arctic Ocean to the north of 60° latitude, at depths of between 500 and 1,000 metres where temperatures are constantly around 4°C. The greedy

predator swallows just about everything that it can get the better of: small-sized skate, cod and other fishes, squid and crustaceans. Northern prawn (Pandalus borealis) is a particular favourite.

The broad deeply cloven mouth has numerous pointed spear-like teeth, which in the upper jaw are arranged in two rows behind each other. Fishermen often have interesting tales to tell of the voracity of these flatfishes. Sometimes they even seem to follow the fishing vessels and devour everything that is thrown overboard from the ship’s kitchen: chop bones, poultry remains and other kitchen waste have been found in the stomachs of these halibut.

Tagging experiments have confirmed that black halibut undertakes extensive migrations in

the North Atlantic when moving between their winter habitat, and their grazing and spawning grounds. In the course of a year they cover several hundred kilometres in the process. The spawning grounds off the Norwegian coast are between Vesterålen and Bear Island on the slope of the continental shelf. The fishes migrate to this region during spawning time which lasts from March to June. In the dark depths of about 1,000 m the females eject several hundred thousand eggs which are subsequently fertilized by the males. The eggs are a good 3 mm in size, float in the water and drift with the currents.

When the tiny larvae hatch they are only 6 to 7 mm long. At that time they hardly resemble their parents at all for the translucent body is absolutely symmetrical.

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[ SPECIES ] It is only when they have reached a length of 25 mm that the left begins to move to the right eye of the body and the juveside niles take on the typical appearance of a flatfish. In spite of their

enormous appetites the fishes grow slowly. After 6 to 8 years they measure about 55 cm and have attained sexual maturity.

The oldest proven age of black halibut is about 30 years.

However, hardly any fish reaches that age today because pressure from fisheries has increased. Icelandic and Norwegian fishermen, in particular, go after halibut with trawls and

longlines. The catch is mostly frozen immediately on board because the fat-rich fish spoils quickly, particularly at higher temperatures. mk

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FISH INFONETWORK NEWS

Events

Marketing seminars on sustainable aquaculture Two seminars were held in Bangladesh as part of the activities under the CFC/INFOFISH Project on Promotion of Processing and Marketing of Freshwater Fish Products. One was a training seminar for fish farmers and district fisheries officers and the other an awareness seminar for industry and government officials.

The training seminar on Good Aquaculture Practices was held 19 January 2013 in Mymensingh with some 60 participants in attendance. Prof Subhash Chandra Chakraborty, Director General, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Mymensingh, was the chief guest. Others at the opening were Sures Chandra Sarker, District Fisheries Officer, Mymensingh;

]

Dr Mahmudul Karim, Executive Director, Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation; and Mrs Fatima Ferdouse, Chief, Trade Promotion Division, INFOFISH. The Awareness Seminar on Sustainable Aquaculture and Marketing was held 22 January 2013 at the Department of Fisheries (DoF) office in Dhaka. Some 40 participants from industry and government attended. The seminar was opened by the Director General of the DoF, Mr Syed Arif Azad. Also present was DoF Principal Scientific Officer Nittya Ranjan Biswas.

Presentations made during the

seminars were on various aspects of sustainable aquaculture and marketing. The presenters were Thai experts Dr Naruepon Sukumasavin and Ms Amputchanee Naunsang, as well as Tarlochan Singh and Mrs Fatima Ferdouse. Nitya Ranjan Biswas, principal scientific officer of DoF gave details of the quality assurance system for aquaculture products in Bangladesh while Ali Muhammad Omar Faruque, also of DoF, gave an overview of freshwater aquaculture in the country. An introductory lecture on the CFC/ INFOFISH Freshwater Fishery Project was also included.

