Fish Farmer VOLUME 39
NUMBER 12
DECEMBER 2016
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MAGIC CIRCLE
MONEY MATTERS
SALMON RUN
STUNNING SYSTEMS
Rearing lumpfish in Arctic research station
Local finance for Scottish fish farmers
How one man restored Highland river’s stocks
Putting welfare at the heart of harvesting
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Contents 4-15 News
What’s happening in aquaculture in the UK and around the world JENNY HJUL – EDITOR
Happy Christmas
W
e end this year as we started it, with a focus on the latest research into cleaner fish, from our own scientists in Scotland to Lofoten in the Arctic Circle. For the salmon industry at least, 2016 has seen challenges and opportunities, highs (in terms of record prices and healthy investment) and lows (the usual suspects, sea lice and disease). But it’s hard not to be upbeat in an industry that continues to expand globally, with 20-fold growth in countries such as Nigeria in the past two decades, according to the FAO, and rapid development in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in Chile, Indonesia, Norway and Vietnam. Growth is the catchword in Scottish aquaculture, too, and the sector can look forward to the New Year with a spring in its step, after its own proposals to double production were welcomed by the devolved government. We will all be watching closely to see how these plans are put into action in the coming months. In the meantime, we bring the latest news from the extraordinary restocking programme that has changed the fortunes of the River Carron. And we talk to those in the financial services field who reflect the current confidence in the industry. Finally, everyone at Fish Farmer would like to thank you, our readers, contributors and advertisers, for supporting the magazine this year, and we wish you a very merry Christmas.
16 News extra Vision 2030
Contents – Editor’s Welcome
35 Finance
Introduction
36-37 Building business Bank of Scotland
17 BTA
Doug McLeod
18-19 Comment
38-43 Risk strategy
20-21 ASSG
48-51 Cleaner fish
Phil Thomas
Janet Brown
Insuring aquaculture
Norway
52-53 SAMS Modelling
22-23 Comment
54-55 Humane harvesting Jeff Lines
Martin Jaffa
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Editorial Advisory Board: Steve Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith and Jim Treasurer Editor: Jenny Hjul Designer: Andrew Balahura Advertising Manager: William Dowds wdowds@fishupdate.com Advertising Executive: Dave Edler dedler@fishupdate.com Publisher: Alister Bennett
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Cover: Arctic Cleanerfish in Lofoten, Norway.
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Focus on freshwater
26-29 Taking stock Bob Kindness
30-33 Land survey Future of RAS
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24-25 SSPO
Find all you need for the industry
34 Food economy
66 Opinion
By Nick Joy
Scottish success
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United Kingdom News
NEWS...
Salmon investment a ‘vote of confidence’ INVESTMENT in salmon farming rose by 16 per cent to £63.1 million during 2015, according to the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation’s latest economic report. The investment signals a significant vote of confidence in the long-term sustainability of the sector, said the SSPO. Introducing the findings, Rural Economy Minister Fergus Ewing said: ‘This government is committed
Above: Economic benefits
to driving forward the rural economy, building growth across
Scotland’s rural and coastal communities, and salmon aquacul-
ture and its service and supply chain have a key role to play. ‘It sustains employment and provides investment, particularly in some of Scotland’s most remote coastal communities, creating new jobs.’ The Highlands and Islands benefit par-
ticularly from salmon farming with total gross pay rising by 12 per cent to a total of £71 million. More than 90 per cent of this is paid out in rural Scotland, representing significant prosperity for remote communities. Wider economic benefits are also evident, said the SSPO, with more than 2300 companies in the Highlands and Islands doing business with salmon farming companies. From equipment suppliers to hotels the total expenditure in the Highlands and Islands reached £147 million. There are more full-time jobs and fewer seasonal or part time positions,
indicating long-term employment and better career prospects. Companies continue their commitment to training, said the SSPO, with 91 salmon farming workers involved in modern apprenticeships or National Progression Awards. While currency issues during the year affected exports, market confidence returned this year and positive export figures for 2016 are anticipated early next year. Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of the SSPO, said: ‘I’m delighted that the results in this report continue to emphasise how important salmon farming is to Scotland’s food industry and the wider economy.’
Chefs’ showcase THE Scottish Salmon Challenge returned to the Scottish Chefs Conference last month to give the newest generation of culinary talent the chance to show off their skills in preparing, cooking and serving salmon. Eight catering students were selected from five local colleges to compete against their peers
in front of an expert audience, including leading chef Albert Roux, at the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton in Edinburgh. The winner’s award went to Craig Trewern from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). Below: Winner Craig Trewern
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05/12/2016 12:17:44
All the latest industry news from the UK
Biological issues give SSC challenging Q3 THE Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) reported a stable third quarter, with revenues up on the same period last year to £25.1 million (Q3 2015: £18 million) on harvested volumes of 5,486 tonnes (Q3 2015: 5,130 tonnes). Market prices remained strong but the company said ‘unprecedented mortalities and biological challenges’ impacted on expected harvest volumes, with a lower mean weight of fish harvested. As a result, operating costs increased and earnings dipped, with exceptional costs resulting in an EBITDA loss of £1.4 million. The company commissioned a site at Maragay Mor in the Hebrides during the quarter, which will contribute an additional 2,000 tonnes of consent. Work is also progressing at a new harvest station at Ardyne in Argyll and Bute, which will deliver operational efficiencies. Capital investment in the quarter includes the commitment to purchase three new boats to service the company’s northern sites. Alongside the new well boat contract, these investments will allow greater capacity and flexibility, said the SSC, maximising operational efficiencies and increasing speed to market. Craig Anderson, SSC managing director, said: ‘This quarter has been challenging and, like many other operators in the sector, results have been
impacted by biological issues. ‘We have been working for some time to develop effective long term solutions to tackle these industry wide issues, such as the use of cleaner fish to combat sea lice. ‘In the shorter term, we are using a range of established best practice methods to manage the situation.
‘We remain focused on growing our business and developing our export markets to enable us to capitalise on the continued demand for premium Scottish salmon. ‘Maragay Mor, our new site in the Hebrides, has been commissioned and is an important element in delivering our strategy of long term sustainable growth.’
Top aquaculture line-up for London health summit
British Made Cage Nets In Nylon & Dyneema Predator Exclusion Nets Anti Foul Coatings Ropes - Large Stock All Sizes AQUACULTURE is to be included for the first time in the annual Animal Health Investment Forum, which is being held in London in February. Senior industry figures have agreed to take part in the meeting, to address issues such as sustainability in aquaculture. Marine Harvest CEO
Alf-Helge Aarskog, Skretting managing director Steven Rafferty and Pharmaq CEO Morten Nordstad will take part in a panel discussion, chaired by Avrim Lazar, director general of the Global Salmon Initiative. Also booked to speak at the event are Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco, who will
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tackle the challenges of antibiotic resistance, and Hans Dittrich, vice president of MSD Animal Health. The two-day forum offers networking opportunities and operates a scheme of pre-scheduled private meetings. The venue is the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair, and the dates are February 22-23, 2017.
