Eurofish magazine 1 2014 by Eurofish

www.eurofishmagazine.com

ISSN 1868-5943

February 1 / 2014 C 44346

Sursan Su Urunleri AS Deliveries to Europe from state-of-the-art processing facility Germany: Fishers feel restrictions do not reďŹ&#x201A;ect reality Fisheries: Reformed policy a decisive break with the past Technology: Processing machinery for tiny ďŹ sh is a member of the FISH INFO network

In this issue

Industry, research, government links underpin Spain’s aquaculture Spain: A number of factors play a role in the strength of the Spanish aquaculture industry. Among them are the number and quality of the country’s research establishments, strong aquaculture associations, and close links to the government. Funding is available for research and development and there is a well defined legal structure to coordinate the efforts of all those involved in the sector. Knowledge is disseminated through regular conferences and other events while fish is promoted through generic marketing campaigns using a variety of media and targeting different audiences. The government supports the participation of the industry at international trade fairs and also contributes to the creation of designations of origin. Trade organisations have also embraced the internet which is used to improve functionality by distributing prices, sharing ideas amongst users, and, in the future, perhaps even selling online. Clearly, there are lessons to be learned from the Spanish experience. Read more on page 52 Ukraine: In the 1980s annual fish production in Ukraine was over one million tonnes of which the fish farming sector produced about 150,000 tonnes. Production was stable and per capita consumption of fish stood at around 19 kg per capita. However, political and economic developments in the country did not benefit the fisheries sector. Production has fallen steadily since the end of the 80s . Farmed fish output is a fifth of its former volume due to a combination of factors. The lack of maintenance of ponds has reduced the available area for farming fish, commercial conditions do not encourage investment in the sector, costs are high and productivity is low. However, some efforts are being made to improve the situation. Read more on page 54 Sustainability: The demands placed on producers of food items or ingredients used in food are becoming ever more stringent. Legislation is complex, rapidly changing, and varies in different parts of the world. Production and supply chains are global and at each stage systems must be in place to ensure the high quality and sustainability of the products. Fortunately, internationally recognised standards exist to which companies can be certified thus giving them widely-understood credentials for quality or sustainability. The continued development of standards as well as the existence of credible, independent certifiers is of importance to the food industry as it provides consumers and partners the necessary assurances about products and the companies behind them. Read more on page 16 AQFood: Finding graduates with the right qualifications for a job in the seafood industry is not easy. Students of engineering or natural science do not automatically gravitate to the fish business – at least in the Nordic countries. In a bid to change this five Nordic universities have therefore got together to offer a new master degree in aquatic food production. The idea is to imbue students with the technical skills necessary to create the novel and innovative solutions that will enhance the competitiveness of the seafood industry and enable it to contribute more to the economy. As uptake has been slow the participating universities have made efforts to increase students’ awareness of the programme by launching a video and increasing their awareness of the jobs available in the aquatic food industry. Read more on page 23 Poland: Poland hosts one of Europe’s biggest production facilities for tilapia, a recirculation system with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes that is located near Warsaw. The juveniles are sourced in the Netherlands or the US and take six months to grow to market size fish and a year to reach the 800-1,000 g needed for fillet production. While tilapia is a common species in other parts of the world, in Europe it is relatively unknown, and the company will have to promote and market the product carefully. Read more on page 42

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

Table of News 6 International News

Events 13 Promoting sustainable aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea New body to help counter challenges faced by farming sector 16 Bureau Veritas’ 5th International Food Conference, November 2013, Copenhagen Sustainable Food Safety and Quality 18 Black Sea Stakeholders Conference, Bucharest, 30 January 2014 Improved cooperation could lead to higher growth 18 Alimentaria 2014, Barcelona, 31 March – 3 April Food and drinks, a foundation of the Spanish economy 21 Ninth North Atlantic Seafood Forum, Bergen, 4-6 March 2014 A well-established conference breaks new ground

Projects 23 AQFood master programme: Aquatic Food Production - Safety and Quality Higher education and working careers in the seafood industry

Fisheries 25 Reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy opens new perspectives Fishermen get a stronger voice in fisheries-related decisions

Cover story 30 Sursan Su Urunleri AS opened new facility in 2013 Deploying technology to improve product quality

Germany 35 Current developments on the German fish market Sustainability efforts are not sufficiently recognised 39 Fishing and fish farming, processing and tourism Müritzfischer underline regionality in their marketing concept

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

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Contents Poland 42 Limito S.A.: Core competence is salmon products Boneless steaks, salmon loins and convenience products 45 Global Fish: Tilapia from Polish aquaculture Fresh tilapia products for the European market 48 Fario farms and processes trout Fresh MAP trout for retail chains 50 BK Salmon smokes Norwegian salmon in Poland Daily capacity about 40,000 packs of smoked salmon

Aquaculture 52 Research, promotion campaigns, close links to government, strong associations Spanish aquaculture sector draws strength from different sources 54 The current status and prospects for aquaculture development in Ukraine A little effort can reverse today’s trend in fish farming

Technology 57 Seac AB now offers machinery for 25-100 fish/kg Processing smaller fish just got easier

Trade and markets 59 Seabass and seabream farming in Croatia, Italy, Spain, and Turkey Similar issues bedevil marine aquaculture throughout the Mediterranean

Worldwide Fish News Belgium

page

Denmark

pages

Germany

page

Norway

pages

6, 9

Poland

pages

10, 12

Russia

page

Spain

pages

Turkey

page

USA

page

Vatican

page

10, 12 6

9 7, 8

61 New products and promotion campaigns support canned tuna consumption Markets for canned tuna improve in EU, US

Guest Pages: Želimir Filic’ 64 A pioneer searches for new frontiers The beginnings of seabass and seabream aquaculture

Service 63 Diary Dates 66 Imprint, List of Advertisers

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Germany: Fish box with complete tracking and tracing European Union regulations on labelling, traceability and food safety are propelling the development of solutions that can meet these legislative requirements. There is a need for innovative products that contribute to detailed yet accurate information being passed ever more rapidly between the different actors in the supply chain. In this context the Craemer Group, a leading manufacturer of plastic pallets, wheelie bins and containers in Europe, has launched a new fish box for the fisheries sector. The new box features an RFID transponder that enables the box to be tracked at all times. This latest generation of “intelligent” fish box will facilitate the logistics of

transport and distribution by providing information on the fish, the fishing grounds, and the quality and size of the catch, to companies operating within the supply chain. The information can also be relayed to the fish auction giving potential buyers useful data even before the vessel arrives in port hastening thereby the movement of the consignment through the system. The box can also be bought without the transponder and then retrofitted. Although it loses its “intelligent” capabilities when devoid of the transponder, it still offers the advantages of a drainage system that manages water drainage to the front as well as a base geometry that

The newly developed “intelligent” ﬁsh box from the Craemer Group features an RFID chip that enables the box to be tracked at all times.

encourages quick and easy drainage. Improved stacking abilities and user-friendly handgrips make the sturdy fish boxes convenient to use, and they are completely compatible with all standard fish boxes available on the market.

The new fish boxes can be viewed at the company’s booths at the Seafood Expo North America (formerly Seafood Boston) in March, and the Seafood Expo Global (formerly European Seafood Exposition) in May.

Norway: Innovations in ﬁshery sector can win Nor-Fishing award The Nor-Fishing Foundation is seeking proposals for its innovation award which will be presented at Nor-Fishing 2014, 19-22 August. The award is given for a product, process, or other specific initiative that creates innovation and efficiency improvements. Increased profitability and safety, improved marine environment and improved quality of marine raw materials are also important aspects. The Nor-Fishing Foundation offers an award at each of the events, Nor-Fishing and AquaNor, which alternate with each other. Last year, at AquaNor, the award went to a company for the optical system it had developed to remove salmon lice from the fish. The company said the award had brought the company widespread attention and an understanding of optical de-lousing of salmon as a sustainable method for solving the salmon lice problem. It also had the effect of stimulating further research and development and 6

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

Beck Engineering, winners of the AquaNor award in 2013, had designed an optical system for the removal of salmon lice.

encouraged the recruitment of trained and committed personnel. The award consists of

a cash prize of NOK100,000 (ca. EUR12,000) and a citation. For details about applying visit

the website www.norfishing.no. The deadline for submission is 1 June 2014. www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Spain: Hydro-acoustic measurements can give accurate biomass estimates A project with APROMAR (Business Association of Marine Aquaculture Producers), the Andalusian Aquaculture Technology Centre (CTAQUA) and the Research Institute for Integrated Management of Coastal Areas (UPV) to design ways of estimating the biomass in a fish cage has reported several interesting and useful results as it concluded at the end of last year. Accurate estimation of fish biomass is very important for the management of a fish farm as it can prevent over and under feeding, contribute to fish health and welfare, is necessary to maintain correct stocking densities, and thereby has a significant influence on the economy of the farm. The project concluded that hydro-acoustic systems could be

used to measure the biomass of seabass and seabream although readings were affected by certain parameters, such as, the time of the day, and by some of the daily operations carried out on the farm. The best correlation between the intensity of the acoustic signal and the real density of fish was seen in the data collected at night; when the fish are relatively at rest, they are more dispersed and the acoustic measurements are more stable. In addition, acoustic measurements of fish density can be used to document changes in the abundance of fish in marine cages. The project also concluded that the acoustic measurements could be taken from the surface, which is cheaper than from the seabed. As a result of these outputs the team

A Spanish project has found that hydro-acoustic techniques can be used to estimate the biomass of seabass and seabream in cages.

recommended further investigations that would monitor the fish for a longer period of time, from

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Spain: Top administration ofﬁcials visit microalgae production site APROMAR, the national association of marine aquaculture producers, coordinated a visit by senior officials from the Secretariat-General of Fisheries to an experimental plant operated by the company Algaenergy, which specialises in microalgae biotechnology. The plant is used to cultivate several strains of microalgae in different types of photobioreactors in order to study and improve the production technology as well as the ways to harvest algal biomass. The growing importance of microalgae production in Spain has become the focus of attention and investment as they are versatile products with applications in the fields of nutrition, cosmetics, and energy. The Common Fisheries Policy recognises algal cultivation as an aquaculture activity and it is promoted as a priority sector in the European Union.

Algaenergy has a substantial research and development programme running into millions of euros from both public and in-house sources. On 15 January APROMAR organised a visit by D. Ignacio Escobar, Director General of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and D. Andres Hermida, Director-General of Fisheries Management accompanied by several officials from the ministry to the company’s experimental site at Madrid’s Bajaras airport, where it is studying the production of microalgae for human consumption. These strains of microalgae have a significant content of omega-3 fatty acids and may therefore carry the distinctive logo, recently introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, to highlight high omega-3 content. Apart from these

Mr Ignacio Escobar, Director General of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Mr Andres Hermida, Director-General of Fisheries Management accompanied by several ofﬁcials of the ministry visited the microalgae biotechnology company, Algaenergy. The visit was arranged by APROMAR, the national association of marine aquaculture producers.

healthy fatty acids microalgae may contain essential amino acids as well as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and proteins. Algaenergy is planning shortly to expand its capacity with a

1 million litre plant in Cadiz that will produce 100 tonnes of microalgae biomass per year using the carbon dioxide generated by a neighbouring power plant.

Vatican: Swiss Guards’ Christmas dinner included Polish carp Carp dishes were part of the Christmas dinner for the Swiss Guard and their families in the Vatican. Pope Francis and the retired Pope Benedict have also tasted the carp. Live carps, a gift from Polish breeders,

were brought to the Vatican by special transport - in a pool with aerated water under the care of an ichthyologist. The fish were prepared by a Chef from the Sheraton Hotel in Cracow, Tomasz Les‘niak,

with his three assistants. The commandant of the Swiss Guard, Daniel Rudolf Anrig enjoyed the breaded fried carp – and the dessert, which was pineapple marinated with lemongrass. The unusual carp

promotion was created by Mister Carp, the Polish Fish Promotion Association and it was financed by the Polish Fish Promotion Fund. Fish Industry Magazine, mprfish. com

Turkey: Future Fish Eurasia will showcase the Turkish seafood sector Future Fish Eurasia, the 7th International Fair for Fish Imports/ Exports, Processing, Aquaculture and Fisheries will be organised by Eurasia Trade Fairs at the Izmir International Fair Centre between 5 and 7 June 2014. Over 300 local and international companies are expected to display their products and services in 11,000 sq. m of space. Companies producing seafood will share the hall with others producing fish processing or aquaculture equipment. The fish farming sector is expected to 8

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be well represented at the show. Production of farmed fish has expanded by 40 between 2008 and 2012 to reach 212 thousand tonnes mainly divided between seabass, seabream, and rainbow trout. Much of the seabass and seabream is exported fresh and frozen in different forms to markets in Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, and companies will be vying with each other to show the quality and range of products they offer. Increasingly, exporters are developing lines of ready meals that

combine fish with other ingredients for a quickly-prepared healthy and tasty meal. For visitors looking for suppliers the fair will provide an overview of the farming sector in Turkey and its capabilities. Fish farming is expected to continue growing encouraged by policies that seek to boost production to 600,000 tonnes over the next decade. This will call for significant investments in aquaculture equipment and machinery, and suppliers will be therefore presenting the latest developments in the field.

Future Fish Eurasia is organised with the support of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Aegean Exporters’ Association, the Istanbul Exporters Association, the Izmir Fish Producers Association, and the Turkish Seafood Promotion Committee. For more information visit www. eurasiafairs.com

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[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Norway: Seafood exports to Russia blocked for food safety violations Effective 1 January 2014, the Russian Federation blocked imports of various fresh or frozen cod and pelagic fish products shipped from Norway, because of repeated violations of Russia’s food safety regulations, and apparently Norway’s own regulations. The move affects a sizeable portion of the €820 million ($1.1 billion) in Norwegian seafood shipped to Russia, Norway’s single largest seafood export market (2012 data). Excluded from the ban is, notably, salmon (which,

however, has been the subject of other recent trade disputes with Russia), as well as fish from some Norwegian firms that have obtained Russian phytosanitary certification. The action taken by the Federal Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhodnadzor) follows several months of negotiations between the service and its Norwegian counterpart, Mattilsynet (the Norwegian Food Safety

Authority). These negotiations were set to address numerous instances over the course of the past year where Russian inspectors found contamination in Norwegian seafood, as well as instances of improper customs and food safety declarations filed by Norwegian exporters. These findings were consistent with results from inspections by Norwegian authorities, who found “disappointing” conditions in much of Norway’s whitefish processing sector, according to a

25 October 2013 news release from Mattilsynet. Representatives of both countries’ safety agencies have emphasized the importance of industry compliance with food safety regulations. As well, industry members in both countries – Norwegian processors, and Russian processors and distributors – have realised how critical is consumer confidence in protecting the long-term financial health of the seafood industry. (Roger Corey)

Russia: FOS certiﬁcation for sockeye, pink salmon ﬁsheries in Kamchatka Fisheries by Ozernovskii Rybokonzernyi Zadov, Rybholkam Ltd and Tymlatskiy Rybokombinat Co. Ltd for sockeye and pink salmon in

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Kamchatka in the Russian Far East have been certified to the Friend of the Sea sustainability standard. The two companies are partners of the

Unimak Maritime Group Fisheries, a Washington State-based company specialised in seafood and vessel management. The audit was

run by an accredited international certification body and based on Friend of the Sea’s strict social and environmental requirements.

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Denmark: Scanner increases quality of frozen shellďŹ sh packaged for retail A French seafood packaging company has invested in an Ishida x-ray scanner to scan frozen scallops before they are packaged to further reduce the risk of grit or pieces of shell in the product. The company, Packopale, based in Boulognesur-Mer, has a production of 8,000 tonnes of frozen shellfish a month, of which up to a third can be scallops imported frozen from Canada and Argentina. The product when it arrives is usually free of shell or other debris from the ocean floor, however the new Ishida machine will also scan for aluminium, stone, steel, tin, glass, hard rubber, plastic or pieces of bone. The scanner

has four 100 mm belts running through it which are fed by a 400 mm belt at a slightly higher level. Contamination that is detected is sorted away without interrupting the flow of the remainder of the product. The scanner can be trained to recognise foreign bodies that are more common than others and also has an integrated weighing machine. Packopale handles all tasks related to packing shellfish including weighing, packaging, and labelling and supplies the main supermarkets and retailers in France. By investing in the scanner the company can offer higher product quality and hopes that it will lead to an increase in its market share.

A French packaging company for frozen seafood has invested in a scanner from Ishida to remove any foreign bodies that may be present in scallops before they are packaged.

Poland: Legal proposal to ban the purchase of live carp Members of Platforma Obywatelska (the ruling party in Poland) have proposed legislation that would prohibit the sale of live carp to consumers. Under

the proposed law the carp may be kept alive in the store, but would have to be slaughtered before delivery to a customer. The legislation also envisages

penal sanctions, up to 2 years of imprisonment, for the sale of live fish. The Polish fish breeders have protested against the proposal claiming that it would ruin

Polish pond aquaculture and break an old tradition of buying live carp for dinner on Christmas Eve. Fish Industry Magazine, mprfish.com

Denmark: Regionalisation could result in enhanced role for Advisory Councils Eurofish, in its capacity as Observer at the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council, attended the BSRAC Executive Committee meeting in November 2013. The RACs were established as a result of the 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy to provide stakeholders such as, fishers, processors, vessel owners, fish farmers, conservation groups and others with a forum from which they could shape and advise on fisheries policy. The recently completed reform of the CFP will also have a bearing on the RACs, and this was one of the topics of discussion at the meeting. The Basic Regulation of the reformed CFP (1380/2013) includes numerous 10

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references to the Advisory Councils and their input to the Commission and to Member States. However, as Sally Clink, Executive Secretary of the Baltic Sea RAC, points out, the role of the Advisory Councils (AC) under regionalisation is the big unknown. The reform of the CFP foresees regionalisation as a move away from the highly centralised micromanagement of fisheries at Union level and a way to formulate and implement legislation that is tailored to the specificities of each fishery and sea basin. This would suppose a stronger role for the Advisory Councils and indeed the Basic Regulation states that Member States must consult the ACs. Ms Clink is concerned that

although regional cooperation is one of the aims of the new CFP, no mechanism is specified. In fact, at a meeting with the Commission in October 2013, the Advisory Councils were asked to propose a good practice that could be put to the Member States. The Basic Regulation is peppered with references to the Advisory Councils and with the obligation for them to be consulted by Member States as well as by the Commission when scientific advice, conservation, or other measures, are being discussed or implemented. The Advisory Councils can also submit their own recommendations concerning the socio-economics, conservation, or management rules governing

fisheries and aquaculture, and they can contribute to the collection and analysis of data for the development of conservation measures. The Executive Committee meeting was also an opportunity to update members on developments in different fora of relevance to the BSRAC. Reports from these meetings where the BSRAC was represented were submitted and discussed. These included meetings with BALTFISH on discards, as well as with the European Commission once on selectivity, and again on regionalisation and landing obligations. Of particular interest was a report from an www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] inter-RAC meeting that considered the future of the Advisory Councils after the new Basic Regulation is adopted. This will mean an increase in the number of Advisory Councils with new ones for aquaculture, markets, the Black Sea, and the outermost regions. The membership of the Advisory Councils will be divided 60:40 between representatives from the industry and from other interest groups, as opposed to the current two thirds one third split. The need for closer cooperation with scientists was also emphasised at this meeting. As usual, the BSRAC Secretariat invited external speakers to present topics of interest to stakeholders in the Baltic Sea fisheries. First came a presentation on the proposed Nord Stream extension project in the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream

has laid a twin pipeline through the Baltic Sea to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe and an extension project envisages a further one or two pipelines through the Baltic Sea. The representative from Nord Stream reported on the status of the extension project and said that his organisation was consulting with the relevant organisations in all the affected Baltic States to share information and to gather feedback on issues of concern. There was also a presentation on a new NGO called Seals International that is campaigning in favour of seal population management and to allow the trade in seal fur and meat. Seals International has been created to lobby for a reversal of the European ban on trade in seal products. Many of the fisheries representatives at

the meeting had comments to this presentation, including on the differences between animal rights and animal welfare, the problems that seal populations were posing for fishermen, and the limits of seal hunting as a solution. Other members also pointed out that many Member States have national seal management plans and that it was easier to get public compensation for damage caused by seals than to market seal products. However, ultimately for fishermen seals are sometimes a menace and there may be common cause to be made with lobby groups like Seals International to find a solution. Among the other topics to be discussed at the meeting was one concerning the BSRAC’s collaboration with Russia, which also has a stake in the Baltic. Being outside

the EU, Russia is not a member of the BSRAC, but has been represented at RAC meetings as an observer. The debate was about participation at a BSRAC meeting by a Russian scientist, who wished to present scientific material in connection with the allocation keys in the Baltic. It was finally decided that the initiative was welcome and the scientist could present his material at a coming joint working group meeting for a scientific and technical discussion. The BSRAC Executive Committee meeting packed in a lot of information, which for members may not all have been new, but for observers certainly gave an insight into some of the issues facing the Baltic and the ways that countries and interest groups can work together to resolve these.