Participants at the training workshop on Good Aquaculture Practices in Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

FAO supports international Master in sustainable ďŹ sheries management The Master programme is jointly organized by the University of Alicante, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, through the General Secretariat of Fisheries, and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, and it is an official Master of the Spanish university www.eurofishmagazine.com

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system. Furthermore, the Master counts on the collaboration of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The Master is developed over two academic years on a fulltime basis (120 credits, following the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)], and is struc-

tured in two parts. The first part of the Master (60 ECTS) is professionally oriented and includes lectures, practicals, supervised work, seminars and technical visits. This part will be held in Alicante, in the Faculty of Science of the UA, from 14 October 2013 to 13 June 2014 The second part of the Master (60 ECTS) constitutes a period of initiation to research or to professional

activity in which participants work on their Master of Science Thesis. This part will begin from September 2014 onwards and will last for 10 months, during which research work will be conducted, followed by the elaboration of the thesis, that must be publicly defended and approved by an examining board.

For more information visit www.globefish.org.

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FISH INFONETWORK NEWS

Technical and trade workshop on tuna held in Pakistan.

A two-day workshop on “Tuna Handling, Catch Documentation, Traceability and Quality Assessment” was held in Karachi, Pakistan on 9–10 January 2013 under the FAO/INFOFISH TCP Project (TCP/RAS/3302). The workshop was attended by about 50 participants representing all stakeholders including policy makers, implementation agencies, fish processors, boat owners, community organisations etc.

The Director General of the Marine Fisheries Department officiated the workshop. Director of INFOFISH, Dr Muhammad Ayub, gave an overview of the project and activities under-

Presentations were made on Global Trends in Tuna Markets and Marketing (by Fatima Ferdouse, INFOFISH); Traceability, Chain of Custody in Tuna Industry (S Hathurusinghe); Valueadded Products of Tuna in the EU Market (S Hathurusinghe); Experiences from the CFC Project on Value Addition (Fatima Ferdouse, INFOFISH); Quality Assessment Methodology Options - organoleptic, histamine, or microbiological (S Hathurusinghe). A visit to a fish processing plant was also part of the programme..

Aqua Aquaria India 2013

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had a stand promoting its services and publications related to the industry. The event was

organized by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), India.

taken in the five participating countries.

Group discussion during a workshop on technical issues related to Pakistan's tuna fishery.

The second edition of Aqua Aquaria India, focusing on the aquaculture and ornamental fish sectors, was considered one of the largest shows in Asia in its category. The show was held from 8 - 10 February 2013 in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The threeday event comprised technical sessions on aquaculture and

]

ornamental fish, as well as trade interactions followed by field visits and buyer-seller meets for exporters.

With more than 150 local and international exhibitors, the exhibition showcased the latest technology, inputs and services on aquaculture and the ornamental fish sectors. INFOFISH

Aqua Aquaria India is an event for the ornamental fish and the aquaculture sectors.

Publications

Two Commodity Updates released in February In February GLOBEFISH released Commodity Updates on sardines and bivalves. The Commodity Updates contain information from around the world on prices, production, processing, consumption, imports, and exports for one commodity. This information is collated at GLOBEFISH, the FAO centre for international fish trade information. The information is taken form the network of GLOBEFISH correspondents, the European Price Report, GLOBEFISH Highlights, INFOFISH Trade News, FAO FISHDAB, EUROSTAT and others.

Subscriptions to a complete set of 15 different commodity reports (freshwater fish, cephalopods, groundfish, small pelagics, fishmeal and oil, bivalves, tuna, salmon, crab, lobster and shrimp) are available for EUR 150 a year (by post) or EUR 100 a year (pdf files by email). Individual Updates can be bought for just EUR 20 each from www.eurofish.

COMMODITY UPDATE

Bivalves Extract from GLOBEFISH Databank Prices - Exports - Imports - Production

February 2013

COMMODITY UPDATE

Sardines Extract from GLOBEFISH Databank Prices - Exports - Imports - Production

February 2013

dk with a credit card or from www. globefish.org using a downloadable form. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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FISH INFONETWORK NEWS

TILAPIA WORLD CONFERENCE INFOPESCA, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Brasil (MPA) and the Government of Rio de Janeiro are hosting the Tilapia World Conference.

The event will be held in the city of Rio de Janeiro between 16 and 18 of September 2013 (location details will be published shortly). Market analysts with wide experience and representatives from the commercial and productive sector will dissert on the main aspects and recent developments within the tilapia world market. This event intends to continue with what was done in the Tilapia World Conference held in Kuala Lumpur in 2010 , and hosted by INFOFISH. An presentation regarding the sector will be held simultaneously.