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United Kingdom News
Kames wins Skye farm appeal KAMES Fish Farming can go ahead with its scheme for a 12-cage salmon and trout farm in a sea loch off Skye after winning a planning appeal. The Oban based company had initially had its application for the farm, on Loch Pooltiel, unanimously rejected by a Highland Council planning committee last October after it attracted 77 objections. But Kames, which has been in the business for more than 40 years, successfully appealed to the government’s Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA). The council’s
Above: Loch Pooltiel,
objection to the scheme was led by SNP councillor Craig
Fraser who echoed concerns raised by Skye District Salmon
First forum for seaweed sector
XXXX
THE first ever Scottish Seaweed Industry Association (SSIA) conference was held in Oban last month. Sponsored by the Crown Estate, the theme for the inaugural event, which attracted about 80 delegates, was the place of seaweed in the food and drink chain. There were presentations from Faroese company Ocean Rainforest, Scotland Food and Drink, Friend of the Sea, Marine Scotland, and Food Standards Scotland among others, before a panel discussion chaired by Alex Adrian of the Crown Estate. The association was formed two years ago and has 12 members, including seaweed cultivators, wild harvesters, academics and biotech companies. It is chaired by Walter Speirs, who is well known in the shellfish industry and was one of the founding members of the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers. Success story: Page 34
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Fishery Board about the threat to wild fish of sea lice, pollution
and escapes of caged fish during storms. There were also
concerns about the farm’s effect on tourism in the area and its impact on a nearby reef, which is a feeding ground for whales, basking sharks and dophins. But DPEA reporter Allison Coard found that, while there would be localised impacts on the landscape and potentially on wild fish, they could be controlled by planning conditions. ‘Appropriately sited and managed fish farms co-exist with tourism in other scenic locations and I find nothing sufficient to demonstrate that visitor numbers would decline,’ she said.
New well boat for Grieg GRIEG Seafood Shetland is due to take delivery of a new wellboat this month. The Martin Sæle, being built in Spain by Salmon Star, is 49.75m long, with a beam of 12.6m, and has a 1,000m3 tank capacity. It is the first wellboat to be constructed at the Spanish yard, but Salmon Star’s CEO, Svein Martin Sæle, has been in the wellboat business for more than 30 years. The new boat has UV and filters which comply with the
latest lice treatment regulation, as well as a peroxide unit, and can also be used for smolt transfers and even for harvesting operations. It also comes with a retractable side thruster in the front of the ship, which can turn 360 degrees when it is down, to help manoeuvre the vessel, as well as propel it in an emergency, and it can take the ship up to six knots, which offers an extra safety aspect both for the boat’s crew and the fish.
Svein Martin currently owns two wellboats. The other, the Gerda Sæle, was built in 2000 and started working in Shetland in 2006 and is also currently contracted out to Grieg in Shetland. ‘When the new boat arrives, the Gerda Sæle is going to return to Norway to have two Optilicers installed,’ Svein Martin reportedly said. ‘It should be back in Shetland by the end of January, and it can then be used as a multi-purpose vessel.’
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05/12/2016 12:18:27
All the latest industry news from the UK
UK debut for Prime algae ingredient A WHOLE algae based feed ingredient rich in omega 3 was launched on to the UK market last month to address the decrease in fatty acids in salmon diets. American firm TerraVia Holdings developed the product – AlgaPrime – in conjunction with Bunge Ltd, and claim it provides a sustainable, scalable and economically viable source of omega 3, as an alternative to fish oil and fishmeal. A recent study by Stirling University revealed that the amount of omega 3 fatty acid in farmed salmon in the UK has decreased by 50 per cent in the past 10 years, thus requiring consumers to eat double the portion of salmon to obtain the same amount of the healthy nutrient. This reduction is believed to be largely due to changes in the way salmon are fed, as well as declining worldwide stocks of small oily fish, which have been a primary contributor of omega 3 fat in fish feed. ‘Using AlgaPrime DHA fed salmon could help arrest and reverse the decline in omega 3s in farmed salmon,’ said Dr Walter Rakitsky, senior vice president of emerging business at TerraVia. ‘AlgaPrime DHA contains approximately three times the level of DHA compared to fish oil. One tonne of AlgaPrime DHA is the
equivalent of saving up to 40 tonnes of wild caught fish from our oceans on a DHA basis. ‘In addition, AlgaPrime DHA can help address consumer and retailer demand for responsibly sourced fish.’ AlgaPrime is currently being made at TerraVia and Bunge’s joint venture facility in Brazil. Based on sugarcane feedstock, the ingredient has a lower carbon and water footprint and higher yield per hectare than DHA produced from most other non-marine sources, say the companies. TerraVia, headquartered in San Francisco, is a plant based food, nutrition and specialty ingredients company that harnesses the power of algae.
Above: New feed ingredient
Western Isles welcome salmon charter
SALMON farmers’ efforts to engage with and invest in their local communities have been praised by the leader of the Western Isles council. The Community Engagement Charter, launched by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) during a visit to Lewis Sports Centre in November, aims to formalise companies’ relationship with the regions they farm in. Cllr Angus Campbell (third from right) learned more about the Community Engagement Charter when he met SSPO chair Anne MacColl (second right)and David Taylor (second left), production manager north of the Scottish Salmon Company, which hosted the visit – as well as athletes from the Western Isles Island Games Association. Campbell said: ‘Aquaculture is a major employer in the islands. It is to be welcomed that the industry wants to work with local communities.’
‘So much to sea’ in Shetland SEAFOOD played a starring role in Shetland’s annual Food Fair with leading seafood organisations becoming major sponsors for the first time. The Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation Shetland, Seafood Shetland and Cooke Aquaculture Scotland were behind the event, which ran for three days in Lerwick. Under the ‘So Much to Sea’ banner, they mounted an industry exhibition and film, seafood cookery demonstrations and a ‘fish shop’ selling the best local fish and shellfish. A range of newly produced recipe leaflets, featuring well-known local chefs and food enthusiasts, were made available to fair-goers to help them create their own fish suppers. Chairman of the Master Chefs of Great Britain (MCGB) George McIvor and current honorary vice-president Bill Bryce cooked up some of Shetland’s finest seafood during the event. David Sandison (pictured), general manager of Scottish Salmon
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Producers’ Organisation Shetland said: ‘We often take for granted the quality of the produce on our doorstep and it is useful to rediscover, through the eyes of others, just how fortunate we are to have direct access to food that is coveted by food connoisseurs throughout the world.’ Ruth Henderson, chief executive of Seafood Shetland, said: ‘Shetland’s seafood sector is the largest contributor to the isles’ economy, supplying farmed and caught fish and shellfish all over the world. We’re proud to be supporting the growth of this important event.’ Cooke Aquaculture Scotland managing director Colin Blair said: ‘As a company at the forefront of high quality salmon production in the northern-most farming region in the UK, we wanted to contribute actively to this important event for Shetland. ‘The Shetland Food Fair plays a vital role in the promotion of all that’s great about Shetland food and drink – and, most importantly, the companies behind the products.’
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European News
NEWS...
Go ahead for Marine Harvest ‘egg’ MARINE Harvest Group’s ‘egg’ concept has been approved by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, the company announced last month. The new enclosed technology qualifies in general for the development licences scheme and the directorate may award four development licences for the project. The technology, created by Hauge Aqua, is based on a 44m high and 33m wide structure, 90 per cent of which will be submerged. It will be able to accommodate
1,000 tonnes of salmon. Hauge Aqua claims its system will help combat the problem of sea lice and dramatically reduce infection. It will also
reduce the chance of escapes, enable more accurate feeding, reduce nutrient discharges and thus increase production per site.
supported by existing infrastructure, such as feed barges, said Hauge Aqua. Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO of Marine Harvest, said when applying for the licences: ‘The egg represents a new direction, and is a leap in the development of closed systems. To justify the investment costs, as well as to verify the technology’s The portion of the ‘egg’ that is above water competitiveness and performance, largeis filled with air. The scale tests are vital. structure will replace ‘It is therefore very conventional circular important that our net pens but will be
application is granted in its entirety. If we succeed, it will be a quantum leap for the entire industry,’ Marine Harvest applied for 14 development licences in relation to the concept in February. It has applied for 34 development licences in total, for four different concepts The company said it will continue to work with the authorities, and hopes it will reach a final conclusion soon, in order for the egg project to commence.