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ NEWS INTERNATIONAL ] Denmark: New minister espouses sustainability of food production A cabinet reshuffle has brought a new minister to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries. Thirty-nine-year old Dan Jørgensen was appointed to his post in December last year after serving as a member of the European Parliament since 2004, where he was Vice Chairman of the Committee of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Denmark, despite its modest size and high labour costs, is a colossus in the food industry exporting billions of euros worth of meat, dairy, and even seafood, thanks to a relentless focus on the use of

technology and on efficiency. The new minister will maintain this focus, but intends to shift it in the direction of sustainability, where production has less of an impact on the environment. Denmark must accept that there is a physical limit on the space available to expand production, he says, and even efficiency has to peak at some point. He is therefore convinced that future growth and development lies in being sustainable, and will slowly but firmly, and in dialogue with all stakeholders, start moving production along this path.

Dan Jørgensen, the new Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, wants to shift the emphasis in the food sector towards sustainability.

USA: Strong increase in numbers of BAP-certiﬁed facilities The number of establishments certified to the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practice standards increased substantially in 2013. Last year, the BAP program experienced a 31 increase in the number of facilities certified, a 29 increase in the volume of product originating from BAP-certified processing plants

and a 57 increase in the volume of product originating from BAP-certified farms. In absolute numbers the annual output from BAP-certified processing plants totalled 1.392 million metric tons of 2012, while the number of BAPcertified plants jumped from 210 at the end of 2012 to 248 at the end of 2013. BAP-certified aquaculture

farms’ annual output totalled 750,000 MT as of 31 December 2013, up from 478,000 MT at the end of 2012. The number of BAPcertified farms jumped from 248 at the end of 2012 to 352 at the end of 2013. Additionally, the number of BAP-certified hatcheries and feed mills totalled 28 and 21, respectively.

Much of the growth within the BAP program in 2013 came from salmon. Last year, the output from BAP-certified salmon farms more than doubled, to more than 439,000 MT, while the output from BAP-certified salmon processing plants more than tripled in 2013, to more than 453,000 MT.

Poland: EFF support for Kołobrzeg Cold Store A modern cold store was opened at the end of last year in Kołobrzeg, Poland. The existing structure was modified and reconstructed in order to install modern machinery. The cold

store will include an ice factory with a daily capacity of 60 tonnes of flake ice, as well as areas designated for freezing fish, a cold storage (with a capacity of 2,000 tons of fish), offices and employee

facilities. The cold store also has silos for fish with a capacity of 1,000 m3 allowing the storage of 150 tonnes of fish a day. Receiving and storing any amount of fish both for human consumption

and for industrial use will now be possible. The facility was build by the Kołobrzeg Group of Fish Producers with the help of the European Fisheries Fund. Fish Industry Magazine, mprfish.com

Belgium: Vital political agreement secures future of EMFF Negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, and the European Commission resulted in a political agreement on the successor to the European Fisheries Fund, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which will run from 2014 to 2020. The agreement was crucial for the EUR6.7 bn EMFF 12

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

to enter into force. The fund will support the implementation of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, in particular the rebuilding of fish stocks, reducing the impact of fisheries on the marine environment, and the progressive elimination of wasteful discarding practices. It will support the improvement of fisheries data

collection to allow decisions to be based on science, and fisheries control programmes to ensure that the rules on responsible and sustainable fishing are respected and complied with. However, the new legislation also includes subsidies for modernising the engines in fishing vessels including trawlers, which NGOs such as

the WWF feel will dilute efforts to reduce fishing capacity and over fishing. While the engines in vessels of up to 12 m can be replaced with others of similar power, those in 12-18 m boats may only be substituted with those that have 20 less power, and in bigger vessels new engines will need to be 30 less powerful. www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ EVENTS ] Promoting sustainable aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea

New body to help counter challenges faced by farming sector A consultation process among aquaculture experts, professionals and stakeholders under the aegis of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) has led to the establishment of the GFCM Aquaculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (AMShP).

ore than 60 experts, professionals and stakeholders in the aquaculture field met in Izmir, Turkey in December 2013, under the auspices of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to discuss the future of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The meeting, which was organised in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, brought together participants from Algeria, Croatia, Greece, France, Israel, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey, as well as representatives of international and intergovernmental organisations, NGOs, farmers, farmers’ organisations and experts from Mediterranean and Black Sea countries. The occasion saw the formal launch of an Aquaculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (AMShP) with participants agreeing on the main objectives, scope and activities of the platform and identifying key elements for the implementation of this instrument at the regional level. The institutional base of this new instrument will be defined once it receives approval by the GFCM decisionmaking bodies.

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Multiple issues lie ahead Marine and brackish water aquaculture (finfish and shellfish) plays an extremely important role for food security, employment and economic development worldwide. According to FAO, “it is probably the fastest growing foodproducing sector and now accounts for nearly 50 percent of the world’s fish that is used for food. The need to exchange reliable information on all related subjects is becoming a key issue for the responsible management of aquaculture”. In the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, aquaculture faces significant challenges ranging from a low level of collective actions, inefficient mechanisms to monitor product supply, insufficient market data collection and dissemination schemes, a lack of dialogue between stakeholders, unbalanced negotiation power in the value chain, to new consumer demands and the lack of a level playing field. To address these issues it is crucial to promote the development of sustainable aquaculture empowering aquaculture farmers’ organisations, enhancing dialogue among all stakeholders, and fostering self-regulation, consultation, co-management and collective actions. Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ EVENTS ]

Participants at the ad hoc meeting in Izmir, Turkey to launch the GFCM Aquaculture Multi-stakeholder Platform (AMShP).

GFCM plays leading role in developing Mediterranean and Black Sea aquaculture As a regional fisheries management organisation established

under the provisions of Article XIV of the FAO Constitution, the GFCM plays a key role in coordinating efforts among its members to promote the development, conservation, rational management and best utilisation

of living marine resources, as well as the sustainable development and responsible management of marine and brackish water aquaculture in its area of competence. Through its Committee on Aquaculture, the GFCM

THE GFCM AQUACULTURE MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PLATFORM (AMShP)

Forum 1

Forum 2

Forum 3

Forum 4

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

ENVIRONMENT AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

QUALITY AND MARKET FOR AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

TECHNOLOGY AND FEED PRODUCTION

Strategic area E: Quality and safety of products, markets and consumers

Strategic area F: Research, knowledge sharing and technology transfer

Strategic area l: Social responsibility

Strategic area G: Sustainable feed production and management

Strategic area A: Allocated zones for aquaculture and spatial planning Strategic area D: Governance and regulatory frameworks

Strategic area B: Aquaculture and environment interactions Strategic area C: Disease management and aquatic animal health

Strategic area J: Empowerment of aquaculture farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; organizations

Strategic area H: Technology innovation and diversification

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES CAPACITY-BUILDING

The AMShP is based around four forums each with its own strategic areas that take into account priorities for aquaculture development in the region. 14

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promotes common standards and guidelines on the basis of independent advice on technical, socio-economic, legal and environmental aspects. It also assesses the information provided by its members and other stakeholders regarding production, market, culture systems, technologies used, farmed species, and maintains databases including key indicators. Over the last few years, the GFCM has launched a series of initiatives addressing the economic, social, environmental and governance dimensions of sustainable coastal and marine aquaculture. As a result of further in-depth reflection, new working methods to support the development of aquaculture in the region have been identified.

The GFCM Aquaculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (AMShP) This regional platform is the fruit of a discussion and consultation process initiated in MayÂ 2013, when the GFCM recognised the need to urgently tackle environmental and socio-economic concerns linked to the sustainable www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ EVENTS ]

9-11 April 2014 NAPLES ITALY 9-10 AprillTwo day Conference

9 AprillNetworking Gala Dinner 11 AprillVisit to fish farm SPONSORED BY

SUPPORTED BY

MEDIA SUPPORTERS:

A MERCATOR MEDIA EVENT

Progress and prospects for offshore aquaculture! The 2014 Offshore Mariculture Conference will explore the progress and prospects for offshore aquaculture in both European and International waters and includes a technical fish farm visit allowing delegates a comprehensive insight into how offshore fish farms are operating today. 4 4 4 4

Programme will include sessions on: International regulatory developments Investment & finance Stock management Innovative technologies For further information about speaking, sponsoring or attending as a delegate, please email conferences@offshoremariculture.com or call the Events team on +44 1329 825335 or visit

www.offshoremariculture.com

[ EVENTS ] development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Based upon a common vision and shared objectives, the GFCM Aquaculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform is designed as a tool to enhance dialogue and consultation among aquaculture actors in order to propose common solutions for sustainable aquaculture strategies in the whole region. Open to all interested researchers, private and public stakeholders, farmers and farmers’ organisations, representatives of national administrations, international and intergovernmental organisations, NGOs and civil society, it should foster better governance of the sector and offer an innovative forum to exchange

experiences, information and knowledge about aquaculture development. At the conclusion of the meeting, participants expressed the hope that this instrument would strengthen the participation of aquaculture farmers and their organisations in consultation and decisionmaking processes, as well as promote collaboration between the Mediterranean and Black Sea countries. In particular, the AMShP will act as a consultative body in the form of a regional hub that provides a meeting point and a work space to share information and foster dialogue, and in the process enable private, public and civil society stakeholders to

swap experiences. The potential benefits for stakeholders are self-evident: better decision-making between farmers, associations and public administrations; better compliance with regulations; strengthened capacity in research and development, as well as minimised competition for space in coastal zones – to name but a few. During the phase-in period, a steering committee comprising experts from the public and private sectors will prepare a series of regional initiatives as part of a defined work plan. Plans are already underway to organise a high-level event in 2014 to discuss key issues and establish common policies geared towards the sustainable

development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. For further information, contact: Fabio Massa Senior Aquaculture Officer Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) Palazzo Blumenstihl Via Vittoria Colonna, 1 I-00193 Roma Tel: +39 06 57053885 Fax: +39 06 57055827 E-mail: fabio.massa@fao.org Websites www.gfcm.org www.faosipam.org

Bureau Veritas’ 5th International Food Conference, November 2013, Copenhagen

Sustainable Food Safety and Quality The concept of sustainability was keenly debated within the wider framework of food safety and quality at Bureau Veritas’ 5th international food conference in Copenhagen. The theme sustainable food safety and quality, was addressed by speakers from different segments of the food sector including ﬁsh, dairy, sugar, and enzymes showing how concerns about sustainability are widespread across the food industry, and how companies are responding.

ureau Veritas, one of the world’s leading company’s in testing, inspection, and certification, organises a biannual conference to disseminate the latest developments in food safety, sustainability, quality assurance and related topics. Jacob Færgemand, Country Chief Executive, Bureau Veritas Denmark introduced the conference and pointed out that there were a number of factors contributing to the increased need for assurances that food products are safe to consume, of good quality, and sustainably produced. Production

Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

and supply chains are becoming increasingly globalised, the volume and detail of legislation that companies have to comply with is on the increase, and the need to feed burgeoning populations calls for greater sustainability to ensure global food security in the future. In terms of fisheries, sustainability typically refers to the sustainability of stocks. To paraphrase one of the best-known definitions of sustainable development, that elucidated by the Brundtland Commission in its report from 1987, …the exploitation of fish

stocks to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, as Michael Thinghuus, managing director of Royal Greenland, pointed out in his intervention, the sustainability of stocks is actually a proxy for the sustainability of communities. He was referring to the importance of Royal Greenland for the social and economic well being of the people of Greenland, where the company employs some 4,000 people out of a total population of 46,000. The viability of many

small fishing communities on Greenland would be severely limited if the company were not providing the employment it does, he said, and therefore it was in everyone’s interest to ensure that Greenlandic fish stocks were properly managed and not overexploited.

Increasing sustainability by increasing yields Over the last couple of years Royal Greenland has divested itself of its fish finger business in order to concentrate on high margin, low www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ EVENTS ]

Jacob Færgemand, Country Chief Executive, Bureau Veritas, Denmark introducing the Bureau Veritas’ International Food Conference held in Copenhagen.

volume fish from the north Atlantic, including shrimp, halibut, and snow crab. These products are being sold in Asian countries where growth rates are high, fish is popular, but where concepts like sustainability per se may not carry much weight. However, other ideas that link to sustainability, such as quality, safety, health, and provenance from clean water, resonate strongly in these markets and Royal Greenland will therefore use these to promote sales of fish. All the company’s products are wild fish which have a lower carbon footprint and cause less pollution than farmed protein, says Mr Thinghuus. At Royal Greenland sustainability also means www.eurofishmagazine.com

increasing the yield and reducing the waste from the fish as far as possible. The company has therefore changed the way it cuts the fish increasing yields and enabling the production of fillets as well as pieces that can be used for sushi. With shrimp the company is also working on increasing the yield as only about a third of the product can be eaten. Innovative uses for the rest of the shrimp, the shell, claws, tails etc. need to be found to increase the yield and thereby the sustainability of the product. Increasing yields is an important aspect of sustainability because it implies less waste and better utilisation of raw materials. Enzymes are an example of products that

are intended to speed up and make various processes more efficient. They also often reduce or replace the use of petrochemicals or fossil fuels making production cleaner and greener. Novozymes produces enzymes that are used in the manufacture of products used in household care, in agriculture and feed, and in food and beverages, among others. Sustainability here refers not only to the way enzymes are produced in the company, but also to their impact on the products they ultimately go into. As a producer of ingredients critical to manufacturing processes the company is well aware of the importance of quality and as far back as 1996 introduced the ISO 9000 standard to ensure its products met customer requirements and that their quality was consistently improved. However, the commitment to sustainability was demonstrated already two decades before this, in 1975, when an environmental department was established. As a leader in bio-innovation we also have to consider the sustainability of our products, says Marianne Frydendahl, director in Novozymes, pointing out that the words cleaner environment were included in the company’s vision statement.

Helping customers reduce their environmental footprint Novozymes products enable manufacturers in the food, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, energy, and other industrial sectors to become more efficient by reducing energy consumption and waste generation, and by saving on raw materials and chemical inputs. With enzymes it is possible to achieve higher yields, producing more from less, and at the same time to increase the environmental friendliness of the production, for example, by reducing

carbon dioxide emissions. This leads to improved yields, lower costs, and less load on the environment. Enzymes are produced to globally accepted standards and with systems in place to guarantee traceability and product quality. Novozymes has a three-pronged approach to sustainability encompassing: – corporate governance, meaning the existence of an active sustainability department and the emphasis on sustainability in the company mission and vision statements; – green solutions that enable its customers to produce more sustainably; and – making life cycle assessments an integral part of product development. Novozymes is in the fortunate position of making products that are inherently sustainable as they are used to increase the efficiency of production. In 2012 the company helped its customers save 48m tonnes of carbon dioxide or roughly three-quarters of Denmark’s annual emissions.

Steps to a sustainable future A clear corporate commitment to sustainability is one of the keys to ensuring that food quality and safety are based on sustainable principles. Setting targets and the policies to achieve them increase the likelihood that a company’s operations actually become more sustainable. Depending on the company it may also help to establish a department dedicated to bringing about greater sustainability. However, as another company at the conference, Nordzucker, showed, perhaps the most important factor is the need to involve, communicate with, and convince employees and partners of the need for sustainable operations. Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ EVENTS ] Black Sea Stakeholders Conference, Bucharest, 30 January 2014

Improved cooperation could lead to higher growth

here is a need for enhanced cooperation across all the Black Sea coastal states to ensure growth and sustainable development of the blue economy. This was the principal topic at the event “Sustainable development of the blue economy of the Black Sea. Enhancing marine and maritime cooperation”, which was opened by Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and Titus Corla˘t¸ean, the Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, who affirmed their commitment to work in partnership to maximise marine and maritime cooperation across all coastal countries.

The conference brought together over 150 stakeholders from the Black Sea riparian countries (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Turkey), other EU countries and European institutions. Eurofish, a member of the Eunetmar consortium that authored the background paper for the event, was also present. The paper identified ways to increase cooperation on marine and maritime issues at sea basin level in order to reap the benefits of more growth and jobs for coastal communities. Promoting cooperation on fisheries management and sustainable sea food production and consumption, coastal tourism,

Florin Esanu, Epoch Times România ’

The Black Sea basin is a strategic bridge connecting Europe with the Caspian Sea area, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and further with Southeast Asia and China. It is the meeting area of six different countries and cultures, a place with large and varied economic activities .

Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and Titus Corla˘t¸ean, the Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Black Sea Stakeholders Conference in Bucharest.

marine aquaculture, and improving environmental monitoring in the Black Sea were among the many topics discussed by the delegates, who

agreed that a more integrated and coordinated approach was needed to better exploit the potential offered by the region.

Alimentaria 2014, Barcelona, 31 March – 3 April

Food and drinks, a foundation of the Spanish economy At the international press conference for Alimentaria 2014, Euroﬁsh Magazine and other leading food and beverage journals heard about plans for the upcoming Alimentaria event that will take place in Barcelona from March 31-April 3. The event introduced the food industry in Spain as one of the cornerstones of the country’s economy and a key to future economic growth.

t the press conference the upcoming event was presented and leading persons from ministries, institutions, and the private industry gave their view on the current Spanish food and beverage industry and their expectations of the future.

Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

A cornerstone of the economy According to Isabel García Tejerina, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, the food and drink industry makes up 8.4

of Spanish GDP and employs 440,000 persons directly, a figure that increases to 2.3 million when considering indirect employment. Unemployment rates are also lower in this industry than in other economic sectors in Spain. “It is the sector that has withstood

the global crisis better than most others making it a cornerstone of the economy and a major asset in its recovery.” Pedro Astals, president of FIAB, the Spanish Food and Drink Industry Federation, describes www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ EVENTS ] consumption fell 4.1 which follows the logic normally seen during a crisis, where consumers buy more rationally and restrain their spending outside the household and tend to eat more at home.

Increased internationalisation

Alimentaria 2014 expects more than 140.000 visitors from around the globe.

how in 2012, following years of growth, the industry experienced a 2.68 reduction in turnover to EUR86 bn, clearly reflecting that the financial crisis has now also reached this industry. In fact, food and beverage sales would be at 2006 levels without the positive effect of exports.

industry’s total turnover and a fundamental pillar in the sector’s successful development. Exports totalled EUR22 bn in 2012 making Spain the 4th largest exporter of food in Europe following Germany, France, and Italy. If exports continue to grow at the current pace Italy will be overtaken by Spain in 2020.

Positive trade balance

Exports of frozen fish, canned fish, and caviar make up the 5th biggest export group within the food and beverage industry in Spain according to ESTACOM, the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade, amounting to 5.7 of exports with a value of EUR1.3 billion, surpassed by pork, wine, olive oil, and fruit

Food industry exports in 2012 continued to show high growth rates although at a slower rate than previous years. The increase was 9.4 compared to 10.2 and 14.5 for 2010 and 2011, respectively. Currently exports consist of 28.5 of the

and vegetables. The EU is obviously the main destination for these products with 68.3 of the share followed by the US, Russia, China, and Japan. The top EU countries importing Spanish food products are neighbouring France, Italy, and Portugal.

Household consumption still positive Figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Environment show a 1.3 decrease in total consumption to EUR101 bn in 2012 shared between households (67) and HORECA (33). Household consumption grew 0.2 while HORECA

J. Antonio Valls, Managing Director of Alimentaria Exhibitions and chief executive of the show, explains that Alimentaria 2014 has its sights set on foreign markets, doubling efforts to attract buyers for the more than 3,800 participating companies. “The industry is demanding more internationalisation from the fair and Alimentaria is doing all it can to accommodate this.” Of the more than 140,000 people expected at the show during the four days, 35 will be international visitors. Alimentaria is proud of its close to 80 loyalty index, indicating the number of participants who return from year to year, proving the benefits to buyers and sellers and showing the value that the show offers. The exhibition is as usual split into 12 different shows and specialist areas with a new culinary space, the Alimentaria Experience, featuring restaurants and chefs with a total of 50 Michelin stars. The Interpesca area of the Alimentaria show will host a mix of Spanish companies with a large presence from autonomous communities like Galicia and the Basque country and will also present products from a number of international companies. More information is available at www.alimentaria-bcn.com. Thomas Jensen, Eurofish, thomas.jensen@eurofish.dk

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

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February 1 / 2014 C 44346

February 1 / 2014 Eurofish Magazine

Sursan Su Urunleri AS EUROFISH International Organisation

Deliveries to Europe from state-of-the-art processing facility Germany: Fishers feel restrictions do not reﬂect reality Fisheries: Reformed policy a decisive break with the past Technology: Processing machinery for tiny ﬁsh is a member of the FISH INFO network

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[ EVENTS ] Ninth North Atlantic Seafood Forum, Bergen, 4-6 March 2014

A well-established conference breaks new ground Bergen, home to a seafood cluster that includes a veritable who’s who of the Norwegian seafood industry, a wide array of ancillary product and service companies, richly endowed research and development institutions, as well as the banks and others that provide the funding and ﬁnancial services, is now also hosting the North Atlantic Seafood Forum – for the second time.

he synergies are obvious. The NASF, among the world’s largest seafood business conferences, is devoted to the seafood that is farmed and fished in the North Atlantic, primarily salmon, whitefish and the small pelagics. Production, processing, marketing, and sales of all these are well represented in Bergen, the centre of the Norwegian seafood industry and the country’s second largest city. This year Bergen will also host the FAO’s biannual Sub-Committee on Fish Trade from 24 to 28 February and it is hoped that delegates will stay on for the NASF event a few days later.