Main topics of the Conference’s agenda include: - Global strategy for tilapia and prospects of the fishery and aquaculture industry.

- Major global trends - Tilapia’s contribution to development of the sector - Distribution channels - Product differentiation - Recent developments within the main markets and productive regions.

- Tilapia’s role in the sector’s development - China and Asia - USA - Europe - Latin America: A growing production region and market.

- Latin America’s potential as producer and market - Experiences in Latin American countries such as: Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil.

- Recent experiences in Latin American industries.

- Recent global experiences in the industry.

- New developments in production technologies.

Location details will be provided on the website shortly, along with the possibility to register for the conference, the preliminary agenda, and speakers. For more information, contact tilapia@infopesca.org, or visit www.infopesca.org/tilapia.

Tilapia World Conference Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL September 16 - 18

www.infopesca.org/tilapia

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]

The Fish Infonetwork (FIN) The FIN consists of 7 independent partner organizations. They cover all aspects of post-harvest fisheries and aquaculture. With more than 50 governments support-ing the network, which also has strong links to the private sector, the activities are truly international. The FIN pages, which are a regular feature in the four network magazines – Infofish International, Infopesca Internacional, Eurofish Magazine, and Infosamak Magazine – present the FIN-wide spectrum of activities, showing actions and results.

The FIN has more than 80 full-time staff and works with more than one hundred international experts in all fields of fisheries. Through its link from FAO Globefish to the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, it also has access to the latest information and knowledge on fisheries policy and management issues worldwide.

FIN executes donor projects, prepares market research for private companies, and organizes training courses on marketing and quality assurance. All seven services offer different possibilities for co-operation with the private sector, institutes, government offices and donors.

Globefish Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Economics Division, FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla I 00100 Rome, Italy Tel.: (+39) 06 5705 2692 Fax: (+39) 06 5705 5188 globefish@fao.org www.globefish.org Partners: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Copenhagen, Denmark; National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA), Maryland, USA; European Commission (DG MARE) Brussels, Belgium; ASMI, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute; Norwegian Seafood Council, Tromsoe, Norway; AGRIMER, France - Division Observatoire Economique Etudes; Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Madrid, Spain Infopesca Casilla de Correo 7086 Julio Herrea y Obes 1296 11200 Montevideo, Uruguay Tel.: (+598) 2 9028701/2 Fax: (+598) 2 9030501 infopesc@adinet.com.uy www.infopesca.org Member Countries: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Venezuela Infofish 1st Floor, Wisma LKIM Jalan Desaria Pulau Meranti 47120 Puchong, Selangor DE Malaysia www.infofish.org info@infofish.org Member Countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand Infopeche Tour C -19éme étage, Cité Administrative, Abidjan 01, Cote d‘Ivoire Tel.: (+225) 228980 / 215775 Fax: (+225) 218054

infopech@africaonline.co.ci www.globefish.org/index.php?id=1113 Member Countries: Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo Infosa Southern African suboffice of Infopeche P.O. Box 23523, Kenya House Robert Mugabe Avenue, 4th Floor Windhoek, Namibia Tel: (+264) 61 279430 Fax: (+264) 61 279434 infosadc@mweb.com.na www.infosa.org.na Member Countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe Eurofish H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44 - 46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark Tel: (+45) 333 777 55 Fax: (+45) 333 777 56 info@eurofish.dk, www.eurofish.dk Member Countries: Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey Infoyu Room 203, Bldg 18, Maizidian Street, Chaoyang District Beijing 100026, P.R. China Tel.: (+86) 10 64195140 Fax: (+86) 10 64195141 infoyu@agri.gov.cn www.globefish.org/index.php?id=2074 Member Countries: China Infosamak 71 Boulevard Rahal Meskini B.P. 16243 Casablanca, Morocco Tel.: (+212) 22540856 Fax: (+212) 22540855 infosamak@onp.co.ma www.infosamak.org Member Countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Yemen