Nordlaks builds hatchery ‘for Danes launch new fishmeal alternative the future’ A BIOTECH company NORWEGIAN salmon farmer Nordlaks is constructing a NOK 500 million hatchery which will more than double the size of its smolts. The hatchery, in Hamaroy, is being built through Nordlaks subsidiary Smolten, and will increase juveniles from 100g to 250-500g by the time they leave the freshwater facility. ‘We are building for the future,’ said Smolten CEO Eirik Welde, of the 14,000 sq m plant that is due to be completed in 2019. The producer aims to stock its smolts into traditional sea cages until they reach 1kg, before moving them into ‘Ocean Farms’ – 430m long vessels that can be situated in exposed locations. The proposal to build Ocean Farms is one of several Norwegian aquaculture innovations currently waiting approval from Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries.
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in Denmark opened its first production facility in November, with the aim of producing a protein to rival fishmeal in feed. Unibio has developed advanced technology for converting natural gas into a highly concentrated protein for sustainable food production, targeting the animal compound feed markets. Called UniProtein, it benefits from superior nutritional content and product characteristics, says the company. The protein-rich biomass (72.9 per cent protein) can be used as a direct supplement, and has been approved by the EU as an ingredient in animal feed.
It has been tested as a feed for salmon, as well as for poultry, pigs and calves, with positive results in terms of acceptance and growth rates. The factory, based in Kalundborg, was officially opened on November 21 by HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark. Henrik Busch-Larsen, CEO of Unibio, said: ‘The crucial advantage of UniProtein
is that the technology is scalable and environmentally friendly compared with fishmeal and soy protein. ‘We can produce natural protein in a plant using methane gas, and therefore the production of UniProtein is not limited by fishing quotas or the use of pesticides, and it is weather independent. ‘Unibio’s technol-
ogy thus provides animal feed producers access to a sustainable protein source of very high quality. ‘We now own the most up-to-date technology in the field of bacterial fermentation, the most novel technology used to convert methane into protein, and we have a strong cooperation with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).’
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 12:29:22
All the latest industry news from Europe
Leroy Q3 results hit historic high THE Norwegian seafood and fish farming group Leroy announced record profits for the third quarter of 2016. The company, which owns Scottish Sea Farms, posted an operating profit before fair value adjustment of biomass of NOK 481 million, compared with NOK 253 million during the same period last year.
This is equivalent to operating profit before biomass adjustment of NOK 15.2 per kg compared with NOK 6.2 per kg in the same period last year. CEO Henning Beltestad said: ‘Lerøy Seafood Group can report their highest revenue and highest operating profit as of the third quarter throughout the group’s history. ‘We are delighted with
such a great result. It has not been an easy quarter. We have experienced a number of biological challenges and recorded lower average weights than expected and higher costs than normal. ‘With a positive market, the group chose to harvest a substantial volume of fish throughout Q2 2016, entering the third quarter with 10 per cent less biomass
than in the same period in 2015. ‘As a result, the group has had much more flexibility in terms of the timing of release from stock throughout the quarter. Based on the group’s market analyses, a somewhat limited volume has been harvested in the quarter, and the group has focused on accumulating biomass. ‘This strategy to har-
vest a lower volume in the quarter, combined with the higher contract share in the quarter, has resulted in lower prices realised.’
Earlier this year Leroy considerably expanded its activities by acquiring Havfisk, the Norwegian trawler company.
Grieg plans to increase production ANOTHER Norwegian salmon farmer has produced impressive results for the third quarter of this year. Grieg Seafood says its EBIT for the three month period (before biomass fair value adjustment) was NOK 186 million against a loss of NOK
44 million for the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter totalled NOK 1,553 million, an increase of 25 per cent on Q3 2015. The harvested volume during Q3 was 13,411 tonnes against 19,480 tonnes for the corresponding period last
year. The company said there were lower than expected production volumes in Shetland and British Columbia, Canada, during the period. With the results came the announcement that Grieg plans to increase production by 10 per
cent between 2017 and 2019 and is applying for 10 development licences in Rogland in order to secure this. It also disclosed that it is planning to use offshore technology ‘in close collaboration with both farmed and oil related technology suppliers’.
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European News
Farmers invited to ‘smart’ workshop THE AquaSmart consortium is staging a data analytics workshop in Dublin on December 16 for the fish farming community. The AquaSmart project is about enhancing innovation capacity within the sector, by helping companies to transform captured data into knowledge and use this knowledge to improve performance, claims the Irish company. According to Nir Tzohari, production manager at Ardag Ashdod in Israel, one of the drivers of the project: ‘With AquaSmart we can really dig into the data and we can easily analyse the data and figures
and immediately thereafter to take more informed decisions and make predictions.’ He said he believes the technology will move the industry forward by enabling all farms, from big enterprises to small, to make an Above: Create a model accurate analysis and their relationship through all the growagainst the perforout stages. mances in a very clear The workshop, and easy manner. which is free to ‘In doing so, attend, will introduce AquaSmart helps us data analytics to fish to put the spotfarmers, demonstrate light on the points the platform and of our operations provide details on where treatment and business cases for the improvement are fish farming communeeded. nity. The platform will ‘Moreover, all of this be made available to gives us the opportu- use free for a limited nity to create a model period.
Poland first with ASC land based salmon POLISH aquaculture producer Jurassic Salmon has become the first land based salmon farm to achieve ASC certification. Based near Janowo, West Pomerania, Jurassic Salmon has been operating since 2013. It is the world’s first fully organic Atlantic salmon farm, using thermal water from 150 million years ago. Its successful ASC audit was undertaken by certification specialists Acoura. Michal Kowalski, Jurassic Salmon’s production manager, said: ‘We have a number of customers
interested in ASC certified fish and we feel being certified will be of benefit to us. ‘The certification process itself was also useful as it helped us to identify areas of our production process we could improve upon.’ Martin Gill, Acoura Marine’s managing director, said: ‘Jurassic Salmon are an innovative and important producer. It’s becoming increasingly clear that retailers and processors are looking for ASC certification and I have no doubts that Jurassic Salmon will see increased demand for their fish because of their audit.’
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05/12/2016 12:32:50
All the latest industry news from Europe
Finland targets Russian market THE Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce (FRCC) is organising a trade fair in St Petersburg in April 2017 to promote the aquaculture businesses of both countries. Russia is developing its aquaculture sector not only to replace the lost fish imports caused by the food embargo, in place since August 2014, but also to increase its share of domestic fish production. To support the development of the industry – which aims to grow from 155,300 tonnes in 2013 to 315,000 tonnes by 2020 - the Russian ministry of agriculture approved a federal programme in January 2015 for commercial aquaculture. The programme covers the years 2015 -2020 and is being financed from the federal budget to the tune of more than 50 million euros a year. Russia’s aquaculture industry has shown signs of growth, with production volumes increasing by 10 per cent between 2013 and 2014.
In Karelia, the regional industry development plan for 20182020 has set a goal for 20 new fish farms for the production of salmon and trout, with annual production of 30,000 tonnes for trout and 70,000 tonnes for salmon. And Russian Aquaculture, one of Russia’s largest seafood producers, is planning to invest 184.2 million euros in fish farming by 2020, enabling production four times bigger than today. However, Russian fish farming facilities and equipment are outdated and there is a lack of qualified staff. There are investment and development needs throughout the whole value chain. Finnish aquaculture companies have expertise and environment oriented fish research, high quality raw materials and new technology. Finnish industry can supply fish feeds, seeds and Tower Burj Khalifa fertilised eggs, pond manage- Eiffel technologies, such as recirculatm aquaculture systems, solu828 m ment and fish husbandry and fish 324ing farming equipment. tions for polluted and wastewater New energy efficient and clean treatment and techniques to
All delivered Steinsvikfish Barges stacked restore endangered species m can be offered to the1800 Russian market. Also, aquaculture specialist education is available.
