The new year starts wild, as the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) celebrates sustainable seafood from the far North of the USA with the second edition of the Wild Alaska Seafood Month. Raising awareness about the exceptional quality, nutritional benefits and culinary versatility of fish and seafood from Alaska, information, sales support, and education campaigns are implemented across the European Union and the UK.
No matter if wild Salmon, Pacific Cod, Pollock, Pacific Redfish, Black Cod or Pacific Sole and Plaice, Alaska offers it all. In January 2023, ASMI showcases the wide range of premium seafood available in European retail and HRI. All species originate from responsibly managed fisheries making them the perfect choice for future-oriented fish consumption.
Are you a trader or processor of Alaska seafood in the EU or the UK? Contact the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and join the Wild Alaska Seafood Month!
Dear Reader,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this issue marking twenty years of the international organisation Eurofish, the publisher of the Eurofish Magazine.
We decided to design a new cover for the magazine to commemorate this anniversary. The new cover has a logo similar to that developed for the Eurofish organisation last year which now makes it crystal clear that the publisher of Eurofish Magazine is Eurofish International Organisation.
The two decades of our existence have been both challenging and successful. From five founding countries (Albania, Denmark, Latvia, Norway, Romania) in 2002, membership in Eurofish has increased to 13 (Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, and Turkey). Nine people are employed at Eurofish—and they are all from member countries. Our projects portfolio has expanded hugely as have the activities we carry out for the benefit of our member countries.
We have achieved important and encouraging results, which would not have been possible without the trust and support of our member countries and our associates. Since its establishment in 2002, Eurofish has worked to offer advice to and disseminate information about the fisheries and aquaculture industry. Eurofish aims to further develop the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Europe and beyond and we will do that mainly through projects, conferences, workshops, special assignments in our member countries, the Eurofish Magazine, and specialised Eurofish guides.
Eurofish consistently focuses on acquiring projects that provide external funding, develop our expertise, and solve specific challenges that benefit our members. More than 150 cooperation partners form the basis of the Eurofish network that we continuously develop further.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Eurofish member countries for supporting and helping to make Eurofish the effective organization that it has become today. My gratitude also goes to the Food and Agriculture Organization that facilitated the establishment of this regional organization, our host country Denmark, and to all our partners for the good and constructive collaboration we have had over the years.
We remain committed to promoting cooperation and trade relations in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the region in line with our mandate and aligning our activities with the real needs and priorities of our member countries and their industries.
I look forward to contributing to Eurofish’s development and to helping it thrive in the years to come.
sincerely, Marco Frederiksen Eurofish Director Managing Editor of the Eurofish Magazine
14 fish international 2022, 4-6 September, Bremen “Just perfect” -- Three entirely different storms hit Europe at once
Conxemar, 4-6 October 2022, Vigo Greater attendee numbers than ever before
21 All About Catfish conference, 19-20 October 2022, Heeze, Netherlands Farmers from across Europe learn and network
Feed more efficiently, detect risks promptly, prevent fish losses Management programs increase the profitability of aquaculture
Aquaculture Europe, 27-30 September 2022, Rimini European aquaculture’s must-attend event
Eurofish reaches a milestone Marking 20 years Latvia
EU support and national measures mitigate the impact of runaway costs Boosting the sector’s resilience
Increased automation to compensate for labour bottlenecks at Banga New factory will expand product range
Developing new commercial activities with the help of EU support Coastal fisher entertains tourists in the summer
Strong focus on quality at Gamma-A helps to expand markets Inexorable rise in costs causes concern
Coastal fisher plans to invest in processing to earn more from the catch Using traditional traps to target lamprey
Dynamic businessman uses EU funds to support local development Successful diversification of income sources
Latvia starts work on removing barriers from rivers Free-flowing waters will benefit migratory fish
The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched the first edition of a farm/boat-to-fork street market dedicated to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. The event was hosted from 5 November to 8 November in the ministry courtyard, where many family businesses and cooperatives active in inland and Black Sea capture fisheries and freshwater aquaculture promoted their valueadded products to consumers in Bucharest, Romania’s largest consumer market. Traditional recipes of many local species were the stars of the event and
were highly appreciated by both routine aquatic food consumers and more hesitant ones. Mr Petre Daea, the Romanian minister of agriculture, declared that small producers must be supported by the authorities to promote their local products and supply the market with high-quality products with a low-environmental footprint. Following the overwhelming success of the event, the ministry intends to expand this initiative into a recurrent event several times during the year that will target the major traditional days when Romanians eat more fish than usual.
The National Center for Environment and Energy at Aarhus University has issued a report on its findings that large swathes of Denmark’s marine territory are suffering from oxygen depletion. Such problems occur periodically but this time is as bad as a serious outbreak at the turn of
this century. An area larger than Funen, Denmark’s second largest island, is affected, particularly the waters of the Limfjord, the Little Belt, and the South Funen Archipelago, which are important for Denmark’s national fish supply but also full of communities reliant on fisheries and
aquaculture-related businesses. The combined areas experiencing oxygen depletion is 40 larger than a year ago, with more and more marine plants and animals dying. Experts at the center fear that the public has become immune to news of oxygen depletion because it is
Faced with shortages of salmon because of long-standing Russian sanctions on food imports from the EU, the US, and other countries, and corporate decisions in some countries not to export to Russia, the Russian government hopes to double the production of farmed salmon to 250,000 tonnes by 2030, which is almost double compared to the production in 2021. The proposed production target is almost twothirds less than a 700,000-tonne target suggested by a private sector body, probably because the government recognizes there are limited supplies of fish feed available to Russian salmon farmers.
Therefore, a plan to boost domestic feed supplies is required.
The politics of trade sanctions are having multiple adverse effects on Russian aquaculture production and on the market. From 2014 until recently, 80 of salmon supply in Russia was represented by imported fish from Chile and the Faroe Islands, but as companies refused to ship to Russia earlier this year, imports quickly fell by more than 80 by May 2022. As a result, wholesale prices for Atlantic salmon more than doubled from RUB900-950 per 1 kg (in early February) to RUB2000 by the summer’s end, while prices
for trout tripled from RUB550 to RUB1700. Prices are likely to keep rising because two-thirds of the demand in the domestic market remains unsatisfied. Both retail and restaurant businesses face a shortage of fish, but as Russian salmon production is concentrated in one region near Murmansk, it cannot meet all needs. Moreover, a significant part of the fish is exported. In addition, Murmansk trout farms traditionally go on vacation in August, which further reduced the supply of fish on the market.
The development of new production of the same trout
periodic. But this time it is much worse. If the plants and animals died on land, it would be more noticeable and people would be alarmed. Underwater, the problem becomes too abstract to fully appreciate. That makes it all the more urgent that the news gets reported.
elsewhere—for example, in Karelia--has a very limited potential because of a huge problem, a shortage of fish feed. Until recently 85 of Russia’s salmon feed supply came from Finland, Norway, and Denmark. Now trout farms are forced to look for ways to bypass through Belarus and Iran. Such illegal logistics negatively affects prices, among other effects. Adding to challenges expanding salmon and trout farm production is a lack of public-sector control over the activities of trout farms that pollute the water. These days, any new enterprise faces protests from local residents.
Scallop culture at a commercial scale lags that of clams and oysters in terms of number of operations and production volumes. The main reasons revolve around the natural free-swimming seabed bottom preference of scallops, their requirement for low-density culture, their sensitivity to seawater chemistry parameters and their short shelf life when sold live. These limiting factors translate into aquaculture challenges especially in large-scale farming or “grow-out” of market-size animals because of physical space demand, labour and cost. The Japanese scallop is one of the most attractive scallop culture candidate and offers several advantages: it generates a live and processed product, yields one of the largest scallop muscles highly prized as both a food
and export product and more importantly, it attains market size in suspended cultures. The latter enables large-scale farming and harvesting, eliminates SCUBA-based labour as for bottom cultures, and allows for seed monitoring and harvesting of market-size scallops from a boat or raft. This manual describes well-tested hatcherybased techniques implemented at large-scale for all stages of seed production. It provides the potential to extend the hatchery cycle with a broodstock conditioning strategy, to rear and set pediveligers using different methodologies, to produce up to 10 mm seed on a large-scale in a land-based nursery and to achieve a 100 percent survival and growth for seed transported up to 9 hours to farm sites. This is a roadmap to the technical
success for a commercial operation of the Japanese scallop. The financial sustainability of the operation will depend on
The 2022 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet has found that EU fisheries are suffering from the sharp increases in energy costs and inflation in 2022 and the EU fishing fleet faces a financial loss for 2022. The report,from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee of Fisheries (STECF) and the European Commission, provides an annual overview of the structure and economic performance of the 22 coastal EU Member State fishing fleets.
A doubling of vessel fuel costs, which according to the report resulted from the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, could have a positive side effect of spurring technological change
towards energy transition that will help achieve EU climate and environment goals. Linked to energy transition is fisheries sustainability, which is also a key to helping fleets overcome financially difficult periods. In addition to conditions in 2022, the report also examined the lasting impacts from the earlier Covid pandemic, which caused weak seafood demand and tightening of market channels throughout the EU, and Brexit, which adversely affected some national fleets whose access to historical fishing grounds was cut back.
The report’s projections are “worst case” because they do not factor in any EU financial support and national state aid that could
be provided and that should mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the continued increase in energy prices and inflation. To deal with both the pandemic and the Russian aggression, the EU has adopted a crisis mechanism that allows specific support to be provided under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF); new state aid; and a modification of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) to offer specific support to help the EU fishing fleets overcome these significant financial challenges. The report is available from the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries on-line at https://oceans-andfisheries.ec.europa.eu/news/
a well-developed strategy, a sound business plan, a realistic target for production and on its management.
The report is the result of combined work by the experts from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee of Fisheries (STECF) and the European Commission.
2022-annual-economic-reporteu-fishing-fleet-sector-affectedhigh-fuel-prices-wake-warukraine-2022-10-11_en.
Norway’s parliament is considering a proposed a new 40 tax on “rent” (surplus profit accruing from rising output prices) earned by large salmon aquaculture companies, coming on top of a 22 corporate tax and to be applied on large (4,000+ tonnes) sea-based operations, excluding smolt, primary and secondary processing. The new tax, if approved, would apply from the 2023 tax year onwards. The backers of the proposed tax see the surplus profits accruing to salmon producers as wealth from a “common natural resource” (the oceans) which provide a
foundation for salmon production for which no rent is paid, hence the term “rent tax.” The proposed tax would bring society part of the productive value of its shared resource the industry uses “freely.” Similar taxes have been proposed for the fossil-fuel, wind-, and hydro-power industries.
There is opposition to the proposed tax among all of Norway’s large salmon operations. Already, many investment plans in expansion have been cancelled or put on hold by major producers, and the firms’ stock and bond values
tax would hurt employment and the economic well-being of small coastal communities reliant on the salmon operations.
The region of Galicia is Spain’s largest transit point for EU seafood trade, with dozens of ports and 60 of Spain’s cold storage capacity handling a combined volume of about one million tonnes annually or about half the nation’s total. Three-fifths of such trade is carried by sea and two-fifths by truck. To capitalise on this business and encourage its international growth, the
Loxística de Galicia Foundation Cluster announced at the Conxemar trade fair a sectoral initiative in the form of the “Galicia Logistics” brand to promote the competitiveness of the logistics sector, made up of private companies and public infrastructures. The Foundation Cluster hopes to replace the “atomised” operations of many individual exporters and importers, often working
against each other, with an organized system to improve logistics efficiency.
The “Galicia Logistics” brand is to be promoted by international trade missions, and through various dissemination efforts at industry fairs and events. The idea is to make Galicia a “logistics reference,” through its many ports and top-quality refrigeration
facilities. The head of the Port Authority of Vigo, an enthusiastic supporter of the “Galicia Logistics” initiative, stresses that train transport also needs attention, not only for the seafood industry’s economic efficiency but for environmental improvement. Such action will aid in the success of the EU “Blue Growth” programme for environmental as well as economic sustainability.
In its continuing efforts to persuade European countries that herring and mackerel stocks need rebuilding, ICES recently recommended large cuts in the catch quotas for herring and mackerel in areas fished by vessels of the EU, Norway, Russia, Iceland, and the Faroes. From a total estimated herring catch of 828 thousand tonnes in 2022, the recommended catch in 2023 should be 511 thousand tonnes, the international scientific body said, noting the herring stock
continues to decline due to heavy fishing and poor recruitment of replacement stocks. For NE Atlantic mackerel, with an estimated 2022 catch of 1,131 thousand tonnes, the recommended total catch in 2023 is 782 thousand tonnes. Management of mackerel is ineffective: the catch has exceeded recommendations by 41 since 2010.
Elsewhere, the recommended catch of horse mackerel in 2023 is zero tonnes, while that for
blue whiting is a recommended increase of 1,360 thousand tonnes over the 2022 recommendation of 753 thousand tonnes. On a related note, the Council of the European Union announced agreement with the European Commission jointly to “follow a comprehensive approach to setting fishing opportunities” in 2023, by which the bodies aim to “carry over the current fishing opportunities for several stocks [from 2022] into 2023. Slightly more practically, this
means to limit fishing to unavoidable by-catches for cod, salmon, and western herring, as well as to maintain spawning closures in recreational fisheries for Baltic cod and salmon in some areas.
Recent rules making the use of more selective fishing gear for flatfish mandatory is expected to allow an increase of the plaice total allowable catch (TAC), without putting more pressure on severely stressed cod stocks.
As in many occupations, getting the young to take over from their parents is challenging in commercial fishing. It’s hard work, often not highly remunerative, and small coastal towns are not exciting enough to stay in after graduation. But small town survival and the security of the food chain demand new blood in this line of work. A fishermen’s cooperative at the Lokka-Porttipahta reservoir
in the Lapland region of Finland has set out to tackle the challenge. They developed a master-apprentice project where young people work with older fishermen for a period of two and a half years. The project identified three objectives: 1. ensure the continuity of fishing in the area
2. improve the professional skills of both new and existing fishers, and
3. develop an innovative fisheries recruitment model for the area.
The working regime is flexible, allowing time for other work of studies. Initially unpaid, the programme now has EU funding to provide more immediate monetary incentives. The population of fishers locally has doubled because of the program,
Norway has long provided Russian harvesting vessels with port access for unloading their catch. The historical arrangement has helped local economies as well as fishermen based in adjacent NW Russia. Lately, however, Norwegian government concerns have grown that
such activity creates opportunities for smuggling illicit products to Russia. As a result, now only three ports in Norway are open to fishing vessels from Russia. Complete closure of Norway’s ports is not useful, a government official said, because Russian fishermen are a
legitimate component of proper management of the region’s fish stocks. But “we now have information,” the official said, that Russian vessels must be more carefully controlled, including customs inspections upon port arrival. In addition to smuggling, there are
and local skills in boat and gear design and use—passed on by particular oldsters to their apprentices—are no longer at risk of extinction. Gender equality is promoted as fishers of either sex can and do join the program.
And ageing fishermen are now less worried that theirs is a dying breed.
concerns about risks to pipelines and other sub-marine and surface infrastructure in Norway. Among Norway’s ports, only Kirkenes and Båtsfjord in the Barents Sea, and Tromsø in the Norwegian Sea, will now allow access to Russian fishing boats.
In October a proposed amendment to the regulations governing Poland’s Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation would set out procedures for aid disbursement “to mitigate the effects of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine on fishing activities and to limit the impact of market disturbances caused by the war aggravating the supply chain of fishery and aquaculture products.”
The financial aid would come from funds that Poland receives from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, providing financial compensation to entities in the fisheries and aquaculture sector, including processing, for their additional costs incurred in connection with the market disturbance caused by the war waged by Russia. Aid is to be provided to fishing vessels, aquaculture entities, processing plants, and other inland and coastal operations. At this stage, no financial amounts have been estimated.
Looking forward to Christmas, the UK government has increased the autonomous tariff quota (ATQ, a duty-free provision) for imported coldwater shrimp by 49, in time for the seafood industry to stock up for the holidays. The additional ATQ means an extra 3,200 metric tons of imports can come in dutyfree to the world’s single largest market for coldwater shrimp. The move primarily benefits Greenland, with whom the UK has a proposed free trade agreement that is so far unsigned.
The original ATQ of 6,500 tonnes for 2022 had been filled in August, leaving suppliers wondering how to guarantee shipments for Christmas
purchases. As a result, shrimp prices moved upward steadily from August on. The expanded ATQ has brought prices down to 2019 levels, according to news reports. Industry officials report their hopes that the ATQ for 2023 will be set with 2020’s experiences in mind. By then, industry officials hope, a UK-Greenland trade deal will be in place.
The biggest feared shortages had been in food service (sandwiches, salads, and so on), as the retail sector’s supply was seen to be safe to the end of the year. Canada is the next largest shrimp supplier to the UK, but its harvests are more tightly managed and cannot readily be increased.
There is great potential for the EU’s seaweed industry, currently limited mainly to small-scale producers growing single species in sheltered bays. Most of Europe’s seaweed supply is imported from Asian countries where production carried out by large scale, technologically modern, multispecies-oriented operations. With an ever-increasing number of seaweed uses—from human food and animal feed to biomaterials and bioenergy—demand for seaweed can only grow, giving hope for a new large-scale European industry. With support from the European Maritime Fisheries and
Aquaculture Fund, a 1.4-hectare project called AlgaeDemo has been recently launched in the North Sea waters of the Netherlands. The goal is to understand the conditions for the viability of a large-scale, economically, and environmentally sustainable seaweed farm.
Not every seaweed species grows everywhere, so the right one had to be found for the chosen site. Then, a “technical textile,” or artificial fabric, was developed for the plants to grow on. An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) carries out the anchoring, cleaning, seeding, and harvesting processes.
Seaweed represents about a half of the global marine aquaculture production volumes, of which about 98 percent are farmed by China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Through all this, attention is paid to the environmental impacts, both negative (human and seaweed interaction with the larger ecosystem) and positive (capturing CO2, phosphates and nitrates). Not to mention the direct and
indirect job creation, and the benefits for a wide range of industries and consumers. With the right tweaks and twists of the operation developed in this Dutch project, this kind of undertaking can work in waters all around the EU.
Tucked in at the northern tip of Italy’s Adriatic coast, the city of Pordenone will host AquaFarm 2023, the sixth edition of the Mediterranean region’s main industry expo on aquaculture and sustainable fishing. The event is co-hosted by Pordenone Fiere, the Italian fish farmers’ association API, and the Mediterranean fish farmers’ association AMA. As at all previous AquaFarm editions, the 2023 event will bring together representatives of the entire production and trade chain of
the aquaculture sector, a sector of extraordinary importance to the world’s ever-growing need for healthy food.
Hoping to beat the last edition’s attendance of over 2,000 people from 40 countries, the organizers of AquaFarm 2023 are combining the large exhibit area with a series of conferences and meetings on the most important topics in research and innovation in aquaculture and sustainable production locally and worldwide. Climate
change is at the top of the list of critical issues facing the industry; the energy crisis is another. Experts from an array of Italian and international organizations will host and participate in discussions on these vital topics. The president of Pordenone Fiere, Renato Pujatti, stresses the importance of this event. In an era that is ever more uncertain, he says, AquaFarm 2023 will help set the stage for a seafood sector that is crucial for the short- and long-term future of the planet.
Presentations, debates, conferences, workshops, and culinary shows during Polfish kept the halls at the Exhibition and Congress Centre at aglowa Street in Gda sk full of activity. Importers and distributors of fish and seafood, producers of delicatessen products and equipment for the industry were all represented at the event. They were joined by several participants from a workshop on technology innovation and market opportunities organised by Eurofish International Organisation in collaboration with the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Polish Association of Fish Processors, and the organisers of Polfish.