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DIARY DATES

9-11 April 2013 North Atlantic Fish Fair Klaksvik, Faroe Islands Tel.: +298 58 29 10 info@fair.fo www.fair.fo 18-20 April 2013 Seoul Seafood Show 2013 Seoul, Korea Tel.: +82 2 6000 2800 Fax: +82 2 6000 2805 3s@seoulseafood.com www.seoulseafood.com 22 April 2013 4th European Tuna Conference Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +31 162 714044 Fax: +31 162 430525 support@EuropeanTunaConference.com www.EuropeanTunaConference.com

22-24 May 2013 Polfish Gdansk, Poland Tel.: +48 58 554 93 62 monika.pain@mtgsa.com.pl www.polfishtargi.pl

22-26 May 2013 World of Seafood Bangkok, Thailand Tel.: +65 6500 6712 Fax: +65 6294 8403 l.how@koelnmesse.com.sg www.worldofseafood.com 9-12 August 2013 Aquaculture Europe Trondheim, Norway Tel.: +32 9 233 4912 www.was.org

23-25 April 2013 European Seafood Exposition Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 food@divcom.com www.euroseafood.com

13-16 August 2013 Aqua Nor Trondheim, Norway Tel.: +47 73 56 86 mailbox@nor-fishing.no http://nor-fishing.no

24 April 2013 GLOBALG.A.P. News Conference Brussels, Belgium Tel: +49 22 15 79 93 997 meifert@globalgap.org www.globalgap.org 10-13 May 2013 Slow Fish Genova, Italy Tel.: +39 0172 419653 Fax: +39 0172 413640 www.slowfish.it

3-5 September 2013 Asian Seafood Show Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.asianseafoodexpo.com

23-24 September 2013 Developmental trends and diversification in European Aquaculture Bremerhaven, Germany Tel.: +49 471-94646741 abbel@bis-bremerhaven.de www.aquaculture-forum.de 1-3 October 2013 Conxemar 2013 Vigo, Spain Tel.: +34 986 433351 Fax: +34 986 221174 conxemar@conxemar.com www.conxemar.com 9-11 October 2013 DanFish Aalborg, Denmark Tel.: +45 99 35 55 55 info@akkc.dk www.danfish.com

22-24 October 2013 Seafood Barcelona Barcelona, Spain Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodbarcelona.com 07-09 November 2013 EXPO PESCA & ACUIPERU Lima, Peru Tel.: +511 201 7820 (202) Fax: +511 201 7820 (209) thais@amauta.rcp.net.pe www.thaiscorp.com 10-13 December 2013 Asian-Pacific Aquaculture Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Tel.: +1 760 751 5005 worldaqua@aol.com www.was.org

A d d y o u r e v e n t t o w w w. E u r o f i s h M a g a z i n e . c o m

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Control and inspection have been priorities since the inception of the BSRAC

Working to achieve long term yields in Baltic fisheries The Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BSRAC) is one of seven Regional Advisory Councils created after the 2002 revision of the Common Fisheries Policy to give stakeholders with an interest in the fishery a greater say on fisheries management.

Stakeholders from the fisheries sector as well as other interest groups (environment, recreational/sports fishery and consumer groups) produce advice and recommendations on matters relating to the fishery and send it to the European Commission, member states, European Parliament and other international/regional bodies. The BSRAC has a General Assembly, an Executive Committee and working groups to deal with specific issues. Reine J. Johansson (formerly president of the Swedish Fishermen’s Federation) has been chair of the BSRAC Executive Committee since 2006.

Q: As chairman of the BSRAC now for the seventh year, what do you consider the most significant achievements of the organisation during your tenure? What would you say are the strengths of the BSRAC in relation to the other RACs?

At about the same time, the European Fisheries Control Agency in Vigo was created. So we formed a close cooperation on control issues from the very start and this cooperation has continued. Control and compliance underpins our work.

A: We’ve put the Baltic on the map! We’ve made politicians and managers aware that there’s a body of stakeholders which cares about and has an opinion on the way the Baltic fisheries resources are managed and used.

We’ve also put a strong focus on long-term management of the stocks, starting with the so-called Baltic cod management plan and then working on recommendations for a long term plan for salmon. The reason for this focus was a strong wish by us all in the RAC to have stability and long term yields in the fisheries.