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05/12/2016 12:37:22
World News
NEWS...
Memphis home for FeedKind facility
Above: Alan Shaw
AN alternative feed ingredient produced from methane gas is to go into commercial production in the US, at Cargill’s site in Tennessee. FeedKind, which
has been trialled in Redcar, Teesside, by US company Calysta, was launched at a ceremony at the English R&D and market introduction facility in September.
Now Cargill and Calysta plan to invest in the creation of the world’s largest gas fermentation facility in Memphis, Tennessee. The facility is expected to come online in
late 2018, producing up to 20,000 tonnes per year of FeedKind protein initially and expanding up to 200,000 tonnes per year when operating at full capacity.
Upon completion of the plant, the new venture expects to hire 75 permanent employees and expand to 160 people when the plant is at full ramp-up. FeedKind protein is a new feed ingredient initially targeted as an alternative to fishmeal for the aquaculture industry. It is produced using the world’s only commercially validated gas fermentation process. Cargill and Calysta jointly will be marketing FeedKind protein globally. Alan Shaw, president and CEO of Calysta, said: ‘With a proven and proprietary fer-
mentation platform, Calysta is introducing a scalable and disruptive protein source critical to meeting the needs of a growing global population. ‘Partnering with Cargill, a leader in fermentation and protein production, and others to invest in the establishment of the venture as the first US manufacturing plant to commercially produce FeedKind protein, significantly accelerates FeedKind protein’s launch in the aquaculture industry at commercial scale. ‘This venture is an important first step to deploying this technology globally.’
Fly farm wins $17.5m further funding SOUTH African based AgriProtein, which makes feed from black soldier flies, has secured US$17.5 million of further capital from key strategic partners to fund expansion into Europe, North and South America and Asia, it announced last month The new investment values the company at more than $117 million, making it the most valuable fly farming business in the world. The funding enables AgriProtein to meet growing demand from animal feed suppliers for a natural and cost-effective alternative to fishmeal, widely used in the poultry and fish farming industries. Said co-founder Jason Drew: ‘Our fly larvae product is already enjoyed by our consumers - the millions of happy chickens and fish around the world - for whom it’s a natural source of protein. ‘The new funding demonstrates a growing appetite for fly farming in the global investment community, helping
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us pursue our mission to find a better way to feed the world.’ AgriProtein produces and licenses MagMeal, a high-protein feed made from dried, milled and de-fatted larvae produced by black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) fed on existing organic waste derived from municipal and other industrial waste partners.
Using its army of 8.5 billion flies, it can now recycle 250 tonnes of waste per day, boosting larvae production to 50 tonnes per day. AgriProtein was founded in 2008 and the product was developed, trialled and proven in the lab between 2008 and 2010. The breakthrough came in 2011, when the firm demonstrated it could manufacture at volume, producing 100kg per day at its demonstration plant. The next challenge was to further increase scale while reducing costs to make the product commercially competitive. This was achieved in 2015 in AgriProtein’s first 9,000sq m factory in Cape Town. Since then, the company has allocated several international licences to use its technology in cities in Australia, Asia, Europe, the US and China. AgriProtein is actively seeking further investment to take it to its next stage of growth.
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 12:44:20
All the latest industry news from around the world
BioMar joint venture buys feed firm in China BioMar Group’s joint venture in China, BioMar-Tongwei Biotech (Wuxi), has acquired 100 per cent of the shares in the fish feed company Haiwei. Carlos Diaz, CEO of the BioMar Group, said the acquisition fits perfectly with BioMar’s strategic focus on the top end of the Chinese aquaculture market. ‘We are very pleased to have concluded this agreement on behalf of BioMar-Tongwei. Haiwei has a very good reputation among fish farmers and we will continue to build on the Haiwei brand and carry on with the company set-up. ‘We are confident that BioMar can contribute to the further development of
Haiwei and continue their success through process knowledge, R&D methodology, and continuous improvement of feed recipes.’ Haiwei, situated in the south of China, was owned by Tongwei Co, BioMar’s joint venture partner in China. Tongwei concluded a successful turnaround of Haiwei and today the company is a leading supplier of feed to high value fish species, such as Japanese sea bass, in southern China. Diaz said the acquisition is in line with BioMar’s global strategy: ‘The acquisition is an important initiative, consistent with our growth strategy in core markets as well as within new species
and geographies. ‘In this regard, this is also an important step for our Emerging Markets Division, which plays a significant role supporting the strategy, securing growth for BioMar and building up new markets, integrating acquisitions, and servicing new species.’ Geographically, the acquisition of Haiwei is in line with BioMar’s ambitions for the joint venture in China due to its location in the south of the country, near Macau, in an important aquaculture region. The acquisition will add more than 60,000 tonnes of volume to BioMar’s Chinese joint venture company. ‘Since the announcement of the joint venture between BioMar
NZ quake shakes fish farmers
Above: Minimal damage
THE powerful earthquakes that hit New Zealand’s South Island last month reportedly caused minor damage to one of New Zealand King Salmon’s hatcheries. The earthquake, which measured 7.8, struck Kaikoura, 55 miles north-east of Christchurch. It triggered waves of eight feet above usual tide levels, the highest seen in 38 years, according to Weather Watch New Zealand. New Zealand King Salmon
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World News.indd 13
Above: Carlos Diaz (right) seals the deal with Tongwei CEO Guo Yizhong
Group and Tongwei Co to establish a feed company in China, the shared project has had a very positive development,’ said Diaz. ‘There is continuous collaboration with our partner and we are working to bring high
performance feeds to the Chinese market. ‘BioMar fish feed is already being produced in Chengdu in South Central China and a new factory is being built in Wuxi area, near to Shanghai, with an initial capacity of 50,000
tonnes with a possibility for expansion to 100,000 tonnes in the future.’ The construction of the BioMar-Tongwei plant in Wuxi is in progress and is expected to start operations in the second half of 2017.
Salmon farm an Asian first SOUTH Korea became the first Asian country to succeed in salmon farming when a local fishing company brought 500 tonnes of salmon farmed at a seawater cage off the country’s east coast to market in November. Kim Sung-wook, an official of Donghae STF, said the farmed salmon would be supplied to outlets of the country’s major discount store chains and raw fish restaurants, reported Yonhap News Agency. Donghae STF has successfully farmed salmon at a seawater cage in waters off Goseong, about 170km east of Seoul. The move, Seoul officials said, could pave the way for mass production of the fish. The salmon farming started at freshwater fish farms, where salmon eggs were hatched into fry before growing into 200 to 400g young salmon. Then the farmed salmon were transported to the sea cage where they grew to 4 to 5kg. Calls to farm the fish have grown in South Korea in recent years amid rising popularity of salmon.
said its Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel farms had been evacuated due to tsunami warnings and harvest operations were postponed. There had been some minor damage and loss of fish at its backup hatchery at Waiau, the company said. ‘There has been no damage noted to processing and storage facilities in Nelson, or our two main hatcheries in Tentburn and Takaka,’ said a spokesman.