Polish exhibitors at the show were joined by producers from Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Iceland, and Israel among others. The event attracted owners, managers, and directors of fish processing
Winners of the Mercurius Gednanesis contest present their awards for best fish product, food product, and technology.
companies, shops, restaurants, catering firms, and hotels. During the three days, 5,300 people entered the centre in comparison with the 3,800 during the previous edition in 2019. Events at the show included the Mercurius Gednanesis contest, a Polfish tradition in which products compete in three categories: fish product, food product, and technology. This year, the grand
prize in the category Fish Product was won by the company Polski Karp from Cracow. There was a joint second prize given to Suempol Sp. z o.o. from Bielsk Podlaski and Smak Tradycji Irena Olejniczak from Ujazdów. The main award for a technological solution was won by the Sea Fisheries Institute from Gdynia and Koszalin University, while a distinction went to Phup
Clevro Robert Klemba from Rawa Mazowiecka. This edition of Polfish was the first after the pandemic and many in the industry had looked forward to it. Many exhibitors and visitors have announced plans to attend the next edition of the event, the date of which will be published on the Polfish website (polfishtargi.pl/en) and social media (facebook.com/polfishtargi).
The Adriatic city of Pula in northwestern Croatia has won the world’s first Friend of the Sea Sustainable City Award. The award, granted by the Friend of the Sea project of the World Sustainability Organization, commends the honoree for actions that “preserve the environment and improve its citizens’ quality of life by embracing sustainable solutions.” The Pula Aquarium also received a Friend of the Sea award, for its efforts in advancing environmental awareness and animal welfare. The city’s renowned beach, Ambrela, is finalizing its award process. The city’s mayor, Filip Zori i , has pledged to involve all stakeholders in the city, from citizens to companies of all types, to join
in his environmental sustainability efforts. Among the implemented actions by the city are increased access for bicycles
Researchers at Washington State University have developed a method of using drones in measuring the abundance of salmon nests in rivers. The development could mean more accurate and less tiring estimates of a key fisheries resource not just in the Northwest United States but beyond. Salmon swim from the ocean upstream to the riverbeds where they were born. Estimating their reproduction activity in these rivers helps fishery managers determine how many new salmon are likely to swim to the ocean where commercial fishermen, subject to harvest quotas set by the managers, wait.
Tracking salmon nests is one way to estimate how many salmon there will be. But trudging along riverbeds looking for nests in the water is hard on the legs and eyes. Even floating in a
boat, peering into the water, can be tedious. But with drones, the work is easier and more accurate.
There is less walking, although there is some because U.S. law requires a civilian drone operator to have the drone always in sight. The photos taken by the drone can be measured against pictures taken earlier to see what new nests have appeared, which can be more accurate than photos taken while walking.
The scientists behind this research hope the new technological method catches on. The researchers found that drones capture images of more nests than walkers do, suggesting greater accuracy.
As well, with more frames taken, other environmental changes can be observed than just salmon nests, potentially helping those concerned with river ecology in many other ways.
fish international 2022, 4-6 September, Bremen
The last time fish international was held—in February 2020—the northwestern German state and city of Bremen had just been hit by hurricane-strength Storm Sabine, causing hundreds of millions of euros worth of damage across the country. Attendees and exhibitors who braved the weather—including seafood industry officials, people in related lines of business, providers of industry services, those with NGOs or government agencies—sipped their coffee and thought “Whew. It can’t get worse than this.” Little did they know.
Back in February 2020, the ink on the “Brexit” deal was drying but the chapter on UK-EU fisheries access— the issue that started the whole thing—was mysteriously missing. A virus called “Covid-19” was known to only a handful of scientists around the world. For many, the word “Ukraine” referred to the only country in this century that has reached the semifinal stage in every Eurovision song contest. Not to forget—as we were almost able to—the price of energy, whose several-fold increase started before the invasion of Ukraine. Back in early 2020, there was little talk in the seafood industry about three emerging problems that would eventually sweep over Europe.
Since then, much has changed. Seafood production and marketing have been hit by waves of turbulence. Yet the seafood industry has survived. Some—supermarkets and companies providing services, for example—have in fact prospered; some—such as small firms operating on low margins even in the best of times—have fallen by the wayside. But as a whole the industry is navigating troubled waters successfully. Even Messe Bremen, the organizer of fish international, delayed this first post-hurricane show by only half a year, to limit remaining Covid-19
risks. With 320 exhibitors from 27 countries, the 2022 edition of the show was even larger than in 2020.
In what ways have the challenges of this perfect storm passing through Europe affected industry members so far? How is a different kind of storm than last time treating businesses, and what are the ways for the industry to stay float?
After years of effort, the UK’s official departure from the EU took
place on 31 January 2020. “Unlike in the case of Covid-19, we knew Brexit was happening,” says Gerjan de Hullu, senior planner at Kotra Logistics, a Netherlandsbased company which specialises in fresh and frozen fish and seafood products transportation. With 200 of its own trucks and more contracted for busy periods, and multiple hubs across Europe, Kotra can move products quickly, packing them when necessary, moving them by truck to rail, ships, or planes, and back to trucks for delivery. Its hub system—replacing single-load shipment straight from seller to buyer—is more
efficient; a shipment by air from Norway, for example, to a Kotra hub in the EU before it goes to the buyer, ultimately reduces costs. Kotra’s goal is to be an “all service” logistics company, handling everything from loading truck trailers onto freight cars to filling out paperwork for intra-EU trade—its primary customer base.
With such experience in moving seafood from one European country to another, Kotra knows the ins and outs of seafood transportation. What the company didn’t know was how confused a British exporter of Norway lobster can get
M3B GmbH/Oliver SaulNew Brexit rules, and probably just “a few months” of Covid-19
over customs papers that Brexit suddenly requires to be filed for a shipment to France, a route that used to be barrier-free.
Lucky for all involved, Kotra has been filling out customs papers for years. But that’s not true of many (well, until 2020, most) seafood exporters in the UK and EU buyers of UK seafood. So there has been a long adjustment period, which isn’t good for highly perishable fish. A box of fresh Scottish shellfish that is being held up for 24 hours over paperwork at the English Channel has probably met its final destination. To help UK companies manage such trade with the EU, Kotra uses its long customs experience with Switzerland and elsewhere. “They have learned from us, and by helping them, we maintain the business. The goods are still the same, the transport lines are still the same, but you have other responsibilities, other requirements for the transportation.”
The pandemic has brought problems completely different from those of Brexit. A good example comes from Kristian Moeller, CEO of GLOBALG.A.P., with one of that organization’s challenges that it craftily overcame: how to inspect an aquaculture establishment for sustainability certification without violating pandemic quarantine rules? The problem isn’t the paperwork that is required in a certification application or renewal, that can be done electronically (“in fact, it’s easier” than in person). The problem is the physical inspection by auditors. To solve this, Global Gap has put considerable effort into developing a tool through which they can carry out remote audits. They developed regulations on how an auditor needs to perform a fish farm audit remotely via Zoom and other business communication platforms and learn how a business is being run.
The innovation created cost savings, including auditor time and travel costs, and actually increased employment as individual consultations have become larger with the new technology. Instead of sending a few people to a location, more people are involved in the remote consultation. A lasting innovation, all because of the pandemic. In addition, since the restaurants were closed, the farmers switched to retail sector, and the demand for fresh fish increased— the requirement for certified fish even grew.
Gerjan de Hullu describes succinctly some of the gainers and losers from the pandemic, after observing changes in the purchasing segment of the seafood industry that the company serves. Their customers include companies that deliver to supermarkets, and their volume was stable or rising. While the HoReCa sector sales were down with closed outlet trade, sales in the supermarket sector were up in volume. “People were saying ‘If I cannot go to the restaurant, I would then buy the fish for myself and cook it in my own kitchen.’“ Mr. de Hullu also noted that the customers became more open-minded, and wanted to try doing something new, even if they had done the same thing for over ten years.
The pandemic caused problems in other areas too, explained Rolandas Mork nas, the director of Lithuanian producer organization, the National Association of Aquaculture and Fish Products Producers. The pandemic closed farmers’ markets and trade points, and consumers had fewer opportunities to buy fish directly from a farm, an important sales channel for the PO’s members. In addition, veterinary restrictions were tightened, and live fish sales banned, which caused producers to turn to primary processing and start offering
gutted and cut fish (though not all the producers had processing units). All of this added costs which when possible were passed on in higher prices to consumers who, by EU standards, are not very wealthy and are very careful about the money. However, the new products were accepted by Lithuanian consumers, despite the concerns.
Valdur Noormagi, chairman of the Estonian Association of Fisheries, thinks that the pandemic is minor compared to the war in Ukraine, as the country was one of the largest customers for Estonia’s sprats and Baltic herring. Supplies are still happening, but the volumes go down—Ukraine’s declining currency is making imports too expensive for an already financially weak population. “We hoped that the situation would improve after the pandemic,” says Mr. Noormagi, “but it has got even worse.”
The Estonian Association of Fisheries, which represents fishers, farmers, and processors, as well as wholesalers and retailers, sells freshwater fish—pikeperch, perch, and salmon products, as well as Baltic herring and anchovy, much of it canned. The operation of a
cannery is energy-intensive, and electricity prices in Estonia have risen by up to 7-fold in the last few years. This pushes up costs for consumers, too, as the inflation rate year-on-year reached 25 in August. With an average salary for an Estonian of 1,800 euros a month, there is little left after housing, electricity, and other utilities. “However,” adds Mr. Noormagi, “Estonian companies are not pessimistic. The reality is that now these are difficult times, but we have to go through them.”
The war has also driven up the costs of diesel and grain-based fish feed, both essential for farmers of freshwater fish like the members the National Association of Aquaculture and Fish Products Producers in Lithuania. Carp, for example, take three years to grow to market size, and the process calls for stable energy and feed costs. Yet prices have spiked. The price of electricity, on which RAS producers are highly dependent, is up 4-5-fold, diesel, on which pond farmers depend, is up by 30-50, and wheat and sunflower for carp feed have doubled. “Fish feed producers pay for their raw material,” Mr. Mork nas says, “they also need money, and they cannot wait until we grow our fish and pay them back.”
At fish international 2022, Eurofish International Organisation provided a Business Platform to companies from its member countries, where they could exhibit and promote their products and services, communicate with visitors and other exhibitors, arrange product samplings, and hold meetings with potential business partners.
This year, Eurofish was joined by six companies from five countries: Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania.
Association Pastravul tara Ta from Romania is well underway with the construction of a trout farm, with an initial production capacity of 500 tonnes. Buyers have expressed interest in lake trout and salmon trout—the latter because it is cheaper and less fatty than salmon, and consumer demand is expected to be high. These species are destined for local markets, while another planned farm will produce for export. Describing the potential of the German market, Bogdan Mihalache, sales manager, points out that “German consumers eat a lot of fish, but there are not many farms here. There are also a lot of Romanians living here. So, there is market for us, and we are planning to enter the middle to high price niche.”
Besides potential customers at fish international, Mr Mihalache also found just the machinery he had been looking for—slicers for their new factory. “Our current one is too small, and we must use an external facility to process our fish. But we want to build a bigger factory of our own.”
Alrey OÜ is a fishing company from Estonia, which has recently added its own shop to its production site, to market the fillets and hot-smoked bream and pikeperch as well as salmon it sources from a partner. However, it seeks customers internationally, and Germany’s only trade show fish international is an obvious place. “The German market is attractive to us, as the consumers know the fish we catch.” Actually, their product may already be there, because they sell large volumes to Poland and we assume it is further sold to Germany. “Obviously, their logistics are better organised than ours,” says Andrey Ulukhaniyants, the owner, “logistics is our weak side. It is difficult to transport small volumes ourselves.” So they will have to find a transport company that can move smaller volumes internationally.
Latvian SIA Dagi, founded in 1992, started producing preserved fish bites in oil, tomato sauce, and mayonnaise. Later other varieties were added. Thirty years later, it offers preserves, hot and cold smoked fish, baked fish, and fish cakes from salmon, cod, perch in jelly, and for Christmas, hot smoked carp. Products are in MAP and vacuum packaged. They cooperate with the HoReCa sector or with small retail chains, producing for private label and for individual customers. For example, in Riga they work with Stockmann, producing Scandinavian style herring. At fish international, there was significant interest in the Scandinavian-style herring, so it might expand into Germany. The company made many promising contacts at fish international, and “if even a few work with us, we will consider this a success,” says Janis Skalbe, the company’s development manager. “This is our first experience as an exhibitor, and our expectations were fulfilled.”
Croatian Riba Dražin came to the show with its best-known product „Pepefish”—sweet-sour, red peppers filled with rolled anchovy fillets, but also with others. The company’s value-added products included marinated anchovy fillets, saddled seabream fillets, salted anchovy fillets, fish pate made of peppers and salted anchovies, and deluxe products such as marinated tuna and octopus. “We are happy to be here,” says Zivko Dražin, the company’s owner, “as our products drew a lot of interest from potential buyers from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Moreover, our coexhibitor at the Business Platform, Pastravul tara Ta, is interested in using some of our products to diversify their own product range.”
G. Kanaševi ius I “DES ” from Lithuania was founded in 1994, is the country’s number one producer of processed herring. The range includes herring bites and fillets—salted, marinated, and fried, as well as fried cod in different marinades. Over 70 of the volumes are sold domestically, and the rest are exported. “The German market is interesting for us,” says Lina Pilkiene, sales manager, “as there are a lot of potential customers of Central and Eastern European ancestry, and the products we offer are traditional to them. Our herring products attracted a lot of attention during the show.”
Deltaica Seafood from Romania came to fish international for two important reasons: because it is trying to internationalise; and because it seeks new machines to increase its employees’ productivity. The major raw material is carp, which is well-known on the German market. The company’s expansion abroad is easier when it focuses on markets that know the raw material. They are also increasing their product line,
adding smoked sturgeon products which the German market is also familiar with, and are planning some species which are known to the Romanian market, but not widely known in Germany yet—pike, Danube shad, and rapa whelk. Teodora Buhai, the marketing manager, adds “Deltaica also came to the trade show looking for suppliers of raw material, especially for pike roe, as one of our signature products is pike roe salad. In addition to finding the machinery for our productivity-boosting needs, at the Business Platform we met a fellow participant who can supply pike roe—right next to us!”
Despite the world’s problems, exhibitors and attendees at fish international 2022 had nothing but praise for the event. The slightly less-than-expected visitor turnout, caused by the postponement of the show, was viewed positively because only serious people were there. “Quality is better than quantity,” as one exhibitor expressed it, describing how time was more usefully spent with current (and potential future) business partners than with “window shoppers” .
“The phone or Zoom can’t replace face-to-face contact,” another exhibitor stated. Customers, suppliers, even just old friends stop by to renew relationships made stale by pandemic isolation. A firsttime exhibitor, part of his country’s national pavilion, described how his initial uncertainty gave way to confidence in trade show participation. Even if a deal isn’t made on the spot, one feels good about the chances the deal will be made, he said. Seeing you in real life at a trade show is better than a phone call!
Aleksandra Petersen, Eurofish, aleksandra.petersen@eurofish.dk
The twenty-third edition of the Conxemar International Frozen Seafood Fair in Vigo, Spain was an unqualified success. During the three days of the show over 26,000 people from more than 100 countries attended the exhibition. The fair is an important event for the seafood sector involving wholesalers, importers, exporters, manufacturers, and many others who present and promote their latest products and services.
During the three days of the fair visitors had the opportunities to try numerous delicacies such as the jamon del mar or sea ham, a product made with almadraba tuna. Almadraba is a traditional way of catching bluefin tuna using a complex arrangement of nets off the coast of Andalucia. The innovative idea of the sea ham is to share the texture and shape
of an Iberian ham. The ham was presented by the company Almadraba by Petaca Chico from Cadiz in the south of Spain. The company is planning to market the product very soon.
From the Basque Country the company Kofradia attended the fair promoting a high-quality fish soup, fish pudding, and fish burgers made from Albacore tuna. The advantage of these products is that they can be prepared in less than
two minutes. The group is working closely with small-scale fishers from the Basque Country to bring consumers closer to the sector, and to value products made from species like conger and albacore tuna and encourage their consumption.
The Spanish group Nueva Pescanova promoted the sustainability of their fishing and aquaculture activities and offered high quality and healthy products. Innovative products such as the three
varieties of la pasta del mar with salmon, cod and hake with cuttlefish ink have been introduced on markets in Spain and the US. The pasta represent an innovative way of selling fish and promoting the consumption of healthier protein.
Associations of producers from different countries were present at the fair and informed visitors about the current status of the sectors they represented. The National Association of Manufacturers of Cod and Salted Fish (ANFABASA) from Spain spoke about the importance of cod consumption in the country. The association is currently working on innovative ways to promote the regular consumption of cod in Spanish families rather than just on the main holidays. To encourage this the association offered
visitors a free cookbook with recipes for cod cooked in various ways.
Propeixe is a Portuguese organisation of fishing producers specifically for sardine seine fishing established in the port of Matosinhos. The representatives of the group shared the challenges that they were facing due to the ban on sardine fishing of the last years. However, they said the situation is slowly getting better, and they hoped it would improve even further in the near future enabling them to catch larger volumes of sardine.
Generally, the problems faced by many of the companies present at the fair were related to the increasing transportation costs as well the prices of raw material and the price of the dollar. An example was provided by the company Manet from Barcelona which specialises in trading frozen and fresh seafood
products. They are currently experiencing difficulties with cephalopods due to the impacts generated by the Russian-Ukraine war. In fact, due to the increase in prices, they are importing more cephalopods from India and are paying higher prices compared to those for Moroccan product which is also becoming more and more expensive.
Seventeen international pavilions, among them Peru, Portugal and Ecuador, attended the fair providing important platforms for their associations of producers to exhibit and promote their products. The Ministero delle Politeche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali from Italy, attended the exhibition for the first time and made a series of presentations including a talk about the trade in frozen seafood products in Italy with focus on octopus and tuna. Attendees also had the opportunity to try a delicious tuna carbonara from an
Italian chef among other delicacies prepared during the three days of the exhibition.
On Monday, 3 October, the day before the opening of the fair, Conxemar and FAO organised the tenth congress on seafood. The congress focused on the current and future challenges facing seafood processing and trading. During the day, roundtables, and presentations focused on economics, transport, logistics and on the production of important species. The discussion also focused on the future challenges for the fishing industry after a global pandemic and on the current complicated context of inflation, and high costs for the industry.
Francesca Barazzetta, Eurofish, francesca.barazzetta@eurofish.dk
Alltech Coppens hosted the All About Catfish conference, where experts from around the world shared their views on the fast-growing catfish farming industry.
CEO of Alltech Coppens, Ronald Faber, opened the conference with a vibrant introductory speech, leading the way for an exciting line-up of speakers who addressed the importance of today’s aquaculture catfish industry. They were warmly welcomed by John Sweetman, International Project Manager for Alltech Aqua, and the chairman of the conference.
The conference featured the following external speakers and presentations:
• Bert-Jan Roosendaal, Managing Director of Aquacultuur ID — Aquaculture Technology & Equipment
• Esther Luiten, Commercial Director of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) — Importance of Certified Fish
• Frank Foolen, General Manager of Topaal – Claresse Visverwerking — Insights of the Market
• Dr. Dénes GÄL, Co-founder, head of Geofish — African Catfish Story in Hungary
• Marten Opperman, Managing Director of Euro Fine Fish — Value Chain of Catfish
Some representatives from Alltech Coppens also spoke on specialist topics:
• Gijs Rutjes, Technical Sales Support Manager — Optimize Your Farm Performance
• Guido Crolla, Manager Procurement — Raw Material Trends
• Ben Lamberigts, Manager Quality, Research and Nutrition — Future Innovation of Sustainable Fish Feed
• Danieke Ewalts, Head of Marketing & Communications — Why Product Image Matters
As well as participating in talks, attendees were able to tour the facilities of the Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre (ACAC). This ACAC is the research and development building in which feed trials are conducted to investigate different ingredients to formulate the right combinations to efficiently meet
nutritional requirements. The day ended with a networking event and BBQ dinner at the ACAC. More than 40 people attended the conference, representing 80 of the catfish RAS farmers in Europe. This event focused strongly on sharing ideas and making connections among peers.
This event was also the platform for the announcement of a new book, Inside/Out, a 150-page essential guide to understanding the function and structure of the skin, gills and guts of fish. Authored by John Sweetman and Gijs Rutjes, it is available to order at https://go.alltech.com/ aqua-inside-out. The conference
was held in a sustainable hotel in beautiful Heeze, the Netherlands. The hotel is known for its Golden Green Key quality mark, the international certificate for sustainable companies in recreation, leisure, and business markets.