Seafood’s role in global food security The 2014 North Atlantic Seafood Forum, the ninth edition of the event, is expected to feature more than 600 industry executives from 45 countries and 400 companies. The programme is correspondingly ambitious with about 100 experts delivering presentations at ten conference sessions spread over the three days. The overriding theme of the 2014 event “Seafood and food security - setting seafood into a new and vital geopolitical role” will cover both commercial and developmental aspects of seafood and the seafood industry. Jørgen

J. Lund, managing director of the conference, expects the event to provide unique insights into the many developments that are shaping the seafood industry today, including sustainability, innovation, and policy, to name just three. The Forum opens on 4 March with a scientific event that celebrates innovation. Called the MarLife Marine Innovation Day, it brings together stakeholders from industry, research, finance, authorities, consumers and NGOs to discuss the innovations needed to expand the sustainable production of fish and seafood. The session is organised by Øystein Lie, the executive

manager of MarLife, an international network of companies and institutions that focuses on innovation in three marine industries – fisheries, aquaculture, and marine ingredients. The session is expected to discuss all the aspects of innovation in the marine sector, how it can be fostered, what are the funding

The North Atlantic Seafood Forum will be held in Bergen, Norway from 4 to 6 March 2014. www.eurofishmagazine.com

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ EVENTS ] opportunities, and how to convert innovative ideas into products and services. It will include an awards ceremony for the most innovative idea out of a series of cases that will be pitched by their founders during the session.

Keynote speech on the impact of climate change As in previous years the next two days of the conference offer a comprehensive series of sessions; policy, retail, salmon, and fisheries management on 5 March, followed by whitefish, pelagics, investment and finance, and sustainability on 6 March. Guus Pastoor president of AICPE, the European fish processors association, and conference chair, will open the conference. The opening session will also feature an intervention from Arni Mathiesen, assistant director general of the FAO, and will be followed by the policy session which will include presentations by Monica Mæland, the Norwegian Minister for Trade and Industry, as well as Svein Sundby from the Institute of Marine Research, who will give the keynote address on another topic of huge strategic importance, the impact of climate change on the seafood industry. The retail and food service seminar, one of the most closely followed sessions at the conference, will be chaired by Leendert den Hollender, the CEO of Young’s Seafood. The session will provide the perspectives from leading retailers, Sainsburys, Metro, ICA, Delhaize, and from the food service sector, M & J Seafood, on sustainable growth in seafood. It will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Mr den Hollender and Jonathan Banks, a consultant. In the afternoon on 5 March two parallel sessions will be held, one dealing with the salmon industry and 22

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covering markets, supplies, and prices, while the other covers fisheries policy and management. The latter will focus on the reformed Common Fisheries Policy and its implications for the fisheries and aquaculture sector. The legislation was formally adopted in December, but negotiations over the reform have been long and demanding and have necessitated compromises from all the concerned parties. There are, however, some distinctly new directions that can be discerned compared with the old policy. For example, the maximum sustainable yield will be the basis for deciding fishing quotas; multiannual fisheries management plans will be based on scientific advice; discards will be forbidden; and decision making will be decentralised to take into account regional specificities. How these changes will impact the market is still a matter of some conjecture, but delegates can expect to get answers at this session.

Hard choices to be made on ﬁnal day The final day of the event, 6 March, will commence with four parallel sessions – on whitefish, pelagics, finance, and sustainability. Delegates will have the unenviable task of having to choose what they want to attend. The whitefish session will look at supplies from capture fisheries as well as aquaculture, in particular tilapia and pangasius. The European processing industry is heavily dependent on whitefish imports which constitute more than 60 of the whitefish market. Last year imports of capture whitefish declined slightly according to the Whitefish Study 2013, an annual analysis of the European whitefish market by AIPCE-CEP. This was in part due to the decrease in hake catches in South America, and competition for whitefish from other regions and markets.

Imports of pangasius peaked in 2009, but have since declined primarily due to problems with production in Viet Nam, but also as supplies of competing capture species increase due to recoveries in quotas. In addition, some EU markets have been reluctant to accept pangasius. The audience at this session can look forward to forecasts on how the European whitefish market will develop in 2014. The pelagic session in addition to supplies, markets and pricing will also feature an intervention from the IFFO, the marine ingredients organisation, discussing the outlook for fishmeal and fish oil. The session on sustainability and communications has been expanded to encompass a general discussion on sustainability and food security followed by sub-sessions devoted explicitly to the sustainability of capture fisheries and of aquaculture. These will be followed by another sub-session that links sustainability to research and

innovation in seafood companies and retail chains. For anyone interested in these issues this session should definitely not be missed. The North Atlantic Seafood Forum promises to be an informationdense event that has much to offer to any seafood or seafood-related company with an interest in the North Atlantic. The conference theme, food security, has in general established itself as an important topic on the global agenda with its own forum under the United Nations system, the Committee on World Food Security. Seafood has a significant role to play in food security as it is among the most globally traded of commodities and a major income earner in the developing world, where it provides a livelihood to millions thereby supporting growth and development. As these regions advance and prosper, they will evolve into markets for products and services including for those originating in the North Atlantic.

Poland fields major delegation A Polish-Norwegian business summit supported by the Warsaw office of Innovation Norway, major Polish seafood companies, and the Polish seafood journal Magazyn Przemysłu Rybnego will take place on 4 March in Bergen. Poland is one Polska Delegacja of the biggest processors of fish na North Atlantic in Europe and Polish and the top Seafood Forum 25 companies have a combined Bergen, 4-6 marca 2014 r. annual turnover of about EUR2 bn. The “Poland at NASF 2014” initiative will include invitations to the Polish Minister of Agriculture and other top leaders in the fisheries administration, retailers, and research institutions and company leaders will be encourage to speak at the salmon and pelagic as well as other sessions at the event.

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[ PROJECTS ] AQFood master programme: Aquatic Food Production - Safety and Quality

Higher education and working careers in the seafood industry Future careers in the aquaculture and seafood industry may not be the ﬁrst or the most obvious choice of Nordic students when graduating from university with a degree in engineering or natural sciences. The new master programme in aquatic food production created by ﬁve Nordic universities hopes to change this.

he importance of the fishing industry, especially in Iceland and Norway, made it an obvious career choice for a large number of people in the 20th century. While the number of people working in the seafood industry has diminished with advances in new technology, jobs have been created in related fields that are providing services for the seafood industry. However, the lack of technical skills within companies is often a barrier for implementing novel and innovative technologies, which could enhance the potential of the seafood industry to become a more competitive player in the economy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the level of education of the workforce at all stages in the seafood industry to promote innovation and more sustainable operation of the aquatic food supply chain.

A unique master programme for natural science and engineering graduates The master AQFood Aquatic Food Production - Safety and Quality (www.aqfood.org) was initiated in 2012 by five leading Nordic universities, which combine their expertise in the production of aquatic food throughout the www.eurofishmagazine.com

production and supply chain. The programme offers e-learning courses during the first semester, which provide an insight in to the aquatic food value chain and link primary production, including aquaculture and wild catch, with processing and distribution to the consumers in terms of quality and safety. The aim is to attract students in natural sciences and engineering to the AQFood programme to transfer technological know-how and scientific excellence to the aquatic food industries. By selecting a future career in the Nordic marine sector the students will act as vectors transferring this knowhow to the industry. The number of students enrolling in the new programme has been low and shows that it is necessary to increase students’ awareness of both the programme itself and interesting job opportunities in the aquatic food and related industries. Various promotional videos have now been created to enhance the awareness of AQFood (see the film at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WdfN36zB9s4)

to graduate school and on attitudes towards jobs in the seafood industry or related areas was conducted among 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students at the universities that run the AQFood programme. The results show that interest

in a particular subject and perceived job opportunities are the major motivating factors for students’ choice of a professional career. When asked about how interested they were to work in various different fields it becomes clear that relatively

5 G

What study areas motivate students to learn more about the aquatic food industry? An online survey on intentions of natural science students to go Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ PROJECTS ] Figure 1. How interested would you be to work in: Innovation Innovative technologies Product development Laboratory and research Quality management Environmental management Innovative services Value added products Consultancy Risk assessment International sales and marketing Logistics Sales and marketing Starting my own company Training Seafood/aquatic food processing Fish inspection Operation of fisheries Production in an aquaculture farm

24% 46% 18% 47% 23% 39% 28% 33% 17% 37% 18% 35% 13% 40% 21% 31% 15% 31% 16% 29% 11% 29% 6% 29% 7% 26% 10% 22% Very interested 10% 20% Somewhat interested 9% 20% 9% 19% 5% 20% 7% 17% 0%

few of them, only around a quarter, are somewhat or very interested in working in the traditional seafood industry such as in aquaculture, fisheries, fish processing or fish inspection. However, more than half the students were interested in working within innovation, innovative technologies, product development, research on aquatic food, quality management and environmental management and assessment, areas that may not necessarily all relate to the seafood or aquatic industry.

Sustainability, mobility between countries stir students’ interest The AQFood programme aims at promoting a better understanding of sustainable development, production technologies, management of resources, characteristics of different aquatic species and products, processing operations in the overall value chain, and

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10%

20%

30%

40%

an insight into how regulatory requirements for hygiene, safety, and industrial standards comply with consumers’ values and health. Although not very familiar with the programme, students found that its emphasis on minimising waste, sustainability, full utilisation of valuable natural resources, and environmental impact, along with requiring mobility between the Nordic countries, made it more interesting and a third of them

50%

60%

70% 80%

said they would consider enrolling in the programme. The surveys also revealed differences in students’ views depending on the country they came from and their educational background. In particular students from Norway were more positive, than their colleagues in other Nordic countries, towards jobs in the primary production and processing industries and had higher interest for product development, value added

products, laboratory/research on aquatic food, fish inspection and training. Students from Sweden were more interested in industrial production, supply chain management and topics related to environmental management, sustainability, full utilisation of raw material, environmental impacts of food production and how to minimise waste. This division is not surprising considering that primary production (fisheries and aquaculture) is relatively more important in Norway and Iceland. Additionally, Sweden has been a pioneer in many aspects of environmental awareness and this is reflected in higher interest of the students in sustainable production. Extensive surveys and interviews among students, industry stakeholders and the general public on the image of the seafood sector are part of the Nordic Innovation funded project Industry-Academia Interaction in the marine sector (InTerAct). The full report will be published later this year on the Nordic Innovation website (www.nordicinnovation.org). For further information contact Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, University of Iceland, go@hi.is

Figure 2. Do you think that it makes the programme more or less interesting that it: Enhances sustainability by minimising waste Requires mobility, i.e. study in two Nordic countries Is about full utilisation of valuable natural resources Is about sustainability Deals with environmental impact of food production Is about health effects of seafood/aquatic food Covers risk assessment and safety of fish as food Deals with industrial production and processing Covers aquatic food supply chain management Is about quality of seafood/aquatic food products Has a focus on aquaculture production Prepares for career in seafood/aquatic food industry Is about fisheries

32% 40% 26% 44% 30% 37% 27% 39% 26% 40% 20% 36% 16% 36% 14% 35% 13% 30% 11% 31% 26% 8% 24% 8% 17% 8%

Much more interesting Somewhat more interesting

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

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[ FISHERIES ] Reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy opens new perspectives

Fishermen get a stronger voice in fisheries-related decisions The long years of tenacious struggle over the reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy came to a successful end when it was officially adopted after the European Parliament’s plenary session gave its full support in December last year. It is to usher in a fundamental change in Europe’s fisheries policy, prevent overexploitation of the seas, and make sustainability a basic principle in fisheries.

FP reform was a very tough job. For more than two years the involved parties proposed and rejected, balanced, criticised and discussed, argued vehemently and searched for acceptable compromises. Although the result does not satisfy

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some critical observers of the reform process on all points, and numerous ambitious proposals of the European Parliament were not taken into account the reform still marks a turning point in European fisheries, an end to the annual horse-trading in Brussels during

which the circle of Member States’ fisheries ministers set arbitrary fishing quotas in hurried meetings, quotas that were mostly above the recommendations made by fisheries scientists. This unfortunate practice should now have come to an end, the overexploitation of

the seas is to be curbed, and sustainability is to become the determining principle. Europe’s fishery is to be regulated so as to enable long-term stabilisation of stocks or, where possible, even stock growth. In evening and even nightlong sessions the “trilogue” – the

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[ FISHERIES ] negotiators of the EU Parliament, Council and Commission – argued over the wording and struggled with concrete specifications right up to the last minute. After all, it was important issues that were at stake: for example, the orientation of fisheries management to the MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield) principle, a discard ban, regionalisation of numerous detailed fishing issues, and more focused management of fleet capacity.

welcome but it was not the really big reform. Since Parliament gave its Fisheries Committee a mandate for the negotiations, the Member States had tried to dilute and undermine Parliament’s ambitious reform proposals. The result thus had to be viewed pragmatically: “Better this reform than none at all.”

When it came to the basic objectives of fisheries policy Europe’s politicians were really always in agreement even before the reform. No one has ever seriously disputed the fact that it was necessary to put a stop to overfishing and make fishing ecological, economical and socially sustainable. However, there was a huge gap between the grandiose announcements and their practical implementation, which ultimately led to a large number of fish stocks in EU waters being overfished and some fishing fleets only being able to survive with the help of massive subsidies. The CFP reform is now to put an end to this waste of resources and so it is not surprising that Maria Damanaki, the EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, welcomed the agreement reached as a historic step for all those employed in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture. With this reform the EU was laying down the basis for a sustainable fisheries industry. Fishing opportunities would be strictly geared to scientific advice, fish stocks would be rebuilt to sustainable levels, and discards of unintentionally caught fishes would be prohibited.

The reform brings serious changes in five key areas of the Common Fisheries Policy. The first and perhaps most important change concerns the fixing of maximum catches. These are in future to be strictly geared to scientific criteria and should follow the recommendations of fisheries scientists. The past few years have shown that the consistent implementation of this principle can prove successful and pays off: many stocks had recovered significantly even before the reform was in force at all. According to a statement by the EU Commission, 95 of the stocks in EU waters were considered to be overfished in 2005, but by 2012 this share had fallen to 39. Reliable, scientifically based fishing quotas are a basic prerequisite for healthy fish stocks upon which a profitable and economically rewarding fishery can be built. The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy should put an end to the overfishing of stocks by the year 2015. Some fisheries will, however, be granted longer transition periods so as not to endanger or overburden the social and economic sustainability of the fleets. But by 2020 at the latest all fish stocks are to be fished according to the MSY principle which guarantees maximum sustainable yield. Critics of this compromise (which was presumably unavoidable in order to get all Member States to agree to the reform) complain that the

Gesine Meißner, the fisheries policy spokeswoman for the Liberal group within the European Parliament, judged the outcome of the trilogue negotiations much more soberly. The agreement reached was 26

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

Catch quotas strictly geared to scientiﬁc recommendations

The reform of CFP is to put an end to overﬁshing by the year 2015. Some ﬁsheries are being granted longer transition periods, however.

reduction of fishing pressure is taking too long. They also complain that the reform paper names no concrete date by which fish stocks should recover. The second important change concerns the handling of the by-catch and discards. The overexploitation and senseless destruction of valuable resources had been particularly strongly criticised by a very large number of people in the run-up to the reform. The discard practice was denounced again and again, and EU politicians were forced to realise that the public would measure the success of the reform on whether an end had been put to this senseless waste. After all, it is estimated that in the past nearly one quarter of all caught fishes were unwanted by-catches and that the greater part of this unintended catch was thrown back into the sea. But the discard problem is very complex and so it was particularly contentiously argued. There was disagreement, for example, in the question as to how a discard ban could be enforced and monitored in practice. Perhaps that explains why the result was only one of those “soft” European agreements that sound very rigorous but that, when it comes to details, make numerous concessions and allow exceptions. The ambitious proposals of the European Parliament on this issue

were only partially enforceable during the negotiations. Up to now, fishermen have been obliged to throw all the fishes back into the sea that exceeded their fishing quota. In future, unintentional by-catches will have to be landed, however, and taken into account in the quota. It is hoped that this will create incentives for more selective fishing. Critics doubt this intended effect of the reform, however, because special regulations and exceptions that can hardly be monitored at sea leave too many loopholes open. For that reason, some people speak not of a discard ban but of discard limitation. And they also complain that the discard ban is only being introduced gradually in European waters with a ban on pelagics discards from 2015 and on other species from 2016. Species for which there are no catch restrictions and in which there is only little commercial interest can still be discarded at will without restrictions and thus wasted. To really achieve a more selective fishery discards should have been completely banned.

Less centralism, more regional responsibility The third important change to be addressed by the CFP reform is the regionalisation of some fisheries decisions which can be better assessed locally than in Brussels. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ FISHERIES ] they will be distributed differently. The criticism of subsidies for fuel costs is particularly fierce because it is mainly large fishing vessels that benefit here and it is those vessels that cause disproportionate damage to fish stocks and the ecosystem.

CFP reform gives ﬁshermen as the main players a central role in many local decision-making processes.

Commissioner Damanaki seeks closer cooperation with the regional authorities and stakeholders for finding specific, tailor-made solutions. Typical topics for regional decisions could, for example, be the designation and protection of biologically sensitive marine regions, such as the spawning grounds or nursery areas of juvenile fishes. Many details required for the regulation of local fisheries can be better negotiated at regional level. If this point of the reform is actually implemented to the letter it could thus be that for the fisheries off the coasts of Galicia different rules might soon apply than for the fisheries in the Irish Sea or the German Bight. In this aspect it would seem that the CFP does not only change some of the rules in the fisheries sector but also in politics as a whole, for the regionalisation of competences and responsibility represents a significant departure from all previous procedure which was geared to centralisation of tasks in Brussels. A completely new aspect of the reformed fisheries policy is also that the fishermen, as key players, take on an important role in many decision-making processes. They are to be more strongly involved than before in the development of technical measures for the protection of the environment 28

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

as well as young or endangered fish stocks. Apart from that, their knowledge and experience is to be used to support decentralised fisheries management which takes regional conditions and circumstances into consideration. A theme that touches regionalisation and sustainable management equally is the multiannual management plans that are to be the central element of fisheries management. These plans would enable more effective protection of the stocks and will give fishing enterprises greater certainty when planning for a foreseeable period. The fourth big topic complex of the reform deals with subsidies for the fishing industry. Although the community had set ambitious targets for the reduction of the fishing fleet the construction of new vessels had continued to be subsidised in the past, often “disguised” by the applicants as replacement or modernisation measures. This should no longer be possible since subsidies for the building of new ships will not be granted. Instead, more money is to be provided for the monitoring of fishing activities and stocks. Critics say the whole package is a sham because it doesn’t mean less subsidies but just that

Just how seriously people are taking the reform in Brussels could be seen in the decision-making session on 28 January 2014 when a political agreement between the EU Parliament and the Council reduced the allocation of shipbuilding subsidies in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and instead provided more money for data collection and artisanal fisheries and small aquaculture plants. Apart from that, fishermen whose activities will have to be restricted for management reasons aimed at stock replenishment will receive financial aid.

Reform provides an opportunity for far-reaching change in the EU ﬁshery New, stricter rules are also to apply to those EU fishing vessels that fish outside of European waters in other parts of the world. This fifth big topic block of the reform stipulates that Europeans are only allowed to use healthy fish stocks, or surplus stocks as they are also called. This is to help put an end to overfishing in the waters of developing countries. Beyond that, the same rules shall apply to European fishermen in foreign fishing grounds as in their own local waters. Rebecca Harms, the President of the Greens in the European Parliament, thus sees the reform as a “major breakthrough on this issue”. It constituted a good basis for making the transition to a sustainable, environmentally friendly fishing industry in Europe. Although the state of European fish stocks is still not satisfactory

there is certainly cause for cautious optimism. In the Northeast Atlantic and adjacent areas 16 of 41 stocks were overfished in 2012. In the Mediterranean and the Black Sea 75 of 85 stocks are said to be overfished. Although it will take some time until the fishery reform’s new regulations take effect positive trends in stock development are already visible in some marine regions and these are likely to improve further in the coming years leading potentially to higher quotas. However, sustainable fishing does not mean that the fishing quotas always only change in an upward direction. Since fishing quotas follow stock developments they sometimes have to be reduced when year classes are weak. This simple correlation is the reason behind the quota proposals of the European Commission for the North Atlantic, the North Sea and international waters for the present year. Supporting the reformed CFP is the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which will be used to reduce the impact of fisheries on the marine environment, support the rebuilding of fish stocks, and the gradual elimination of discards, among other measures. The fund will also be used to attract young people to the fisheries sector and to support measures that benefit the smallscale fishing fleets. It will also support the European aquaculture sector, an area which has been stagnating for years. The EMFF will work for the sustainability of EU fish stocks by funding data collection that will allow decisions to be based on science, as well as supporting control and monitoring programmes. As an integral part of the CFP the common organisation of the market for fisheries and aquaculture www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ FISHERIES ] consumers who can actively support the sustainability of fisheries. Producer organisations will have a stronger role to play in collective management, monitoring, and ensuring the stability of the market.