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05/12/2016 12:44:42
World News
Vietnam to fill Russian seafood gap VIETNAM says it is working to increase fish exports to Russia, hoping to fill some of the gap left by the Western ban on seafood shipments following the Ukraine crisis. The embargo has left Russia without some of its favourite fish, such as farmed Norwegian salmon and North Atlantic cod and mackerel. As a result, fish consumption by Russians has dropped markedly. So far there is little sign of the ban being lifted, despite moves to do this by some EU countries. Now Vietnam’s seafood exporters, says the news service VietnamBridge.net, have been stepping up
supplies of pangasius to Russia since the embargo and are poised to send even more fish. The country’s largest pangasius catfish producer, Hung Vuong, has announced it will be moving some of its operations into Russia through the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake of Russian Fish Joint Stock Company. The move, says Hung Vuong, is aimed at gaining market share and improving levels and quality of Alaskan pollock in Russia. A free trade agreement between Vietnam and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), that came into effect in October, is expected to assist Vietnamese companies in competing on a level playing field
Above: Market share
in the Russian market through the removal of tariffs (which are currently at 5.63 per cent) and other trade barriers. The EAEU comprises
the five countries of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Fish and seafood exports to the EAEU reached US $51.87
million for the eight months leading up to this September. VietnamBridge says the local fish and seafood industry is now hoping to catch a large
share of the Russian market over the next few years, though admittedly the challenges in accomplishing that task are daunting, it reported.
BC farmers aid wild salmon research Chile approves in-feed lice treatment CANADIAN salmon farmers are helping to fund further research to improve understanding of wild stocks and the coastal environment. The BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) Marine Environmental Research Programme (MERP) is now accepting proposals for 2017 for projects focusing on
the marine environment and wild marine species, particularly wild salmon stocks. BCSFA created the MERP in December 2014, committing $1.5 million over five years. The research is funded via a competitive process managed by a third party Science Advisory Council (SAC). To date,
$470,000 has been committed to funding for seven projects. ‘It’s important for us to better understand BC’s coastal environment to ensure the longevity of both wild and farm raised salmon,’ said Dr Don Noakes, SAC chair and dean of Science at Vancouver Island University.
Charity sets up world council THE charity Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) has formalised the working relationships between its different groups to ensure consistency worldwide. At present there are three affiliated AwF organisations: USA (Americas region), Australia (Oceania region) and Latin America (based in Mexico). The new Aquaculture without Frontiers International Council will comprise the global executive di-
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rector and two members from each organisational board on a rotation basis of three years. Each of the current regional organisations is responsible for its own funding, and all national and regional offices will follow an agreed global campaign strategy. ‘We need organisations in different countries to create tax benefits for donors and to be eligible for any local funding,’ said the AwF.
A NEW in-feed treatment for the prevention and control of sea lice in salmon and trout has been approved by Chilean authorities, meaning that fish treated with the medication are now accepted for trade with many major export markets, including the US, EU, Japan and Brazil. Formulated by US firm Elanco, the treatment is given in feed to fish in freshwater before they are transferred to sea. Its application is based on studies that have shown it inhibits the formation of chitin in sea lice, which prevents the lice from developing into adults. Chile is the first country to grant marketing authorisation
to the treatment. ‘After years of dedicated research working with farmers and industry experts, Elanco is proud to bring this much needed treatment to salmon farms in Chile, and is working hard to bring it to other markets around the world,’ said Carlos Kuada, global head of aqua business at Elanco Animal Health. ‘Managing these par-
asites is a constant strain on salmon farmers. This option can help provide relief from sea lice management.’ Sea lice are estimated to cost the global salmon industry more than US$1 billion (EUR 934 million) per year. To date, no resistance in sea lice has been detected in Elanco’s treatment.
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 12:45:25
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News – Vision 2030
Hands
on role Minister engages with industry over future growth strategy
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eading figures from Scotland’s salmon industry are pictured here with Rural Economy Minister Fergus Ewing at Marine Harvest Scotland headquarters in Fort William. The minister hosted a finfish summit at Marine Harvest at the end of October, when the industry presented its report for future growth (Fish Farmer, November 2016). The recommendations of that ‘Vision 2030’ report are now with the Scottish government, awaiting a response, and it is hoped the structure of a new Industry Leadership Group (ILG) and its membership will be finalised before Christmas. The conference with Ewing was regarded as constructive by those present, and the report, compiled by a cross-sector group chaired by Gael Force’s Stewart Graham and Aquascot’s Dennis Overton, included ambitious targets to double aquaculture production. ‘It was a very good meeting,’ said Steve Bracken, business support manager of Marine Harvest. ‘Stewart and Dennis did a fine job in presenting all the work on Vision 2030 and I think it was very well received. So it’s now in the hands of the minister.’ Ewing has already given his backing to the formation of the ILG and hopes to attend its meetings. The Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation was also represented at the meeting and welcomed the report which, it said, brings an additional voice to the growing demands to see aquaculture fully recognised as a strategic part of the Scottish economy. Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of the SSPO, highlighted the importance of planning reform to secure future development of the industry. ‘Planning and consenting is an area the Industry Leadership Group will focus on as it is crucial for the future development of industry
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that we have a system that is fit for purpose and efficient. ‘The SSPO will take a leading role on the ILG. This will ensure specific industry concerns are taken into consideration when regularly informing the minister and stakeholders of the challenges faced in developing the industry. ‘The industry will also continue to invest significant sums in research and innovation, while using the latest technology as it becomes available, to assist with the practical application of fish health management as it becomes even more effective over time.’ The Vision 2030 report not only endorses a positive future for the sector, said the SSPO, but also highlights the key challenges to growth which the industry has been struggling to overcome during the past decades. FF
Top: Marine Harvest’s Steve Bracken with Fergus Ewing. Above left: SSPO chair Anne MacColl and Marine Scotland’s Mike Palmer. Above right: Marine Harvest Scotland managing director Ben Hadfield with the minister
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 12:48:00
Trade Associations – British Trout Association
Where next for Euro trout? Finding marketing opportunities for ‘forgotten fish’ BY DOUG MCLEOD
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ooking at the ‘big picture’, total rainbow trout production across the whole European continent has risen from 357,000 tonnes in 2007 to almost 385,000 tonnes in 2015, a not insignificant increase of 7.6 per cent (27,000 tonnes), according to the latest FEAP production report of October 2016. However, a closer look reveals that this overall increase has been a result of rising production in non-European Union (EU) countries, where an expansion of 29 per cent (42,000 tonnes) was recorded over this period, with Turkey posting a particularly impressive expansion from 58,000 tonnes to 102,000 tonnes. In contrast, EU member state producers registered a collective seven per cent decline (15,000 tonnes) to 197,000 tonnes. Although rainbow trout continues to represent the largest single fish species cultivated in the European Union, this contraction cannot be good news for the sector. Particularly, since trout is widely recognised as a healthy option, with many dietary benefits – as well as tasting great! The data indicate that the issue is not a localised or national issue for individual producers but a structural and continent wide phenomenon. With the exception of Poland, which saw a 12 per cent increase, every other EU trout producer (a total of 12 countries) saw a decline in portion trout (fish below 1.2kg) volumes. This amounted to an overall reduction of some 30,000 tonnes (18 per cent) to a 2015 total of 140,000 tonnes. The UK data indicate a similar scale of decline, from 10,000 tonnes to just below 8,000 tonnes over the nine-year period. Why has portion trout become ‘the forgotten fish’? Partly, the decline reflects the general contraction in fresh fish sales. For example, in the UK recent figures indicate that retail sales of fish fell last year by 0.6 per cent in value and 0.9 per cent in volume. However, trout in particular appears to have fallen off consumers’ radar – perhaps because it is generally marketed in an unprocessed format, and largely restricted to the ever shrinking offering station of the wet fish counter, whether fishmonger or supermarket. Explanations range from a lack of knowledge of how to cook the fresh product, a lack of interest in cooking from raw, the lower interest in fish dishes from younger consumers, the inevitable attrition in numbers of older Below: The big picture consumers, time constraints for food preparation for urban consumers, and so on. In my view, it appears clear that if portion trout – in theory a very consumer oriented product – is to recover from this extensive decline in consumption, there is a requirement for nothing less than a revolution in presentation. This means a focus on processing to overcome consumer resistance to the fresh product and to create a portfolio of easy to use products for the time constrained/cooking inadequate consumer! Meanwhile, there is another and more positive dimension to the trout production sector in Europe: with the exception of Ireland, the other nine EU member state producers of large trout (fish over 1.2kg) expanded output from 2007 to 2015, with an overall increase of 36 per cent (15,000 tonnes) to reach some 56,000 tonnes. This represents an expansion from 20 per cent of total EU trout production