Overall, this networking conference was an enlightening experience for the catfish sector, encouraging representatives to find ways to work together in this sustainable aquaculture niche.
More on Alltech Coppens: https://www.alltechcoppens. com/ or catfish feed: https:// www.alltechcoppens.com/en/ industrial/catfish
The conference offered participants an excellent opportunity to gather the latest information from the sector and exchange experiences.
One of the advantages of aquaculture is that the environmental conditions during breeding can be controlled at all times and often influenced in a targeted way. This requires continuous measurements of all important parameters in order to be able to obtain a specific picture of the current situation. These are time-consuming routine jobs; however, they are increasingly being taken over by farm management technologies which offer many different options.
Regardless of what type of aquaculture system one operates, no producer can get around the need to monitor environmental conditions and water parameters. This is the only way that negative developments and exceeding standard values can be promptly detected for important parameters, preventing imminent risks to animal stocks. But measurements cost time and employee capacity, all the more so as the measurement data must also be precisely recorded and analysed in order to detect negatively developing trends and introduce required actions. Correct analyses also influence the
economic efficiency of the company, because they contribute to more effective feeding, aligning fish stocks in a more targeted way towards what is feasible and preventing animal losses. Computers have long replaced notebooks and other handwritten drawings that were used in the past. However, it is now time to also say goodbye to the familiar spreadsheet calculation programs, as management systems that are precise, userfriendly and easy to operate now exist. They offer a variety of functions that meet the expectations of even the most demanding users and also contribute to reducing production costs, improving
efficiency and increasing profitability. Access to data and analytics has now even gone mobile. Thanks to the cloud and modern digital communications possibilities, information can be retrieved not just in the office, but at home and when travelling, via the Internet on mobile or tablet devices.
Management systems also offer direct access to all information required to optimise operational processes and make necessary management decisions anywhere and at any time. Or, as one provider of such programs writes on their website, to understand what is actually happening in
production as it is happening and to be able to deal with it proactively. The prerequisite for this is data recording in real time, which allows insights into all processes and operations connected with what happens at a fish farm. For example, the current feed dosages per pond or pool, the growth and mortality in fish stocks or relevant water quality parameters. Even harvest quantities, momentary sales prices and costs incurred in purchasing can be taken into consideration. The option of statistically evaluating this wealth of detailed data in an instant and then representing it graphically is particularly
Linn’s software specialists tailor their management systems to the specific requirements of pond farmers and the circumstances at the facilities.
Linn Gerätebau
The graphical representation of the aquafarm makes operation easier. All production-relevant parameters are displayed by clicking on the pond or pool.
Feed more efficiently, detect risks promptly, prevent fish losses
convenient. All of this provides unique transparency and control over all variable influencing parameters that affect the production process. The production data from the aquaculture operation is, as it were, directly transformed into valuable knowledge. Never before has it been so easy to optimise operational processes, reduce costs and increase profitability. Given these advantages, it is not surprising that more and more aquaculture producers worldwide are turning to digital management platforms to improve their fish cultivation.
Many analysts predict that the market for farm management
software in Europe will gain further momentum due to the growing interest in and improvements to these technologies. For the forecast period from 2021 to 2027 they predict a compound annual growth rate (CAGR, a type of key figure used in corporate analyses), of 11.2% Increasing operation sizes and staff shortages are the most important factors driving this development. There is also the trend towards intensification of fish production, which is almost always accompanied by high stocking densities. This does often increase operation yields, but there is also the risk that partial or total animal losses may occur in the event of a technical fault or as a consequence of unfavourable environmental conditions, as we have often experienced in recent years due
to climate change. One can protect oneself from some unpleasant surprises such as power cuts using emergency generators, but other risks, such as leaking oxygen tubes, are sometimes not detected in time. Although the input system is working properly, the oxygen content in the water sinks to dangerously low concentrations as a result, which in extreme cases can lead to the total loss of the fish stock. Management systems that not only monitor the error-free functioning of all technical devices, but also the oxygen values in the water can therefore make the difference between making a profit or a loss.
Farm management software is available both as a local webbased solution and also as a
cloud-based solution (PaaS - Platform as a Service, SaaS - Software as a Service), but the cloud-based programs already have a larger market share and will probably grow fastest in future. Demand is particularly high in North America, because faith in digital solutions to problems is generally very high there. There are also many promising developments in the Asian region, as aquaculture is currently in a period of upheaval there in which many operations are increasingly investing in the latest technologies. What users can currently expect from powerful farm management software is efficient measuring and monitoring functions as well as reporting and analytics tools for the following areas of management:
• Monitoring and analysis of water quality and important
The menu configuration makes it possible to view the variety of possible settings and reports. The language can be changed from German to English at the touch of a button.
environmental parameters, improved risk management
• Control and documentation of stock development (collection of daily data on fish stocks, losses, growth, treatments, harvest quantities etc.).
• Feed management: Monitoring of inventories, feed quantities administered daily according to feed type and pellet sizes, prediction for probable consumption level
• Calculation of purchase costs (COGS, cost of goods sold): Option to track costs and inputs in detail and display them for the respective fish production. Improved planning, reduction in input and labour costs
• Simple and precise traceability of individual production
batches, strict compliance with statutory provisions.
Particularly powerful management software is also capable of ‘data mining’. This is the systematic application of statistical methods to large datasets with the goal of detecting existing interconnections and trends. This would otherwise be extraordinarily difficult for unusually large quantities of data, as are generated in aquaculture systems, where some parameters are measured frequently at intervals of a minute and then stored. The processing and assessment of such large datasets requires
computer-supported mathematical statistical methods with which certain patterns can be detected and recommendations for action can be derived. The automatic and structured process of data mining provides models for predictions, estimates and other inferences that are almost indispensable for making well-founded strategic business decisions. Decisionmakers not only understand what has happened but can also see what will probably happen next. More targeted countermeasures and preventive measures can then be introduced on this basis.
without any problems. Using the programs is not complicated and is usually intuitive. Almost all cloud-based software solutions have been tried and tested and they are largely mature systems. They have already become almost indispensable as a reliable tool for the recording, storage and evaluation of production-relevant data, especially for larger operations. Interest in intelligent software solutions is growing steadily, which can also be seen from sinking procurement and maintenance costs.
With the mobile app, users can view the system data at any time using their smartphone, even if they are travelling far away from the fish farm.
For cloud-based SaaS management solutions, the potential user does not even need to have their own server on their farm. If there is a reliable network of measuring sensors already present that continuously supplies data from the pools and ponds, they only need a browser and an Internet connection and they are ready to go. However, because the infrastructures for data collection often differ between operations, management programs often have a modular structure that can be adjusted to the relevant situation
However, those looking for these helpful programs encounter the problem of having to choose between the numerous providers. The selection is huge, because the range of farm management software offered has also increased very significantly with the growing demand. Agrivi, Oxyguard, Trimble, BouMatic, Iteris, DeLaval (Tetra Laval), Deere & Company, AG Leader Technology, AgJunction, Raven Industries, SST Development Group (LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group), GEA Group, Farmers Edge or Linn Gerätebau are just a few of the many providers that are all competing for customers for their products.
Despite small differences in their operation and in the data evaluation, almost all management solutions promise basically the same things. They enable the user to track their production processes in real time, document many processes through specific measurement data and immediately notify the user if something is going wrong and the specified standard values have been exceeded. And this is not only
Automated data assessment makes decision-making easier
when using the computer, but practically anywhere regardless of location, on holiday, when travelling, day and night. The fish farmers remain, as it were, permanently in contact with their aquaculture operation via mobile communications devices and corresponding apps. Because the abundance of the data collected can sometimes be overwhelming, the value of a software solution can primarily be measured by how quickly and reliably the data is evaluated and how comprehensibly it is visualised. This is because the real value of the management program is that it can make positive and negative developments easier to detect. Even experienced fish cultivators often find it difficult without this help to filter out general trends
from the abundance of measurement data and to promptly detect imminent urgent situations. Particularly as they cannot make anywhere near so many measurements at such frequency. Environmental data such as wind speed and direction, temperatures, air pressure, solar/UV radiation and rainfall or water quality parameters such as oxygen content, temperature and pH value, salt content (conductivity), ORP (redox potential) and turbidity often only become production-relevant when they exceed the tolerance limits for the fish stock.
The standard software platforms are fully sufficient for many operations if they meet their basic requirements. However, custom software solutions that are
tailored to the specific needs of the user are better. A good software provider should therefore also offer this option to its customers. The added cost for a custom program can be well worth it for the user because it not only improves production efficiency but also, generally speaking, it will appropriately meet the documentation requirements for a traceable product history. Queries with regard to compliance with production standards, such as feed types, sorting, drug treatments or other events over the duration of the cultivation process can be quickly answered with this support.
In the simplest case, aquaculture operations turn to feed management software. These programs make it possible to distribute
precise doses of feed throughout the day with suitable feeding machines. They are individually configured for each pond and individual fish species and adjusted to their biomass and the water temperature (the software also takes into account biomass growth based on FCR tables). But powerful management programs for aquaculture can do much more than that. They are called AquaTracker, Cobalia, AquaManager, NAVFarm, Aquam or Fishward and they promise to optimise the entire production process across all phases of fish production, reduce costs and detect problems as soon as they occur. In short, they make management of daily operational processes easier and increase the productivity of the farm and therefore its profitability. mk
2023. XII, 388 pp., 364 colored gs., 51 Infoboxes „Wissen kompakt“, 22 x 28 cm Language: German / Sprache: deutsch Johannesstr. 3A, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany Tel. +49 (0)711 351456-0 order@schweizerbart.de www.schweizerbart.de
Schweizerbart
Anatomie Physiologie Lebensweise
Manfred Klinkhardt
Aquaculture Europe, 27-30 September 2022, Rimini
The annual conference of the European Aquaculture Society (EAS), Aquaculture Europe this year was dedicated to the theme—innovative solutions in a changing world.
At the opening of the conference, Herve Migaud, who concluded his twoyear term as EAS president, stated that the theme reflected the need to address the many challenges facing the sector in the coming decades. His contention was that many inland, coastal, and marine water bodies will most likely be impacted directly or indirectly by climate change e.g., sea acidification and warming, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flooding, and other hindrances for the industry, affecting the entire supply chain—all the way down to the end consumer.
At the same time traditional and emerging blue-economy sectors, currently operating in the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, and other water bodies throughout Europe, are expected to grow and expand over the next years and to contribute to food production, biofuel and clean energy for consumers in the area and beyond. The conference via the many sessions and posters had direct or indirect focus on these issues and addressed the impact(s) of climate change, depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, food security and safety, environmental pollution, and waste. Topics at the conference covered important sustainability
challenges to the further expansion of European aquaculture and the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy.
The day before AE2022 started, EAS organised the second RAS @EAS meeting. This event featured panel discussions on current and novel topics within the RAS sector. The next day the main conference with its meetings of European associations, satellite workshops of EU projects and other events addressed how aquaculture is preparing to face future challenges, and the solutions that need to be put in place to develop a sustainable, responsible, and productive and climate neutral European aquaculture. The AE2022 parallel sessions also comprised oral and ePoster presentations.
Over the three days of the conference more than 30 scientific sessions were held. Parallel with these, AE2022 also featured an international trade exhibition, industry forum, student sessions and activities, satellite workshops, and updates on EU research.
In addition, several workshops and special events took place, including the AE2022 Industry Forum and the AE2022 Innovation Forum. Both events organised by the European Aquaculture
Technology and Innovation Platform, the European Commission and EAS. More than 2,000 people attended AE2022 with more than 600 scientific abstracts, and around 170 exhibitors from within and outside the EU were present at the international AE2022 trade exhibition presenting their latest products and services. The wide range of solutions the companies
offered clearly showed how focused the sector is on securing an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable aquaculture industry.
For further information please visit: https://www.aquaeas.org/
Christian Unmack, Eurofish, christian.unmack@eurofish.dk
I t is 20 years since Eastfish, an FAO-executed project funded by Denmark, became the International Or g anisation for the Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Europe ( Eurofish ) . From an initial five member countries in 2002, toda y Eurofish has 13 (Albania, C roatia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungar y, Ital y, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwa y, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Turke y ). Over the y ears, cooperation with the members has 1997 2002 2003 2004
become closer, participation in externally funded projects that allow the organisation to offer benefits to its owners has increased, and the range of activities that Eurofish is involved in has diversified. The hope is that this trajectory will sustain the organisation, increase its competencies, and enable it to do more for its members in the decades to come.
Latvia’s fishing and fish processing sector came successfully through the pandemic only to be confronted with steep hikes in input costs a year later. The administration is supporting the sector as it tries to weather the storm.
In 2021 the Latvian fishing fleet continued to decline in terms of numbers, tonnage, and power. Ministry of Agriculture data divide the fleet into offshore vessels active in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga, those that fish in the high seas, and the coastal vessels. The Baltic Sea/Gulf of Riga offshore vessels are further subdivided into trawlers between 12 and 24 m, trawlers above 24 m, and vessels above 24 m that use nets as the main gear. The number of smaller trawlers has stayed stable at nine vessels since 2019, the bigger trawlers declined by a fifth to 30 vessels, while the two vessels above 24 m using nets declined to one.
Vessel numbers fall as fleet capacity is adjusted to resources
Similarly, the high seas fleet dropped from eight vessels to seven, while the coastal fishing fleet, the biggest segment in terms of vessel numbers, declined very slightly from 603 vessels to 598.
The decline in the number of vessels can be attributed to fishers scrapping their boats under the decommissioning plan established to align fishing capacity with the available resources. According to the latest Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet (AER STECF 22-06), Latvian vessels between 24 and 40 m are active in the open Baltic Sea, while those between 12 and 18 m operate in the Gulf of Riga. Smaller vessels fish in coastal waters, while the largest vessels, 40 m and above, fish in the Atlantic NEAFC area, Barents Sea (FAO fishing area 27) and CECAF Morocco and Mauritania waters (FAO fishing area 34) .
Latvian quotas for herring and sprat, the most important species, have remained largely stable since 2013 averaging 56,000 tonnes. In 2023 they are set at slightly over 57,500 tonnes. For cod, there is no quota for a targeted fishery; the quota of 69 tonnes is exclusively intended for by-catches and it remains the same as it was in
2022. The cod stock will not show any recovery in the short term and probably not in the medium term either, foresees Dr Didzis Ustups, Head of the Fish Resource Research Department, Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment (BIOR). Total catches in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga (mainly sprat and herring, but also small quantities of flounder, smelt, salmon, and other species) have declined from 67,000 tonnes in 2017 to 59,000 tonnes in 2021, a drop of 13. The decline in coastal catches over the same period was 11 to 3,120 tonnes. In 2020, the latest year for which data is available on the Latvian Central Statistical Bureau’s database, landings by the Latvian fleet declined 9 but their value increased 10 to EUR17.5m.
According to the AER the increase in value is due to a small increase in the average price for the target species. The large volumes landed by vessels fishing in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga mean that even a minimal increase can lead to a significant change in the total landing value.
The small-scale fishing fleet lands small volumes of a variety of species including herring, smelt, round goby, and flounder. Fishers in this segment use different gears, herring pound nets, fyke nets, fish traps, hooked lines, and
flounder seines. They can deploy their gear at a maximum depth of 20 m measured from the coast. In recent years catches of round goby (an invasive species) have increased from 110 tonnes in 2014 to over 800 tonnes in 2020 making it an important species for coastal fishers. The fish has no market in Latvia, so catches are usually sold to be processed and then exported. In general, coastal fishers sell their catch on the local market or occasionally to neighbouring countries. Another development seen among some small-scale fishers is initiatives to add value to their catches. Others are diversifying their activities to create new income streams, for example, by linking their fishing activities to tourism. During the summer they will sail tourists around the harbour, offer waterborne site seeing, birdwatching, sea swimming, and food and drink on board the vessel. The investments needed for such activities are supported by European funds and fishers who are members of Fisheries
Local Action Groups submit project proposals seeking support.
Adding value to the catch must also lead to a market for the products. Here coastal fishers and processors are assisted by local action groups (LAGs). An ongoing campaign promotes regional tastes to tourists and other buyers. Coastal companies that can offer fresh or processed fish are included in a brochure showing their location. The brochure, which was produced by the LAGs, also contains information on fishing seasons and fish species. Sites where fish is available for sale are promoted, in addition, on television. Other events, such as festivals for specific fish, are held in cities and towns. In Salacgriva, for example, there is a lamprey festival as well as an event to promote herring consumption. LAGs, municipalities, and the EU-fund-supported Fisheries Network also get together to organise festivals or events that celebrate fish and its consumption.
For municipalities such initiatives bring tourists and tourist revenues which gives the municipality an incentive to support these activities. In addition, they promote the consumption of fish.
From the administration’s side efforts have been made that help coastal fishers apply for support by simplifying the whole process for projects with amounts up to EUR30,000. Normunds Riekstins, Director of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture, explains that a fisher can put in a simple application describing what he needs and why, for their business development. It is evaluated by the Rural Support Service, an institution under the ministry, and if approved, the money is paid out. A fisher may want to acquire some electronic equipment, for instance, or renovate his vessel to improve health and safety or fish quality. A young fisher (<40) buying a vessel can also apply for support under the scheme. Another body within the sector is the Fisheries Network, which assists fishers develop the business initiatives they need to apply for support. More generally, the Fisheries Network tries to ensure good use is made of available funding opportunities and works to promote the fisheries and aquaculture sector as a whole
by organising seminars, workshops, and conferences, as well as by visiting schools and educational institutions. Electronic catch records for the coastal fishery were introduced this year and here too the Fisheries Network has played a role. For older fishers who are unfamiliar with computers the network offers training and materials to help them get started. It is even possible to have the data entered into the system by somebody from the network if all else fails. Fishers without the necessary hardware to submit the data can even get support to acquire it as an incentive for them to start using the system.
Electronic reporting is an example of a wave of digitalisation of the management of the fisheries sec tor that is being overseen by the ministry. The requirement to report electronically which is already mandatory for the bigger vessels in the fleet will gradually encom pass all the fleet segments. It will help when we launch an app for mobile phones, Mr Riekstins feels, as not only will the interface be easier to deal with, but all fishers irrespective of their age probably have smartphones and are familiar with apps. The administration has also decided that at the initial stage a blind eye will be turned to errors or infringements discovered while fishers accommodate and start to
201820192020
Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga Coastal area
TotalBaltic Sea and Gulf of Riga
Coastal area
TotalBaltic Sea and Gulf of Riga Coastal area Total
Total 6645132216967357614.593167.2260788,655636.133119.9858756.11
Cod 2124726054.7924.16796.654.6911.4
Salmon (pieces/t) 2016/71106/43122/116.936,811488/13,75.2464.51067/9,8
Baltic herring 2345521462560224989.861982.6826971,523963.5341883.43725851
Sprat 3871013871128892.771.1028893,929081.6712.88929084,6
Flounder 643150793800.0770.15870,2401.42333.88435,3 Smelt 29237129942489.39102.542591,91492.83386.2781579.111
Other species 5018021302380.78986.591367,4684.7761104.3081789.084
Source: Ministry of Agriculture
use the system. The idea is to introduce the system and to encourage fishers to use it—not make it an instrument to punish them from day one of application. From 2023, subsistence fishers (who may only use a single gear at a time, either a net or a trap net, and may not sell their catch) will also be expected to use the system. Some of them are over 80 years of age, says Mr Riekstins, and will not take read ily to the use of this technology, but perhaps they can be helped by younger members in the family. Angling is another area, the admin istration of which has been largely moved online. Angling cards (gen eral permit for recreational fishing) and licenses (additional permit for specific water bodies) and can be purchased electronically and catches reported on a website run by a division of the ministry. From 2024, electronic reporting will be introduced for the entire inland
fisheries sector (commercial and subsistence fishers). The system has already been created and anglers can now use it on a voluntary basis. The advantage is that they can avoid all the paperwork that goes with fil ing out a paper logbook, which includes submitting it to the control authorities each month and obtain ing a new one from the local municipality. Angling is another area, the administration of which has been largely moved online. Angling cards (general permits for anglers) and licenses (an additional permit for specific water bodies with special management and additional ser vices) can be purchased electronically and catches reported on a website.