The outcome of the reform will partly depend on how serious and how determined the Member States are in its implementation.

products (CMO) was also adapted to the reform of the CFP. The new market policy aims to strengthen competitiveness of EU industry, create a level playing field for all

seafood marketed in the EU and increase transparency. There will be new marketing standards on labelling, quality, and traceability leading to better informed

The reformed Common Fisheries Policy has been in force since January 2014. It is designed to allow fish stocks to regenerate and at the same time help safeguard and protect the livelihoods of fishermen and other people who are dependent on fishing. Whether the reform will actually bring about these effects will partly depend on how serious and how determined the Member States are in its implementation. It would not be the first reform in the EU to be addressed initially with great vigour only to be submerged

by bureaucracy and everyday work later on. The fishermen will measure the reformâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success on how uniformly violations of its requirements are detected and punished in the individual European countries. However wise regionalisation might be for managing the fishery, when it comes to punishing infringements it would be misplaced. Here it will be necessary to act uniformly in all European countries. The current reform of CFP is more than the frequently quoted by-catch ban. It creates ideal conditions to make fishing truly sustainable, to make the market more transparent and more competitive, and to involve the fishermen much more strongly than ever before in fisheries-related decision-making processes. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford to waste these opportunities! mk

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

COVER STORY Sursan Su Urunleri AS opened new facility in 2013

Deploying technology to improve product quality The Turkish aquaculture sector includes the production of marine as well as freshwater fish. European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) are the main marine cultivated species, while rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) forms the bulk of the output of freshwater fish. A limited volume of rainbow trout is also on-grown in cages in the sea.

n general, aquaculture production has increased dramatically in Turkey over the last five years. Based on data from the Ministry of

Food, Agriculture and Livestock, figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute show that output went from 152 thousand tonnes in 2008 to 212 thousand

tonnes in 2012, the latest year for which the numbers are available, an increase of 40ď&#x2122;&#x201A;. This growth has been driven mainly by the increase in production of

Seabass and seabream are harvested and processed within a matter of hours using state-ofthe-art technology.

freshwater trout and European seabass. Output of gilthead seabream over the same period has more or less stagnated, while that of rainbow trout raised in seawater after increasing steadily until 2011 fell sharply in 2012. The overall increase in farmed fish production points to a dynamic industry that is characterised by its depth. Taking marine and freshwater production together

The 2,000 sq. m processing and packaging plant was completed in 2013 and is certiďŹ ed to the GlobalG.A.P., BRC, and IFS standards. www.eurofishmagazine.com

Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

COVER STORY

there are some 2,000 fish farms. Companies may be large and fully integrated with hatcheries, nurseries, on-growing cages, processing facilities, sales and marketing teams, as well as product development departments, laboratories, and feed production units. On the other hand they may be small with limited production sold mainly on the domestic market. Seabass and seabream production is heavily concentrated in the western coastal region of the country bordering the Aegean Sea, while trout production is more evenly distributed across the inland provinces.

Leading producer of ﬁsh addition, the company estab- catches from the others is each meal and oil lished another processing plant less than 10 of the total. The Among the vertically integrated producers of seabass and seabream is the company Sursan based in Samsun in the north of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. The choice of location was determined by the company’s first activity – the production of fish oil and fish meal. When the company started in 1981 the capacity to process the fish into fish oil and fish meal was about 100 tonnes per day. However, over the next decade investments in the plant resulted in an expansion of capacity to 1,000 tonnes a day. In

in Rize to the east with a processing capacity of 400 tonnes per day and in 2003 built yet another factory in Dikmen to the west of Samsun with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day. As a result of these developments today the company is among the leading producers of fish meal and fish oil in Turkey with a total processing capacity of 2,000 tonnes of fish a day. Turkey is surrounded by the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean Sea, and Mediterranean. However, about 75 of its capture fish production comes from the Black Sea, while

main catch in terms of volumes is anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) which in 2012 amounted to 164 thousand tonnes out of a total of 316 thousand tonnes. This is the species that is used in the production of fish meal and fish oil and the presence of all Sursan’s factories on the Black Sea coast enable the company to use only the freshest raw material in the production. Kerem Göksel, the sales manager of Sursan Seafood, points out that the quality of the raw material is instrumental for the quality of the fish meal and fish oil that is produced

9 9 9 9 Modern freezers store the frozen products until they are ready to be shipped to Sursan’s own distribution company in Urk, the Netherlands for onward delivery to customers in the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

COVER STORY

which in turn is critical for the quality of the fish feed.

Evaporation system improves yields, beneﬁts environment

Gutted fish and fillets are frozen using air impingement technology that freezes the product very rapidly preventing the build up of large ice crystals in the flesh and ultimately securing a higher quality product.

The plant has a capacity of 15,000 tonnes a year and produces fresh and frozen whole round fish, gutted fish or fillets. 32

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

Since 1994, when the company invested in fishing capacity, it has had its own vessels fishing for anchovy on the Black Sea and bringing the fish back to be processed on a daily basis. The fleet today consists of a 62 m fishing vessel and three smaller boats that assist the main vessel. The catching season is short, usually between November and January, and on average the company processes about 50,000 tonnes of anchovy. The raw material is delivered to the three processing units which produce on average 10,000 tonnes of fish meal and 5,000 tonnes of fish oil a year. To get the best yield from the raw material the fish meal factory has installed an evaporation system that uses the water that is expressed from the fish during the production of meal. The resulting concentrate is mixed back into the meal giving a yield of 19-20 from the raw material rather than the 15 seen in conventional facilities. The system thereby reduces waste and is more environmentally friendly than typical processing plants. In 2006 the company established an extruded fish feed production unit to add value to the fish meal and fish oil. Extruded feeds though more expensive than pelleted feeds offer several advantages. The feeds can be produced with a higher fat content, they are more homogenous, and they can be produced with different densities, so that the feed can be of different buoyancies. It can float on the surface, it can sink at different rates, or it can be neutrally buoyant. This means that www.eurofishmagazine.com

COVER STORY

meal and fish oil for cheaper plant-based alternatives without compromising productivity. Sursan, however, uses only fish meal and fish oil in the production of their feed. As a result the feed has a higher proportion of omega-3 and a lower content of omega-6 fatty acids than comparable products. These results have been documented in an analysis conducted at the Faculty of Aquatic Products in Istanbul University. Samples of seabass and seabream that were raised on feed from Sursan were compared with samples that had been given feed produced by another manufacturer. The tests showed that not only the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids was higher in the fish fed with the Sursan feed, but also that the absolute content of omega-3s

was significantly higher (almost double) and that of omega-6s was much lower (about half) in the fish given Sursan’s feed. Omega-3 fatty acids cannot be synthesised by the human body and therefore have to come from external sources. Oily fish is one of the most important sources of these compounds, which have been implicated in a number of beneficial health affects including a reduced risk of mortality from coronary heart disease. There is also evidence that omega-3s have a positive impact on a range of medical conditions including cancer, mental illness, and inflammatory diseases. All else being equal, fish with a higher content of omega-3s may be more healthful than fish with a smaller fraction of these fatty acids.

The ﬁsh are harvested from 200 g to 1,500 g depending on the customer’s requirements. Almost all the production is exported to markets in Europe.

the feed can be tailored to the feeding habits of the fish. Fish feeds today are complex compounds that try and mimic the nutritional profile of a wild fish’s diet. But feeds also need to conform to requirements other than purely nutritional, for example, they need a certain shelf life, they should be convenient to store and dispense, their buoyancy has to be considered, and cost is an important factor. In addition, during the production process certain nutrients are modified or destroyed and these then have to be compensated www.eurofishmagazine.com

for. Other criteria include taste, digestibility, stability in water, and food safety. The basic ingredients in fish feed are fish meal and fish oil. The latter influences the fatty acid profile of the fish, determining the presence and the extent of the healthful omega-3s.

Feed devoid of vegetable ingredients As feed manufacturers seek to contain costs they have been increasingly substituting fish Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

COVER STORY

better. Gutted fish and fillets are frozen using air impingement technology that freezes the product very rapidly preventing the build up of large ice crystals in the flesh and ultimately securing a higher quality product.

Own distribution company in Urk facilitates European deliveries

Sursan has an annual production spread over seven sites of over 9,000 tonnes of which 70% is seabass. The farming sites are certiﬁed to the GlobalG.A.P. standard.

Production certiﬁed to GlobalG.A.P. standard Since 2008 Sursan has been producing seabass and seabream in the Aegean Sea in the Bodrum area on the west coast of Turkey, where the company has a total production of 9,300 tonnes spread over seven sites. About 70 of the production is seabass and the rest is seabream. The cages are populated with 2 g juveniles that are bought from external suppliers as Sursan has not yet established its own hatchery. Each year some 20-25 million juveniles are purchased with deliveries four to six times in the year. The on-growing facilities are certified to the GlobalG.A.P. standard, which covers the entire production chain from the broodstock onwards. This sets specific criteria for not only the technical and environmental, but also the socio-economic aspects of the business including employee health and safety. The GlobalG.A.P. standard was chosen following requests from the company’s customers, recalls 34

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

Kerem Göksel. Among the criteria are requirements governing the use of medicines so the seabass are vaccinated to reduce the risk of disease and the need for treatment with antibiotics. The fish meal and fish oil production facilities as well as the fish feed plant are expected to complete the certification process at the beginning of 2014. Sursan uses only its own feed to give to the fish which not only gives it greater control over the production process, but also means that the fish ingest a high content of omega-3 fatty acids. The feed is transported each day from the factory to the on-growing sites, a distance of over 1,000 km, where it is loaded into feed barges that are linked to the cages by automated feeding systems. These blow the feed at regular intervals from the barge to the cages through pipes. The fish are harvested at 200 g to 1,500 g depending on the customer and 90 of the production is exported. Harvesting is carried

out daily. Last year (2013) Sursan completed a 2,000 sq. m processing and packaging plant that is certified to the GlobalG.A.P., BRC, and IFS standards and is also regularly audited by its customers. The plant has a capacity of 15,000 tonnes a year and produces fresh and frozen whole round fish, gutted fish or fillets. The entire process from harvest to final product takes a matter of hours. The filleting process is carried out by hand as yields are

Sursan has a subsidiary company in Urk, Netherlands that distributes the fish to customers all over Europe. The advantage of having a distribution company close to the market is that it allows the distribution of even small quantities. We do not have to send a truck load each time, explains Mr Göksel, if necessary we can even deliver a single pallet. From Turkey to Urk the delivery time is 72 hours so the fish can be at the consumer within 96 hours of harvesting. Sursan is also exploring the potential of products with even more value-addition. These would take the form of fillets of fish combined with other ingredients and frozen to give a complete meal that could be prepared quickly and easily in the oven or microwave.

Sursan Su Urunleri AS Ekinanbari Koyu, Kocakıs¸la Mevkii No:26 Milas Turkey Tel.: +90 252 513 31 15 Fax: +90 252 513 31 68 sales@sursanaqua.com www.sursanaqua.com Sales manager: Kerem Göksel Activities: Fishing, fish meal, fish oil production, fish feed

manufacture, seabass, seabream farming and processing Volumes: Anchovies 50,000 tonnes, fish meal 10,000 tonnes, fish oil 5,000 tonnes, farmed fish 9,300 tonnes (70% seabass) Markets (for farmed fish): UK, Germany, France, Netherlands Customers: Importers, retailers Employees: 485 Turnover: EUR37m (2013 provisional) www.eurofishmagazine.com

GERMANY

Current developments on the German ďŹ sh market

Sustainability efforts are not sufďŹ ciently recognised Fish consumption in Germany has remained largely stable, with ďŹ sh still being popular in spite of the fact that German consumers are very concerned about overďŹ shing, climate change, environmental problems and the allegedly poor quality of industrially produced foods. Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food industry feels unfairly treated: never before were foods of such high quality, so safe, or so inexpensive as they are today.

ccording to a statement made by the EU Commission the share of overfished fish stocks in European waters had fallen to 39ď&#x2122;&#x201A; in 2012. A remarkable achievement, given that in 2005 95ď&#x2122;&#x201A; of fish stocks were still considered to be overfished. The share of Northeast Atlantic stocks that is managed in accordance with the MSY concept and therefore on the basis of acknowledged sustainability criteria has already risen to 61ď&#x2122;&#x201A;. Although the ultimate goal has still not been reached, these are signs that the EUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts to achieve more sustainability in the fishing sector are producing the desired results, particularly since due to improved fishing opportunities the net earnings of the EU fishing fleet have risen by nearly 40ď&#x2122;&#x201A;. This is a considerable

achievement, although not all the parties involved benefit to the same extent. In Germany, which hardly participates anymore in the deep sea fishing sector, the small cutter and coastal fishermen are now demanding that they get an appropriate share of the financial success. After all, they too made efforts to achieve more sustainable fisheries management, for example by foregoing possible catches, or by investing in new fishing gear, or making other sacrifices. And that has had a detrimental effect on the income situations of many fishermen; today some of them are struggling to earn their basic livelihoods. In the fishermenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinions it is not only the more restrictive fisheries policy of the EU that is

responsible for their difficult situation but also the exaggerated nature conservation policy in Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coastal states of SchleswigHolstein and Lower Saxony. On the North Sea coast of SchleswigHolstein the environmental minister of that state (a member of the Green party) has evidently terminated the long-standing

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in sales of sustainably produced products.

Database on ﬁsh stocks creates more transparency

On the North Sea coast of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein efforts are being undertaken to force a 50% zero usage zone on local shrimp ﬁshermen in the Wattenmeer National Park.

and accept restrictions that pose a threat to their very existence. Apart from that, the fixed net fishermen on the Baltic coast of SchleswigHolstein are to cease from fishing in a part of their fishing grounds for 8 months of every year in order to better protect porpoises and sea birds. If the one-month EU protection period is added to this, that would mean a nine-month ban on fishing in the affected areas. Fishing companies in SchleswigHolstein and Lower Saxony have now founded a fisheries resistance group to defend themselves against these measures which are a threat to their existence. The main cause of the fishermen’s outrage is the lack of unambiguous evidence that the planned protection measures are really necessary or appropriate. The porpoises only inhabit the affected coastal waters for a short time and, apart from that, researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark already proved in 2012 that porpoise populations are currently increasing. The stock had grown by 43 per cent to more than 18,000 porpoises 36

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

since 2005. According to tests carried out for the German Federal Office for Nature Protection, seven porpoises a year lose their way and end up in the fishermen’s fixed nets on the German Baltic coast, five of them in SchleswigHolstein. The fishermen doubt that this low number justifies the efforts that are being undertaken. And they also find the measures for bird protection exaggerated: Danish studies show that only 2.3 of bird deaths that are the result of human action are caused by fixed nets. Positive developments in the EU fishery are hardly picked up and reported on by the German media. On the contrary, the media continue to paint such a grim picture of the situation that only little room is left for optimism. Large parts of the population are thus convinced that the European seas have been almost fished empty and that a lot of fish species could even become extinct in the near future. For that reason, sustainability is a very important topic for a lot of consumers and it plays an increasing role during purchase

decisions. According to market studies every fourth consumer in Germany is currently guided and influenced by sustainability aspects when they are shopping. In 2013 Germany’s Federal Association of Food Retailers conducted a survey within nine trading companies that together represent about half of this trade segment. The results showed that foods that are produced sustainably continue to have good growth opportunities within the German food trade. The number of consumers who gear their consumption to ecological and sustainably aspects, to quality and enjoyment, is increasing. ‘The group of “LOHAS” (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), also called “Quality Eaters”, already comprises about one quarter of the German population. These people are proactive in their efforts to examine the quality promises made by food producers, and they pay more attention than “normal” consumers to freshness, naturalness, organic origin, transparency, regionality and seasonality. This environmental and socio-ethical approach to consumption is a decisive driver behind the growth

What is true for the food industry in general can be applied to the fish industry in particular, whereby sustainability here is mainly reduced to the careful, environmentally appropriate handling of the natural resource fish. In order not to leave the provision of information in this field to the media and environmental organisations the internet portal “Fischbestände online” [Fish stocks online] was developed. This portal is open to all interested citizens and enables access to secure stock data. The platform is managed by the well-known Thünen Institute and offers scientific information on the condition of fish stocks and their sustainable usage in a precise, up-to-date, independent and largely understandable way. In October 2013 the site comprised information on 156 stocks of 33 species that represent nearly 80 of all the fish sold in Germany. At present, the Thünen Institute is expanding the database to include tuna and wild salmon plus a uniform classification of fishing gear. “Fischbestände online” is thus an important step towards achieving more transparency within the fishing sector and it contributes significantly to achieving objectivity in the public debate on this topic. The fisheries sector itself also goes to considerable effort to ensure that in Germany only fish from sustainable origins is traded. Already years ago the sector committed itself voluntarily either to print detailed fishing ground information on the sales packaging or to make this information www.eurofishmagazine.com

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accessible on the internet via Foodtracker. In doing so the industry is going far beyond the EU requirements which demand that the FAO fishing regions are stated on the pack. Although there is still some room for optimisation consumers can rely on the fact that the fish that is offered in Germany all comes from intact, sustainable sources. The success of this commitment is visible: 46 per cent of wild fish products within German food trade carry the MSC seal, which is more than in any other European country. Although the prices for fish and fish products have risen considerably, per capita fish consumption in Germany has remained at more or less the same level in recent years. With a total volume of 3.3 billion euros, expenditure for fish even reached a new record in 2012. Nearly two thirds of seafood consumption are accounted for by marine fish species, the other third is divided between freshwater species and crustaceans or molluscs. There is hardly any dynamic growth within this market and it has been largely stable for years. The same applies to the market shares of important product segments that have hardly changed at all.

Germany’s consumers choose frozen products in particular and these account for nearly one third of sales volume. Canned fish and marinades follow with a market share of 25. Smoked fish products have a market share of 9 and are thus on a level with fish salads and other fish products such as matje herring, salted herring or anchovies. Developments in the fresh fish segment are positive. Although the market share of this product group continues to stagnate at between 9 and 10 per cent more and more supermarket chains are opening fresh fish service counters again. A significant driver for this decision is mostly the desire to stimulate additional purchases and stand out from competitors by underlining freshness and quality. Fresh fish is still seen as a rather tricky and complicated product group in Germany, and one with which it is not easy to make money. Deciding on the product range is not easy and getting hold of raw materials can be a problem because of the fact that customers are paying more attention to sustainability and reports on overfishing. A lot of products are becoming more expensive

Market research has shown that, on average, customers who shop at supermarkets with fresh ﬁsh counters pay more at the checkout. www.eurofishmagazine.com

Fresh ﬁsh counters are re-appearing in a lot of supermarkets because retailers have recognised the fact that they can stimulate purchases via freshness and quality.

for the retailer, too and these higher prices cannot always be passed on to the consumers. The short shelf life of fresh fish forces quick sales and the fresh fish segment also demands sales staff who are well trained and aware of the latest developments in their product category so that they can offer appropriate advice to their customers. But the word has got around within the German retail sector, too, that it is possible to attract quality-conscious and affluent customers with fresh fish. Market surveys have revealed that, on average, customers who shop at supermarkets with fresh fish counters pay more at the checkout. Food prices have been on the increase, but average consumer prices for fish and fish products have risen even more than for food in general. This increase is not only the result of higher raw materials prices but also of higher energy and transport costs in Germany. Comparison of the consumer price indices for different foods over the past five years reveals that fish and fish product prices have risen most strongly apart from oils and fats. Compared to 2005 (index 100) they rose to 132.4 in 2013 while

food in general increased to 122.6. Indices for meat (123.8), dairy (120.7), bread and cereal products (123.9) all showed lesser increases than fish.

Balanced solutions for consumers and industry Another decisive trend in the German food industry in addition to sustainability continues to be convenience. Producers not only advertise the quality of their products but also increasingly emphasise aspects such as enjoyment, freshness and health. In doing so they are trying to meet the needs of a growing number of consumers whose eating habits are changing. Target group oriented offers are much more frequent today, for example foods especially for vegetarians, vegans or people with food allergies and intolerances (for instance against gluten or lactose). The number of gourmet products and regional specialities has also risen strongly, as has halal and kosher food. Consumer interest in organic foods and fair trade is increasing, even if the significance of these two trade segments is exaggerated and is Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

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too optimistically reported on by the media. In 2012 German households spent 6 per cent more on organic food and drinks than in the previous year but even with that the organic share of total food sales in Germany was only 3.9. The share of fair trade products is even lower: it rose to 650 m euros from 99 m euros in 2004. Growth in this sector seems to be accelerating, however, for it rose by one third from 2011 to 2012. Food products account for about three quarters of fair trade products, and about half of these come from organic production. The drivers behind this development in fair trade are coffee, flowers, and tropical fruits. As in the organic sector, fish and seafood products play only a minor role here. There has over recent years been a seemingly never-ending debate in Germany over the poor image and rating of foods. The press and television channels persistently pick up and point out the possible dangers and risks to consumer health that can be involved in the consumption of certain food products. These products are then often “tested” using dubious methods, tasted and judged by people in the street. Numerous reports and documentaries in the press and on TV live from discovering and exposing these “deceptions” by the food industry. The constant flow of such messages has led to many people being of the impression that particularly industrially produced food items are very often of inferior quality. Quite a lot of Germans believe that food companies and organisations are only interested in making money fast, that they are happy to deceive, withhold important information and even lie. Mistrust is not primarily directed at fish and seafood products but these products are not completely free from general suspicion. 38

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Companies in the food industry feel they are not being treated fairly. At the Anuga in 2013 an industry spokesman said that food products had never before been of such high quality in Germany, that they had never been so safe, or so inexpensive, and that product choice had never been so varied as it was today. That this was also internationally acknowledged could be seen for one thing in the fact that food products that are produced in Germany were enjoying increasing demand and popularity in other countries. At the same time, the food industry demands that responsible politicians in Germany and the EU should in future not only take the wishes of consumers into account but also consider the companies’ wishes. A lot of the regulations that were developed in the food sector in the recent past had not considered company interests,

for example during the reform of consumer information legislation or the food and feed code. The extension of the obligation to provide product information on the packaging was explained through the need to satisfy the consumers’ need for information. At the same time, those who are politically responsible complain that a lot of consumers are overtaxed by so much information and therefore demand that consumers should be given what are allegedly more easily understandable aids such as traffic lights, limitations and bans. No one in the food industry disputes the fact that consumers have to be given objective information on what the foodstuffs they buy contain. But when decisions on such topics are taken, attention should not only be paid to the presumed consumer interests but also to the consequences for the food industry and food trade.