There is a “requirement
for nothing less than a revolution in
to almost 29 per cent, indicating a successful response to a market opportunity. Anecdotal evidence from producers reveals that there is an unsatisfied demand for these ‘different’ trout and there is a widely expressed opinion that the production of large trout will continue to increase in the future. These fish almost demand processing, into fillets and other cuts, and can be successfully smoked into a credible competitor for smoked salmon in many European markets. On reflection, the future for EU trout production is actually significantly positive, both for the large trout sub-sector, with unfulfilled demand encouraging expansion, and a potential market for processed portion trout once the product can escape from the confines of the fresh fish counter. FF
”
presentation
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Trade Associations – SSPO Comment
BY BY PROFESSOR PROFESSOR PHIL PHIL THOMAS THOMAS
Post-truth Underpinning provenance politics
Do we think enough about How to manage business untilwhat longergives termthe industry isitsestablished edge in key markets? certainty
FI
t or may not30be politithe cally correct to of say so at over years, development present but farmed Atlanti c salmon would advanced industrial societies and emerging not have become Scotland’s food economies has been driven byleading three broad export without Crownprosperity Estate’s positi concepts. One, the increasing raisesve livengagement with aquaculture development ing standards, expectations and the life chances of back in Two, the 1980s. people. prosperity is enhanced by a liberaliNow,ofaquaculture is a significant of the sation trade and globalisation of thepart movement agency’s marine leasing portf olio and ispolicies reguof goods and services. Three, government larly celebrated byan the Crown Estate’s Scotti sh should be based on understanding of the facts, Marine Aquaculture Awards event. This year’s so that policies are ‘evidence based’. event Edinburgh on the 11 Juneorder was the Now, in within weeks, the established of usual highly successful Scotti sh thinking has been thrownshowcase into turmoilfor and no one and the a rare opportunity isaquaculture quite sure what consequences willfor be.indusIn the try toofjoin together success. and eyes many people, to themark Brexitits referendum The Crown Estate is presently atTrump the centre the presidential campaign of Donald have of further devoluti established a new setonofdiscussions political andbetween economicthe paradigms. The talk is of ‘post-truth politics’ and UK government and Scotti sh government. The the emergence of aofnew ofsh ethno-nationallong-term future keywave Scotti functions reism andunclear economic nationalism. mains and professional expertise could heads will in caution against of drawing conclubeWise squandered the process organisati onal sions too quickly. To every action there is some change. reaction, andCrown this is Estate’s emergingcore bothexperti in the UK Both the se and the MostAquaculture probably, the Awards eventualare outcomes theUS. Marine impor-will move from the extremes andve towards more tant inaway maintaining the distincti coherence centre-ground positions. and it would be a of Scotland’s aquaculture However, with UK deficitscasualti heading tragedy if they became estowards of polititwo cal trillion pounds, and the Institute of Fiscal Studies change. predicting wages in 2021 to bewas lesshosted in real terms This year’s Awards event by than in 2008, theand UK is facing a challenging time. actress, writer comedian Jo Caulfield, an On Brexitchoice the position will remain uncertain and inspired by whoever made the booking. transitional for funny quite aand number of years ahead. She was very entertaining and kept UK opposition to a hard Brexit is becoming better the proceedings going with a swing. Only once organised and is beginning to find its voice. did she stray, when she wondered whatThe ‘provepracticalities of transitioning nance actually meant’. from the EU political and framework into a livelihoods new relationship In economic a room full of folk whose are beginning to be recognised. 12Exit from the EU is definitely going to happen. The triggering of Clause 50 of the Lisbon Treaty
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Phil Thomas.indd 18
“
We should be organising our training and education provisions muchis a There bettfor erthe need industry to act quickly
“
” ”
depend on the provenance of their products she quickly sensed an audience response and moved to safer comedic material: there are some things you just don’t joke about! However, her remark left me asking myself whether we think enough about the underpinning of the provenance of Scottish farmed fish – and for me that’s farmed salmon. There is no doubt that Scottish provenance is important to our industry – it gives us the edge in all our key markets. Provenance can be defined in various ways but most people will agree that it goes beyond the appearance and sensory qualities of the final product: flavour, texture, visual presentation and product consistency are always key factors in consumer appeal but provenance is about much more. It reflects a wider concept of consumer quality assurance, including: the place where the fish is grown and processed; the professional integrity of the production and processing methods; and the quality, and care people involved – the iscommitment planned to take place byof thethe end of March 2017. But theprofessional process itselfskills, is experti se, passion of the producers themselves. likely to involve at leastand twodedicati years ofon negotiations to deal with EU political, In Scotland our ‘place of producti regulatory and customs union matters. on’ gives us a huge natural advantage because shlegal in the pristineabout coastal watersthat of some However, therewe is grow a lackfiof certainty whether exit of process willbeauti resultful in the losing access to of thethe Single Market sincebrand the is the most andUK wild scenic areas world, and our European Economic Area (EEA) agreement is a separate legal entity to protected by its PGI status. theLikewise, Lisbon Treaty. Thus, are arguments triggering 50 adopti on ofthere the Scotti sh Finfishthat Code of GoodArticle Practice and exiting could leave thecommitment UK as an EAAto member, or unless allied withthe theEU industry’s deep a rangeuntil of independent itfarm decides differently. quality assurance programmes, including the RSPCA fish welfare This would placeon the UKunderlying outside thestrength EU, and of policy suchregulatory as the scheme, builds the our areas statutory Common Policy and the systems Agricultural to assure our producti on Customs systems. Union, but still with barrier freeFinally, trade in paying EU budgets and accepting thereturn skills,for experti se,some passion and dedicati on of our some farmers freedom of movement ofinworkers. can be demonstrated abundance day in and day out – and they were This, of course, willrecent all be for political negotiation, which in turn could showcased by the awards event. be However, influencedbeing by thewholly outcomes of the Italian referendum in itDecember objecti ve and forward looking, is this third and the French and German elections in 2017, as well as by the ongoing area of provenance where the Scottish industry has greatest scope for political debate in the UK. That is not to say that our industry’s skills systemati c development. Additionally, thereexperti is the question of the UK highest re-establishing independand professional se are not of the calibre,itsbut it is to ent membership WTOonal process, andonal agreeing quotas and tariffs with recognise that of ourthe vocati educati and training structures, and the other 164 members. This in itself could take some significant time! Given the large number of uncertainties, business strategies in all induswww.fishfarmer-magazine.com trial sectors will need to be very flexible. Like good sportsmen CEOs will
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com 03/07/2015 14:31:33
05/12/2016 12:51:49
Comment
need to ‘play what they see in front of them’ until longer term certainty is established. Changes always present opportunities as well as challenges, and fortune will favour those who spot the opportunities first. There is very little to be gained from Scottish fish farmers getting engaged in the high-level EU political debate and negotiations at this stage. However, they do need to be very clear in stating their trading and export priorities and their requirements for stable and predictable business conditions. Additionally, there is a need for the industry to act quickly, collectively and effectively in addressing specific proposals and issues as they emerge during the transitional negotiation process. If the industry does not engage fully, it could well find itself disadvantaged by the outcomes of the predominantly political process. This leads me to finish on a Scottish note. Above: The established To most people, post-truth politics - which appeals to emotions, order has been thrown excludes policy detail and ignores the facts – has emerged because of into turmoil events in 2016. But, in fact, Scotland blazed the trail in the 2014 independence referendum, with its emotional symbolism and mountain of dodgy claims. High profile was the transfer of responsibility for the Scottish part of the Crown Estate (which leases sea bed sites to fish farmers, among other duties) from Westminster to the Scottish parliament. Politically
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and symbolically no one would argue about that proposal: it was regarded as the right thing to do. However, it was also portrayed as being of financial advantage, which was never going to be the case. The Scottish Crown Estate’s profits were historically returned to the UK Treasury; the inescapable conclusion was that direct payment of income to Scotland would incur an equivalent reduction in the Treasury’s block grant to Scotland. It seems that December will see the transfer of the Scottish Crown Estate to the Scottish parliament and the new management and income arrangements put in place. It can only be hoped that Scottish ministers are well prepared to manage down public expectations of financial benefits. Likewise, fish farmers need to be prepared to engage in the next stage of the Scottish Crown Estate’s future developments and policies, which will be subject to consultation shortly. FF
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l columns from pointed Minister for the Environment, Paul Wheelhouse. est aquaculture Looking further afield there are also interesting insights – ASSG SG and SSPOTrade – to Associations into oyster growing around the globe and also an t topics of the day overview of the Hungarian aquaculture industry, which is ors respectively. to evolve from production of carps to higher Shellfish –beginning South Carolina d we hope you’ll value predatory fish. We hope you enjoy all the changes. FF
has 0 years of the stry. Now ournalist, er food magazine.