Digitalisation has wide implications as all the management and
control institutions have real time access to the information recorded electronically. It is a complete management system for fisheries, says Mr Riekstins, containing information on contracts for fishing rights, protocols for allocation of limits, payments, information about licences, data on the fisher and catches, as well as on temporal and spatial restrictions in the different fisheries. Fishers use the system to reports on fishing related issues such as damage by seals, predation by seabirds, loss of gear, and even seal and cetacean sightings. Records of control incidents, infringements, and fines issued for the individual fisher, as well as compensation payments are also maintained by the system. The system can generate warnings for the fisher if limits are close to exhaustion or have been breached. Different kinds of reports can be generated by the system depending on the purpose. While the ministry and the control authorities have access to all the data, other bodies such as municipalities or the fishers themselves may only access parts of the information. But access to even part of the information may well be overwhelming for an older user unfamiliar with electronic systems. Ultimately all
the stakeholders will be part of the system though the main target is users of the resource.
Traceability of the fish is another facet of the system. It is facilitated by links to the systems for authorisation and for reporting. As a result, consignments can be traced from catch, through processing, and to the final destination. Every move of the fish is stored in the system and Mr Riekstins claims there is less risk of illegal fishing as a result. Fishers in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga have to report their catches before they land, and they are subject to spot checks by the control authorities. For the coastal fishery there is still some flexibility as they typically do not land in ports but at landing sites often with no facilities to sort or weigh the fish. However, the administration is discussing with the European Commission ways to do more with this segment in terms of monitoring. However, under-reporting catches is not in the coastal fishers’ interests as compensation for seal damage, which is a significant challenge for coastal fishers, uses a formula that is based on reported catches. The lower the reported catches, the less the compensation. A trial to monitor fishing activity using remote
import and export of fish products, million euro
Fish products, including canned fish, export 174192206226212231.2213.8 Fish products, including canned fish, import 145170166169176183,7203.65
Source: Ministry of Agriculture
electronic monitoring (REM) by installing cameras on board fishing vessels has not generated much interest among fishers. Only in the third attempt to get fishers to volunteer has there been some response. The Ministry of Environment and Regional Development which is responsible for the trial is discussing with pelagic fishers the possibility of their participating in the trial. The investment needed will be supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Although fish discards are not associated with the pelagic fishery, it would be useful to have this confirmed as it would show that the control resources to
prevent fishing activities are better deployed elsewhere in the fleet.
The pelagic fishery in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga supplies the well-known Latvian processing industry with sprats and herring. Quota utilisation is close to 100 suggesting that the fish is in demand. Most of it goes into products for human consumption. In Latvia processing companies smoke, can, salt, and marinade the fish, or freeze it into blocks which are exported. Canned sprats
are exported to 40 or 50 countries around the world on all the continents. The industry promotes its products at many tradeshows where collective participation is organised by the Union of Latvian Fish Processing Industry, and a team from the Institute of Agrarian Resources and Economy which is supported by the EMFF and now the EMFAF. For many companies attending these events would not be possible without this support. The canning industry benefited from the pandemic when there was increased demand for relatively cheap, tasty, and healthful products with a long shelf life. It is experiencing something similar today where
uncertainty created by the war in Ukraine, inflation, and high energy prices is increasing demand for canned goods. The steep increase in prices particularly of energy but also of other raw materials used in the production of canned goods, such as the metal for cans and lids, have triggered compensation schemes from the government that are funded by the EU. The first applications are already being processed and the money will be disbursed as soon as possible. While the scheme is available until the end of the year, Latvia together with several other Member States would like to see it extended to cover 2023. It is a burden for the budget, concedes Mr Riekstins, but there is an immediate need for the industry to increase its resilience. Temporary support for industry should keep factories running and employees in work and allow the sector to emerge leaner and stronger on the other side of this crisis.
Latvia has an ancient tradition of canning spats and today Riga sprats in oil is one of the country’s best known seafood exports. The product represents not only a distinct taste but also a special appearance. In recent years the development of cans with transparent lids has allowed producers to highlight the quality of the fish, its golden colour, and the attractive way individual fish are arranged in the can even before it has been opened.
The Union of Latvian Fish Processing Industry, a trade association, prescribes the quality of the fish, the method of preparation, and the way the fish is placed in the can, for the product to carry the “Riga Sprats in Oil” label. The label thus functions both as a mark of quality and a guarantee that the production adheres to certain standards, for example, that alder wood is used to smoke
the sprats. The association has some ten members though not all of them produced canned sprats. Among those that do is the company Banga Ltd.
Located in Roja on the western coast of the Gulf of Riga, Banga can trace its origins back to 1947
when it first started producing canned fish. Since 2012 production has conformed to EU standards and the company is authorised to export to the USA, Japan, and China, among other countries. Today the company is owned by the family of the managing director, Ingus Veck gans. The name Banga goes back to Soviet times when there used to be many fishing companies along
the coast of the Gulf of Riga, some of whom formed an association or collective which was christened Banga, With the arrival of private ownership in the 90s the assets of the fishing association were divided. Some of the new owners got fishing vessels, the factory went to others, and so on. The original plant was not in fact located at its current location, but in another part of Roja
A 75-year-old history of canning sprats
near the sea. When the new plant was established it was one of the first to produce smoked sprats and to sell them to Europe. At the time they were packaged in 100 g cans and were considered a luxury product that also promoted Latvian capabilities to make excellent products.
In 2011 the Veck gans family bought the company which by then was struggling financially though still running. Over the following months and years the family invested in the company
to improve the infrastructure and the technology as well as to introduce proper labour policies and generally modernise operations. This is an ongoing process and currently Mr Veck gans is overseeing an expansion of the current plant with a warehouse, and the construction of a new factory at a different location which will accomodate two new processing lines that will double the company’s output when they run at full capacity. The company will continue to produce canned fish. Smoked sprats are synonymous
with Latvia for a variety of reasons. The country is located on the Baltic Sea, it has access to the most fresh raw materials, there is a long history of producing smoked sprats, the smoking is natural, the technology is developed, and customs and traditions of eating smoked sprats are embedded in Latvian culture. Until 2015 Latvian canned sprats were being exported more or less exclusively to Russia, a huge market for these products. When the Russian market closed due to sanctions and counter sanctions many companies went bankrupt as they could not replace their biggest (and often only) market quickly enough. Another problem was that many companys only worked with sprats, so the range of products they could offer was limited.
At Banga canned sprats represent only part of a range of products that the company manufactures. We have over 20 SKU (stock keeping units), says Mr Veck gans, which is why we need to expand our facilities. For our clients it is important that we can offer this wide range of products. In addition to canned sprats the company manufactures canned mussels, salmon, and Atlantic herring. In addition, canned tuna and cod
liver under the Banga brand are also on offer but the production of these two products is outsourced. The raw materials for the products manufactured in Latvia come from different places. The sprats come of course from domestic suppliers, while the mussels are from Chile or Denmark, while the salmon comes from Norway, Scotland, or France. Altogether products under the company’s own brand account for half the production and the rest is produced under private labels both domestically and internationally. We participate in national tenders for the supply of canned fish in Australia, Europe and USA, so we export to more than 24 countries, Mr Veck gans recounts. There are two main sales channels—directly to supermarkets to whom the company supplies private label products, and distributors where it sells mainly its own brand. The company is investing a lot of time and resources in building a brand, says Mr Veck gans, creating an attractive design and following market trends so that we can increase the sales of our branded products.
The last couple of years has seen demand for canned products increase significantly due first to covid and then the war in Ukraine, says Mr Veck gans. He attributes this to the convenience that cans offer, not only in terms
of consumption, but also for the ease of storage, transport, a long shelf life, and the tastiness of the product. Consumers who do not know whether a store will be open or whether they will be well enough to go to a store are buying larger numbers of cans to stock at home. Banga is not the only company experiencing this, all the companies in the sector have noticed this development. But another reason is also that canned seafood is becoming more popular. The old adage “eat frozen fish if you cannot get fresh and canned if you cannot get frozen” , no longer applies. Consumers, especially younger ones, are persuaded by the attractive packaging, the transparent lids that allow the contents to be inspected, the health benefits offered by fish, and the reasonable price. Banga also sells fish in glass jars, but for the moment, these ae obtained from another producer. We have a line for jars, explains Mr Veck gans, but it is not active yet. We first need to meet the demand for all our other products before we start on something new. The two new lines that will be commissioned
with the new factory are for canned seafood with automated filling. Automation is becoming increasingly necessary because finding labour gets more and more difficult. The 140 people the company employs are not enough because many of the processing operations must be done manually as the technology that could replace these workers does not exist yet. While the staff in the office are young those working on the factory floor are considerably older—there are no young people to replace them as nobody wants this work. The only solution is greater automation.
In this we are supported by the national government and by EU funds with which we can cover some of the costs of machinery, Mr Veck gans states. We have a packaging robot that we are teaching and have made progress but need to get the speed up. At a time when costs of some inputs are rising we need to reduce the costs of others to have a viable
business. Canned seafood is not the kind of product where the price can simply be increased. One inititative that the company has taken is to build a solar panel park just behind the factory which supplies 25-30 of its electricity requirements. At a time of high electricity prices this power helps the company keep its energy costs down. Another initiative was to hire a consultant to go through the factory and recommend areas where energy could be saved. A third measure was to switch from heating a warehouse with electricity to heating it with wood pellets. These innovations, the robot, the automated packaging, the solar energy, and the warehouse
heating system are all thanks to support from the government and the EU. There are still limits to automation, however. While canning mackerel can be automated, canned sprats must still be done manually. But each can that can be produced automatically lowers the cost of a can that is produced manually, so the goal is to automate as far as possible.
The company meets different certification standards including MSC, IFS, and BRC and is now also looking at working with producers of certified organic products, such as, organic salmon. Another example is a sustainably certified sprat naturally smoked in an organically certified oil. These products are meant to appeal to environmentally and health conscious consumers, a segment that Banga would like to be able to cater to. Over the next couple of years, Banga looks forward to conditions returning to normal, energy costs subsiding, and demand returning to its usual level. Automation will continue to be a priority as the supply of labour is unlikely to grow, and there will been even more focus on product development including the use of new species. With its new factory and new lines Banga is well prepared to respond to the demands of its existing clients and build alliances with new ones.
Vilnis Brikmanis has been a coastal fisherman for 22 years. For 10 years coastal fishing was his sole source of income, but then he started supplementing it by working as a captain on a pilot vessel in the port of Liepaja and, more recently, by showing tourists around the port in a boat.
The work as a pilot is very convenient as it consists of one day onboard followed by three days on shore which is when he works as a coastal fisher. The fishing is done with gill nets and round goby is the dominant species in spring. The nets are typically laid about three nautical miles from the coast, but they could also be laid up to 12 nautical miles from the coast depending on the season and the targeted species. They vary in height— some are 1.5 m while others are 3.5 m—and are attached to the seabed from where they rise up into the water column.
The nets are emptied every day in summer while in the colder season they can be kept in the water for a maximum of 48 hours. This ensures that the fish is completely fresh when it is landed. The fishery takes place around the year except for certain closed periods. Catches of round goby last year were about 43 tonnes while this year Mr Brikmanis has caught 24 tonnes. The season for catching round goby is 2.5 to 3 months in the spring after which they migrate and are no longer available to catch. Round goby is the main species that Mr Brikmanis catches today and this years total so far could be an outlier
perhaps due to weather conditions or some other natural factors. While it is difficult to predict what catch levels will be next year it is unlikely that they will be less than this year. The restrictions on cod fishing mean that catches may not exceed 10 of the total for the entire year, which makes flounder the next most important species in terms of volume.
Mr Brikmanis too suffers from the rules that restrict cod to a bycatch of 10. When targeting flounder, for instance, if he approaches the 10 limit then he must move two nautical miles away.
Although the round goby is a resource for the fishers, Mr Brikmanis is quite clear about the damage it does to the environment. It is a voracious predator devouring the eggs of fish and also attaching mussels. When it establishes itself, the area becomes a desert, he says. Until some years ago coastal fishers were catching herring , exploiting the fact that it rises to the surface at night. A different gear was used, one that floats close to the surface, to trap the fish, but this activity has since stopped, a development that he blames on the round goby. Sprat, another common Baltic Sea species, has never been targeted at the coast, he says, it is mainly trawlers in the open Baltic Sea that catch this species. The round goby is usually sold to local
wholesalers who sell it further to processing plants where it is frozen and then exported. One of the main destinations used to be Ukraine, but now more goes to Romania and Bulgaria where it is a known and appreciated species. Part of its popularity stems from the size; round goby from the Baltic is larger than the same species in the Black Sea and lends itself to be prepared in different ways, marinated, fried, steamed etc. Consumption of this species in
Latvia itself is virtually non-existent, which Mr Brikmanis attributes to its appearance—round goby is not the best looking of fish!
This year an attempt was made to change consumers’ perception of round goby by holding a small promotional event where the fish was prepared in different
ways and samples were offered to the public. But this time at least, it did not resonate. Mr Brikmanis himself is more bullish. The meat is white and it tastes fine though there are a lot of bones, he says. If the event is held again next year, more people may be convinced of its virtues. Creating acceptance for a new species is a long process that calls for repeated efforts.
The two major international incidents of the last three years, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have fortunately had little impact on Mr Brikmanis’ activities. During covid the work continued as before as the boat only accommodates two or three so the risk of contracting or spreading covid was minimal. And since restaurants are not his customers, because he cannot supply them with the volumes and at the frequency they need, he was not affected when they closed. The war in Ukraine and the resulting increase in energy prices have fortunately had little impact on the fishery for round goby but have made life more difficult for other players in the value chain, according to Mr Brikmanis. Of the fish species he catches other than round goby, the volumes are smaller, and they are sold mainly to a small circle of friends and acquaintances. A share may also be sold to the market but there too the impact of higher energy prices has not been marked. Fuel prices for the vessel have doubled which has reduced profits, of course, but compensation for higher fuel costs is available from a government support programme, though Mr Brikmanis has not availed of it yet. More importantly, compensation is also available for damage caused by seals, something that happens every second day, he reckons. Placing our nets in the water is
like laying a table for the seals, he says. The compensation is based on the number of marketable fish that are left in the net, a figure that is used in a formula to calculate a value. But, while it helps the situation, it does not cover the costs entirely.
A couple of years ago Mr Brikmanis added tourism to his commercial activities. This involves taking groups of tourists in a vessel acquired for the purpose to show them around the port. The tourist activity was initiated last year with a project intended to help fishers diversify their sources of income in the face of lower catches and shrinking revenues. The project called for an investment in a vessel that is specially equipped to take tourists along the coast to see the port and the city. The vessels
are not seaworthy enough to go out to sea but are intended to allow the tourist to swim and birdwatch. The project was initiated last year, but this year, 2022, was the first year of operation. The work started in April and there were several tourists that used the service. Mr Brikmanis and his partner are still working on marketing the concept and promoting this activity to attract tourists from other cities and even from abroad. The first year was very satisfactory and offered a rich learning experience, which Mr Brikmanis can draw on in the future.
Apart from touring the port tourists are also offered the possibility to sail to Liepaja’s lake if the sea level is low. This year 80 of the guests were Lithuanians as the border is not far away and their coastline is very short. To indulge their passion for the sea it is easier to come to Latvia. Mr Brikmanis and his partner have now bought two more boats for the next season. The new vessels are 2 m shorter than the current one and they plan to have them equipped with seating so that a meal ordered from a local restaurant or caterer can be eaten on board by the guests as they enjoy the view.
Gamma-A, a company that was established in 1995, is one of a handful of firms that manufacture what is probably Latvia’s best known traditional fish product, Riga sprats in oil. The product was well known across the former Soviet Union which was for decades the most important market for the product. Today, however, it is exported the world over thanks to efforts by the industry to diversify markets, innovate, and adapt to western clients’ demands for customisation.
The company, Gamma-A, has the advantage of its own fleet of sprat fishing vessels which supply it with the raw material it needs. Complete control of the entire supply chain enables the company to focus heavily on quality starting from the catch. Gamma-A is in fact a group of companies each of which has its own function. The fishing fleet, for example, belongs to one of the group companies, the processing activity to another. In addition, there is a can-manufacturing company that supplies the steel cans, into which the sprats are packaged, as well as the transparent lids with which the cans are sealed. Yet another company in the group is involved in the manufacture of small twin seater aircraft for recreational purposes. The production of
canned fish goes back 25 years, says Igor Kushnerchuk, the export sales director of the company, and most of it is at a factory in Kolka on the western tip of the Gulf of Riga, where some 240 people are employed.
At the factory most of the work is done manually as the products are primarily either glass jars or cans with transparent lids. These lids are a relatively new invention and are widely used by manufacturers of canned sprats. In the tin the sprats are carefully arranged by hand in a specially attractive way that can be seen through the transparent lid. Consumers shop with their eyes first and the
Gamma-A’s products are sold.
appealing look of the fish in the can is a good way of marketing the product. Glass jars demand manual labour for the same reason— the contents must be arranged attractively to catch the shopper’s attention. While the appearance is one critical factor, quality is another. As the company owns the fleet that supplies the factory with fish, it can guarantee the quality of the raw material. This is particularly important considering that the contents are visible. The fish
must be of premium quality, or the product is sure to be rejected on sight. When the fish arrive in the factory, it is first graded by size. Following this, individual fish of the same size are placed in a small container and threaded with a long steel pin. The pins with the fish are arranged on a frame which moves slowly through the smoking chamber. In the chamber the high heat and smoke from wood chips made from alder smokes the fish to the desired degree. The frames
come out from the smoking chamber and are allowed to cool. Finally, the fish is taken from the steel pins, the head is removed, and it is ready to be packaged.
Individual fish are arranged in the containers (glass jars or steel cans) which are dosed with salt and oil before being sealed. Adding salt after the fish has been placed in the containers enables the amount of salt to be measured vey precisely. Normally, when smoking, the fish is salted first and then smoked, but this can lead to uneven levels of salt in the fish, a result Mr Kushnerchuk is keen to avoid. The container, whether can or glass jar, is closed, sealed, and finally sterilised in an autoclave. The final step in the process is to label the product appropriately and package it in cardboard boxes for shipment. Another of the company’s products is also based on sprats but is marketed as bristling sardines. The process they go through is almost the same as with sprats except for the absence of smoke. The fish is subjected to high heat without smoke, allowed to cool, and then packaged in cans which are topped up with olive (or rapeseed) oil and spices. This product
caters to people who are not keen on the smoky flavour of the sprats. The sprat-based products are only part of a much wider assortment of items produced from various other species of fish, such as tuna, Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, Baltic herring, and cod liver. While the sprats are produced in the company’s own factory in Kolka, the other items are manufactured on contract. The cod liver for example could be made in factories in Iceland or Norway. The company places an order for its requirement and the goods are produced in accordance with its specifications.
At the premises in Riga, where the holding company is located, most of the activity relates either to the manufacture of empty cans or to the fishing fleet. The canned sprats manufacturing is concentrated at the Kolka factory.
The fishing quotas the company owns are large and about 30 are used in the factory in Kolka. Another third is used for the production of fish meal. This is
because firstly there is a limit on how much the company can sell for human consumption, and secondly because the fish needed to make the sprat and bristling sardine products must be of very high quality. If it is slightly damaged it cannot be used for these products and is therefore sold for fishmeal. The last third is sold to other companies that will process the fish into products for human consumption. There are currently five vessels in the fleet down from eight a few years ago. The fleet has been optimised—two smaller vessels were sold and replaced by a large one, among other changes. For Mr Kushnerchuk the vessels are an instrument to fish the 10,000 tonnes of quota the company owns and the most important is to have the fishing capacity to fully exploit this. Whether the vessels are large or small is a secondary concern. A more immediate source of apprehension is the decreasing trend shown by the quota. The limits for Latvian companies have fallen by about 50 over the decade. The company therefore buys fish from other suppliers to feed the factory. This raw material is typically frozen and comprises fish caught during the winter when the quality is best. As a result, the factory can operate all the year round and the company can supply its high quality products 12 months in the year.