The industry demands that politicians find well-balanced solutions that are not only useful for consumers but at the same time also take practical requirements of the food industry into consideration. The fish industry and the food retail sector in Germany complain in particular that their efforts to supply sustainable products are not sufficiently perceived and acknowledged by the public. A lot of consumers still believe that too little was being done against overfishing and that the fisheries sector was not really interested in where they got their fish from. The public’s level of knowledge on the considerable changes that have taken place in the sector during recent months and years is low, which does not, however, stop people from joining the debate and voicing criticism. mk

Smoked products play an important role in the German ﬁsh trade. In volume terms this product category has a share of 9% of total ﬁsh sales. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Fishing and ﬁsh farming, processing and tourism

Müritzfischer underline regionality in their marketing concept Founded in 1952, Fischerei Müritz Plau GmbH was originally a river and lake fishing enterprise but today it has expanded its offer to include much, much more. The company is located in an area with 27,000 hectares consisting of 90 individual lakes and rivers. Fishing is still an important pillar of the company concept but over the years other sections have been added: a hatchery and aquaculture, fish processing and trade, catering and offers for tourists.

ischerei Müritz Plau was probably the biggest inland fishery company in Germany, says Ulf Rehberg cautiously. He is the head of the company’s aquaculture and pond farming segment. This understatement seems unnecessary once you know the basic figures: the company has a lease on 27,000 ha of lakes and rivers for fishing. It includes the Müritz, Germany’s largest inland water. Müritzfischer has its headquarters in the little town of Waren in Mecklenburg, but it is active in a total of 10 other locations in the region. Rehberg estimates the ratio of traditional fishing to fish farming within the company at 60 to 40, but fish farming is gaining significance. Müritzfischer’s hatchery in the Boek pond culture is used for breeding several different fish species. Of commercial importance today are not only carp with which the hatchery began years ago but also other species for stocking local waters and for sale to local hobby anglers and fishing clubs. The hatchery’s production programme includes Siberian sturgeon (A. baerii) and burbot (Lota lota) for a spawning stock was built up. Rehberg considers burbot farming an “extravagance” which only paid off because the dry feed adapted burbot fry sold very well to fishing enthusiasts.

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Junior Manager Sebastian Paetsch (2nd from left.) informed the DLG (German Agricultural Association) committee about the structures and product offers of Fischerei Müritz Plau.

The raceways and ponds in the individual locations are mainly run on a flow-through basis and all of them with cold water. They were “low tech” installations, said Ulf Rehberg, with even the recirculating systems using cold, not warm, water. One of the commercially most important fishes for Müritzfischer is vendace, a freshwater whitefish which grows very well in the oxygen-rich water of Lake Müritz and Tollensee and

reaches an average size of about 140 grams. One could say that this fish bridges the gap between the company sections fish farming and fishing, for the company hatches 10 to 20 million eggs every year to support the stocks within the lakes and ensure constantly high catches. At spawning time eggs are removed from the mature fishes, fertilized and kept in jars. Three days after they hatch they are released into local waters.

Product variety from vendace and “beissbölter” The company mainly offers its products under the strong regional brand “Die Müritzfischer”. Within the overall marketing concept one of the most important fishes is vendace. In summer from May to October when large numbers of tourists visit the region vendace are offered for sale fresh or smoked Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

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appearance and the special aroma, vendace caviar is valued among discerning restaurant goers. Another speciality offered by Müritzfischer is available for a short time only from mid-December to mid-January: ‘Primeur Caviar’ from vendace, the first caviar of the spawning season.

The Müritzﬁscher smoked product range includes all the usual products based on trout, char, herring and mackerel.

at the company’s various fishing wharfs. Bread rolls with smoked vendace fillet are particularly popular and all the fishing wharfs produce them according to the same recipe, as Junior Manager Sebastian Paetsch assured us. “The rolls are baked fresh several times a day. Type, quantity and order of the filling is firmly stipulated to ensure that the customers get largely identical rolls at each wharf.” What is

called ‘Fischbrötchen’ [fish roll] nearly everywhere else in Germany is called ‘Fischerbrötchen’ [fisherman’s roll] at Müritzfischer to make their product stand out from all the others. “Our fishing wharfs are not commercially independent but are all cost centres of the Waren headquarters. They all offer the same product range but due to the decentralized location between Canow and Plau am See it would be too

Halibut and other marine ﬁsh species are bought in additionally to complete the product range and make it more attractive to customers. 40

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complicated and time-consuming to deliver the finished rolls to each of the locations every day. So they are produced on site according to our specifications and are thus fresher and taste even better”, explains Paetsch to describe the fish roll concept. The only exception to the uniform market presentation is the company’s fish soup which each fishing wharf makes according to its own recipe. The different wharfs compete to achieve the tastiest soup, says Paetsch. Vendace is used for other products, too. One of them is rolled vendace which are similar to rollmops and can be eaten with bouillon potatoes or simply on bread (German rye bread). The company also supplies a regional delicacy in the form of vendace caviar which is taken from the fishes as from December when spawning time begins. Its fine amber to orange coloured grains are firm to the bite and have a mildly nutty flavour. Due to the interesting

A rare speciality at the snack bar counters of the fishing wharfs is sold under the name “beissbölter”. These fish are offered either in a roll or with potato salad. This strange name stands for a breaded whitefish fillet that is fried crisp in the deep fryer. This is an ideal way to make good use of less popular fish species such as roach. In former East Germany the working day was over for the fishermen once they had unloaded their catch onto the quayside, says Junior Manager Paetsch. Today this is when the real work began, he says, for no money is earned until the fish had been sold. And to do that you need ideas like the ‘beissbölter’ – which incidentally are not only popular with tourists.

Fresh ﬁsh, smoked products and fried pike liver One of the mainstays of the Müritzfischer business concept is the processing plant or, as Paetsch calls it the ‘Fischmanufaktur’, because a lot of the tasks performed there are still mainly carried out by hand. Well-trained staff kill, scale and fillet the fishes, portion, smoke, and pack them. The EU approved company produces fresh, chilled, smoked and frozen fish products. Although the main focus is on regional products, as a full supplier that also sells to hotels and restaurants the company buys in additional marine fishes. An indispensable range segment is smoked www.eurofishmagazine.com

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products that are produced in three electric smoking units and three traditional smokers. The cold or hot smoked specialities remain in the smoke for a long time and thus have a very intense smoke flavour. Six hours for cold-smoked salmon and five hours for hot-smoked halibut are quite common smoking times. The product range includes all the common smoked products such as trout, char, herring and mackerel but also specialities such as pollan, African catfish or tuna. The range of smoked salmon products is particularly broad and all of them are salted by hand. There is not only the classic product, smoked salmon, but also pepper salmon, herb salmon with herbs from the region, Mexico salmon with an exotic spice mixture from South America, and lemon salmon. Eels are always smoked in the traditional smoker. In winter about 200 kg of smoked products leave the plant every day but during the holiday season when a lot of tourists come to the Mecklenburg lake district, it’s twice that amount.

Müritzfischer also have a few unusual products in their production programme, and these are produced in small series and packed in jars: for example, smoked eel fillet from the traditional smoker, eel in jelly, or fried pike liver, a particular delicacy which goes very well with green salad or a baguette. Pike caviar is another speciality of the region. Nearly all the company’s products are available via their online shop. A lot of guests make use of this option so that even when they are no longer on holiday they don’t have to do without the popular Müritzfischer products.

Opportunities to train as a freshwater ﬁsherman Fresh fish from aquaculture is available throughout the year but the range of wild fish from the company’s own fishery varies depending on the season. A fishing table informs interested customers about when each different species is available. Anyone who doesn’t want to have to wait so long can choose frozen products. With the ‘Superfrost Selection’ product line Müritzfischer offers an attractive

The Müritzfischer holding tank does not only improve the flavour of the fishes but also acts as a buffer for the processing plant.

range of frozen products that are produced with the help of nitrogen freezing at temperatures of minus 80°C. Under these conditions the core temperature of the fish falls to between -35 and -45°C within 30 to 60 minutes which preserves the physiological freshness of the products perfectly, particularly because this expensive freezing technique is only suited to fishes of top freshness. During the past few years the company has invested strongly

The DLG committee for ﬁsh breeding and farming used the time spent in Waren to pay a visit to Müritzﬁscher, too. www.eurofishmagazine.com

in the development of offers for tourists which are becoming increasingly popular in the region. They include holiday flat rentals beside Mecklenburg’s lakes, or holidays at the fishing wharfs which are very popular among hobby anglers and water sportsmen. Müritzfischer have ponds where fishing enthusiasts can cast their rods, they sell fishing maps, organize fishing trips and rent out boats. “We have everything that has to do with fish in our own hands – from the egg to the finished product and its marketing via the fishing wharfs, holiday flats and fishing maps”, says Sebastian Paetsch happily. However, in order to safeguard the company’s future Müritzfischer needs young people who want to learn the trade because soon a lot of today’s fishermen will be retiring. “We train about 5 young people every year and are always on the look-out for people who are interested in learning the trade and are fit for the varied tasks that are connected with it. It’s not easy to find suitable trainees because the work is hard and time-consuming. But anyone who loves variety, and enjoys working outside in the fresh air can look forward to a good future with us.” Eurofish Magazine 1/ 2014

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Limito S.A.: Core competence is salmon products

Boneless steaks, salmon loins and convenience products In September 2012 Limito opened a new ﬁsh processing plant in Grudziadz (approximately 100 km south of Danzig). It stands out not only for its high level of automation during production which is deﬁnitely state-of-the-art, but also for its unusually short construction time: from the laying of the foundation stone to the start of production it took only nine months.

t took six months for the matching and coordination of all the individual machines and to ensure they were all communicating as desired with the central computer which is responsible for the control of all production processes and data capture. Innova is the name of the integrated software solution chosen for this purpose. It is supplied by Marel. It actively controls and monitors every step in the production process – from incoming raw materials to dispatch of the finished products. Because all relevant production information is recorded traceability is guaranteed for every single product. Wrosz is convinced that electronic management systems of such complexity are still rare in production facilities today. The system stores and manages all data centrally so that they can be called up at the press of a button to give information on product and inventory stocks, capacity utilisation of individual machines, material yield, or free capacities, etc.. Given the numerous advantages that Innova offers, people are happy to wait a little longer for such a system. But the visit to the production halls soon revealed that Limito has not only invested in an intelligent management system. We saw salmon filleters and portioners from Marel, Geba 250 slicers for slicing smoked salmon sides (Wrosz: “In our company smoked salmon really is sliced fresh without

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any light freezing”) and heavy-duty packaging machines such as the R535, R245 and T700 from Multivac – in the 6,800 m2 company a lot of the machinery and equipment is at the forefront of fish processing developments. Quality standards such as ISO and BRC, HACCP, IFS or Kosher conformity which the company has already fulfilled are an indication of the very high production level. Despite the latest technology it is not, of course, possible to get by without any staff at all in Grudzia˛dz. Nearly 250 people are employed at Limito. During peak periods, at Easter or towards the end of the year, about 100 additional temporary workers are employed. Up to 10,000 t of ready products, fresh or frozen, smoked or otherwise processed, can be processed annually. About three quarters of production is frozen, the remainder is supplied fresh, mostly in modified atmosphere packaging. The company’s own brands are ‘Limito’ for the premium market and ‘Seafood4You’ for the economy segment. The two brands currently only account for about one quarter of total production, however, and the majority of products are traded under private labels. Limito wants to substantially increase the share of its premium brand (which is described in the company brochure as

Export Manager Krzysztof Wrosz. About 90% of Limito’s current product range is based on fresh salmon from Norwegian aquaculture.

standing for “uniqueness, quality and health”) in the coming years. They are also striving to strengthen the brand and company image by offering attractive products and perhaps even by setting new trends for nutrition. Salmon from Norwegian aquaculture forms the basis of the product range and accounts for about 90 of production. “We offer more or less everything that can be produced from fresh salmon”, promises Export Manager Krzysztof Wrosz.

Poland is the third largest market for salmon from Norway Following Morpol and Suempol, Limito has become one of the major salmon processors in

Poland. With annual imports of nearly 140,000 t in 2012 Poland was the third biggest buyer of Norwegian salmon after France and Russia. Although a large proportion of the salmon is just processed in Poland and then re-exported, demand for salmon is growing on the domestic market, too. According to statistics, the average Polish consumer eats a good 1.2 kg of salmon per year. Poland differs from other markets, however, in that a large share of this quantity is eaten in the home. Whereas in Western Europe people sooner tend to eat fish in restaurants Polish people will often prepare it themselves in their own homes. Limito is targeting these consumers with its products, says Krzysztof Wrosz. “We are not only www.eurofishmagazine.com

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looking to export our products but also want to serve the Polish domestic market which is undergoing dynamic growth, particularly in the salmon sector.” During the first three months of this year salmon imports from Norway were 25 higher than during the same period the previous year – in spite of the high prices. Processing the fishes in their own plant opens up completely new possibilities for Limito. When Tomasz Rytlewski founded the company in 2004 it was a purely commercial enterprise. Then Miroslaw Orzoł bought into the company as a co-owner in 2008 and from that time it became Limito International. Only then did it begin exporting to Central and Eastern Europe. With the entry of the Private Equity Fund Avallon MBO which currently holds 50 of Limito the company’s financial scope was broadened considerably in 2011 and this enabled the construction of the ultramodern plant in Grudzia˛dz. The first big customer that Limito gained in the year 2005 was IKEA Poland which began buying their 120 g salmon portions. Today the company supplies to numerous big hotel chains and food service

firms from Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton and Radisson to LOT catering and Sodexo. Well-known retail chains on the Polish market are also among Limito’s customers, for example Auchon, Tesco, Real, Kaufland, Lidl and Makro.

Salmon variety for different customer groups The range of salmon products from Limito comprises not only well-known products that have long been standard at the retailer’s but also several specialities that Wrosz thinks have good chances in the export sector, too. “We offer all the standard product forms of our most important fish species, the salmon, from fillets in trims A to E and various sized portions to steaks, cubes and medaillons. With or without the skin, however the customer wants them, both fresh and frozen.” IQF salmon portions are available in the standard pack sizes 125, 150, 180 and 200 grams. Separately vacuum packed in continuous strip packs, bags or cartons. If the customer desires, other sizes and types of packaging are also possible. In accordance with the Polish industry standard PN-86/A-86767 all frozen products are given a final glazing to

Sensitive work stages such as heading the salmon which strongly inﬂuence yield are carried out by hand. www.eurofishmagazine.com

The raw materials are given a barcode which accompanies the lot through all processing stages right up to the ﬁnished product.

protect them from drying out. In the context of a promotion campaign a Limito salmon product is currently enjoying considerable success: five portions of fish (skin on, 125 g each portion) sealed individually into a plastic strip and packed in a carton. The pack weight is given at 500 g – because the fifth portion is free! The frozen salmon portions are also available in a premium variety without the skin. These portions come from the middle section of the fillet. A salmon carpaccio and very versatile salmon cubes are also part of this product segment. Salmon steaks are one of Limito’s particular specialities: portion slices that are cut cross-wise through the salmon’s body. In contrast to the usual steaks, however, these products are completely boneless which enables a perfect, pleasurable experience when eaten with the crispy skin. These boneless steaks are also available in a herb marinated variety which is excellent for baking, frying or steaming. The salmon loins can be prepared in

the same way and they are also available in a herb marinade. This vacuum packed frozen product is offered in pack sizes of 400 and 700 g.

Limito cooperates with Polish star cook Sowa One of the stable pillars within Limito’s salmon product range is a wide variety of cold or hot smoked products. Here variety applies both to the type of salting (by hand or injection) and to the preparation of the fillets and the packaging. Cold smoked and pre-sliced salmon fillets are, for example, available in different sizes from 50 to 1,000 grams as vacuum packs or in MAP trays. The standard packaging for the products is in easy-open packs and these are fitted with a euro lock that enables hanging presentation at the store. Robert Sowa, a chef who is very well-known in Poland due to his frequent media presence, provides a testimonial for several smoked products of Limito. A lot of the packs are equipped with

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portion size that is said to be sufficient for two people. It contains fresh salmon pieces and spinach in béchamel sauce with an aromatic cheese topping. The company’s new French pastry is made of the same ingredients but here the salmon and spinach are served in a white cheese sauce. This product is also available with shrimps in a creamy cheese sauce. The frozen dishes can be prepared easily in the oven.

Strategic goal is expansion of the export markets

The processed ﬁllets go either directly to the retailer or serve as an intermediary component for other salmon products from Limito.

recipe stickers from Sowa which creates an additional buying incentive. Salmon cubes (which measure about 20x20x15 mm) are also available cold smoked in 100 gram (MAP) packs. These can be eaten as a starter, a small snack in between, or used for pasta dishes, light soups or salads. The best-known and most popular hot smoked salmon product in

Poland is smoked fillet strips. Limito produces this product from 125 g fillet strips (skin on) that have a relatively mild salting and are gently smoked to preserve the fish’s succulence. A new product which has just recently been added to the production programme is lasagne with salmon and spinach in a

Salmon is the most important raw material but not the only one that Limito processes. Also very popular is the range of Asian inspired convenience products which contain shrimps as the seafood component. For the products in this range Limito uses high quality black tiger shrimps that are combined with various sauces and vegetables to produce tasty oriental dishes for two people. Together with rice these products give a complete meal. The product range currently comprises the following: r Black tiger shrimps in Thai coconut sauce with crispy vegetables

Limito LIMITO Polanki 136/4 str. 80-322 Gdan‘sk Tel: +48 58 350 60 60 Fax: +48 58 550 08 43 E-mail: ofﬁce@limito.pl Web: www.limito.pl

Before the portions are cut the ﬁllets pass through 3D scanners so that the computer can calculate the optimal cut. 44

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Business: Fish processing and trade Founded: 2004 Owners: Avallon MBO, Tomasz

Black tiger shrimps in Chinese sweet and sour sauce with mixed vegetables r Black tiger shrimps in curry sauce with coconut milk and onions r Black tiger shrimps, breaded, in sweet chili sauce r Black tiger shrimps in garlic sauce with onions, tomatoes and parsley. All these dishes can be prepared in the frying pan within just a few minutes. Export Manager Krzysztof Wrosz is convinced that Limito and its products meet the taste of consumers not only in Poland but in other markets, too. “We already export to several countries, for example to France, Germany and Italy, and we are represented with our products on the Indian, Japanese and Australian markets.” In the coming years the company wants to expand their buyer base further. They see target markets in particular in Canada and the USA, Brazil, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Wrosz has no fears that such expansion could outgrow the capacities of the present company: “We have already reserved the plot of land next to the plant and could double production area immediately should the need arise”.

Company Fact File Rytlewski, Miroslaw Orzołdie Employees: 250 (at peak times 350) Product range: All kinds of salmon products, ﬁsh and seafood Capacity: 8-10,000 t/ year Main markets: Poland, Europe, overseas Brands: Limito, Seafood4You Certiﬁcates: BRC, HACCP, IFS, Kosher conformity.

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Global Fish: Tilapia from Polish aquaculture

Fresh tilapia products for the European market The product range offered by Global Fish comprises ﬁsh products from tilapia that are raised in a modern recirculating aquaculture system near Warsaw. The system’s capacity is 1,200 t per year which is equal to about 3 million ﬁshes. That probably makes the company the biggest producer and supplier of tilapia in Europe. If the project is successful the investors want to set up further farming facilities in other European countries.

lthough from a global point of view tilapia is undoubtedly one of the most successful fish species within aquaculture it is still largely unknown in Europe. The aquaculture producer Global Fish wants to change that. In Bon’ki near Płon’sk, about 70 km to the northwest of Warsaw, they run what is probably at present the biggest and most modern warm water recirculating system in Europe. The facility is located in a poorly developed region that is nevertheless fairly central, i.e. in the middle of Poland which is an advantage for marketing the fresh products. Nearly 45 million Zloty (10.7 m EUR) were invested in the project. About half of this was provided by six shareholders who hold almost equal shares in the company. The other half comes from EU funds. Among the investors are several aquaculture specialists from Israel who have not only put money into the venture but also supplied the business model and the concept that was followed at Aqua Maof Aquaculture Business. Some Polish partners also already had experience with aquaculture in recirculations systems as they have been successfully operating a 120 t barramundi farm in Wymój (Masuren) 15 km from Olsztyn for many years. This farm in the meantime belongs to Global Fish, www.eurofishmagazine.com

too. The fishes that are produced there are mainly marketed in the company’s own restaurant which is an open secret almost nationwide. The experience gained in barramundi farming went into the technical design of the tilapia farm. The tilapia project was realised in an amazingly short time. It took only two years from the idea to finalisation of the concrete planning, and building approval was given already six months after application. In 2010 the investors purchased a four hectare plot of land in Bon’ki: abandoned agricultural land that was going for a low price. Building work began a year later. It was carried out mainly by Polish firms. In August 2012 the first tilapia were already swimming in the round tanks within the generously dimensioned production hall. This hall takes up three quarters of the company building’s total area which, together with the office, social, storage and technical rooms measures about half a hectare. There are two farming modules with a total of 15 tanks in which altogether 5,000 m3 water circulate. Although they were already well filled with fish in mid-April the company had still not reached its full capacity potential. Global Fish will soon be producing 100 t of tilapia every month, however, or over

Sales Director Richard Marciniak, CEO Jacob Kicerman and Export Director Przemyslaw Drozdz. The tilapia project of Global Fish is unique in Europe for its type and size.

the course of one year 1,200 t. The company might even manage 1,300 t, speculates Jakob Kicerman, one of the shareholders and the President of the organisation. The results so far certainly justify such hopes.