ry Board
s
ons culture
BY JANET H BROWN
Rob Fletcher News Editor
Paul Wheelhouse is Scotland’s Minister for the Environment and Climate Change and is an MSP for the South of Scotland.
Janet Brown works to support and promote all aspects of sustainable shellfish culture and restoration via The Shellfish Team and edits The Grower.
Theforth otherand siderestore of the pond Go
‘Citizen harnesses helpShellfish of happy Growers volunteers Can thescience’ Association of Scottish learn anything from 8 the wayivingAmerica’s East Coast Shellfish Growers Association is organised? shorelines, citizen science and metrics – these were the buzz phrasOf the other buzz words, ‘living shorelines’ are
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es that sounded so new and unfamiliar to me at the International Conference on Shellfish Restoration (ICSR) in Charleston, South Carolina. Things have moved on and this, the 20th anniversary of the ICSR, r Robert B Rheault more commonly was time to reflect. As Dot –Leonard, co-chair of the ICSR, pointed out, it known ‘Skid’ Rheault being all started withasconcern for water(Rheault quality, progressed through restora‘row’) or Bob – setand upon theto studies of ecosystem tion ofpronounced oyster reefs (and other species) East Coast Shellfish Growers Association services being provided by these restored reefs. ols (ECSGA) 2004toand been its executive ‘Metrics’inrefers thehas need to measure just how successful restoration director years. of metrics has been increasingly stressed in has been.for Thesix importance d Skid years became involved in the idea of made an as-between different methods recent as comparisons need to be sociation because hadsh been working and systems used forheshellfi restorati on. as an oyster farmer in a state aquaculSo while the same initialwithout concernsan remain in many places, the whole ture industry at the Rhode to Island. process of restorati ontime would– appear be still gathering momentum. There rectory certainly ‘I had to be very active the stateoflevel to cringe for delegates remains scope foron something a cultural get things going,’ he at said. established a state arriving in the US, just the‘Iscale of the programmes being carried out. growers’ association with a few allies, started Yet there were positi ve developments to report from outwith the asurer, Steve Bracken, Herve Miguad, Sunil Kadri and Ken Hughes writing an industry newsletter and sent it to all States, with the fi rst invited speaker being our very own Tristan Hughn: Andrew Balahura the state legislators, broughtwith in guest speakers Jones, opening the conference a keynote talk on his work with wds wdowds@fishupdate.com Publisher: Alister Bennett from where things going nati veother oystersstates in Cork Harbour andwere the development of bonamia Fax: +44 (0)well 131and 551where 7901 e-mail: editor@fi shfarmer-magazine.com nary athere, negative word wasrestoration of the Loch Ryan resistance in the stocks as well as the .com www.fistocks. shupdate.com heard. Eventually we got some traction and the regulations that were2DL holding back ettes Park, 496fixed Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH5 The keynote talk on the second day was by Tom Ysebaert from the Neththe industry.’ on Lane, lessonsLochavullin to be learntIndustrial from both Estate, mussel and oyster restorati in er’, P.O. Box 1,erlands Crannog Oban, Argyll, PA34on4HB This led onthere to a larger consortium, with a Holland, and were presentati ons on restorati on plans for native oysters 0) 1631 568001 Clockwise from top right: number of (Bernadett growers getting together at various (Pauline in Germany e Pogoda), the Netherlands Kamermans), of world £95 including postage. All Air Mail. ECSGA meeting; oyster; meetings(Ben andCleveland) the idea of establishing East Zealand Australia and for abalonean in New (Tom McCowan) ietors Wyvex Coast Media Ltd by Headley Brothers Ltd., Ashford, ISSNB0262-9615 Dr Robert Rheault. Growers Association was ban- Kent and theShellfish Philippines (Junemie Lebata–Ramos). died about. They had seen how well organised the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association m (PCSGA) had become, how effective they could be in meetings with regulators, how they focused government research dollars toward key problems – they wanted that. While setting up the ECSGA, Skid continued to run his own company, farming and marketing oysters trading as Moonstone Oysters working out of Narragansett, Rhode Island, and he is still an adjunct faculty member in the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. He established the East Coast Shellfish Research Institute and has been successful in attracting several
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the alternatives to hard structures as coastal defence. The restoration of oyster reefs in the intertidal and sub-tidal areas has demonstratsubstantial federal research grants address critical industry research ed the to erosion protecti on aff orded to the priorities. shoreline, which can be further extended as How has the ECSGA grown and is it still growing? sediment builds up behind these reefs to asWe grow in membership by sist about 10 to on 20by per centngasalt yearmarsh and we stabilisati planti plants had a sharp increase this pastsuch year, wenastill only ora. have a small fracasbut Sparti alternifl tion of the industry as members. Of theshorelines estimated farms onofthe The living can1,300 absorb much the East Coast, we only have about 15 perwhile cent.also Theproviding nature ofvaluable the industry wave energy habis such that many farmersitat are very small, part-time operations who and other ecosystem services, whereas hard won’t pay dues. There are few large farms, and several of these believe structures that are traditi onally built to safeguard they don’t need to join an association. Theydefl can ownenergy lobbyist. eroding shores can ecthire thistheir onshore to What are the main issuescause facing ECSGA? greater erosion further down the coast. We spend a lot of time and One energy with addressed shellfish sanitation talkdealing in particular this issue, issues. Vibrio parahaemolyticus seems to dominate much my but control from a novel angle in that while the of bentime. We are also trying to rectify the trade war withare the EU so we they can efits of living shorelines understood, restore some of the lucrative are connections we had in markets five not yet recognised in EU official regulati ons years ago. We are trying to get for the ecosystem soacknowledgement it is easier for a homeowner to get the services we provide through necessary nutrient credit trading, and we are conpermission for building the hard stantly working to improve water quality expand harvest areas. structures thanand to build a living shoreline. Are there different chapters in the ECSGA or are members mainly Peter Kingsley-Smith of the South Carolina oyster folk? Department of Natural Resources has been about 60funded per cent farms,study 40 per farms forclam a five-year on cent whatoyster is the best Top:We Therepresent author - oysters andsothere is a nascent mussel industry. methodology/structure for constructing the living are abundant in I haveCarolina heard you conferences about the importance of lobbyin South Carolina so it can become an South theytalk at shorelines arrive as reefs ing – what doand youare advise? officially permitted means of coastal protection. cooked in bigimportant vats. It is really to ensure the regulators put you out ‘Citizenthat science’ was a termdon’t that came up oft enof Above: Ostrea business. If edulis you are not involved in the process that of writing thencti regulain the discussions are a disti ve 3 panel champions tions, then- Pauline the law of unintended dictatesThe that they feature of consequences the ICSR in Charleston. first of will Kamermanns, probably hurtTristan you if you these don’t was protect yourself.byYou need to participate coordinated Sandy Macfarlane and Hugh-Jones, Bernadett e in the scientific research, theexplained public outreach andshe thehad education your she how, when spoken atofthe Pogoda and Janet legislators. By demonstrating the growth in green