A significant achievement has to be that we put control and inspection right on the agenda from the beginning. There was a serious problem with unregulated cod fishery. We raised this issue almost as soon as the BSRAC became operational. At a BSRAC Conference on control in Copenhagen in 2007, all Baltic member state ministers took part and signed a declaration to do something about eradicating illegal, unregulated and unreported cod fishery because it was a major threat to sustainable fishing.

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As for our strengths in relation to other RACs, I don’t like to compare, since we’re not competing with each other! But one significant strength must stem from the very nature of the Baltic. It’s a very homogenous area.

The Baltic Sea states have a long tradition of working together and we all share the same coastline.

And EU membership of the three Baltic States and Poland came as a natural extension of the EU.

Reine J. Johansson, chair of the BSRAC Executive Committee.

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But at the same time, we must always remember that the Baltic is a semi-enclosed area. On environmental issues, we have a past that we still suffer from - i.e. dioxin - and this is where we have to highlight the semi-enclosed nature of the Baltic. So environmental matters influence the fishery much more than in other areas.

Q: The BSRAC represents all the stakeholders (industry, anglers, NGO’s, among others) with a stake in the fisheries sector in the Baltic. These can have widely different interests.

Which would you say are the issues where forging a compromise has proved particularly intractable in the past?

A: We can’t all agree on everything. Different agendas and goals are defined by the organisation that you represent. Fishermen want to fish, eNGOs want to preserve a particular state of the environment, anglers want to fish in their particular areas and ways, and so on. This is a very simplified bird’s eye view of things. But everyone has signed up to advise the European Commission and Member States on matters relating to the management of the fisheries in the Baltic Sea. Differences between members are reflected in the way members interpret and understand the scientific assessments produced every year by ICES. As I said, all members share the objective of stable long term management plans for the fish stocks in the Baltic. But sometimes the differences of opinion are too diverging. This was the case for a management plan for salmon. Consensus couldn’t be reached. There were differences on the salmon spawning targets to be set in the individual rivers, 64

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broader forum. Then member states meet behind closed doors.

The BSRAC could play a more active part in advice-giving upstream of the political process: when formulating the policy and the rules. And then again downstream: when drawing up implementing measures, such as technical measures, real-time closures or move-on measures etc.

The BSRAC is ready to play a more active and involved role in fisheries management in its broadest sense.

Sprats in the Baltic Sea are fished both for human consumption and for conversion into fishmeal and fish oil. Better infrastructure is needed if more of the fish is to be consumed by humans directly.

on the overall fishing mortality level for the open sea fisheries and on the so-called compensatory releases. We worked really hard to find a consensus. And as chairman of the organisation, trying to reach consensus is something I take very seriously.

But rather than end up with a watered down position based on too many compromises, it’s sometimes better to record the different views.

And the Commission, as the main reader of the advice from the RACs, has confirmed this. After all, we know that member states and Parliament don’t always reach consensus either. This is the nature of politics and the decision-making process within the EU, as well as in other areas, and fisheries is no exception Q: The BSRAC was set up in 2006 as one of the outcomes of the 2002 reform of the CFP. How has the BSRAC evolved since its establishment and how do you see its future role

and composition in the context of the new regionalised decision-making framework?

A: I wouldn’t say that it’s evolved as such. It’s remained a very stable organisation with a broad membership that hasn’t changed very much over the past 7 years.

We currently have 39 members and we’ve hovered around that since the start.

Under the future CFP I don’t see the composition of the organisation changing very much. There have been proposals to have a different distribution of membership from the current 2/3 of the seats to fisheries sector and 1/3 of the seats to other interest groups. But I don’t see that happening.

I’d like to see the BSRAC better embedded and more involved in a regional framework. By that I mean I hope it will play a more senior role in the cooperation forum amongst Baltic member states called Baltfish. This currently operates on two levels.

Stakeholders are invited to the

Q: With the reform of the CFP reaching its final phases before it is implemented, what aspects of the new CFP will have a particular impact on fisheries in the Baltic and how will they be manifested?