Farming without hormones or medication The farm produces solely Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in a reddish and a wild colour

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variant that the Global Fish farm operators call “Red” and “Silver”. The two fishes hardly differ in flavour. Their perch-like firm and (if correctly filleted) boneless meat is very suited to frying, baking, grilling or steaming and does not fall apart when cooked. Whether Global Fish will in future produce both colour variants is still not finally decided. “We are currently testing the acceptance of the fishes among our customers and, on top of that, assessing whether they differ in growth and in the possible farming densities”, says Kicerman. If desired, Global Fish can change their farming course very quickly since they don’t produce the fry themselves. The young fishes are delivered every month from hatcheries in the Netherlands or the USA. Once in Poland the tilapia first spend 30 days in one of the two quarantine stations before they are put into the tanks. “We set great store by healthy, robust fry that grow well, because we have committed ourselves to farming without the use of growth promoters, hormones, antibiotics or other medication”, explains Jacob Kicerman, who actually comes from the financial sector but is now a real aquaculture enthusiast. “That is why we don't accept any fry that have been “masculinised” with hormones but only the young of YY-supermales.” When kept in water at temperatures of around 27°C the tilapia grow to portion sizes of 300 to 400 grams in just 6 months. To reach a size of 800 to 1,000 grams which is necessary for fillets, the fishes need about one year. All the water parameters in the recirculating system are fully adapted to the fishes’ needs and are permanently automatically monitored. The system gets most of its water from 46

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

The concept of the closed recirculating system in which nearly 5,000 m3 of water circulate originated from Aqua Maof Aquaculture Business in Israel.

ground water which, if required, can be mixed with mains water. In both cases the water has to be treated because the ground water in the farm’s location contains a relatively large amount of iron and the water in the public water network is often chlorinated. But the farm had these problems under control, Kicerman says. Clean water in top quality was after all one of the elementary prerequisites for the production of healthy fishes. In the fish tanks the water is exchanged twice per hour. Four powerful pumps keep the water current constantly in motion. That was less expensive than a glance at the huge pumps might imply, said the company manager. Only 1.2 kW of energy were needed to grow one kilogram of fish. Using other recirculating system concepts it was often three times that amount. In the next phase the company also wants to convert to renewable energy sources,

particularly biogas, to further increase the project’s sustainability and profitability.

2,400 cubic metres tank volume for the tilapia Only two per cent of the water volume in the system is renewed every day. This is thanks to the Israeli farming concept, for in the low-rain areas of the Middle East water-saving technologies are of particular significance. The “price” that Global Fish has to pay for this is high, however, for nearly half of the hall area is taken up with water treatment technology which in turn means of course that a lot of room is lost that could be used for the fish tanks. Most of the technology used at the farm in Bon’ki comes from Israel and the USA. The fish section is divided into two separate modules. The first comprises six large round

concrete tanks each with 200 m3, the second consists of five big 200 m3 tanks and four small tanks that each hold 50 m3. All the fish tanks are about 3 m high and sunk far enough into the ground to enable the necessary work and controls to be carried out easily from the edge of the tank. When the water flows out of the tanks it first goes into huge sedimentation tanks that are 9 metres deep and fitted with lamella plates at the bottom. The water remains in the tank for as long as it takes for the suspended matter particles to settle as completely as possible on the bottom. The remaining water which is free of suspended matter is then trickled over a fixed bed filter which also goes 9 metres down (bio-block) to render nitrogen compounds harmless and drive out excess gas. The www.eurofishmagazine.com

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dirty water from the bottom of the sedimentation tank – about 10 of water volume – flows into a second cleaning unit where it is further treated with the help of flocculation agents and drum filters. The sludge produced accounts for just under 2 of the water circulating within the system and is soon to be used as a nutrient-rich fertiliser for the production of lettuce on a free plot of land next to the building: a kind of aquaponics for which it was still too cold in April, however. Before the cleaned, UV light treated water which is now pathogen free flows back into the fish tanks it is enriched with pure oxygen at a pressure of 2 bars in U pipes that go down 20 metres into the ground. This procedure has been fully tested in practice and apparently works well. Since the facility’s opening there have not been any serious problems, and even with high fish densities the water is mostly clear with hardly any turbidity, even immediately after feeding. On average the fish densities within the tanks fluctuate between 60 and 100 kg/m3 depending on the size of the tilapia. Experiments with the “silver” tilapia that are said to be more robust and faster growing than the red-coloured fishes, have shown, however, that even densities that were twice as high would be feasible. The fishes are provided automatically with feed via a system of pipes and dispensers that runs beneath the hall roof above the tanks. At the time of our visit the system was not in operation and the fish were being fed by hand. “We decided to do this to optimise feed quantity and feeding times”, explains Jacob Kicerman. “On the basis of the data we gain during hand feeding the computer will later on be able to take over www.eurofishmagazine.com

this task.” Apart from that, hand feeding gave the staff a chance to get a better feel for the fishes and their behaviour. Kicerman hopes that his company will achieve FCR values of around 1.2 which would be excellent for tilapia farming. The quality of the feed offers all the prerequisites for this; it comes from Coppens and has been adapted to the fishes’ needs.

Fish product range is being successively extended In addition to the feed pipes mentioned above there are some other pipes, too, above the tanks. They are considerably thicker and it is with their help that the fishes are sorted according to size and divided up between the tanks. If necessary this takes place twice per farming cycle “The fishes swim to their destination by themselves so to speak and are thus less stressed which has a positive influence on their growth and their meat quality.” Global Fish uses a similar principle for harvesting, too, for the tilapia swim to the slaughter station through a channel which runs through the hall between the tanks. A sliding panel just has to be opened in the tank wall and a few minutes later the tank is empty. Prior to slaughter the tilapia are held for 48 hours. At the moment a contract partner still takes care of processing the tilapia but in 2012 work began on the construction of a Globe Fish processing plant. The current product range comprises mainly whole fishes, round or gutted, but kitchen-ready descaled fishes are also available. However, because fillets are being increasingly demanded these products are now being produced more, too. Bigger tilapia

are needed for fillets, however, and it takes twice as long to farm these larger fishes than to farm the portion tilapia. “Our marketing is still in its infancy and we have to find out which products the customers want. Of course, we have a lot of our own ideas but we don’t want to implement them until our own processing plant is ready. Customers with special wishes can contact us at any time, however. We are flexible and can easily adapt to individual requirements.” Fresh tilapia (advertised in the company brochure as “fish that have never been frozen”) from Global Fish are available in average weights of about 400, 600 and 800 g. Fillets are available in the sizes 120-150 and 150-190 g. They are delivered on ice in 3, 5 and 10 kg polystyrene boxes, and MAP packaging is possible, too (shelf-life 12 days). Harvesting takes place at present twice a week. The team of employees at Global Fish knows that with their tilapia project, its size and its complexity they are breaking new ground in Europe where there are hardly any known routines to fall back

Global Fish Global Fish Sp. Z o.o. 1 Dluga Str. 09-100 Bonki-Zawady Poland Contact: Export Director Przemyslaw Drozdz Tel: +48 23 662 67 15 Mobile: +48 668 872 555 E-mail: p.drozdz@globalﬁsh.pl www.globalﬁsh.pl

on and not very much experience. Even seemingly banal problems can present obstacles, for example with regard to the company’s certification. “We already have the GlobalGAP certificate but would like to get ourselves certified according to ASC standards, too”, complains Kicerman. Unfortunately, it had so far not been possible to find anyone in Europe who was capable of doing this. “Tilapia certifiers are mainly located in Asia and Latin America because that is where the fish is farmed most frequently.” It would be very expensive if they had to fetch these people to Europe to carry out the tests. In the meantime, however, the problem seems to have been solved and the ASC certificate will probably be issued in September. The fact that there is also a lot of interest in fresh tilapia in Europe was something Global Fish noticed the first time they participated in the ESE in Brussels. “We had a lot of queries”, says Export Director Przemyslaw Drozdz happily. “We are already very well represented on the Polish market and also supply to Great Britain. But we want to convince more customers in Europe of our fresh tilapia products.”

Company Fact File Business: Aquaculture producer and supplier of fresh tilapia Founded: 2008 CEO: Jacob Kicerman Employees: 19 (planned 40) Product range: Fresh tilapia products (whole fishes, fillets, convenience) Capacity: 1,200 t tilapia Main markets: Poland, UK, Europe Brands: Global Fish Certificates: GlobalGAP (soon also ASC)

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

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Fario farms and processes trout

Fresh MAP trout for retail chains The aquaculture industry in Poland mainly produces trout and carp. Whilst carp production is decreasing in Poland, however, trout production is enjoying a slight upward trend. Annual production is currently 18,000 t and companies like Fario make a considerable contribution to this total. Fario produces 850 t of trout per year in its two raceway systems, and owns a hatchery and modern processing plant as well. Looking at the trout farm in Zochowo you wouldn’t think that the company was founded a good 35 years ago. The farm covers an area of nearly two hectares and the concrete channels installed there are completely covered with netting to keep birds off the young fishes. A computer controlled feed dispenser provides the fishes with feed from three big silos whose contents suffice for about 10 days. There is plenty of water available at the farm’s location. It comes from a neighbouring stream whose temperature does not rise above 21°C even during the summer. About 10t of trout swim in each of the channels to which additional pure oxygen is added about halfway downstream. There are also paddlewheel aerators in some tanks. Grzegorz Balcerzyk, the Company Director, tells us that problems only sometimes occur during the winter if a layer of ice forms on the water’ surface. “We reduce fish density during the cold season and only give small quantities of feed but we leave the trout in the water. Under these conditions the fishes hardly grow at all and biomass in the raceways can even fall, but to compensate, it means we can start up again immediately once the weather warms up.” Zochowo is Fario’s main base. It is situated almost exactly halfway between Slupsk and Lebork. This is the location of not only the trout farm but also the company’s 48

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

The feed in the three big silos that sufﬁce for about 10 days when the farm is working to capacity comes from Biomar and Skretting.

The computer-controlled feed dispenser supplies feed to all the tanks on the farm. Halfway along the channels there is a second feed dispenser. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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trout, Fario also packs imported products, mainly seabass and gilthead seabream for retail chains.

Kitchen-ready gutted MAP trout can be delivered with or without the gills depending on customer requirements.

hatchery and the processing plant. This means that Fario has control over nearly all the different stages of farming from hatching to processing. There are two exceptions, however, as Director Balcerzyk adds: “We do not strip the trout ourselves but buy the eggs from reliable suppliers. And we don’t have our own sales or marketing department, either. We sell the fish on request and to order. Orders mostly come from retail chains.” Already 24 hours after harvesting, the required trout products can be delivered to destinations anywhere in Poland. And customers in the Berlin area get their products just as quickly, too, Balcerzyk assures us.

Kitchen-ready trout is the main product The routine farming method practised by Fario includes the www.eurofishmagazine.com

company’s somewhat smaller trout farming facility in Nowin which is just a few kilometres away. After hatching, the fry first remain for a while in the shallow tanks of the hatchery which is supplied with ground water from 50 and 4 metres depth. The water from the different sources is mixed to render it suitable for the young trout with regard to temperature and iron content. When the fishes have reached a size of about 10 grams they are taken to the growout centre in Nowin which serves as a nursery. A few weeks later at a weight of 50 grams they are taken back to Zochowo where they reach their final weight within one year – mostly between 250 and 350 grams. Fario does not supply salmon trout at present. When the farm is full and everything is running smoothly about 3,000 kg of trout can be harvested in one working day.

The distance the fish have to be transported to the processing plant is short since Fario had the modernly equipped, EUapproved company built right next to the trout farm. That is why it only really takes a few minutes after harvesting for the trout to arrive there in optimum freshness. A small share of production is filleted, but at present Fario’s most important product is kitchen-ready gutted trout that are available with or without the gills, depending on customer requirements. “About half of the trout are delivered on ice in polystyrene boxes, the other half are packed under modified atmosphere for supermarket chains. The latter have a shelflife of 7 days”, says Grzegorz Balcerzyk to give us an idea of the product range. Because the company’s capacity is not fully exploited when processing only

Like a lot of the nearly 200 trout farming companies that currently exist in Poland, Fario too is noticing the growing pressure caused by cheap trout imports, stricter environmental requirements, rising production costs and restrictions on water usage. Added to this come exchange rate problems when buyers are based outside of Poland. Production and consumption of trout have risen considerably in Poland and are already on the same level as carp but Polish aquaculture is now stagnating. Trout producers who hardly sell more than 5 of their trout directly to final consumers are hit by these developments, too. They mainly sell their fishes via retail chains and catering establishments, with the put and take fishery playing a certain role, too. The food market in Poland is very price-sensitive and it is difficult to sell fish because meat is mostly a lot cheaper. Per capita consumption of fish among the 40 million Polish citizens is currently 12 kg/year, i.e. well below consumption in Germany. To increase it further there would have to be more product marketing, targeted advertising campaigns for fish, and more information on health aspects. Contact: Fario s.j. 76-230 Potegowo Zochowo 19/1 Tel. +48-59 846 35 89 biuro@fario.com.pl www.fario.com.pl Director Grzegorz Balcerzyk Mobile: +48 606 284 033 E-mail: gb@fario.com.pl

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BK Salmon smokes Norwegian salmon in Poland

Daily capacity about 40,000 packs of smoked salmon Poland is one of Europe’s biggest salmon importers. A lot of the salmon are only processed in Poland, however, mainly smoked, and then exported again. Alongside the big well-known players there are also some smaller companies that do good business in this market segment, for example BK Salmon, a traditional salmon smokehouse. They stand out for their comprehensive service, and their responsiveness to customer wishes.

K Salmon processes exclusively fresh salmon from Norway, Marcin Kostyszyn, the company Sales Director, assures us. They still use traditional smoking techniques. “Hand salting, smoke from hard wood chips and time, you don’t really need anything else for a good smoked salmon.” On average the fresh salmon from Norway takes three days to get to the smokehouse which is not far from Gdynia. “We buy the raw materials head on, gutted because we can then fillet the fish ourselves and gear all the subsequent processing steps exactly to our requirements”, explains Kostyszyn. BK Salmon’s team of 120 employees work together well in two shifts a day (the third shift is for the cleaning brigade). Once the salmon has arrived at the plant it rarely takes longer than 12 hours before the fillets are ready smoked. Two to three trucks of Norwegian salmon are delivered every week. This adds up to nearly 2,000 t of raw materials in the course of a year. The company can produce 40,000 200 g packs of smoked salmon per day, both vacuum and modified atmosphere packed. One of BK Salmon’s little specialities is that they smoke the salmon fillets without the skin. After

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Marcin Kostyszyn, Sales Director. BK Salmon offers customers a select range of salmon, halibut, and trout products.

salting, which is almost exclusively done by hand, the fish is dried and then put into the smoker. Marcin Kostyszyn remarks that they prefer hand salting because that enables the best quality. About 90 of the smoked salmon products are produced in this way. Salt content in the final product is usually between 3.5 and 4.5.

“As a customer-oriented supplier we can also of course inject the salt into the products, or combine the two methods if that is what the buyer wants.” The Sales Director points out the fact that the fresh salmon is never frozen at any stage of the production process. The smoked fillets are cooled to a temperature of 2°C prior to slicing

to make them slightly firmer for the slicing process but this could not be compared with freezing. The microbiological safety of the products, whose quality was only recently acknowledged by two DLG (German Agricultural Association) medals, was tested regularly in the company’s own laboratory. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Wide variety of salmon products in different pack sizes Although BK Salmon also has products based on smoked halibut and trout in its production programme, cold-smoked salmon, dry salted and presliced is by far the most important product, the mainstay of the company concept so to speak. This smoked salmon is available in all the pack sizes that are commonly found at the retailer’s today, vacuum or modified atmosphere packed. Special customer requirements, be it different target weights or frozen products, can be supplied, too. The range of salmon specialities includes cold-smoked salmon loins that are very attractively packed on a wooden tray, “long slices” for which the fillet is cut horizontally, dry-salted salmon carpaccio, and gravadlax that is marinated in a herb and spice mixture with a lot of dill. For customers from the catering sector BK Salmon offers salmon fillets that are packed fresh or frozen, singly under vacuum or loose as bulk goods.

Dry salted cold-smoked salmon, pre-sliced, is available in practically all the standard pack sizes, vacuum or modiﬁed atmosphere packed.

The company is certified to MSC and ASC standards and beyond that also supplies products that meet organic and kosher requirements. A complex control and

Salt content in the ﬁnished smoked salmon product is usually between 3.5 and 4.5%. The salmon is processed fresh and at no point frozen during the course of production.or modiﬁed atmosphere packed.

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documentation system has been put in place to guarantee full traceability from the product’s origin to the shop. This is an amazing development for the company in the little town of Zelistrzewo which is located between Gdansk and Gdynia. The architectural shell of the building is from the year 1985 but it has been modernised and adapted to meet rising demand several times in between. At first it was mainly pelagic fish species that were processed there. In 2006 the product range was then extended to include cold-smoked products. One year later the company was granted EU approval and issued with an EU approval number and has since then supplied to numerous retail chains in France, Denmark and Germany, particularly to discounters. Since 2008

the company has been co-operating with the partner BK Food Poland which enabled investments to be made in the machine outfit and packaging technology, and in 2011 a Polish-Danish company took the company over under the name BK Salmon. Contact: BK Salmon Sp. z o.o. ul. Pucka 70 84-122 Zelistrzewo Poland Tel.: +48 58 673 99 66 Fax. +48 58 35139 78 E-mail: salmon@salmon.eu EU approval number: PL 22111856 WE Sales and Export Department: Tel.: (+48 ) 697 205 500 E-mail: mk@bk-salmon.eu

Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ AQUACULTURE ] Research, promotion campaigns, close links to government, strong associations

Spanish aquaculture sector draws strength from different sources Over the past 30 years, Spain has developed its aquaculture sector through technological investments and the promotion of marine and inland aquaculture products. Promotion has been done at government, association, and at producer level. Different tools have been used, such as fairs, exhibitions, as well as marketing and information campaigns.

pain is one of the top 20 aquaculture producers in the world and the top aquaculture producer in Europe, with 271,963 tonnes in 2011, which represents over a fifth of total European production. The aquaculture activity supports around 5,120 processing establishments and 97 of which facilities are in marine areas, whereas the rest are in inland waters. The large variety of sites in Spain for farming fish has encouraged the development of multiple production systems that have allowed the farming of 50 different species of fish, molluscs and crustaceans.

Strong research facilities back the industry In 1984 the mariculture law was passed in Spain to facilitate the coordination and cooperation among all those involved in aquaculture. This law established the creation of the National Advisory Board for Marine Aquaculture (JACUMAR) chaired by the Secretary General of the Sea. Creating JACUMAR, was a key instrument to overcome the challenge of devolution to the regions where Spanish aquaculture still had not fully developed. After joining the European Union in 1986, different funding lines were opened and more than 4,000 52

projects were launched amounting to 375 million euros, causing a clear impact on national aquaculture production. Aquaculture requires a high level of technology and constant research and development to improve the science that underpins the sector. Therefore, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, and other Spanish bodies and aquaculture research centres, have developed major research programs and training plans for aquaculture specialists. As a way to disseminate knowledge, JACUMAR has launched the National Aquaculture Conference and multiple Technical Forums. Moreover, in order to strengthen ties between the research and aquaculture sectors, research awards are given to companies with the most innovative works and for their implementation of environmental management systems. The main activities carried out by government agencies in terms of promotion are: the encouragement of consumption of fisheries and aquaculture products through advertising and promotional campaigns on television, radio, in markets and schools; supporting participation of fisheries companies in fairs and exhibitions worldwide, as well as

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providing support for the creation of designations of origin.