A decade ago, when the company was still exporting to Russia, the Riga site housed a factory where canned products were manufactured. At the time it used to import cod liver from Norway to be processed and exported to Russia. However, with the sanctions and counter sanctions imposed by the EU and Russia on each other in 2014 exports to Russia ceased and the factory was mothballed. In the meanwhile the company reoriented itself to markets in the west including the US, Japan, Australia,
Poland, and Uzbekistan, which meant offering a wider range of products that cater to the requirements of the different markets. The countries to which Gamma-A began to export also implied a new strategy with regard to where and how the products should be manufactured and production of the most traditional products (the sprats and bristling sardines) moved therefore to the plant at Kolka, while the rest of the assortment (Atlantic fish, tuna, etc) is supplied on demand by a Latvian manufacturer who has a factory dedicated to this kind of production. The marketing and sales of all the products, whether produced at the Kolka plant or under contract, is undertaken by Gamma-A. Altogether the company is selling most of its products in 46 countries around the world. The cod liver, however, is only sold in 15 or 16. Exploring and developing new markets has been greatly supported by European funds which have enabled the company to participate in 12-14 trade shows a year all around the world, where it promotes its products. While some of the consumption in these markets is by communities of eastern European who live there, a significant proportion is also by the native people who like the taste and the quality of the products. In some countries, like Japan for instance, where there are few immigrants from Eastern Europe the products are doing very well because the Japanese have developed taste for them. In Spain, Italy, and Portugal the smoked products are not very popular but the bristling sardines are doing well, possibly because they are similar to the local small pelagic fish such as anchovies or sardines.
The last year has been unusual in that shortages as a result of the
pandemic had already begun to push up prices for raw materials, a situation that has become worse with the war in Ukraine, sky high energy prices, and much higher inflation. Mr Kushnerchuk has had no choice but to increase the price of Gamma-A’s products as well, as the cost of inputs has become much higher. I have had to increase the prices of our products six times over the last 12 months, which has never been the case before, he says. This also makes to difficult to fulfil supermarket contracts which have clauses to prevent price hikes without adequate warning. Gamma-A is now selling much
less to supermarkets in Latvia than it used to as it cannot comply with these terms. The steeper prices also pertain to the cost of freight which has gone up fourfold. I cannot increase the prices of my cans by a factor of four, says Mr Kushnerchuk, who hopes that prices will start falling soon. Meanwhile, he is looking at alternative sources of energy such as propane instead of liquified natural gas and solar panels instead of electricity from the grid. But these are measures that will take preparation and cannot be implemented overnight. The coming weeks are likely to be tough ones for Gamma-A.
Traleru str. 30 Riga LV-1030 Latvia
Tel.: +371 6 7615142 Fax: +371 6 7353889 info@gamma-a.lv www.gamma-a.lv
Vessels: Five, of which two are smaller and used only in the
Gulf of Riga, two others are used both in the Gulf of Riga and the Baltic Sea, and one large vessel.
Packaging: Cans, jars
Species: Sprats, herring, saury, mackerel, sardines, tuna, cod liver
Products: Smoked sprats and herring in different oils/ sauces; other species canned in different sauces
Markets: About 46 countries spread over Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia
The river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) is a delicacy in Latvia, where it is prepared in different ways. The unit price is higher than that of most species caught along the coast, because production volumes are modest. In the five years to 2020, FAO statistics show that annual catches of river lamprey in Latvia have averaged 61 tonnes with production varying between 92 tonnes (2019) and 44 tonnes (2018).
Lampreys stem from a line of ancient jawless vertebrates and have been exploited by humans for centuries. Although the Lamprey catch in Latvia is not large it is one of the most important species for the coastal and inland fishery. At the same time the animal is an endangered species protected by EU as well as other national and international legislation.
Fishing for lamprey is done with special gears and only from August to February. But of these six months, the real fishing time is perhaps two months because the fishing depends on the conditions in and around the water.
This fall, due to the lack of rain, the water level is low and there are a lot of leaves, so conditions are not ideal. There are no restrictions on the volume that the fishers catch as stocks are healthy. The amount of fish in the river has remained largely stable with fluctuations from year to year but with no appreciable trend either up or down. Nikolajs Koluškins, a coastal fisher, who together with his wife, Inese Koluškina, has established a company J.A.N.K.I., confirms that the lamprey stock is doing well. He says he has Nikolajs Koluškins and Inese Koluškina, coastal fishers from Salacgr
seen numerous lamprey larvae in the water, so he is confident that the resource is in good shape. Lamprey is anadromous, spending adulthood in the sea and returning to freshwater to spawn. There is one place on the tributary where Mr Koluškins is permitted to fish and this place is exclusively his. In addition, he, like the other coastal fishers, has an annual contract with the local municipality that determines what and when he can catch. In the Salacas river there are three places where he catches lamprey, but in the tributary, there is but a single spot and he is the only fisher. Yields of lamprey have been low but fairly stable over the last few years and he supplements his income by fishing for other coastal species as well. Lamprey catches are also influenced by the lunar cycle as they dislike light. Around the time the moon is full they do not enter the tributary as there is no way to hide from the glare in the shallow water. In the Salacas river this is not an issue as the deeper water allows the lamprey to avoid the light.
barriers which were used to block the passage of the water thereby lifting the level and forcing it to flow between the barriers and through a net placed between them. Any fish carried by the water are trapped in the net. The mouth of the tributary, where Mr Koluškins fixes his trap, is relatively small and is surrounded by forest. In the fall, therefore, the river fills up with leaves. This slows down the fishing operation as the leaves clog the nets and must be removed constantly. On a recent October day Mr Koluškins spent several hours fishing, but the catch only amounted to a couple of kilos and most of the time was spent clearing leaves from the net. Lampreys apparently also dislike the leaves as they change the taste of the water, so they will try and avoid stretches of water that contain a lot of fallen leaves.
Among the methods used to catch the fish is the traditional fish trap, which is a conical structure with two lateral wings attached to the wide end of the cone. The net is attached to a bridge-like construction a few metres long that extends from one bank to the other across the tributary. The trap blocks two thirds of the width of the river, while the last third remains open in accordance with legal requirements. In olden times the trap was made of wood and involved two narrow wooden
In cold winters the water can freeze and then fishers cut holes in the ice and through them drop a special gear to trap lamprey. The bridge-like construction that supports the conical net is usually dismantled in winter to protect it from ice formation. If the winter is a cold enough for the water to freeze, it can do a lot of damage to the bridge. When the spring returns the bridge is re-assembled. The river used to be navigable for small vessels, but today, the combination of silt and the low water levels resulting from poor precipitation mean that with the right clothing the river can be forded on foot.
He is considering adding value to his catches but needs to first
find a space for a small processing facility. Once that is resolved he and his wife will start making processed products with the catch. Lamprey is a relatively expensive species compared with other fish and the processed product tends to be sold around Christmas and New Year though it is also available at other times of the year at the big fresh food market in Riga. Lampreys are smoked, grilled, marinated, or preserved in jelly. In Salacgr va there is a lamprey festival in October, where it will be prepared in different ways including fish soups, paté, and pastries, to promote the animal. There is usually also an aquarium with live lamprey to show people, especially children, what it looks like. While lamprey catches have been more or less predictable, coastal fishers face challenges from other sources. Seals are perhaps the most
serious. These predators damage fishing gear and caught fish, they reduce catches by taking fish from the gear and fishing grounds as well as by causing changes in fish stocks and behaviour. They carry parasites that have an impact, for example, on cod. They also bring about an increase in the workload and raise the operational costs of fishing. Mr Koluškins has first-hand experience of the damage wrought by seals. After a recent fishing operation spread over two days, he only had a couple of flatfish remaining as seals had eaten or damaged the rest of the catch. Not content with attacking gear laid on the coast, seals are also going up the rivers to plunder gear laid there. He feels that seals are far from endangered any longer, in fact they are now the danger, a change that has come about in a relatively short span of years.
Particular kind of fishing gear used to catch lamprey (and other species)The trap used to catch lamprey has a conical body and two wings that are attached to a bridge-like structure that blocks two thirds of the width of the tributary, where Mr Koluškins fishes.
A coastal fisher with a history serving on icebreakers, Andris Skuja plans another activity as he discontinues his work aboard icebreakers. The new job is to act as a local tourist guide introducing groups and individuals to the coastal fishery. He will take tourists out to sea in his fishing vessel, show them how he catches fish, bring them back and give them a meal of freshly caught fish, while entertaining them with stories about fishing, the sea, and the local area. The money he earns will be a useful supplement to his income as a coastal fisher.
The fishing is with 600 m of net and several fish traps. The 120 cm high nets are laid between 500 m and 1,000 m from the shore and are attached to the bottom. The main catch is usually herring, but Mr Skuja also catches other species such as round goby. The fishing season runs from mid-November to May and, after a break of a couple of weeks, goes on again to the end of September. From 1 October to mid-November fishing is again prohibited to allow salmon to breed. Apart from the temporal restrictions there are no limits on the fish he catches, with the exception of salmon, of which he may not retain more than one fish. Catching herring is demanding as with 600 m of nets he needs people and two boats. After catching it for two years Mr Skuja has decided therefore not to target it any longer. Herring is more suited to younger people, he says, but at his age (72), it is too challenging. Round goby is an invasive species for which there is no market in Latvia, so these catches are sold to a processing factory in the vicinity that will freeze and export them usually to Ukraine or to Romania and Bulgaria.
Small-scale commercial fishers in Latvia, as in other parts of Europe, are looking to diversify their sources of income. Factors such as the disappearance of cod, the presence of dioxin (in large salmon and herring), the spread of round goby (a highly predatory species, though now also a resource), eutrophication, damage by seals and over-wintering birds have contributed to reduce the size of catches.
To compensate for declining incomes coastal fishers are looking at other activities where they can use their existing knowledge and skills to generate additional income. A popular way of diversification is for fishers to work with tourists, for example, offering boat rides to observe the fishery, showing them around a harbour from the sea, offering a meal of freshly caught fish, taking them fishing etc. But some fishers also have more ambitious plans.
With a background in the fishing sector Aigars Laugalis has availed of the funding opportunities offered by the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) to create alternate sources of income. Together with his family, he now owns a restaurant and a brewery in Liepaja and has interests in various other enterprises many
of which have been supported by EU funds. At the brewery he offers patrons fish-based snacks to go with their beer. These are traditional as well as innovative Latvian products such as smoked sprats in oil, batter-fried pieces of round goby in a tomato dressing, and balls of minced cod in a sauce among others. The products are served with bread and quail eggs and are intended to promote the local industry and local products. Mr Laugalis is a member of
a Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) “Liepaja regional partnership” which includes municipalities that together have about 100 km of coastline. In terms of the number of participating smallscale commercial and subsistence fishers, the Liepaja FLAG is one of Latvia’s biggest. FLAGs are partnerships of fishing, aquaculture, and processing companies with local authorities, NGOs, institutions, and civil society organisation. Decisions are taken within
the framework of a local strategy, developed in response to specific needs and opportunities identified locally. Funding available is targeted primarily at creating employment and new economic activity as well as improving the quality of life in areas affected by a decline in fishing activities or by other specific challenges hindering the viability of local fisheries communities.
Mr Laugalis represents the 13 board members of the FLAG of which three members represent fisheries. His family has been involved in fisheries for many years. His father was recruited to work on a Soviet trawler fishing in the Atlantic for pelagic fish. After that Mr Laugalis senior joined a local fishing company and following the political changes at the end of the 80s managed some years later to buy out the company’s fishing vessels and quotas.
Aigars Laugalis thus grew up in the shadow of fishing vessels and also spent time on board fishing, and processing the catch. At one point he even entertained dreams of becoming a fisherman with his own vessel. That, however, was never fulfilled, instead he went to Riga to study political science and business. In the meanwhile, as Latvia joined the EU in 2004 and the vessel decommissioning programme was introduced, the Laugalis trawlers were scrapped one by one over the years.
The compensation from the decommissioning was invested in various other activities. Mr Laugalis together with his brother established a small processing factory for the production
of highly value-added products such as the ones he serves at the brewery. These products are sold to local consumers and at local markets in and around Liepaja. Mr Laugalis’ brother uses a mobile shop to take the products to areas in a 100 km radius from Liepaja where they are sold. Both the production and the sales are ways of responding to consumer demand for more value-addition, and greater convenience when buying fish. The mobile shop serves areas where there is no local shop selling fish products or even if there is, the selection cannot match what the mobile shop can provide. The shop follows a strict schedule so that people know where and when to expect it and can make their plans accordingly. Purchasing power in these areas is not high and the products in the mobile shop reflect this. They are made with
locally caught fish and are not overly sophisticated so that they can be priced at a level that is affordable for the target segment. Recent increases in production costs have made it more difficult to maintain the price level, so the mobile shop has been upgraded and will now start serving cities more, as purchasing power there is higher.
Mr Laugalis’ family fishing activity was slowly declining. This was partly due to a switch away from sprat and herring and towards cod, the fishery for which was closed shortly afterwards. One of the Laugalis’ vessels was therefore scrapped and the compensation used to start a hotel for tourists. The hotel functioned during the summer when there were plenty of tourists and then as the weather changed the tourist season ended and the
fishing season began. Another vessel was scrapped a few years later and, together with a partner who also scrapped a vessel, the proceeds were invested in a factory for primary processing and cold store. This investment was supported by European funds and over the last 10 years the partners have invested some EUR5m in the factory and cold store with the help of EU support. The factory is supplied by local fishers, but raw material is also imported to be able to supply all the year round.
Not satisfied with just working seasonally Mr Laugalis and a partner went on to start another business with a fitness centre. Although this was not supported as it had nothing to do with local development, as a member of the FLAG he was familiar with opportunities to get support from EU funds and used this knowledge to implement small projects at the hotel, as well as in the other business ventures. But he also shared his knowledge about exploiting support opportunities with other fishers to encourage them
to develop projects and apply for funding that would benefit them and at the same time contribute to the development of the area.
The building that now accommodates the brewery was an old warehouse and was purchased by Mr Laugalis senior in 1997. At that time the entire area was completely rundown, but the attraction of the building was that it had its own stretch of pier and so the vessels could land there. The warehouse also housed a repair shop where repairs and maintenance of the fishing vessels were undertaken. A few years ago, the Liepaja municipality understood that to make the city attractive to tourists it was necessary to renovate the area, create a promenade along the water, and make the port more accessible so that people could see and approach the vessels. Mr Laugalis realised that this development would bring many visitors to the area as it was only a short distance from the city centre. As the family building was so favourably located, it would be obvious to try and make use of the flow of people to the area. On the strength of his fishing activities, the staff he had, and the experience gained from developing and implementing projects, Mr Laugalis put together a proposal
that would help to renovate the building and contribute to local development. The end result was a completely renovated ground floor that accommodated the microbrewery and restaurant. In addition, the repair shop was closed down and the small processing facility for value-added projects was established in its place.
The microbrewery and restaurant opened in summer 2020 and proved popular despite (or perhaps, because of) the pandemic. However, they are essentially operations designed for the tourist season, about five months from April/May to September. Once that concludes the flow of customers dries up and the establishments are largely shuttered. Another factor currently affecting restaurant visits is the general belt tightening as consumers focus on
essentials like paying their higher energy bills. Appropriately enough for a restaurant associated with a fishing company, 90 of the menu is fish. The most popular offering is fish and chips served with mushy peas and washed down with beer from the brewery, says Mr Laugalis, who put a lot of effort into finding the right fish, potatoes, peas, and in developing a recipe for the batter. The upper floors of the building are currently used for the fitness centre, meeting rooms for hire, and one section houses a museum with a guided tour describing the life of a worker in a herring factory a century ago.
With his multiple initiatives Mr Laugalis provides a sterling example of how to use the opportunities offered by the EMFAF and other EU funds to diversify income streams and to contribute to the local development of an area. Indeed, this is acknowledged by other FLAGs in Latvia who come to visit, taste the products, sample the beer, as well as learn from his experiences. His own efforts within the network of Latvian FLAGs and in other fora extolling the virtues of fishing and fishermen and the sector’s importance for the economy in small villages and towns along the Latvian coast won him an award two years ago for his promotional abilities. And he has also been instrumental in getting other fishers to see the benefits of the support programmes and motivating them to start submitting projects to the FLAG.
Activities: Primary processing and freezing of fish; manufacture of value-added fish products; brewery Puta; restaurant, hotel; fitness centre
The Latvian national Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment (BIOR) is a consortium member of Life Goodwater IP, a project that aims to improve the status of water bodies at risk in Latvia by fully implementing the measures laid down in the Daugava, Gauja, Lielupe and Venta River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs).
Improving the status includes removing, as far as possible, barriers from rivers so that they can flow unimpeded down to the sea. The removal of barriers together with the restoration of breeding habitats (another expected outcome of the project) will have a positive impact on the ability of migratory fish species to swim upstream to spawn and thereby stabilise and increase fish populations. This in turn will have a positive impact on the environment as well as benefit commercial fishers and recreational anglers.
One of the species expected to gain from the project is salmon, which is considered either wild or reared. Unlike the reared salmon, the wild variety does not stem from hatcheries where salmon are bred for restocking purposes. In Latvia this breeding activity dates back well over 100 years and today in the Baltic Sea the number of stocked salmon exceeds natural salmon production in rivers. Researchers have also established that artificial propagation of salmonids without natural spawning will not ensure the viability of wild populations. This makes it all the more important to improve conditions in the rivers so that
salmon can freely swim upstream to breed.
In Latvia salmon are divided into six assessment units. Didzis Ustups, Head of the Fish Resource Research Department at BIOR, says the resource is generally doing well except in Unit 5, which starts in the rivers on the coast of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Rivers on that coast in are not in a good situation. Moreover, on the Daugava river, Latvia’s biggest, there are three power stations, so the salmon have no chance to spawn. As a result, every year more than 500,000 smolts are released into the river to keep the Daugava salmon population alive. But, he adds, the direction that we are going not only in the Baltic Sea, but across Europe, is that we are trying to improve habitats, not just put juveniles or smolts in the river, but to create an environment where the fish can reproduce naturally. In this connection he and colleagues paid a visit to Estonia where work on removing barriers across rivers has been ongoing for a while. One of the main hindrances to improving the ecological status of rivers is the presence of hydro morphological barriers. Latvia has about 20,000 km of rivers and there are about 1,000 barriers which is a relatively high number. Of these about 150 are small hydropower stations, but many barriers have
no function or are not making money for their owners. Perhaps a century ago they were used to run a flour mill or produce some electricity, but today they just create ponds or small lakes. The problem, however, is a knotty one, says Dr Ustups. For biologists like himself a free-flowing river is the best for nature and for the fish. But if a barrier creates a small lake that the owner of a guesthouse or hotel uses to offer rowboats or some other water-based activity to the guests, then there would certainly be protests if the barrier were to be removed. Among anglers too there is no clear preference for freeflowing rivers. Some anglers like to sit at the edge of a lake and fish for bream, for example, although others enjoy fishing for trout or salmon in a free-flowing river.
Enabling fish to swim freely up and down the length of a river is one of the reasons to remove barriers. This can also be achieved by building a fish pass. These structures can be divided into technical or natural fish passes. Technical fish passes are structures designed and built for a certain species of fish, usually a strong swimmer, such as salmon, trout, or sea trout. A natural fish pass is a channel that is built around the barrier which can then be used not only by fish, but also lampreys, or other benthos. Currently, Latvia has one natural fish pass. It was built a few years ago at a barrier on a river between
Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, 2020
Liepaja and Ventspils and monitored by BIOR. Before the fish pass was constructed some sea trout were jumping the barrier, a sight that brought tourists to the area. Scientists from BIOR had noted the presence of juvenile sea trout upstream indicating that some fish were crossing the barrier. But after the natural fish pass was built the number of juveniles upstream from the barrier increased significantly suggesting that the fish pass was working. Of course, says Dr Ustups, simply demolishing the barrier would have been a far cheaper solution than building the fish pass, but for the local community the ability of the barrier to attract tourists outweighed the biological benefits of demolition. Compared with Estonia there are, however, not many examples of successful fish passes in Latvia.