A: First of all there will be a discard ban. The details have to be negotiated by the Council and the Parliament. In general, a discard ban in the Baltic can be dealt with more easily than in other parts of the EU. So we can be optimistic about this working, but we have to make sure that we deal with it in the right way: this is important.

I also hope that a broader, more over-arching framework legislation will be decided at the level of co-decision (between Parliament and Council) and then more responsibilities delegated to the member states. This has to be thrashed out and agreed. If it does work out, I really hope they will involve the Advisory Councils to a greater degree than hitherto.

This can mean that the technical measures connected with the actual practical management and running of the Baltic fisheries and other provisions ensuring long term management of the www.eurofishmagazine.com

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resources can be more easily drawn up and managed at the level of the region, or even at sub-regional level. This will give a quicker and more adaptive management.

The proposal on the new so-called Basic Regulation for the CFP says very little about regionalisation as such.

But member states working together will mean a regional or sub-regional approach.

Q: A ban on discards has been one of the key points in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and one that has been strongly endorsed by the European Parliament. What is the extent of the problem in the Baltic Sea and is a ban the best way to address it?

What according to the BSRAC should be done with the fish that would otherwise have been discarded?

A: A ban is now on the agenda, and the timescale will be staggered according to different species and EU waters. We don’t have much time in the Baltic. We have to start working towards developing measures for implementing it. The best measure of all is selectivity: to develop more selective gears so as to avoid catching the unwanted fish in the first place.

The BSRAC has recommended that the ban should first of all apply to the species for which there are TACs and quotas (sprat, herring, salmon, cod and plaice) and not include species which have a high survival rate (flounder, turbot, brill and so on). There’s the difficult discussion on minimum landing sizes: should we keep them, or should we introduce minimum marketing sizes, or what? This will have to be discussed and resolved. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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We all have concerns about what to do with the fish that’s brought ashore, not least from a hygiene point of view. In the RAC we’ve talked about selling the fish (it’s food after all), or letting it go to fishmeal and fishoil (to in turn produce food). We’ve not reached a consensus on this. In the Mediterranean this is not even questioned! But I note that in the recent second General Approach from the February Fisheries Council the possibility has been introduced of using it for charitable purposes. This is something that we can discuss.

Q: What are the benefits and drawbacks of moving to multi-species multiannual management plan in the Baltic as opposed to the current single species management regime? What changes do you foresee such a move will bring about in the fisheries sector?

A: Multi-species considerations are nothing new to the Baltic.

The scientific advice has already been taking into account interactions between especially cod, sprat and herring. This has concerned predation by one species of another, as well as temporal and spatial considerations: where the different species and stocks are over time.

The key word that will come up is trade-offs. And here I think we have to be very careful that we don’t start engineering or manipulating the ecosystem through our choices. We can’t start turning knobs to secure more cod as opposed to pelagic stocks, or vice-versa. We can expect that ICES will give advice on the state of the different stocks and their interactions, together with a range of options for the managers to choose from and stakeholders to advise on. The choices will

be hard ones, depending on the interests of the parties involved.

For example, we’ve already had some difficult discussions within the RAC on whether to move from the fixed inter-annual ranges currently set out in the current long term plan for cod, to allow a bigger fishery for cod and in turn benefit the herring stocks on which cod predates. There was not one consensus opinion!

Q: Sprat and herring in the Baltic Sea are used both for human consumption and to be rendered into fishmeal and fish oil. What is the BSRAC’s position on converting fish that could be used for human nutrition into fishmeal? Should the market alone decide or are there also other considerations to be taken into account?

A: The BSRAC doesn’t have a view on whether the fish should be turned into fish meal or go to consumption. There are differing views on this in the RAC. And in the Baltic there are different end users. In the end, it must be left to the fishermen to decide how to market their catch and it’s also determined by the market. Like any supplier, they want the best price for their product. But it’s very important that some countries and some fishermen try to sell sprat, for example, to the market for human consumption.