“Galician mussels” is a protected designation “Galician Mussels Protected Designation of Origin” is the only aquaculture designation of origin in Spain. The Regional Executive of Galicia submitted the application to the European Commission, and currently the governing body of the Regulatory Council of the Galician Mussel is represented by producers, marketers and three members of the Regional Executive of Galicia. The purpose of its formation was to promote and enhance the quality of Galician mussels. The EU established a unified legal framework for all kind of brands, names, and other quality designations linked to a particular geographical area, forcing member countries to reconvert all kinds of brands and regulations which refer to the origin as a determining factor in the product quality. Then, the Regulatory Council requested the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for Galician mussels. The number of producers within the Galician Mussel PDO has remained stable since the beginning of its business activities. Most of the Galician producers (over 3,000)

are registered at the Regulatory Council, and a wide variety of companies involved in trading fresh and processed Galician mussels are represented. OPMEGA (Organization of Producers of Galician mussels) is one of the Spanish aquaculture associations and all the members are registered with the Galician Mussels Regulatory Council and use the denomination of origin “Galician Mussel” to add value to their products. There are 3,300 floating platforms in Galicia that produce roughly 213,000 tonnes per year which represents 94 of the Spanish production and 50 of global production, and the Association of producers of Galician mussels has 1,230 member producers, representing 1,800 floating platforms. There are 12 associations of producers that are members of OPMEGA.

Farming sector well represented by associations In Spain, there are eight main lobbying associations: APROMAR (The National Association of Marine Aquaculture), OPMEGA (Organization of Producers of Galician Mussels), AQUAPISCIS (The National Association of Inland www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ AQUACULTURE ] Aquaculture), CEPESCA (Spanish Fisheries Confederation), CONXEMAR (Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Manufacturers and Exporters of Fish products and Aquaculture), ANFACO (The National Association of Fish Canneries), ANMAPE (National Association of Wholesalers of Fish), FEDEPESCA (Fishery Products Retailers Association). The efficiency of the Spanish fisheries sector can be attributed to its structure, which has allowed it to specialise in these areas and to create clusters. APROMAR is the National Business Association of marine aquaculture producers. It is a professional, voluntary and nonprofit organisation nationwide, which represents the business sector of the Spanish marine aquaculture, providing services that help to improve the competitiveness of the partners and encourage socially responsible behaviour for sustainable aquaculture. In terms of the promotion, one of the main activities carried out by APROMAR was the coordination of a promotional campaigns on television for marine aquaculture products under the brand “Crianza del Mar”, owned by the association and created with the support of the Regulation Fund and Organisation of the Fish and Marine Crop Products Market (FROM) and the General Secretariat of Maritime Fisheries to endorse the quality of products from the Spanish marine aquaculture. This quality was guaranteed by the strict compliance with the brand rules. The seabream and seabass are easily identified by a plastic label attached to their gills showing the brand logo. Inland aquaculture in Spain started 50 years ago, basing its activity on the production of rainbow trout. www.eurofishmagazine.com

AQUAPISCIS, the association of Spanish continental aquaculture, was the first agrifood inter-professional organisation established and recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture. The members are organisations of producers, processors and marketers. The origin of this national association was motivated by the need to initiate joint marketing in the major referent markets and in some cases, to coordinate supply. Currently the activity is mainly done by each individual organisation; they have addressed the needs of sectoral representation. The advertising and promotional activities have been one of the main occupations. The organisations ensure the competitiveness and viability of associated companies in a global market, ensuring food safety and quality of products and they seek to transfer to Spanish society the reality of this activity and opportunities for socio-economic development and employment opportunities in rural areas.

Embracing the internet to boost information and sales One of the producers’ organisations launched a website called Piscis Platform, which is a technical solution based on technological innovation to facilitate and help those interested in the world of trout and inland aquaculture to enjoy all the possibilities offered by farms. The creation of this platform answers the industry‘s need to adapt to changing times, improving profitability and business viability, taking rural development and the incorporation of women into the work. Piscis Platform aims to achieve improved functionality covering several aspects: opening new distribution channels, improvement of producer-client

relationship, obtaining real-time information on product prices, encouragement of new presentations for trout, “online” sharing of ideas and collaboration among participants, promoting different services with the possibility of selling online in the near future, providing a database information, as well as adapting to the mobile environment to improve the accessibility. In addition, inland aquaculture producers want to encourage all types of activities related to trout consumption, and rural aquaculture tourism opens endless possibilities for farms, consumers and fishing enthusiasts in general. Environmentally sustainable tourism will develop the regional potential and should emphasise the inclusion of rural women in managing rural aquaculture tourism. The diversity of activities offered by rural aquaculture tourism is quite broad: promotion of fish aquaculture products by tasting and pairing with wines and other typical local products, workshops and views on the operation of a farm, direct sales, sport fishing,

sports related: canoeing, rafting, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and skiing, as well as other activities for children and promotion of areas of interest in the vicinity. Individually, the aquaculture producers have found the channels to get to retailers. It is important to highlight that, the implementation of all the private standards, ISO 22,000, ISO 14,001, ISO 9,001, Global G.A.P., IFS, BRC, OHSAS 18001 and others, has became a must for retailers. For this reason, the aquaculture producers implement and certify the schemes that it easier to access the market.. The partnership between the government and the aquaculture industry, the associations within the sector, and independent initiatives, have transformed the sector into one of the most dynamic and successful in Europe. Esther Garrido Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO Esther.GarridoGamarro@fao.org

The success of the Spanish aquaculture sector can be attributed to close collaboration between research institutions, the authorities, and the industry through its associations.

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[ AQUACULTURE ] The current status and prospects for aquaculture development in Ukraine

A little effort can reverse todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trend in ďŹ sh farming Ukraine is among the European states with the lowest water resources. While average per capita water supply is 4,600 mÂł in Europe, it is just slightly over 1,000 mÂł in Ukraine. Despite the critical situation with water resources, Ukraine has a certain potential for the development of ďŹ sheries, particularly aquaculture.

Pond area severely depleted due to neglect The total area of continental waters which are of interest for fisheries is 1.7 million hectares. Of this, reservoirs constitute 1,078,000 ha (63.2ď&#x2122;&#x201A; of the water surface), which is significantly higher than the area of lakes and estuaries (402,200 ha; 23.6ď&#x2122;&#x201A;), or that of specialized ponds (208,600 ha; 12.3ď&#x2122;&#x201A;). Today, the pond area that is still used is slightly over 122,000 ha. However, about 30ď&#x2122;&#x201A; 54

of this pond area requires major repairs and renovation. The remaining ponds have largely lost their biological production potential due to silting up, macrophyte growth and inadequate water supply. The main objects of commercial cultivation in Ukraine are common carp, silver and bighead carps (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Aristichthys nobilis) and their hybrids, and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), whose relative share varies significantly from year to year and between the different farms. Many fish farms today have very low levels of profitability (no more than 5ď&#x2122;&#x201A;). Fish farms with mechanical water supply are practically unable to operate profitably due to the high electricity prices (0.09â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0.11 â&#x201A;Ź per 1 kW). Many fish farms were forced to withdraw a part of the pond area from production for financial reasons. The vacated space is now used 25 consumption kg\pers.

he main environmental parameters of the inland waters do not limit the development of freshwater and, in some cases, brackish-water aquaculture. The status of the different fisheries areas varies, but currently not more than 10ď&#x2122;&#x201A; of their overall potential is being used. Currently, fish production from Ukraineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inland waters is carried out in three ways: r RVPUB CBTFE ĂŞ TIJOH JO medium and large reservoirs, river, lake and estuary systems, targeting stocks of commercial fish species that may be natural or artificially enhanced; r SFBSJOH ĂŞ TI UP NBSLFU TJ[F JO small reservoirs, which are managed by specialised commercial fish farms; r Q POE ĂŞ TI GBSNJOH BOE JOEVT trial fish farming.

for growing crops. For the same reason farms were forced to abandon intensive farming technologies and gradually shift to low-cost culture-based fisheries technologies. These developments in pond fish farming have resulted in low productivity and decreased production of market-size fish. Productivity of the grow-out ponds does

not exceed 0.4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0.8 t/ha in the vast majority of fish farms. Yet, there are a few fish farms, which consistently achieve yields of 1.5â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1.8 t/ha, with up to 2.4 t/ha in some ponds. In South Ukraine, despite the favourable climatic conditions, many fish farms have shifted to a three-year rearing cycle to

13,5 (0,8%)

208,6 (12,3%)

1078 (63,2%)

402,2 (23,6%)

- Fish ponds - Lakes and estuaries - Reservoirs - Cooling water reservoirs of power plants

Figure 1. Surface water area in '000 ha

- share of imported products

20 15 10 5 0

5.6

9.2

11.2

10.8

11.8

11.4

11.8

2.8

2.9

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.5

3.7

3.6

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Figure 2. Per capita ďŹ sh consumption in kg

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Cherkassyrybkhos, SR OOO

[ AQUACULTURE ] save water and produce larger table fish (more than 1 kg). The production capacity of industrial fish farming has also significantly decreased. Only about 40,000 m2 of cages are left of the 220,000 m2 cage area available in 1990. Less than 1,000 m2 tank area is used of the previous 60,000 m2.

Consumption relies on imported ﬁsh

Cherkassyrybkhos, SR OOO

Given a more favourable legislative framework aquaculture has the potential to increase production. Here, paddleﬁsh farming in Ukraine.

Greater state support would enable the aquaculture sector to contribute more to food security in Ukraine. www.eurofishmagazine.com

According to fisheries statistics, the beginning of the 21st century marked a certain growth in per capita consumption of fish products in the country, although it falls short of the 20 kg recommended in the health guidelines. While there is a positive trend in per capita consumption of seafood from imported raw materials, which accounts for 65 to 80 of the total supply, pond fish farming is characterised by a steady decrease in production due to obsolete technology, a lack of investment and increasing imbalance in resources and financial means. According to experts, the consequence of this development is a significant reduction in the efficiency of exploitation of the main elements of production – specialised pond areas, material and labour resources. It should also be noted that the loss of aquaculture production capacities has a negative impact of the population’s food supply and destabilises the country’s food market. The shrinking of the aquaculture sector in Ukraine can be attributed to several factors. The chaotic transition to a market economy and the destruction of management and production systems as well as the loss of state compensation for fish farms contributed to the gradual decline of fish farming. In addition, fish farms could not

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Cherkassyrybkhos, SR OOO

[ AQUACULTURE ]

Productivity of the grow-out ponds does not exceed 0.4–0.8 t/ha in the vast majority of ﬁsh farms.

get loans at preferential rates as other divisions of the agriculture sector, while at the same time the cost of inputs climbed significantly and market prices for fish only increased slightly. Skilled personnel also drifted away from the sector making production more difficult and the lack of veterinary and sanitary controls led to increased incidence of disease. Finally, the increase in imports took market share from the farmed fish sector and the weak purchasing power of the population also played a role. All this takes place against the backdrop of insufficient support from the state whose efforts have been focused on the development of poaching control, which, no doubt, is very important. However, as a result, pond fish producers have received little attention, in spite of the fact that 56

the country’s food markets are supplied with high-quality live and chilled fish products due to their work. Pond fish farming could become a strategically important sector producing valuable protein.

Bold administrative steps could unleash the full potential of the sector Feeble attempts have been made to remedy the situation and reverse the ongoing destruction of the fish farming sector. In 2013, the Ukrainian Law on Aquaculture was adopted, which, unfortunately, still does not emphasise the importance of specialised fish ponds as the main source of aquaculture production. The primary focus is on introducing culture-based production, which is

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economically and environmentally responsible, in small water bodies. This cultivation will be managed primarily by specialised commercial fish farms, which had 382 water bodies with a total area of 194,800 hectares in 2010. Despite the unfavourable situation of the fisheries sector as a whole, and of pond culture in particular, Ukraine still has significant potential for increasing the production of valuable commercial freshwater fish. However this potential can only be fully realised if fish farming is given the same status as agriculture which would unlock certain financial benefits, as well as exempt fish farms from paying for the use of water bodies for 5–10 years if the ponds require major renovation. Other

measure that would promote aquaculture development include ensuring a level playing field in the market for fish products, strictly preventing illegal, smuggled or poached fish from distorting the market, and increasing aquaculture research particularly in selective breeding, disease control and new production technologies. The realisation of these tasks will allow to bring Ukrainian fish farming out of the current crisis, substantially increase the production of fish seed and table fish (up to 100,000–110,000 tonnes), make a significant contribution to resolving the problem of food security in the country and create thousands of jobs. Prof. Yu. V. Pilipenko Kherson State Agrarian University www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ TECHNOLOGY ] Seac AB now offers machinery for 25-100 ﬁsh/kg

Processing smaller fish just got easier For the last twenty years the tendency in the fish processing and canning industry has been that the fish have become smaller and smaller. This means that yesterday’s processing machines, designed as they were to process bigger fish, can no longer cope with today’s demand, as the fish are often smaller than originally envisaged by the engineers.

maller sizes are also more prevalent today because increased demand for fish for human consumption has meant that a number of new fish species are now considered economically viable for commercial production. The Swedish company Seac has been watching these changes for the last decade and has developed its own brand of processing machines for smaller fish, meaning from approx 25 fish per kilo down to 100 fish per kilo.

New equipment is based on former Arenco machines By rebuilding the former Arenco machines, Arenco SFD-300 and Arenco CIS-N, Seac has, over the last eight years, acquired indepth experience in machines for processing smaller fish. A few years ago the company launched its own series of machines, named the Seac FPM (Seac Fish Processing Machines), on the market. The new Seac FPM200 nobbing machine is tailor made for each type and size of fish with its own special head and fish pocket to obtain the maximum yield from each fish. The individual head-measuring device secures the best cut just behind the gill fin and compared to a standard two-knives vacuum cutting machine yield is up to 15 higher with the Seac www.eurofishmagazine.com

An additional device ﬁtted to a Seac nobbing machine can be used to produce the Kronsardines or deli herring, which is popular on some markets.

FPM-200 machine, says Ulf Groenqvist, the owner of Seac AB. The machine has become popular in areas where there is a clear tendency for the fish to become smaller, such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea, where today you can find a demand for filleting machines for sprats/sardines/anchovy down to approx 60/80 fish/kilo and nobbing machines that can process fish down to 100 fish/kilo. The tailor made head pockets and the following fish pockets are designed for

the small bodies and smaller heads of this type of sardine, anchovy or similar fish that needs to be processed on an industrial scale. The new Seac FPM-400 is an FPM-200 combined with a filleting machine for smaller fish. This has a capacity of up to 380 pockets/minute during heading, gutting and tailing operations and 250 pockets/minute during filleting. This means that for each machine a company can save up to 15 employees heading, gutting, and tailing and up to 40

operators during filleting, claims Mr Groenqvist. The Seac FPM400 can also be fitted with an additional device to manufacture a new product, the Kronsardines or deli herring. This product gives a very high yield and has become popular on some markets.

Long-standing collaboration with Peruza Seac has been working together with Peruza, a Latvian manufacturer of processing machinery for

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[ TECHNOLOGY ] over 20 years and the two companies will be exhibiting together at Sea Food Expo Global in Brussels. For the last two years Peruza has displayed two very interesting machines at the show. A high speed nobbing line for very small fish (like sprats and similar fish smaller than 80 fish/kilo), which with a capacity of up to 900 fish/ min is one of the highest capacity machine on the market and a revolution for the sprat industry or other industries processing very small fish. The other machine is an automatic feeder that can handle fish of the same size as is processed by the Seac FPM-200 and FPM-400 (approx 20/25-60/80 fish per kilo). The automatic feeder together with the Seac machines have been installed in Latvia and Poland and promise to revolutionise the canning industry world-wide.

Species tested on Seac ďŹ lleting or nobbing machines: Anchovy from Mediterranean Sea (both H&G+T and fillets) Anchovy from Peru (both H&G+T and fillets) Capelin in north Europe (fillets) Horse mackerel small sizes from Far East and Australia (H&G+T + fillets) Peruvian hake, small sizes (fillets) Red mullet small sizes from Mediterranean Sea and Australia (fillets) Redbait and similar species from Australia (fillets) Saury from east Russia (H&G+T) Sillago bassensis, a small whitefish from Australia (fillets) Sprats from north Europe and elsewhere (H&G+T, fillets, belly cleaned) Vendace in north Europe (fillets) Yellow striped trevally from Thailand (fillets down to 10 g fish) 58

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Yields from small ďŹ sh are rapidly improving.

The processing machines can be used for ďŹ sh as small as 100 pieces per kilo. www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] Seabass and seabream farming in Croatia, Italy, Spain, and Turkey

Similar issues bedevil marine aquaculture throughout the Mediterranean Currently, the EU imports 65% of its seafood requirements. Only 25% of the EU’s seafood requirements can be supplied by EU ﬁsheries, and EU aquaculture supplies a mere 10%. The rest is imported. According to the document “Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture”, the growing gap between the level of EU seafood consumption and the volume of captures from ﬁsheries can be closed through EU aquaculture. In the Mediterranean region, that means primarily seabass and seabream.

nder the new guidelines, Member States will define their own national targets through a voluntary process based on the production of “Multiannual national strategic plans”, in which countries will identify common objectives and indicators to measure progress, taking account of their relative starting positions, national circumstances, and institutional arrangements.

Multiple factors cause European aquaculture to stagnate Aquaculture is strategically important to Europe for many reasons, including job creation and not least food security, in view of its heavy reliance on seafood imports. But there are obstacles to an easy expansion of Europe’s aquacultural strength, which includes seabass and seabream. EU aquaculture’s high standards put it at the forefront of sustainable development, both social and environmental. However, they make it more difficult to compete in price with third-country producers. Competition for space and access to water in coastal areas and river basins limits the establishment, development, and even maintenance of aquaculture www.eurofishmagazine.com

In 2013 Turkey overtook Greece as the worlds largest producer of seabass and seabream.

production sites. European coastal zones are saturated with activity, and land for the expansion of aquaculture is scarce. Production costs are rising. For example, the price of fishmeal soared to a high of USD 1.907 per tonne in May 2010, although as of November 2013, the price had dropped to USD 1.549. This is still well above the average price ten years ago of ca. USD 670 per tonne.

Seabass and seabream centre stage According to Fishstat (FAO), in 2012, 91 of the EU’s aquaculture was made up of five species: salmon, trout, carp, seabass, and seabream. Aquaculture in the Mediterranean region includes seabass, seabream,

mullet, sole, and eel, but seabass and seabream are clearly the dominant species. Global production of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in 2011 was ca. 144.000 t, valued at EUR 619 million. Turkey and Greece remain the Mediterranean region’s leading seabass producers with 33 and 31 of weight and 29 and 31 of value produced, respectively. Turkey and Greece are followed by Spain and Italy with ca. 17.700 and 6.500 t, respectively. Global production of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) in 2011 was ca. 155.000 t, valued at EUR 667 million. Greece was the world largest gilthead seabream producer, accumulating 46 of weight and 43 of value, although

its position was overtaken by Turkey in 2013. In 2011, the EU produced nearly 99.000 t, valued at EUR 435 million, which represents 63.8 in weight and 65.2 in value of the global production. After Turkey and Greece, Spain is next with nearly 15.000 t. Production is concentrated in 300 small- and medium-sized enterprises, most of which combine the production of seabass and seabream.

Seasonal demand below expectations During the period 2008–2011, the industry had to face the challenge of falling prices resulting from oversupply and a financial crisis. Prices recovered in 2010 and 2011 Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] as the result of business closures and lower production volume. The EU’s current debt crisis will cause production to stagnate and even recede in the EU. The ongoing debt crisis, especially in Greece, is expected to affect European production of seabass and seabream negatively in coming years. Prices will experience volatility, as companies will be forced to sell livestock in order to acquire liquidity. Despite increased demand in the run-up to Christmas 2013, prices for seabass and seabream did not move as expected, with most producers reporting weaker prices during the month. The seasonal demand was less than anticipated, and supply remains ample for current needs. Reports for the first nine months of 2013 show weaker margins and results. Volumes were up slightly, but average prices were down almost 5 compared with the previous year. Further consolidation of the sector is to be expected with private equity investors now looking for economies of scale and cost reductions as well as volume growth in the long term.

Italian producers supply the domestic market in hours With a population of 61 million and per capita seafood consumption of nearly 26 kg, Italy is the world’s fifth largest importer of seafood. As local production decreases, Italy imports nearly 75 of its seafood demand. Most imported seafood is supplied by EU countries, with Spain as the primary supplier. According to Marco Gilmozzi, vice president of the Italian Fish-Farmers Association (API) and vice president of the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), Italy produces less than 20.000 t of fish, an amount dwarfed by the total European production. “What is important for us is that, for the past 60

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20 years, the Italian market has been the main market for all of the bass and bream produced in Europe”.

Turkey overtakes Greece as world’s largest producer

Italian seafood consumption has increased by more than 50 since 1988, according to FAS/Rome, and further growth is expected over the long term. Euromonitor reports, however, that in the short to medium term, the outlook is mixed. Fresh fish consumption is expected to decline as a result of the difficult economic climate. Gilmozzi says, “We supply just 20 of the consumption. We have to produce something that is tastier, with better colour and higher quality meat. Of course, freshness is the first point. The Italian product can reach the market in two hours. From Greece it takes a day and from Turkey, several days”.

Turkey, with a coastline of 8.333 km, 177.714 km of rivers, and a wide selection of lakes, dam lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and rivers and springs, is an ideal country for aquaculture, although per-capita consumption of seafood is only 7–8 kg. Since 1971, Turkish aquaculture has grown to more than 1.855 farms, which receive government support and help with technical development. Of these, 1.499 are inland and 356 are marine. More than two-thirds of these are small, rainbow trout farms, while seabass and seabream farms make up 17. A major characteristic of Turkish aquaculture is the large number of small farms producing less than 10 t per year; many farms are small-scale, family-operated and medium-sized, owneroperated farms. It is estimated that the aquaculture sector in Turkey employs ca. 25.000 people.