In Estonia the Latvian delegation gained insights into how removing or bypassing barriers is managed. Demolishing a barrier and
quantifying the benefits that follow would mean less resistance to the demolition of the next barrier. Even if tourists cannot see fish jumping a barrier, a free-flowing river offers other ways of attracting tourists. To identify and collate information about barriers in Latvia, BIOR launched a small project that involved citizen science. An app was developed that allowed people who discovered barriers to report them to the institute. This provided useful additional information that could be added to BIOR’s existing database of more than 1,000 dams. With this knowledge modellers could identify the currently most important rivers from the point of view of the fish. The list was divided into different categories that were colour coded. Green, for example, indicated rivers where the most improvement could be made. The categorisation made it apparent that rivers in categories one and two should be considered before those in three and four to create the greatest impact.
This grouping does not describe the least or the most affected rivers, clarifies Dr Ustups, but the rivers where it is most feasible and most efficient to improve conditions. Another aspect of the grouping is that rivers in a group are not organised in any sequence. Work can start on any river in the group and continue to any other within the group without following any order. In fact, if the river is already doing well then leave it alone and use resources where they will deliver the most improvement. The mapping of the rivers in this way shows where improvements can be made that will make a big change to the river, while the same improvement in another river will not result in the same degree of improvement. Barriers were found to be one of the most important factors and they were identified individually. The
Daugava river is very important for salmon, but it has three power plants on it. In theory removing one would not do much for the river as the other two would continue to block it. It is therefore more useful to remove a barrier from a river, where salmon, sea trout, lampreys and bream could spawn, if it is the only obstacle. The mapping exercise, which focused on migratory fish, discovered that among the rivers with barriers causing the most impact was the Venta river and the barrier in question was the Rumba waterfall. The waterfall is Europe’s widest and a national and European heritage so a proposal to remove would not get far. Here it is possible to see vimba trying to jump the waterfall—a tragedy for a fisheries biologist. Other barriers in the most affected rivers included power stations and blockages on the Salaca, Latvia’s most important salmon river, which partially obstruct the river.
In the next stage of the project the institute will identify 50 or 60 barriers on Latvian rivers that, unlike the Rumba waterfall, can really be removed. Technical solutions will be discussed with the barrier owners insofar as they (the owners) exist. While individuals, municipalities, or the state often own these structures, in some cases they do not have an owner. Some funding should be available to pay for the demolition, but if the barrier is a power station or some other income-generating asset, it is likely that some form of compensation will have to be offered to the owner. The small power stations produce some power but not very much—the power generated by all these units together represents a very small fraction of the Latvian supply, unlike the three plants on the Daugava which are responsible for 30-40 of Latvia’s power. Biologists consider it
better to have a single big power station and now many countries in the north are developing windmill parks onshore and offshore which, apart from being a source of renewable energy, are more environmentally friendly than small power plants that block rivers.
The important thing for Dr Ustups is that a start can be made, even if it is small. It is more useful to start
small than to get involved with a big project that never gets off the ground, he says. There is also pressure from the EU in the form of the biodiversity strategy for 2030 which foresees 25,000 km of freeflowing rivers in Europe. Dr Ustups would rather have seen a target for each country like that for marine protected areas, where the goal for each country is that 30 of the sea should be marine protected areas.
The work on removing the barriers or creating fish passes will ultimately be shared by the barrier
owner, NGOs, and the municipality. Representatives from all three will be part of the delegation to Estonia. Building a good fish pass is not easy as it needs to cater to both strong and weak swimmers. And water diverted to a natural fish pass means it cannot be used for other purposes, something that owners are sure to grumble over. In addition, fish passes are 5-7 times more expensive than demolition so compromises are going to have to be struck. With support from the Life Goodwater IP project as well as from the
Estonians, hopes are high that more Latvian rivers will soon be free-flowing.
For more information, contact: Dr Didzis Ustups Head of the Fish Resource Research Department Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment (BIOR) 3 Lejupes Street, Riga LV-1076, Latvia
+371 67620513 bior@bior.lv
Microalgae have been consumed by humans for centuries and today two species – spirulina and chlorella are considered superfoods for the health benefits they confer over and above their nutritional value. Microalgae are therefore increasingly used as ingredients in food formulations as they can enrich the product with their high protein content, all essential amino acids, unique antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Microalgae are organisms that vary in size from a few micrometres (millionths of a metre) to some hundreds of micrometres. Among the microalgae most used for human and animal nutrition is the genus Arthrospira commercially known as spirulina which offers high concentrations of protein and antioxidants. In Latvia, the company SpirulinaNord produces fresh spirulina as opposed to the dry and powdered form of the product which is the most widely available. Fresh spirulina is a very different product from dried spirulina. It is more valuable but spoils in a few hours, so we needed to invent new ways
to keep it fresh, to preserve the sensitive antioxidants and living enzymes that are the most valuable components in spirulina, says Agneses Stunda-Zujeva, the co-founder of the company.
The products developed are essentially fruit drinks such as apple or berry juice to which the spirulina is added. The apple juice is supplied unfiltered from Latvian farmers. Other recipes include local cranberries and Nordic lemon. The company called bush quince Nordic lemon because this fruit is developed by Latvian breeders and is hardly known outside the Baltics. Dr Stunda-Zujeva believes it will
be appreciated as much as the refreshing flavour of lemon. The focus on local resources was to make the products more sustainable, another of the company’s goals. Combining the microalgae with juice ensures a pleasant taste that will appeal to most consumers unlike the widely available spirulina powders which tend to taste much too “healthy” . In the drinks the fractions of fruit, sugar, and spirulina is each one third of the total, so that these are algae drinks that do not taste of algae. “Healthy and tasty—it is possible!” says Dr Stunda-Zujeva.
Dried spirulina is sold as a powder in capsules or in sachets. The former can be swallowed directly, while the contents of the latter must be dissolved in a glass of liquid before consumption. The dry powder form of spirulina is widely available; most of it comes from China, globally the biggest producer. In Asia seaweeds are popular therefore the distinct flavour that usually characterises dried spirulina is well accepted there, but not in the west. SpirulinaNord took a decision to stay out of this market in favour of creating a unique product with greater
added value targeted at higherend consumers. In addition, Dr Stunda-Zujeva emphasises another aspect: “capsules or tablets are another way of ingesting dry spirulina without confronting the taste. But the idea of popping pills every morning is not appealing to many of our generation. As a young mother I prefer a daily glass of juice containing fresh spirulina that I can also offer to my children. I do not want them to associate pills with a healthy diet from an early age. Dr Stunda-Zujeva says that spirulina has positive effects on people who need an energy boost, on sportsmen and women, and even on people suffering from chronic ailments such as blood pressure, diabetes, or high levels of cholesterol. But she admits that most scientific studies investigating the positive impacts of spirulina conclude that more research is needed. However, it is well documented that high-quality spirulina is not allergenic, and is safe for sensitive user groups, like children, pregnant women, and seniors.
The spirulina is grown on site at the company facilities in Riga where innovative bioreactors
are used for the production. The bioreactors are designed by the SpirulinaNord team and specially adapted for Nordic conditions. The bioreactors are placed indoors and sunlight is simulated using special LED lamps that mimic the wavelength and frequency of natural light. The production was first based in Riga Technical University, as both founders are also researchers there. The company was established in 2019 thanks to an EIT Climate-KIC (a European Union body) grant which was used to build the first 200 L reactor. As production expanded it was shifted from the university to the current site and now with further expansions planned the company intends to move to vastly bigger quarters. Output currently is up to four kg per day depending on the conditions, but studies are being undertaken to optimise and stabilise the production. Perhaps the biggest advantage of growing the spirulina indoors is that it can be grown 12 months a year unaffected by the seasonality and weather. It is a tropical alga that needs 30-35 degrees water temperature to grow. Thus, when grown outside, the best quality is produced in summer while in spring and autumn the quality
declines or another species that can tolerate lower temperatures is grown instead. Indoors, on the other hand, the temperature, light, nutrients etc. can be optimised for the fastest growth, automation is easier, and the quality of the spirulina is better and more consistent. The cultivation system is closed, and supplies of air and water are filtered to prevent contamination. In contrast, cultivation in outdoor pond systems is vulnerable to birds, insects, and microbial and soil contamination delivered by the wind.
In addition to the algae-containing drinks, SpirulinaNord also offers frozen spirulina. It is taken by mixing a portion, a frozen hemisphere of spirulina in a glass of water or juice. Frozen spirulina was in fact the first product the company launched as it was already on the market in a few places around the world and had much better reviews than spirulina powder. The launch of the juices was hampered by the spread of covid and the lockdowns it provoked. For a new
company with a new product that was highly dependent on tasting, the restrictions imposed by covid were a significant setback, says Dr Stunda-Zujeva. It was very important to have tasting sessions to show consumers that the SpirulinaNord product was different from the dry spirulina powder they might be familiar with. On the other hand, the rapid spread of the virus left people feeling vulnerable and prompted them to look for products that offered health benefits which made them more inclined to taste and then buy the drinks. There are already some studies and our client reviews also suggest that tiredness and brain fog caused by Covid-19 can be reduced by spirulina consumption. As it grows the company is looking for new customer segments and is adapting the product to cater to new requirements. For example, a spirulina syrup was developed for sportspeople, but it turned out
to be a favourite among young mothers and their children.
The products are currently marketed through shops focused on health products, specialised grocery stores, and through the company’s e-shop. All products are still classified as niche, but perhaps when the production volumes increase the company will approach the large retail chains. However, Ms Stunda-Zujeva has found that supermarkets are highly conscious of price and taste while health does not get the same priority. Spirulina drinks are fairly expensive, a bottle with five doses costs EUR10, but when bought in bulk the unit price falls as the company would like consumers to buy doses for three or four weeks so that they can actually note the difference the drink makes to their long-term performance. Some clients have reported that they have reduced their consumption of coffee to just one cup per day as
spirulina gives them energy and an alert mind without accelerated heart beats.
At the production site the spirulina is grown, harvested, and mixed with the juices and the syrups or frozen into portions. The reactor sizes have increased from 200 L to 600 L and the most recently acquired ones are 1 m3 (1,000 L). The growth medium for the algae is also mixed on site; this is a kind a mineral water containing more than a dozen minerals. The medium is recycled as far as possible in the interests of economy as well as to reduce waste. Currently Dr Stunda-Zujeva has a postdoctoral research project devoted to the optimisation of artificial lighting for spirulina production in a bioreactor. Her dream is to make this technology as sustainable as possible and scale it up so that the whole of Nordic Europe can have fresh spirulina daily.
The optimisation work includes testing various spirulina strains obtained from algae banks or from university laboratories or other sources. Spirulina’s life cycle is simple, it grows by splitting as
bacteria do. Over several months a few millilitres of spirulina can multiply to a few cubic metres. Each cell should be exposed to the light and nutrients to grow, so the mixing in the bioreactor is very important. One of the criteria to measure the wellbeing of the spirulina is to measure the length of the spirals. Long spirals suggest that the conditions are favourable, while short ones mean something is not working. At the in-house laboratory experiments are being conducted to learn how different strains of spirulina react to various settings of light and mixing intensity. Dr Stunda-Zujeva’s postdoctoral project, for example, looks at how levels of phycocyanin, an antioxidant present in spirulina, can be adjusted by manipulating the colour, intensity, and duration of light. As 99 of spirulina is grown in ponds under sunlight, no industrially relevant studies are available. Demand for spirulina as a superfood is rapidly increasing while the technologies to grow it outside tropical regions are not developing as quickly. During the long Nordic winters consumption of fresh spirulina is even more essential as local fresh vegetables are not available. Tomatoes and cucumbers are already commonly cultivated in the Nordic region, so spirulina should be next. SpirulinaNord is working on it.
a fleet of
Vergi’s processing plant in Ventspils has its own docking facilities, so the vessels returning from the Baltic Sea can land their cargoes a few meters from the factory. Vessels fishing in the Gulf of Riga land their catches in Mersrags where the company rents a dock and storage space and has employees unloading and loading the fish in forklifts for delivery by road to Ventspils. Here the fish is sorted, salted or frozen, individually or in blocks. The brief interval between the time the fish is landed and when it is processed ensures a final product of the highest quality. The vessels fish both in the Baltic Sea and in the Gulf of Riga.
The fisheries are different, and the crew are paid depending on the amount they fish, so the vessels are rotated between the two areas. Fish is stored in tubs in the hold which are then lifted out with a crane when the vessel comes into port. One of the vessels has been refurbished with a cooling tank (RSW) in the hold to store the fish. When it comes into port the fish is pumped directly from the tank into the factory. The advantages are that unloading is quicker and uses less manpower, there is less manual handling of the fish, and if necessary, the fish can be stored for longer in the tank. Renovating the vessel in this way is a major investment, however.
With some 10,000 tonnes of quota in the Baltic Sea for sprats and 4,500 tonnes in the Gulf of Riga for herring (as well as for some 200 tonnes of sprats), the company is one of the biggest quota holders in Latvia. Vergi has specialised in pelagic fishing and processing since its inception, but also holds a cod quota in reserve for when that fishery reopens in the Baltic. Fishing for sprat and herring is seasonal, starting in August and continuing as the water gets colder and the fish quality improves. As the sprat becomes fattier it is used for salting with spices, one of the company’s staple products, that is exported typically to Ukraine.
Salted sprat is made from fresh fish and is a ready to eat product with a shelf life of three months, says O egs Fa vi s, the sales director, and it is traditionally exported to Ukraine. The fishing season peaks in October but continues to June before stopping. When the fishing stops it is the time for repairs and maintenance of the vessels and the factory. So, in a nutshell, the product is accumulated during the season and then sold over summer, says J nis Lag ns, the managing director. Last year, however, was atypical as the warehouses for storage of the finished product were empty already in July. In an uncertain period, what with covid, inflation, rocketing energy prices, the war in Ukraine, and regulatory changes, we try to sell as rapidly as possible to reduce the risk of any unforeseen event influencing the business, he says.
Demand from the market also influences the fishing. For example, if demand for sprats
increases the company will focus on catching this species. Vergi specialises in salted sprats as well as in frozen fish (herring and sprats). When the fish enters the factory it is sorted, then frozen or salted, stored, and finally exported. The frozen fish takes the form of either blocks or IQF. But while 10 years ago production was almost 100 in blocks, today over 60 is IQF, says Mr Fa vi s. Some 91 of the production is exported today almost the same as before the Russian invasion and covid. The balance goes to the local canning industry, where demand has remained firm. The company is of course highly reliant on the fish quotas for its operations. These have generally been stable in the Baltic Sea, while increasing slightly in the Gulf of Riga, says Mr Lag ns, but next year promises to be a difficult one as quotas will decline all round. Quotas are also swapped to increase access to fish that is in more demand on the market or has a higher price.
The market in Ukraine has been affected by the war which in some cases has resulted in processing factories owned by the company’s clients in the country being destroyed. This in turn had an impact on exports, an effect which is mitigated partly by compensation schemes organised by the ministry for agriculture. Vergi, through NGOs, actively participates in consultations with the ministry to identify issues and challenges that affect the sector. The market in Belarus, another of the company’s export destinations, has also been affected by border closures and sanctions, although exports continue nonetheless. Altogether Vergi exports to almost 40 countries most recently adding the United States and the Middle East to its list of markets. In general, the company tries to balance its sales to the different markets so that no single country dominates, says Mr Fa vi s. Consumers in western markets, for example, in Spain
and Italy, are not only among the communities of Eastern European living there, he asserts, but also the locals who are familiar with other kinds of small, pelagic fish such as sardines and anchovies. However, the company’s markets in Eastern Europe are still important in part because they are historical for the product, but also because the increasing cost of transport and logistics makes it more cost effective to export to countries that are geographically closer. However, finding new markets is always a priority and so the company regularly attends trade shows to promote its products and explore possibilities to find new clients. This activity is heavily supported by the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) and the company finds it extremely useful.
Today, fish frozen in blocks and individually, and the salted fish are the main products. But creating items with greater added
value is also something that is being worked on. Investments in machines for gutted and filleted fish are under consideration, says Mr Lag ns, but it is difficult to take any decisions in the current uncertain climate. Rising energy prices, for example, have a big impact on profitability as all the operations, sorting, freezing, storage etc. rely on electricity and the company expects its bills to soon increase by a factor of three. Although compensation is available from the EMFAF it will only cover part of the increase. Reducing electricity consumption is not an option as it will impinge on quality. Freezers cannot be run at higher temperatures and rescheduling operations to times when electricity is cheaper would mean that the fish is not processed immediately upon arrival when it is most fresh. The uncertainty created by the war and the spiralling prices have made it difficult to make long term plans, says Ivars Janeks, the owner of Vergi. We operate from day to day only signing short term agreements with clients. Making forecasts for the future is now close to impossible. The company has
been in this situation before, he adds, as it was the same during the pandemic, when the situation could change from one day to the next.
Quality is the most important consideration in the production and cost-saving measures that may compromise quality do not offer a solution. However, to address the rising energy costs the company is looking to install solar panels though these will only contribute to but not cover its electricity requirements. Other prices, such as for the diesel that is used for the fishing vessels and for the transport, have also increased three-fold, but the company has not cut back on its activities. The quota must be fished because it means income and the machinery of the factory is so big that it cannot be stopped. The price of the fish will be increased both this year and next but the increase will not compensate for the increase in costs. The number of employees has not gone down because
Office: Mellužu prosp.66a-3, J rmala LV-2008, Latvia Factory: Sarkanmuižas Dambis 29, Ventspils LV-3601, Latvia sales@vergi.lv www.vergi.lv
Owner: Ivars Janeks Managing director: J nis Lag ns Sales director: O egs Fa vi s
Fishing, processing, sales, and distribution
finding them in the first place is difficult so releasing them would be short-sighted. In fact, the company has hired people from Belarus and Ukraine to work the three shifts that the factory runs. The instability caused by market disruptions and increasing costs has forced the company to focus on the immediate activities fishing, processing, and sales. Strategic planning takes a back seat. The idea is to keep working and to maintain people in their jobs as far as possible, says Mr Janeks, and the support we get from the
Species: Sprats, Baltic herring Products: Salted sprats, frozen blocks, IQF fish Markets: Close to 40 countries in the EU, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa
Employees: 170 (90 in the factory, and 80 onboard the vessels and as support staff)
Vessels: Six in Vergi, one in Hanters (now owned by Vergi), one in a Polish subsidiary
state plays an important role in this regard. He also feels it is important to keep Vergi’s products on the market as they are relatively cheap and even if times are hard people will be able to afford them.
Vergis recently took over another Latvian pelagic processor, Hanters, a move that Mr Janeks, describes as part of a trend towards greater consolidation in the industry. We foresee an industry with fewer, but bigger, companies, he says. This development is partly in response to the shortfall in qualified captains and crew members who can catch fish. As they grow older there are no younger people entering to take their place, he states. The number of vessels has decreased from 200-250 vessels when Latvia acceded to the EU in 2004 to some 40 vessels today, a number that is forecast to fall still further. The closure of the cod fishery also removed vessels and crews from the industry. Mr Janeks would like to see a European-level strategy that would identify measures for the industry to take to secure its future and he is hopeful that European support for the renewal of the fleet would contribute to this goal.
Aquaculture research has always been the central pillar for aquatic food farming development everywhere. Anniversaries of research institutions serve to acknowledge their contribution to the field, sum up what has been achieved, and identify future challenges that call for science-based answers.
The Nucet Fish Farming Research Centre in Romania, one of the region’s oldest freshwater fish farming research institutions and the backbone of the carps and associated species farming development for eight decades, celebrated its 80th anniversary in September this year.