The problem isn’t the will of the fishermen, but the capacity within the industry: some countries have built this up. In the future, there must be more possibilities to use it for human consumption – and we need the capacity to store and handle it. And maybe you can have freezing facilities at sea. This is a discussion that goes beyond getting the best price. It’s about facilities and infrastructure. So in the future I anticipate that more and more of this fish will be used

for human consumption, because it’s in the interests of the fishermen.

Q: Russia has observer status at the BSRAC. Do you anticipate closer cooperation between the BSRAC and Russia and what form do you envisage this will take?

A: Russia must be with us.

Although Russia has a smaller share of the Baltic TACs, it’s a key player. We invite them regularly to our meetings and we seek their opinion on the issues on our agendas. Third countries have observer status on the RACs, but they have opinions too! On top of this there are opportunities offered under the EU-Russia fisheries agreement to take a broader approach, so we can also deal with issues such as science, control, research and safety at sea.

K

AS KAJAX FISHEXPORT F

Spicy sprat and Baltic herring kajax@hot.ee www.kajaxfishexport.eu

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Name of Company

EUROFISH International Organisation H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark

Akuamaks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tel.: +45 333 777 55 Fax: +45 333 777 56 info@eurofish.dk, eurofish.dk, eurofishmagazine.com Managing editor

Page

Antaliya Balik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Aqua Nor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Aina Afanasjeva

Baader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Editorial offices

Behnan Thomas (bt) H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark

Boulogne-sur-Mer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Tel.: +45 333 777 55 behnan.thomas@eurofish.dk

Cooltech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Dr. Manfred Klinkhardt (mk) Redaktionsbüro Delbrück Franz-Stock-Straße 23 D-33129 Delbrück Germany

Editorial board

Demaplast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Diversified/ESE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inner front cover

Tel.: + 49 5250 933416 manfred.klinkhardt@web.de

Dybvaad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Lahsen Ababouch, Audun Lem

Erwin Gooss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Translation

Yvonne Bulmer

Advertising

Eckhard Preuß Marderstieg 7 D-21717 Fredenbeck Germany

GLOBALG.A.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Grieg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Hydrosol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Tel.: + 49 4149 8020 Fax: + 49 4149 7292 e.preuss@freenet.de

InterFresh Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 J.P. Klausen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Aleksandra Petersen Eurofish Magazine H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark

Kajax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Kroma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Tel.: + 45 333 777 63 Fax: + 45 333 777 56 aleksandra.petersen@eurofish.dk

Maas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Frequency

6 issues per year

Marel Salmon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Circulation

3000 copies + 5000 online readers

Subscription details

Metalbud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Price: EUR 100,– To subscribe visit www.eurofishmagazine.com or send an email to info@eurofish.dk Unless otherwise stated, the copyright for articles in this magazine is vested in the publisher. Articles may not be reproduced without written permission from the copyright holders.

Advertising rates and technical data available on www.eurofishmagazine.com. A soft copy is available on request to aleksandra.petersen@eurofish.dk

Parnu Laht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Peruza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Polfish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Promens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Rosoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

ISSN 1868-5943

RUNI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Salmco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Order your free trial Fax: +45 333 777 56 info@eurofish.dk

Sirena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Steen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Szegedfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

www.eurofishmagazine.com

ISSN 1868-5943

April 2 / 2013 C 44346

Termodizayn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back cover Tunamar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Lithuania

W.van der Zwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU has an ambitious agenda European Seafood Exposition: The countdown has begun Aquaculture: Live feed in hatcheries Technology: Refurbished processing machines can be a good alternative is a member of the FISH INFO network

Eurofish Magazine

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C 44346 April 2 / 2013

ISSN 1868-594 ine.com www.euroďŹ shmagaz

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H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46, DK-1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark Tel.: +45 333 777 63, Fax: +45 333 777 56 aleksandra.petersen@eurofish.dk

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www.eurofishmagazine.com

ISSN 1868-5943

April 2 / 2013 C 44346

April 2 / 2013 Eurofish Magazine

Lithuania EUROFISH International Organisation

The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU has an ambitious agenda European Seafood Exposition: The countdown has begun Aquaculture: Live feed in hatcheries Technology: Refurbished processing machines can be a good alternative is a member of the FISH INFO network

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