Gilmozzi explains that brand recognition is very important in Italy. “Italian consumers are attento, attentive, to what they eat. It allows us to avoid ups and downs in price”. Still, he says, prices have felt the pressure caused by strong competition from Greek and Turkish imports. At the same time, the high quality of Italian product is attracting attention in Singapore, Hong Kong, the US, and several other EU countries. “Chefs understand the difference in quality, and they are ready to pay a premium”. For Gilmozzi, growth is the most pressing problem. Europe asks us to produce more, but we have problems obtaining a licence for a new installation. Three years ago, I applied for permission to install a new farm. I’m still waiting for a reply from the local government. European producers have different costs than producers outside the EU. In the market, the cheapest normally wins over the more expensive. We can fight by offering higher quality, but we need to be sure that the rules are the same for other countries, he says.

In 2013, Turkey surpassed Greece as the world’s largest producer of seabass and seabream. Whereas Greece’s production fell by ca. 7 to 94.000 tonnes in 2013, it is estimated that Turkey’s volume of production will exceed 100.000 t. Some suggest that it could reach 120.000 t. The Turkish industry is supported by a growing economy and government subsidies. An industry-wide marketing effort to promote seafood to new markets helped Turkish companies diversify their export destinations to include northern Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Approximately 70–75 of the production is exported. Water temperatures off the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coasts during July to September provide an ideal temperature range for growing seabass and seabream, and production and harvesting peak during this period. It also

coincides with the high tourism season in Turkey, boosting domestic demand for both species. In the high season, July to September, domestic consumption of seabass and seabream is estimated at 2.000 t per month, with the most popular sizes for seabass ranging from 300–400 g to 600–800 g and for seabream from 200 g to 400 g. Small- to medium-sized cage farms sell mainly to domestic markets, as do land-based farms using earthen ponds (nearly 4.000 t in total). Pond-reared seabass and seabream usually fetch a premium compared with the price of cagegrown fish. Exports of seabass and seabream during July–September 2013 are estimated at about 6.000 t per month, of which 60 was seabass. Fillets and fresh/chilled fish are the main export products.

Croatia among the pioneers of seabass and seabream farming The national consumption of fish and fish products per person is estimated at 9 kg, which is considerably lower than the average consumption in the EU of 26 kg per person. Croatia has great potential for the development of aquaculture: tradition, high-quality water, human resources, and proximity to the EU’s largest market, Italy. Total marine production is estimated at ca. 12.000 t, of which 6.000 t is seabass and seabream. In the early 1970s, Croatia was a pioneer in the development of controlled spawning of seabass and seabream, along with France and Italy. In 1981, the first industrial fishfarms (deep-water cage systems) in the Mediterranean were installed in Limski Bay, near the city of Rovinj, and a large industrial hatchery for seabass and seabream was constructed in the city of Nin. Although marine-farming www.eurofishmagazine.com

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] systems were established early in Croatia, this form of aquaculture was not developed significantly, because of economic, geopolitical, and market conditions. According to Želimir Filic’, who is currently vice president of the MEDAQUA (Mediterranean Aquaculture) Committee of the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), president of the Croatian Aquaculture Association, and worked formerly for the aquaculture industry, these conditions have improved over the years and today Croatia has approximately 30 companies producing marine fish. The companies range in capacity from 50 t for small, family-run

farms to 4.000 t for the largest companies. Most farms are located in protected bays; larger ones are in semi-offshore waters. Filic’ explains that three hatcheries supply ca. 60 of the fingerlings. Two have a capacity of 1–2 million fry (ca. 2 g). A larger hatchery operated by Cromaris, with a capacity of 15 million fry (2–5 g), is currently under reconstruction; it will have a capacity of 30 million fry. Approximately 40 is imported, mainly from Italy and France. Croatia’s aquaculture is subject to rigorous veterinary and sanitary control and transparent labelling and can deliver the fish within 24 hours of harvesting, including exports, after accession to the EU and procedures were

Spanish seabream production rebounds in 2012

As in the case of seabream, there is a considerable volatility in price caused by the large number of foreign operators and traders. After three years of decline, seabream production in 2012 reached 19.430 t, up 14.8 on 2011, but below the maximum annual production of 2009 (23.930 t).

The production of seabass in Spain in 2012 was 14.270 tons, 0.7 lower than in 2011, when it was 14.367 t. The lower production in Spain contrasts with the marked increase of its production in the rest of the Mediterranean. The average first-sales price of seabass in the Spanish market in 2012 was EUR 5.42/kg, 9.3 higher than in 2011 (EUR 4.96/kg).

The average first-sales price of seabream in 2012 was EUR 4.31/kg, 13.8 lower than in 2011 (EUR 5/kg). The drop in price is the result of several factors: a contraction in demand in the Spanish market, the downward pressure on prices in the final stages of the value chain, and forced sales to achieve liquidity. William Anthony

simplified. Fish are sold in wholesale and retail mostly fresh, whole, but are also processed: gutted, filleted, smoked, and marinated fillets.

New products and promotion campaigns support canned tuna consumption

Markets for canned tuna improve in EU, US The canned tuna market fared better with improved imports by the European Union and the US. Canned tuna demand has also increased in many non-conventional markets.

n the Western Pacific the four-month FAD (fish aggregating device) fishing ban remained in force from 1 July to 31 October 2013, but although catches reduced, the price of frozen skipjack for delivery to Thailand dropped in July and again in August before increasing midSeptember. In the Eastern Pacific tuna supplies to canners in Ecuador dropped significantly from the coastal and deep-sea fisheries since late July 2013 because of adverse weather conditions, coupled with strong currents and colder ocean water temperatures. The Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission fishing closed period was also in place from 29 July to 28 September and 35 of the fishing fleet was not fishing in that area. www.eurofishmagazine.com

The remaining vessels observed the second closure from 18 November 2013 to 18 January 2014. In the Indian Ocean skipjack catches improved while yellowfin volumes did not change significantly. In the Atlantic Ocean, fishing off the African coast remained favourable and prices of skipjack and yellowfin in Abidjan declined, while in Spain skipjack and yellowfin prices fell though yellowfin prices were stable in Italy.

New products spur canned tuna consumption in US There was a marginal decline in air-flown fresh tuna imports during the first half of 2013 although the

import value increased from USD 107 million to USD 110 million, which could be linked with increased imports of high value Pacific bluefin tuna. Total imports of non-canned tuna during this time were 122,810 tonnes valued at USD 250 million compared with 143,075 tonnes and USD 232 million during the same period of the previous year. Nearly 80 of these were frozen loins and steaks. Demand for fresh chilled sashimi tuna remained stable in the US, which is now the second largest market for noncanned tuna products. The confidence of US consumers improved slightly as a result of positive economic indications and there were signs of willingness to spend more on products

that meet changing tastes and provide value for money. To revive demand for canned tuna major tuna packers engaged in promoting canned tuna products as well as introduced new premium and convenience products. As an indication of recovering domestic demand, canned tuna imports into the US continued to show strong growth in 2013. During the first six months imports of canned (and pouch) tuna grew by 12.2 in volume and 17.8 in value against the same period last year. Thailand remained the largest single supplier, while 83 of the total canned tuna imported into the US came from countries of Association of SouthEast Asian Nations, and shipments from this group increased by around 12 in 2013. Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] more canned tuna in 2013 with more supplies reported from Ecuador, which overtook the Philippines as the number one supplier, and Thailand. Thailand and Ecuador also did well in the French market, where Cote d’Ivoire increased its shipments by 19.4 overtaking Seychelles as the largest supplier.

Demand for fresh chilled sashimi tuna remained stable in the US, which is now the second largest market for non-canned tuna products.

Suppliers were also generally more optimistic about the US market. Chicken of the Sea International (COS), expected revenue growth of 8 and volume growth of 2 in 2013. Its competitor, StarKist launched a newly branded “Made in America” canned Chunk Light Tuna in Water, and Chunk Light Tuna in Oil, prepared and packaged in American Samoa. Bumble Bee released the autumn edition of its BeeWell for Life ebook – these aimed at providing seasonally appropriate fitness tips and encouraging healthy living, as well as containing recipes using Bumble Bee’s canned products, including tuna. Meanwhile the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) approved the new Dolphin Protection Consumer Act that came into effect in July 2013. The ruling included a period up to 1 January 2014 of education and outreach to provide the fishing industry with additional guidance on enforcement. NOAA said the new act was compliant with a 62

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WTO ruling and it requires that any canned tuna sold in the US with a Dolphin-Safe label must have a certification that no dolphins were killed or seriously injured in the process, no matter what gear type was used or where the tuna was caught.

European imports of canned tuna increase On the whole consumer sentiment improved and retailers reported better sales of canned tuna. Innovative products and promotions were undertaken by major packers, and these, coupled with the growing popularity of private (supermarket) brands contributed to increasing imports. For the first 6 months of 2013, canned tuna imports to the EU-27 from non-EU countries posted positive growth of 13.6 in volume and 31.8 in value on a year on year basis, amounting to 197,162 tonnes worth USD 1.14 billion. Canned tuna shipments to selected European major markets also increased significantly except to Italy. Germany imported 14.6

The canned tuna market in the UK seemed to be better this year as reflected in higher imports. Up to June 2013 imports increased by 7.3 with more supplies coming from Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. Shipments from Mauritius, the largest supplier to the UK, dropped by more than 19. Taking advantage of the EU duty free import quota for pre-cooked tuna loins, Spain imported more from Asia in 2013, particularly from China and Thailand. Nevertheless Ecuador remained the largest supplier of pre-cooked tuna loins to Spain, though shipments dropped slightly in 2013. Ecuador, however, managed to supply 20 more precooked tuna loins to Italy in 2013.

Value of Thai exports of canned tuna stagnate Asian canned tuna producing countries are hopeful that they will get better market access to the EU markets in 2014. The Philippines expects to receive preferential treatment for its canned tuna exports to the EU under the enhanced Generalized Scheme of Preferences or GSP Plus program implemented from 1 January 2014, while Thailand and the EU concluded the second round of negotiations for a free trade agreement in September 2013. To support the negotiation, 130 Thai companies including Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF) recently signed a memorandum of understanding to adopt the International Labour Organization’s Good Labour Practices (GLP) program. Many accusations have been targeted at the Thai tuna

industry, especially from Spain, which has continuously accused Thailand of labour violations and poor working conditions. With better demand from some major markets Thai canned tuna exports maintained a positive trend and grew marginally by 1.4 in quantity during the first semester of 2013 against the same period in 2012. In value terms, however, exports were more or less stagnant. Shipments to Egypt, the number one destination in the Middle East, dropped by almost half. Similar trends were recorded in exports to Libya, Papua New Guinea, Italy, South Africa, the UAE, and the US, the largest market. Higher shipments to other markets, however, managed to offset the declines as exports to some European and Latin American markets increased significantly, for example to the UK, Germany, France, Argentina and Chile. Surprisingly exports to Syria were also up significantly. In China, the tuna canning industry is growing, particularly in Zhoushan and Ningbo cities. In Zhoushan there are 15 companies processing tuna with an installed capacity of around 25,000 tonnes of raw material a year, reports Atuna.com. Canned tuna prices in Japan for locally produced products increased by 9.3 as a result of increased production costs and the weaker yen. The value of imported products also increased in the first half of 2013 compared with same period in the previous year, despite a 1.7 shortfall in the imported volume. Thailand had a 70 share in this supply. Canned tuna sales in Europe and the US are expected to continue on a positive trend in the third quarter 2013 because of improved consumer’s confidence and better sales during summer. Canned tuna prices, however, will remain high as the skipjack price was predicted to rebound towards the end of 2013. FAO Globefish www.eurofishmagazine.com

D ATE S DIARY DATES

4-6 March 2014 North Atlantic Seafood Forum Bergen, Norway Tel.: +47 22 87 87 00 www.nor-seafood.com

6-8 May 2014 Seafood Expo Global & Seafood Processing Global Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodexpo.com

21-25 May, 2014 World of Seafood Bangkok, Thailand Tel.: +65 6500 6712 l.how@koelnmesse.com.sg www.worldofseafood.com 16-18 March 2014 Seafood Expo North America & Seafood Processing North America Boston, USA Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodexpo.com

31 March – 3 April, 2014 Alimentaria 2014 Barcelona, Spain Tel.: +34 93 452 10 39 alimentaria-bcn@alimentaria.com www.alimentaria-bcn.com

9-11 April, 2014 Offshore Mariculture 2014 Napoli, Italy Tel.: +44 1329 825335 iroberts@mercatormedia.com www.offshoremariculture.com

5-7 June, 2014 Future Fish Eurasia Izmir, Turkey Tel.: +90 212 347 10 info@eurasiafairs.com www.eurasiafairs.com

7-11 June, 2014 World Aquaculture 2014 Adelaide, Australia www.was.org

19-22 August, 2014 Nor-Fishing Trondheim, Norway Tel.: +47 73 568 640 mailbox@nor-ﬁshing.no www.nor-ﬁshing.no

2-4 September 2014 Seafood Expo Asia Wanchai, Hong Kong www.seafoodexpo.com

22-24 September 2014 Seafood Expo Southern Europe Barcelona, Spain Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodbarcelona.com

25-27 September 2014 Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition 2014 Smarin, Kopavogur, Iceland Tel.: +44 1329 825335 mrasmussen@mercatormedia.com www.iceﬁsh.is 7-9 October, 2014 Conxemar Vigo, Spain Tel.: +34 986 433 351 conxemar@conxemar.com www.conxemar.com 14-17 October, 2014 Aquaculture Europe 2014 San Sebastian, Spain 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

GUEST PAGES

A pioneer searches for new frontiers

The beginnings of seabass and seabream aquaculture Želimir Filic´ is a pioneer in the artiﬁcial controlled reproduction of seabass and seabream. Currently vice president of the MEDAQUA (Mediterranean Aquaculture) Commission of the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP) and president of the Croatian Aquaculture Association, Filic´ was one of the leaders of this development in Croatia. Today, he is studying ways to integrate energy production and aquaculture. You have been involved in seabass and seabream farming more or less since the start. How did you first get involved in the aquaculture sector and what were some of the problems you faced in the beginning? Starting in the early 70s, I worked for three or four years on the artificial spawning of seabass and seabream. Initially, by treating females hormonally and later by modifying the rearing temperature and the duration of the day, it was possible to make them lay eggs several times throughout the year, outside the natural spawning season, depending on the schedule of the breeding process. My wife was working on marine primary production and specialised in the production of phytoand zooplankton at the University of Rhode Island in the USA. And it was exactly that which was necessary to support the establishment of a complete cycle of hatchery activities. The main problem at the beginning of the breeding process was to develop the first live-food source that is required after hatching. We started with seabass, followed by seabream. The rearing of seabream larvae is more complex because, when the larvae hatch, they are very small. We had to develop microgranulates that allowed us to feed 64

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the larvae as early as possible. We found that we could use the Brachionus-type of rotifers as the first live prey, before the artemia-type crustacean larvae, which can be used at the nauplius stage. Also, using a zooplankton net, we collected copepods, which in frozen form proved to be an excellent inert follow-on food for post-larvae. Then, we had to figure out how to make the transition from live prey to small granulates or powders. We had to wean them from the rotifiers and shift to a first-feeding process based exclusively on inert artificial feeds. We enjoyed our first successes in the early 70s and by 76 the first batch of several hundred kilos of commercialsized seabass had been raised in an experimental cage in Limski Bay. In 1981 our partners the MIRNA Fishing and Fish Processing Company established the first industrial farm. Today, Mediterranean aquaculture is primarily seabass and seabream. Why were they chosen for development? Because of the success that we had with seabass and seabream and because these species are common to all Mediterranean countries, they were chosen as the two fish suitable for the Mediterranean

Želimir Filic’ is a pioneer in the artiﬁcial controlled reproduction of seabass and seabream

fish-farming industry. When we began, there was a large demand for these fish in the Mediterranean countries, and the supply was small. They were very expensive because it was not possible to catch the fish in large quantities. When we sold our first fish in 1979, the price was equal to approximately EUR 15 per kilo. Now, it sells for EUR 3–4 per kilo, based on a 200–300 gram fish.

As president of the Croatian Aquaculture Association what are your priorities for the Croatian aquaculture sector and what steps are you taking to implement them? Also, what proportion of the aquaculture industry does the association represent? The Croatian Aquaculture Association, which is part of the Croatian www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Chamber of Economy, covers about 90 of total national production, including all commercial companies engaged in production, but excluding artisanal producers. We maintain a proactive dialogue with the state administration, science, and other non-governmental organizations to develop legislation to strengthen the sector’s development, particularly its competitiveness. Also, we improve coordination within the association, for example by creating new associations between companies, such as producer organizations, through which we can efficiently protect and enhance our common interests and the use of EU funds for development, particularly EMFF. Currently, we’re giving much attention to the long-term development of the National Aquaculture Development Plan 2014–2020, in line with the EU strategic guidelines. The plan will help develop Croatian and EU aquaculture by raising production and quality. We organize seminars and workshops in the framework of national institutions. We also cooperate with FEAP and EU agencies, Eurofish, and others. A good example is our cooperation with Eurofish on a translation of the useful handbook A Guide to Certification in the Aquaculture and Seafood Industry. We also organize promotional campaigns for aquaculture products and consumer education about health and nutritional quality, as well as an annual conference. How does the Croatia’s recent accession to the EU influence the national aquaculture sector? It had a positive impact on aquaculture by abolishing export quotas and borders, including www.eurofishmagazine.com

export barriers such as customs duties and sanitary and veterinary inspections. It increased the competitiveness of Croatian goods on the EU market by allowing fish to arrive within 24 hours after being caught. As vice president of the MEDAQUA Commission of FEAP, please elaborate on the commission’s tasks and role in developing Mediterranean aquaculture, particularly the Croatian fishfarming sector. Owing to production and market specifics, there is within FEAP a Commission for Mediterranean aquaculture, which brings together EU Mediterranean growers as well as Turkey. The Commission analyses and improves the market position of Mediterranean aquaculture and discusses all aspects of production: the status and problems of the market, prices, nutrition, the health aspects of fish, and legislation. Conclusions and recommendations are incorporated in the FEAP resolution. There is further communication with EU institutions where FEAP enjoys a good reputation and contributes to the development of positive legislation, owing to its competence, the numerical strength of its membership, and the significant value of its production (EUR 7–8 billion ex-farm). Croatia joined FEAP in 2004, much earlier than its accession to the EU in 2013. We interpret this, among other things, as recognition of Croatia’s contribution to the development of Mediterranean aquaculture, at least from 1974 onwards, although total national production is not great (11.000–12,000 tonnes of marine products). Through membership in MEDAQUA/ FEAP, we communicated with the

other national associations about their work and organizational specifics, and improved our understanding of EU regulations and their application. Also, we had the opportunity to evaluate our compatibility with the EU system and its functioning. These experiences have shaped the work of the sector and the creation of development plans at the national level. Another great benefit has been the cooperation with professionals and companies in the sector. After 42 years of work in scientific and industrial aquaculture, you retired formally in 2011, but you remain very active. Recently, you have been interested in a project that imagines the possibilities offered by the integration of aquaculture facilities and offshore wind farms. The main problem of aquaculture is access to space. The intense competition among different maritime activities leads to environmental and social conflicts. A construction like this can increase space available for aquaculture, eliminating aquaculture’s limiting factors. Most of the sea’s surface is used mainly for shipping traffic. This huge space could be exploited for food production and become a source of renewable energy. Dr Branko Klarin, with his team from the University of Split, has been working on this project for several years.The idea is to construct lagoon-like areas, in which the surface area is very calm, using strong, mutually connected floating modules that have pylons as the base. In these quiet areas, aquaculture facilities, with fish cages and systems for automatic feeding, could be installed that, through the integration of wind turbines, become multifunctional facilities. In addition to normal aquaculture (including the

production of algae and seaweed for food and biofuel, and hydroponic greenhouses), electricity could be produced, as well as oxygen and compressed air. Desalinisation could also be carried out. Electric vehicles could dock for recharging. Mooring pontoons could be used to create marinas; in addition to wind turbines, photovoltaic cells could be installed, and waves and sea currents could be exploited as well. On such a platform, the infrastructure necessary for aquaculture can be built, including food storage, net cleaning, ice making, and equipment maintenance. Dispatch centres for fish could be built, eliminating the need to bring the fish to shore. This calls for expertise in a number of different areas – aquaculturists, engineers, legal specialists, and economists among others. Who will finance this project? The aquaculture sector cannot afford such investments alone. We need financial support from private–public partnerships, the EU, and the energy sector. In the future, great sums will be spent on wind power stations, many in marine environments. For example, by 2020, wind power plants with a total capacity of 230.000 MW will be built in the EU, and more than 40 000 MW of these will be built at sea. Why not join forces? The different activities don’t interfere with each other. I was happy to see that the European Commission, in the “Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture”, has recommended the development of combined aquaculture and wind-farm facilities. Eurofish Magazine 1 / 2014

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Sursan Su Urunleri AS Deliveries to Europe from state-of-the-art processing facility Germany: Fishers feel restrictions do not reﬂect reality Fisheries: Reformed policy a decisive break with the past Technology: Processing machinery for tiny ﬁsh is a member of the FISH INFO network

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Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q SUPPLY SOURCES Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Crustaceans

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