Maintaining wild fish stocks to allow a sustainable pattern of exploitation through commercial fishing has been a concern of modern societies since the industrial revolution. Growing populations and increased demand for food resources was mainly tackled using two approaches: an administrative one through establishing fishing management rules, and the second, by developing aquaculture. The latter started with the establishment of experimental fish farming institutions to conduct fish farming, research to supply the stocking material for natural waters and for fish farms, and to provide the knowhow for the systematic development of fish farming. One of the first institutions of this kind was established in France, in 1852, at Huningue. The model was reproduced all over Europe over the next decades. As a result of the continuous joint efforts of the scientific community, institutions,
administrative bodies, and investors, 2014 was the first year when aquaculture production (including aquatic plants) overtook capture fisheries, according to FAO1
Romania, even if has access to 254 km of the Black Sea shoreline, is historically defined as a freshwater aquaculture country. The first reference to the model experimental freshwater fish farms was in the 1896 Fishing Law written by the well-known ichthyologist Grigore Antipa after being awarded a summa cum laude Ph.D. at Jena University (Germany) by the famous zoologist Ernst Haeckel, the first to define “ecology” . The plans to develop a consistent and science-based fish farming sector in Romania were based upon the development of educational, institutional, and research infrastructure. As a result, between 1919 and 1940 vocational schools, fish farming-oriented university curricula, and various research establishments focused on different parts of Romanian fisheries and aquaculture: the Danube Delta, the Black Sea, trout farming, and carp farming. Initially, fish farming research and development was a part of the National Animal Husbandry Institute which was
1 FAO. 2022. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022. Towards Blue Transformation. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0461en
founded in 1926 under the coordination of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The Nucet Fish Farming Research Establishment was built between 1937 and 1941 and became part of the Romanian Fisheries Research Institute, which was founded in 1940, as a recognition of the importance of aquaculture to the Romanian economy.
From the beginning, the main purpose of the research activity was to find ways to farm carp, to control fish reproduction, and to select certain productive traits. In 1960, the Nucet research team started, and succeeded a few years later, to acclimatise grass carp, silver
carp, bighead carp, and black carp which contributed to the development of carp polyculture technologies. This was a step forward in common carp farming technology which allowed the Romanian fish farming sector to reach the highest production figures by the middle of the ‘80s. Even today, Nucet Fish Farming Research Centre is one of the main suppliers of Chinese carp larvae and fingerlings, not only to the domestic market but also to neighbouring countries. Various innovations and technological improvements on the controlled reproduction of fish were tried and confirmed here during the years, which inspired the researchers to aim higher. That is how the scientists managed to acclimatise and breed in controlled conditions the paddlefish, the American sturgeon,
Stakeholders celebrate eight decades of Romanian aquaculture research at NucetThe Nucet Fish Farming Research Centre, the premium research institute for the aquaculture sector, celebrated its 80th anniversary in September 2022. Catalin Platon
at the beginning of the ‘90s. This fish was soon demanded by fish farmers due to its tremendous growth rate and its role in phytoplankton control in carp ponds. Even if trials for controlled reproduction of paddlefish were done in several European countries, Nucet Fish Farming Research Centre was the only one that completed the full technological setup for this species, becoming the third biggest brood stock owner in the world following the USA and China.
For more than 30 years Nucet Fish Farming Research Center has been scientifically coordinated and partially financed by the Romanian Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences „Gheorghe Ionescu- i e ti“. At the anniversary celebration event the academy was represented by its president Prof. Valeriu Tab r . Among the others who participated were fish farmers, scientists, former directors of the research unit, members of the Romanian Parliament, local authorities, staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and fish farmers’ associations. In his intervention, Professor Tab r emphasised that a research unit was the epitome of research and development activity as it had to deliver substantial results for the economic activity of fish farms.
Ms Mioara Costache, the current director of the institution joined Nucet Fish Farming Research Center in 1987 as a fresh graduate from Gala i University and has held her position since 2001 guiding the organisation through the hectic transition period which followed the political changes of 1989.
New products and services are developed and offered to farmers
Now, she declared, work at the centre is coupled both to European trends and to
Romanian farmers’ needs for applied research activity, but also to the interests of the researchers themselves: “The development strategy for our institution is to find solutions to the challenges which the fish farmers are confronted with. One of the major objectives of the strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture for the period 2021 to 2030, adopted last year by the Commission is to increase knowledge and innovation. In this respect, we are looking to scientifically underpin the ecosystem services contribution of certain types of fish farming, and to deliver stocking material for the restocking of fish farms and wild habitats. In the last decade in the fish farming sector, the increase in the average age of farmers has become obvious. This would not be so damaging if more young farmers were entering the activity. More and more fish farms are owned by nonprofessionals who do not know very much about fish farming but are keen to learn. The negative impact of these changes is mitigated by the stability offered by an applied research institution like ours. EMFF support was used to set up management, relief, and advisory services for aquaculture farms which also cover various aspects of fish farm’s regular activities such as developing technical, scientific, or organisational knowledge on aquaculture farms. This could reduce the impact on the environment, foster the sustainable use of resources in aquaculture, improve animal welfare, and facilitate new sustainable production methods. Continuing our tradition of developing new aquaculture species with good market potential, new or substantially improved products, and novel or improved technologies, while exploring their
technical or economic feasibility is something we are interested in.
As a consequence of the close cooperation and dialogue we maintain with the farmers, in 2020 we have written and published, with the support of EMFF funding, the ”Good Practice Guide for Fish Farming” .
The impact of climate change on the production cycle and thus on the economic performance of the sector and also on fish welfare, especially on pathologies, are things we are very attentive to. We are considering working on the early detection, prevention, and control of aquatic diseases that are not listed in EU legislation, but that have a significant impact at the farm level. In this context we plan to develop guidelines and procedures for good practice. From our point of view, farmed fish welfare means abiding by the technical guidelines and any upgrades made by applied research. Our advisory services include diagnosis and recommendations for the best available methods or products to solve the identified problem.
There is a need for consistent research activity on the different types of aquaculture technologies. Our focus is on earthen ponds and on farming common carp and associated species in Central and Eastern Europe, which not only provide food security but also a cultural reference, in addition to their contribution to recent European policies and strategies, such as Farm to Fork, Biodiversity Strategy, and carbon and nutrients sequestration. As for biodiversity, not only in Romania but all over Central
and Eastern Europe, Natura 2000 Directives were first applied to carp ponds which met all the designation criteria as a recognition that traditional practices employed in this type of aquaculture have been beneficial for biodiversity. Without fish farming in different types of ponds, a threat that hangs over the sector as it did in the 19th century, the biodiversity index will collapse. We will focus our future activity on identifying and assigning values to ecosystem services in the pond farming sector to support political decisions which could finally unify the currently divergent approaches between agricultural policies and aquaculture ones. The contribution of research and technological development to aquaculture development can be summed up as a dissemination platform, a place of dialogue, a place of mutual knowledge transfer, not only from the research to the industry, but also from the farmers to the scientific community.”
The combination of crises coming out of the blue and dramatically challenging our daily routines with ambitious long-term goals, aquaculture research is called to deliver answers to provide the farmers with tools and knowledge to build up resilience. Some of the answers to these challenges are new for sure, but others could be found in history or in traditional practices that have passed the test of time. It is up to the decisionmakers to bolster aquaculture research which is performed in partnership with farmers and especially performed in crossborders consortia, speeding up the dissemination of ideas, technologies and knowledge.
Catalin Platon, Romanian Fish Farmers Association, asromfish @gmail.com
The fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, usually called IUU fishing for short, has taken on global dimensions. And because almost all fishing nations are involved, there have likely been numerous successes since. But how big are the advances that have been made really? Can the success of these efforts be objectively measured and quantified? Attempting to take stock is difficult.
IUU fishing must be contained, because it contributes to overfishing of fish stocks, damages marine habitats, subjects lawabiding fishers to unfair competition and weakens the economic power of entire coastal towns and of society as a whole. Predatory fishing and illegal trade in marine products have become a global trade in recent years that makes high profits with often relatively low financial risk for its operators. IUU fishing thus has quite similar dimensions to international organised crime. The damage caused by illegal fishing practices is not just financial, however, as it also represents a serious threat to the sustainable management of the oceans as well as the future of fishing while negatively affecting its contribution to global food security. Because the extent of
IUU fishing is difficult to estimate, its takings are not properly taken into consideration when assessing the condition of fish stocks. This is a problem for fisheries management, because if the IUU proportion is not taken into consideration for the calculations, the size of stocks can be overestimated and the catch quotas for the following years can be set too high.
There is a further aspect, as it is well-known that IUU fishing vessels and operators are disproportionately involved in human rights violations and crimes such as drugs or arms smuggling, corruption and tax evasion. Cases of modern slavery, forced labour and similar crimes are widespread in this area in particular. There are hardly ever formal employment contracts on pirate ships, and there
is no social security and health insurance provision. Illegal fishing occurs especially frequently where the probability of being prosecuted is low because the relevant coastal state does not have the financial resources to thoroughly monitor its own territorial waters. This is why IUU fishing not only occurs on the high seas, which are very difficult to monitor, but also within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and even directly off the coasts.
Following a bank raid, the quantity of cash stolen is usually quickly determined and the loss can be calculated exactly. With IUU fishing, on the other hand, one is left
groping in the dark, as the damage can only be approximately estimated, and often not at all. This is why the FAO convened a workshop of fisheries experts in 2015 in order to update the extent of global IUU estimates. The committee finally came to the disappointing conclusion, however, that the lack of robust and consistent methods and the inherent non-transparency of IUU fishing makes any estimate extremely uncertain. The problem is comparable to information on discards, which is also subject to a lack of precision. The experts only agreed on the statement that the quantity of fish that enters food webs worldwide, in whatever way, is obviously much greater than is reflected in the official statistics. The dynamic, adaptable, highly mobile and secret nature of the black market makes
A significant proportion of global fish catches are marketed regionally near coasts. Many fishers are not registered and have no catch quotas, controls are difficult.
obtaining direct estimates practically impossible. Nevertheless, the FAO attempted a rough estimate in its biannual report “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” (SOFIA) in 2014. According to the report, the annual takings by IUU fishing are in the region of 11 to 26 million tonnes of fish, with an estimated value of 10 to 23 billion US dollars. This corresponds to 14 to 33 percent of the catch quantity of fish and other marine animals that are taken from the oceans worldwide legally. This would mean that every fifth or sixth marine fish consumed somewhere in the world comes from illegal sources. However, the wide ranges of the estimates alone shows how uncertain such statements are. Pauly et al. (Nature 418 [2002]: 689–695) estimated the extent of global IUU fishing in the period from 1980 to 1999 at as much as 30–40 million tonnes annually. This is also a speculative value, but gives an idea of the scale of the problem.
A global consensus was therefore quickly reached that the IUU swamp must be drained through stricter regulations, comprehensive monitoring and control as well as closer international cooperation. The United Nations (UN) provided an important boost to the fight against IUU fishing when
it declared the topic to be “one of the most serious problems in the global fishing industry” in 1999 and 2000. From this arose the mission to make the business of illegal fishing as difficult as possible and to eliminate the market for illegally caught fish. Due to the cross-border nature of IUU fishing, it was clear from the beginning that this challenge could only be met through international cooperation. Particularly in the areas that influence competition between countries. At the initiative of the FAO, an International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOAIUU) was agreed in 2001, which resulted in an ever tighter network of control and monitoring measures (MCS). Some years later, IUU fishing was also included in the catalogue of UN sustainable development goals (SDG 14), which calls on the global community to improve the controls of coastal states and the national legal frameworks. Some of the most important points in the implementation of this package include, among others:
• Strengthening of fishing laws and regulations
• Improved monitoring of fishing fleets to protect fishing resources
• Restriction of market access for IUU-caught fish
• Improved traceability of seafood
• Raising awareness of IUU fishing among consumers
• No subsidies for companies engaged in IUU fishing.
The economically strong G7 and G20 states have a special responsibility and must take a leading role in combating IUU fishing. This applies in particular to the EU as the world’s largest market for marine products, importing 60 percent of its fish and seafood. The EU was the first large group of important states to introduce measures to combat IUU fishing. Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 as well as Control Regulation 1224, which was adopted in 2009, are intended to ensure that only legally caught fish products from healthy, sustainably managed stocks reach the single market. Non-EU countries that do not do enough to prevent and deter illegal fishing can be pushed to make improvements by issuing them with a formal warning (yellow card). If they do not act decisively and quickly introduce effective measures, their products can even be completely banned from the EU market (red card).
The regulations also prescribe exactly what vessels can land fish in the EU, what documents they need to present to do so and how the goods are to be controlled. All vessels wishing to bring fish into the EU must have an IMO number, i.e. a unique vessel identifier from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The origin of the products in the value creation chain can be traced more precisely using this number. Such measures are intended to make it more difficult for the black sheep among fishers
to engage in criminal business and also to encourage exporting countries to intensify their fight against IUU fishing. These strict regulations have been widely copied, since, with the exception of a few states, it is today legally compulsory for fish imports to be accompanied by certificates of origin confirming their legal source. Laws are important, but they are only really effective if they are consistently enforced and implemented. And this is just what is seriously lacking in some regions of the world. In order to make business as difficult as possible for illegal fishers, the responsible authorities must identify existing legal loopholes, close regulatory gaps and work more closely together.
Difficult aspects of this fight include the reduction of overcapacities in fishing fleets as well as the proper registration of all vessels in order to track their activities at sea precisely, prevent illegal activities and sanction them appropriately in the event of infringements. The authorities also gain an overview of actual catching capacities and can better estimate fishing pressure on the resources and ecosystems in their own waters. Information on the beneficial owners of the vessels, i.e. those persons who ultimately plan, control and profit from the vessel’s activities, is also particularly important in this context. Permanent vessel identification with an IMO number would also be helpful in this context, as this has by no means been satisfactorily implemented everywhere.
One disputed issue is also the question of who the main actors in illegal fishing now are. While many are of the popular opinion that it is primarily the large highseas vessels with their enormous
catch capacities that are responsible, others also attribute part of the blame to small-scale artisanal fishing. In its current State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report (SOFIA 2022), the FAO states that the global fishing fleet consists of 4.1 million vessels (as of 2020). Around 81 percent of motorised boats are uncovered and open and less than 12 metres long. The number of larger fishing vessels over 24 metres long is therefore only 45,000 units, which are also almost all officially licensed and registered. If this relatively small proportion of the global fishing fleet was actually the main actor in IUU fishing, this would be a sad testimony to the efficiency and effectiveness of state and international fisheries controls. It seems difficult to imagine that this small number of vessels cannot be consistently monitored with the appropriate will and that it is responsible for the bulk of illegal catches. Why not look at the countless small boats that fish primarily in coastal areas? Sure, their daily catches are small in comparison, but quite significant quantities can be caught along a coastal strip. Many boats are also not registered and are not assigned any catch quotas. Their catches are seldom controlled, because they are almost always marketed regionally.
Is the role of artisanal small fishers in IUU fishing perhaps intentionally downplayed because nobody dares to properly address the topic? There are not just the immense problems in recording, registering and controlling many thousands of boats, there are also social questions to be resolved. An example of the enormous cost associated with these tasks is Thailand, which, after being issued with a yellow card by the EU, has made great efforts to reform and modernise its fishing sector since April 2015. It took enormous staff, time and financial
resources to integrate its more than 40,000 small-scale fishers into the new system and to take their social needs into account appropriately.
The biggest advances in fighting illegal fishing in recent times have been attributable to enhanced controls where catches are landed at ports. Because controls at sea are well-known to be expensive and difficult, the international community has focused on inspections in ports, which are cheap, easier to implement and just as secure. An important milestone in this context was the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), which entered into force on 5 June 2016. Around 70 countries, representing more than half of all port states worldwide, have ratified this agreement to date. The PSMA makes it almost impossible for known and suspected IUU vessels to call at specific ports and land their illegal catches there. The system has since become even more efficient, because the PSMA Global Information Exchange System (GIES) developed by the FAO improves the digitised exchange of information in real time and makes early warnings possible.
Opportunities for IUU fishing are indisputably becoming ever more restricted. Practices such as the reloading of illegal catches at sea (transshipment) to disguise their origin and sneak them unnoticed into the value creation chain are regulated more strictly than before and are more thoroughly monitored in many locations. The regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), which manage fishing regions outside of EEZs on the open oceans have also become better integrated into the
fight against IUU fishing. Almost all have registers for those vessels that are allowed to fish in their regions legally, but also blacklists of black sheep fishers and vessels that have already tried to land IUU fish in an RFMO port. This name and shame principle is intended to make it more difficult for IUU fishers to find ports to call at. There are also new monitoring tools (MCS) such as electronic logbooks (CDS, catch documentation scheme) and vessel monitoring systems (VMS) with which the catch positions and travel routes of the fishing vessels can be monitored via satellite. Not all loopholes have been closed by any means, but states are working on it. They are increasingly cooperating more closely with each other and coordinating their control activities better.
There have certainly been successes, but they are difficult to measure
It can be deduced indirectly from all of these efforts that there must be successes in combating and stemming IUU fishing. Anything else would be surprising and disappointing, given the enormous effort that is being put in worldwide. In fact, the FAO and the OECD report “Closing gaps in national policies against IUUfishing” (2019) confirms that since 2005 there have been remarkable advances in all areas of state intervention against IUU fishing. But
what does that mean exactly? Can the successes be counted in concrete numbers, in tonnage or with other key figures? Obviously not, since concrete statements regarding this are avoided. It is vaguely claimed that the effectiveness of the reforms in the fight against IUU fishing can be seen at a local and regional level. But how far IUU fishing has been pushed back at a global level remains unclear. This makes sense and is to be expected, since if the exact dimensions of global IUU fishing are only approximately known, then of course its reduction cannot be sufficiently accurately estimated.
Individual reports of success show, however, that the enormous international effort has not been in vain and has definitely had effects. The SOFIA status report from the FAO in 2018 reports, for example, that catches of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) have successfully been stabilised since 2005 at 10,500 to 12,400 tonnes. The illegal catching of this valuable species of fish, which was still estimated at over 30,000 tonnes in 1997, declined by 2014 to less than 1,500 tonnes per year. This is still far too high a number, but nevertheless it a significant success, which can primarily be attributed to improved coastal state controls and stricter legal framework conditions. It is therefore worth continuing to invest in the fight against IUU fishing. mk
With a strategic focus on water analysis Copenhagen Nanosystems ApS (Cphnano) offers a novel liquid-analysis platform enabled by next-generation cloud computing and a patented photonic sensor that expands the utility of spectrophotometric analytical infrastructure.
This allows a rapid quantification at line, which speeds the response time that decreases waste by reducing downtime or the production of a non-conforming product. Stopping production at the first appearance of the problem means the intervention is deployed only when needed. This improves performance and reduces environmental impact through better resource management.
Cphnano is among the participants in the FLAVOUR project, a collaboration between research and industry, to develop a method to detect, prevent, and remove off-flavours and undesired odours in fish farmed in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). Geosmin is a naturally occurring taste and aromatic compound. It is a terpene, like, for example, R-limonene, which gives orange peels their strong, characteristic smell. Geosmin is the compound primarily responsible for that unmistakable smell of mud or wet earth, recognised as the “earth odour” . Geosmin is also a terpene produced by microorganisms in soil, specifically by the streptomyces genus of the family Streptomycetaceae bacteria, which live in soil and flourish with decaying matter and produce many of our antibiotics. Geosmin is also the compound responsible for the earthy taste of beetroot and often contaminates freshwater fish. However, something that can be
tasty in beetroot can be totally unacceptable in fish. Acid can degrade geosmin and, therefore, muddy tasting freshwater fish are often liberally doused with lemon juice or vinegar.
first
Geosmin-free fish are in great demand, and there is a large market for a system that detects geosmin in aquaculture water. Today, the primary method of ridding fish of geosmin contamination is by recirculating water in recirculating systems, which consumes substantial amounts of water. Rather than eradicating geosmin contamination, fish farmers want to prevent geosmin from tainting fish in the first place. Off-flavour compounds, such as geosmin, are produced by microorganisms and give the fish an unpalatable taste, even at very low concentrations. Today, the main solution is to depurate the fish in large quantities of clean water for 10–15 days. Unfortunately, the fish lose a substantial amount of weight during this period, affecting production efficiency – in addition to the environmental cost of excessive water use.
The demand for and production of fish is increasing steadily. Aquaculture is a driver in this growth with a projected increase of 37
NanoCuvette™ One with a water droplet resting on the patented 2D photonic crystal.
by 2030. The geosmin problem is expected to increase accordingly as more RASs will be implemented to meet this demand which is expected to grow. The Nordic countries are a bastion of both technology for aquaculture and the production of fish. Implementing the technological solution developed in the FLAVOUR project is expected to increase the profit at European RAS fish farms by EUR 22 million accumulated over three years after the project’s conclusion, assuming geosmin can be removed from the fish in half the time taken by other methods. The environmental impact, realised by savings in water, is expected to amount to 100 million cubic meters. In addition, a 2 increase in production capacity is projected.
Cphnano is a Danish labtech company that has developed a
new concept of digital laboratory analysis for the laboratory of the future. It was founded in 2015 and develops digital laboratory analyses for simple laboratory equipment. The company's vision is to expand the use and increase the value of existing spectrophotometers around the world. To achieve this goal, the company strives to enable as many units as possible to perform state-of-the-art laboratory analysis and diagnostics tests. One of Cphnano‘s core products is a cuvette (NanoCuvette One), which enables regular UV-Vis spectrophotometers to replace dedicated microvolume instruments such as NanoDrop or MySpec (microvolume spectrophotometers). A disadvantage of a NanoDrop instrument is that the sample is in direct contact with the instrument, and this typically leads to problems with mechanics, optics, and biofilm after a few years.
NanoCuvette One allows the measurement of 0.5 μL droplets of biomolecules using a conventional large-volume (3 mL)
Getting rid of undesired odours and off-flavours in aquaculture
spectrophotometer. The format of Cphnano‘s cuvette solution means that the optics in the UVVis instrument are not in contact with the sample and therefore last longer. Cphnano‘s cuvettes have a large dynamic measurement range, are calibrated from the factory in Farum, and they can be changed continuously. As the NanoCuvette One makes use of existing UV-Vis equipment, the purchase of new equipment is not necessary (no CAPEX). NanoCuvette One can be used to quantify chlorophyll content and the optical properties of water for aquaculture, which today is done using a fluorometer and transmissometer.
Another of Cphnano‘s core products, the NanoCuvette S, can be used for spectrophotometric quantification of particle/cell size and concentration analysis. The NanoCuvette S can determine particles down to 50 nm, while quantifying the concentration. The NanoCuvette S allows for combined angle-resolved light scattering and absorbance at 190–1100 nm. Integrated into the surface is a patented photonic nanocrystal (optical filter) that detects light scattering so that it measures particle sizes near the photonic crystal surface. With the NanoCuvette S, particles can be quantified in minutes with increased sensitivity, reliability, and reproducibility in a standard spectrophotometer without expensive specialised instruments. NanoCuvette S can be used to establish the quality of culture water by determining the size of feed particles, and can identify the level of feed uptake in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). The SpectroWorks software
automatically analyses the results. SpectroWorks is the first online cloud service for UV-Vis spectrum analysis that simplifies working with spectrophotometry and calculates results. It can analyse UV-Vis spectrum like other spectroscopy software and also calculate refractive index, particle size, and concentration, which can be used to determine plastic particles contaminating the water in an RAS plant.
All NanoCuvettes are plastic consumables with different capabilities. SpectroLink, an IoT device, can enhance experimental workflows digitally. It connects spectrophotometers (currently VWR and Shimadzu, with more brands in the future) and allows control with any device such a tablet, laptop, or mobile telephone. This can be energy and time efficient with modern device technology, allowing control from one device. SpectroLink can communicate with online software SpectroWorks allowing easy, real-time access to analysis with spectrophotometers via SpectroLink. SpectroWorks is an online data platform that automates spectral data treatment, creating insights and intelligence faster and at low cost. This data platform utilises more than 200 million optical simulations to create a truly digital state-of-the-art workplace for all spectral analysis, with automatic insight reporting.
Another project the company is participating in is DigiBoost. Denmark’s drinking-water supply is taken entirely from groundwater, and the quality is
generally good. However, over the past 35 years, one of the substantial challenges facing the Danish drinking-water supply has been pollution from toxic materials from factories, chemicals from old waste dump sites, and insecticides, pesticides, and nitrates from farming. In the period 1998–2003, the maximum allowable concentrations were exceeded in 32 of well screens in the monitoring areas, despite regulations to prevent contamination. Over recent decades, many waterworks have been closed, forced to drill deeper, or forced to buy water from neighbouring water supplies. Therefore, it is important to monitor groundwater quality on a regular basis. However, the lack of resources, excessive cost, and lengthy analysis time limit the frequent analysis of drinking groundwater. Together with Watercare Guard and the University of Southern Denmark, the company is conducting easy, fast, and reliable real-time water monitoring at landfills where the state-of-the-art sensor technology and advanced cloud-based software SpectroWorks will be used to build a stationary unit that continuously monitors the
water and delivers the result within a few minutes. A portable water testing station was demonstrated to quantify target toxins in the field at a competitive price and sensitivity using NanoCuvette One.
In the south, the company’s three-year scientific project, Photons and AI for Aquifer monitoring Needs: a cyber-physical system for monitoring groundwater quality (PAANEE) began in 2021 in India. Cphnano leads a consortium comprising the University of Southern Denmark, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, to develop and test a cyber-physical, AI-driven water quality monitoring system for rural communities. Water-quality monitoring in rural communities is challenging because the communities are often located far from laboratories. More than 40 of India’s rural population drink water from hand-pumped wells, yet only 7,500 of the 30 million wells in India had their water quality tested in 2015. Data from 2011 revealed that approximately 130 million people in India live in districts where at least one
pollutant exceeded national safety standards. In this project, we are developing and testing PAANEE for rural communities.
PAANEE will measure and analyse the entire water matrix via spectroscopy and cloud-based computing. Although simple, physical characteristics can be measured at the well, most chemical and biological analyses require a laboratory with technical, often bulky, and expensive equipment and specialised staff to analyse the sample. When PAANEE predicts bacterial
contamination, the software will initiate bacterial testing at the well. Using functionalised antibodies, PAANEE will distinguish between dangerous and harmless bacteria.
For more information, contact Christopher Lüscher Copenhagen Nanosystems ApS Hørmarken 2 DK-3520 Farum Denmark chrlu@cphnano.com
The world has become a very uncertain place in which to live and operate. Even before the difficulties imposed by COVID-19, Brexit, and now the war in Ukraine, energy costs were rising, labour availability was precarious, and production mistakes were devastating previously profitable companies.
Food processors, whether they want to or not, must pursue strategic technology investments to deliver on their business objectives. Whether those objectives include streamlining processes and increasing efficiency across the plant, positioning themselves as a company with societal purpose, or reimagining their business to lead the direction of their industry, technology now plays a pivotal role. So, why do many fish companies still rely on aged and outdated technologies?
Evolving your processes in a unified way can be exciting, but knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Major fish processors are looking to innovate
and transform their operations to create best-in-class production facilities. And rightly so, but it’s not always straightforward. The market and the fish industry as a whole are at an inflection point. If you don’t spend time, energy, and investment to realise the full benefits of technology, you risk falling behind and will likely never catch up. Technology offers countless benefits, but it provides no real long-term value without clearly identifying the why of using it. Labour and skills shortages in the fish processing industry are the why. They are now a day-to-day issue and often result in highly inefficient operations. Difficulties in attracting and retaining labour also increase business risk, including the risk of lost contracts and reduced market share.
the most advaned
The one area that many fish processors ignore during their
technology review is the end-ofline freezing. Air blast freezers are still seen as the main technology. In most operations, fish is batch frozen in boxes that are loaded manually into a freezing system. Blast freezers require double handling, and achieving uniform freezing conditions is difficult. They also require large areas of real estate, both in the freezer and externally in marshalling areas.
Some fish processors opt to use plate freezers, which are contact freezers where a refrigerant is passed through hollow metal horizontal or vertical plates that are pressed on either side of the box being frozen. Plate freezers are best suited to limited, regularly shaped products with a maximum thickness of 50–70 mm. Air spaces in packaging and fouling of the plates have significant effects on cooling time. Although modern plate freezers appear to be fast and energy efficient, most still require a substantial labour
input and often burn the product when freezer plates make close contact with the fish. And they have high peak electrical loads.
So, you ask, is there a better way to eliminate labour, reduce energy costs, provide certainty in the freezing process, and automate warehousing? Like many great innovations, proven technologies in one industry can bring transformational change when applied in another industry.
Variable retention time (VRT) freezers and chillers were first introduced just over 40 years ago. Initially, they were applied to automating cheese cooling but quickly found a use in meat and chicken processing. The major advantage of a VRT is that it can freeze several different products, each with different freezing times
and different size packages using a programmable computer that controls its operation. Variable retention time freezers are energy efficient with the ability to reduce freezing times by up to 200 over blast freezers. Their controlled cooling curve also assures a better product finish. Internal product tracking provides the possibility to isolate and quarantine product.
When linked directly to the fish processing lines on the infeed side and to an automated palletising line on the outfeed, virtually no labour is required from packing all the way to the loading dock. With the right dedicated SCADA system, you have total, real-time visibility of processing, stock control, and shipping. Energy consumption is generally as low as 50 less than a similar blast freezer installation, and VRTs don’t have the electrical peak load requirement of a plate freezer. Variable retention time freezers can be designed to process 4–40 tonnes per hour and hold more than 400 tonnes of fish, all within a floor space of 1,000 sq. metres. With automated infeeds, outfeeds, and palletising, there is virtually no need for forklifts, with a consequential reduction in the risk of injury and damage to the building.
Overall, VRTs provide lasting benefits for your businesses, such as reduced processing times, costs, and error rates, increased throughput and quality, and better inventory management and sales projections.
For more information, contact: John Magill Executive Director
Power Food Technology Ltd Site E1, Clane Business Park Clane, Co. Kildare, Ireland W91 C2H5
Eurofish International Organization in collaboration with the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture and with support from the National Association of Aquaculture and Fish Products Producers in Lithuania organized the international fisheries and aquaculture conference “Opportunities in a rapidly changing world “. The event was attended by 120 participants from 27 countries.
The conference focused on the opportunities and challenges faced by the fishery and aquaculture sector in different European sea basins, the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean. During the four sessions, climate and markets, fisheries, aquaculture, and predatory species, speakers discussed how changes in environmental, economic, and commercial conditions also offered opportunities to the sector.
Sustainability cannot be underestimated
Among the speakers, Marcio Castro de Souza from the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division showed the latest trends and forecasts for global markets about marine animal products and the related trade flows among countries. He also presented the potential opportunities currently available in the production, market, and demand sections of the value chain. Throughout the conference sustainability was a recurring theme. Christian Unmack from Eurofish focused his presentation on consumer perception of “sustainable” aquaculture products in selected western markets. In the fisheries section, Loreta Brazinskaite from the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture presented the structure and diversity of the
fishery sector in Lithuania providing data on the catch, fleet capacity, volume of farmed products, production and processing, and concluded with an overview of the sector’s future plans.
In the aquaculture session, Jacob Bregnballe from Akva Group, a Norwegian manufacturer of aquaculture equipment, presented the recently published third edition of the guide to recirculation aquaculture produced in collaboration with FAO and Eurofish, and which he had authored. A copy of the guide was also distributed to all participants. His intervention was followed by a case study from the company Akvapona about the production of African catfish using RAS. The case was presented by Vladas Vickunas from the company who showed how an idea was turned into a successful business.
In the session on predatory species, Ernesto Azzurro from Università Politecnica delle Marche and Jane Behrens from the National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark talked about the impacts of invasive species respectively in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea. Both speakers discussed the importance of
monitoring the species and the challenge of converting them into a valuable resource. A suggestion that was easy to remember was “If you can’t beat them, eat them!” Finally, Antanas Kontautas from the Marine Research Institute of Klaipeda University analysed the impact that cormorant populations have on aquaculture production in Lithuania and suggested ways of monitoring them and controlling the population size.
On the second day, participants were taken on a field trip to Vasaknos, a local fish farm. The visit was organised by Eurofish in collaboration with the National
Association of Aquaculture and Fish Products Producers in Lithuania. Vasaknos focuses on farming five fish species carp, pike, grass carp, trout, and sturgeon that are reared in ponds and pools both in closed and open environments. Total yearly production is around 500 tonnes. During the visit participants had the opportunity to ask questions about the processes conducted on the farm, the company’s markets, and the impact of spiralling energy prices. At the end of the visit the participants were invited to taste a selection of smoked and marinated fish products prepared by the Vasaknos group and other local producers.
High quality, product variety, and timely delivery are key values for Hørkram Foodservice
One of the biggest players on the Danish food service market is Hørkram Foodservice, a company that supplies a variety of customers from firms large and small, through institutions, to café’s, restaurants, and bakeries. With two logistics centres, in Aarhus (Jutland) and in Sorø (Zealand) respectively, Hørkram is well-positioned to make timely deliveries around the country. The assortment of products it can offer include fruit and vegetables, fish and meat from its own production, drinks, and non-food items. Lenni Jess Hansen, Hørkram’s head of production, mentions here his company’s response to some of the trends that are affecting the food sourcing and delivery industry.
Has fish and seafood consumption stayed fairly stable over the last five years? Have you noticed any trends in the demand for seafood over the years, for example the substitution of meat products with fish products? Are some seafood products becoming more popular than others?
We produce approx. 40-50 tons of fish per week, which fully meets our expectations at this time. Of course, there has been a decline due to Covid-19, but we are back on track and producing more than we did in 2019. A boost due to the substitution of meat products is, in my opinion, minimal. I don’t think the trends have changed. If I had to name a product that is progressing, it would be oysters. We are experiencing a boost in sales of almost all our different varieties.
In relation to the seafood segment what would Hørkram like seafood suppliers to do better, in terms, for example, of innovation? Why would this be important for Hørkram?
The environment is important to both Hørkram and our customers. Sustainable fishing plays a big role with the consumer, so the selection of products certified to the MSC (Marine Stewardship
Council) standard should be expanded.
There has been a lot of talk about using small oily fish (sprats, sardines, anchovies) for human consumption as they are associated with health benefits and low carbon footprints. Eating these fish is common in southern Europe but in the north, they are mainly used to produce fishmeal and fish oil. If Hørkram were to offer these species to the customer, how would Hørkram do this?
The idea is fine, but it is demand that creates the supply—and here the customer is in control. In my opinion there is no point in trying to push a product on the customers, it probably does more harm than good.
How much does Hørkram source from the UK in terms of fish products and what was the impact of Brexit on this supply?
The impact has been very small. We get the vast majority of our incoming goods from Scandinavia and Southern Europe.
The war in Ukraine has had a particular impact on food commodities like cereals and oilseeds reducing the supply,
pushing up prices and prompting other exporters of these products to restrict their exports. In a situation like this how does Hørkram react to ensure that it can continue to deliver to its customers? If the war drags on, how do you think
it will affect Hørkram’s business?
I don’t think either the war or inflation will have a crucial impact, we have a broad customer segment which means that even if some sectors are affected,
we will be able to work with those that aren’t.
Sustainability has become an important part of any business activity. How do you define sustainability at Hørkram? As a food service company how do you ensure the sustainability both of the food products you supply as well as of your operations?
We maintain and improve our sustainability, i.e. by setting high demands for our suppliers to live up to. In our operation, it is about protecting the environment as much as possible, and this is an ongoing optimization. Our range of sustainable products is growing rapidly, both due to high demand, but also because we believe it is the future of the industry.
Food waste is a huge concern in Denmark where about 540,000 tonnes of food are lost annually. Of this, some 300,000 tonnes are from primary production, the food industry, retail, and food service. What measures does Hørkram take to reduce the levels of food waste in its
own operations and those of its suppliers?
We are very well aware of the problem and carry out continuous optimizations in the area. Overall, we have committed to reducing our food waste by 50 by 2030. One initiative in the area is our spot list. As the expiry date of a product approaches, it is placed on a spot list in our webshop, which makes it possible for our more than 9,500 customers to buy the product at a reduced price. Moreover, we have created a staff “supermarket” which gives our staff the opportunity to buy goods that are close to expiry at favorable prices and therefore cannot be sold to our customers and with 1,000 employees, it has been very effective.
The use of plastic packaging in the food industry helps to extend the shelf life of food and thereby decrease the volume of food waste. However, plastic is also a significant source of pollution on land and in the sea. How does Hørkram reconcile these two conflicting roles that plastic plays? What initiatives has Hørkram taken to reduce
the use of plastic? And where does Hørkram foresee changes within packaging in the future?
The fish industry’s standard packaging form is expanded polystyrene (eps) boxes which are definitely not good for the environment. In the production at Hørkram Sorø, we use plastic, rather than eps— which is the lesser of two evils, in my opinion. Our plastic trays are sealed with a protective atmosphere which eliminates the need for crushed ice. Our largest packaging tray weighs 230 g, it can contain up to 10 kg of fish. A standard flamingo box with crushed ice, for the same content, weighs 5 kg and the durability is the same.
Vegetarianism, veganism, flexitarianism are among the food consumption habits that are increasing in popularity among consumers. Does Hørkram also notice these developments among its customers? How important are these trends in terms of numbers and do you think they will gradually become more mainstream? What are the long-term implications for the food service sector? Does
Hørkram see a difference in the mentioned consumer segments as for levels of spending and quality requirements?
We are still at a level that does not affect us deeply, but in the long term it will become a factor that will take up more space. We will follow developments closely and adapt accordingly.
What are the advantages that Hørkram offers a customer compared to a wholesaler like Inco Cash and Carry (apart from the fact that Hørkram distributes directly to the customer)?
We have consultants who help customers fully meet their needs. We have an award-winning webshop that is extremely user-friendly. Quality is in the driver’s seat, so the customer can feel confident when having delicate goods such as vegetables, meat, and fish delivered from us. Food safety is a top priority for us, and we ensure that the integrity of the cold chain for all products is maintained from order to delivery. We also regularly adapt the product selection to our customers’ needs.
29 November – 2 December 2022
World Aquaculture Singapore 2022
Singapore mario@marevent.com https://www.was.org/meeting/code/WA2020
12-14 March 2023
Seafood Expo North America Boston, USA Tel.: +1 207 842 5590 sales-na@seafoodexpo.com https://www.seafoodexpo.com/north-america/
15-16 February 2023
AquaFarm Pordenone, Italy
Tel.: +39 0434 232 111 pdeodorico@fierapordenone.it https://www.aquafarm.show/en/
15-17 February 2023
India International Seafood Show Kolkata, West Bengal, India Tel.: +91 33 2234 5908 ro@mpeda.gov.in https://www.indianseafoodexpo.com/
28-30 March 2023
AquaFuture Spain Santiago de Compostela okeventos.juan@gmail.com https://en.aquafuturespain.com/
11-13 September 2023
Seafood Expo Asia
Singapore Tel.: +1 207 842 5590 sales-asia@seafoodexpo.com www.seafoodexpo.com/asia/
18-21 September 2023
Aquaculture Europe Vienna, Austria mario@marevent.com www.aquaeas.org
23-26 February 2023
Aquaculture America New Orleans, Louisiana, USA mario@marevent.com https://www.was.org/meeting/code/AA2023
7-9 March 2023
North Atlantic Seafood Forum Bergen, Norway Tel.: +47 481 14 196 andre@nor-seafood.no https://nor-seafood.com/
25-27 April 2023
Seafood Expo Global Barcelona, Spain Tel.: +1 207 842 5590 sales-global@seafoodexpo.com www.seafoodexpo.com
29 May - 1 June 2023
World Aquaculture Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia mario@marevent.com https://www.was.org/meeting/code/WA2023
22-24 August 2023
Aqua Nor
Trondheim, Norway Tel.: +47 73 56 86 40 post@nor-fishing.no https://aquanor.no/en/
3-5 October 2023
Conxemar Vigo, Spain Tel.: +34 986 433351 conxemar@conxemar.com https://conxemar.com/es/feria-conxemar-2023
10-12 October 2023
DanFish
Aalborg, Denmark +45 99 35 55 18 ehe@akkc.dk danfish.com
www.eurofish.dk