jobs, the sustainable Shellfi sh Conference in Fishmongers’ Hall, the 08/02/2013 11:24:01 Brown. seafood production and the ecosystem benefits, can the help amazement expressed by we many ofenlist the audience Left: Panel discussions of politicians the regulators get crazy, or if we have a need help of reat the amount of involvement in voluntary in are very much when a feature search dollars. Educating the legislators is a constant task. There is huge shellfi sh restorati on prompted her to put together of ICSR. Here a panel panelabout of people, projects all over thehave turnover and they know this nothing your with industry. If you don’t convened by Sandy States, to talk about their work in response time to do (far it then to pay someone to do it for you. This to is her why Macfarlane left)you need specific questi ons.associations. busy professionals of trade comprised from left, are members Pete Malinowski, this panel was Gef Flimlin from New Is export a majorHelen interestSo foramong your growers? Dickson, Hodges, anJersey with his ‘Reclam the for bay’oysters project,right who was We areMike experiencing explosion in the market John Helen clear that while restorati on of populations now,Scarpa, so there is not a lotvery of surplus production to send overseas, butof Carter and Gef Flimlin. clams might result from the project activities, his purpose was actually educati on. www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
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Go forth and restore
one specific example was described in another panel session, ‘Community engagement in shellfish restoration’. Here, Laurie Sorabella reported on restoration work in the Lynnhaven River, Virginia. She recruited a number of home owners around the estuary to take two cages containing different substrate to hang on their docks, which then allowed them to not only investigate the different effectiveness of the two materials for collecting the spat settling out from the water column, but also allowed her to determine a lot of useful information about settlement patterns over the whole water body. Again this leads to the ‘buy in’ that then can engage what can be huge numbers of volunteers. Many speakers spoke about the importance of keeping volunteers happy – if volunteers are not enjoying themselves they will soon drift away. Another project making use of citizen scientists is the Billion Oyster project described above- as an ancillary programme they provide local schools with mini oyster reefs as study sites with which they become ‘citizen scientists’. Using these mini reefs and teaching materials provided by the project, classes can study oyster growth, associated biodiversity and water quality. One other fact also stands out and that is that amid all this study of the benefits of having oyster reefs in the water, the aquaculture of shellfish becomes more and more relevant since the ecological costs of removing the restored reefs – that is, fishing for the oysters- makes little sense. There is no conference quite like the ICSR. Obviously it is a fairly specialised subject but it is the mixture of scientists, practitioners, policy people and volunteers that makes it unique. FF ‘If you educate people about shellfish then you get buy-in – they begin to understand that failure to clear up after their dogs has direct impact on the sea life in the bay.’ So for him, whether restoration was the result from all the activities the project ran was incidental, it was education that mattered. Likewise, Peter Malinowski of the Billion Oyster project, which restores oyster populations within New York harbour. This became a useful unifying theme for the Harbor School of New York to attach its different educational programmes to, whether the students were specialising in engineering, aquaculture, marine biology research, marine systems technology, ocean engineering, professional diving, or vessel operation. And this leads on to the ‘citizen science’ again. This came up in a number of presentations but
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If you “educate
people about shellfish they begin to understand that failure to clear up has direct impact on the sea life in the bay
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Clockwise from top: From left, Robert Rheault, Rick Karney, Dot Leonard, Gef Flimlin, Sandy Macfarlane, John Kraeuter, Rick DeVoe, Loren Coen; Eating oysters South Carolina style; Rick Karney and Junemie Lebata-Ramos eating oyster reefs at the oyster bake; Dot Leonard, co chair of ICSR, Tristan HughJones, Atlantic Shellfish, and Bernadette Pogoda of Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
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05/12/2016 13:04:01
Comment
BY DR MARTIN JAFFA
Offshore options How new use for old rigs could bring benefits to two industries
A
new report from Oil and Gas UK has forecast a gradual but steady rise in offshore oil and gas decommissioning in the UK and Norway over the next 10 years. They expect that more than 100 platforms are expected to be completely or partially removed from the UK and Norwegian continental shelves by 2025. The report pointed out that the total decommissioning cost last year was £2.1 billion compared with £1.6 billion in 2014. It is now estimated that the cost of decommissioning around the UK between 2016 and 2025 will be £17.6 billion, while in Norway the cost will be around £1 billion per year until 2020. This is because fewer Norwegian oil fields are due to reach the end of their life over this period. The speed of decommissioning may be different in the UK and Norway but the cost in both countries is simply mind bogglingly high, and just for the capping of wells and removal of redundant equipment. However, these costs are not unexpected. A House of Lords report from back in the 1990s outlined the expected costs at a time when oil was expected to flow continuously for many years. Now it seems that time is running out. But it’s likely that the oil and gas industry, in drawing up its decommissioning plans, may not have considered all their options. There is the potential to reuse many of the platforms destined for the scrapheap. They would make perfect service platforms for offshore salmon farms. This is not a new idea because it was one of the proposals made at an EU conference in Brussels in 1995. The aim of the conference was to consider ways to boost fish supply at a time when too many fishermen were chasing too few wild fish. Of course, aquaculture has now surpassed the wild fish harvest so use of redundant oil platforms is no longer as futuristic as it sounded more than 20 years ago. Some Norwegian companies have already started to invest in robust test structures for offshore production but oil platforms offer a completely different perspective. The technology developed by the oil and gas industry could be adapted to produce simple cages linked to the platform, which can then be stocked on an all-in-all-out basis, simplifying management. Fish can be harvested using fishing boats under contract, enhancing revenues that have been restricted by limits on the days at sea. Clearly, the capital cost of oil platforms may be prohibitive for many salmon farming companies but the benefit of reuse would offset the full cost of decommissioning, making significant savings for oil companies. This could be a win-win situation for all. The salmon industry is already looking towards expansion but is strug-
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gling to overcome the restrictions laid down by planning. The new industry strategy for growth to 2030 hopes to see finfish production reach 400,000 tonnes within the next 14 years. It is probably impractical to expect such increased production to be met unless production is moved away from the coast. Open sea farming using redundant oil platforms offers a potential route to meet this goal. The opportunity to farm at sea with low density production with minimal direct management could mean that many of the objections to current farming practices could be avoided. The reason why many current sites are now proving a challenge is simply down to site selection geared to the technology of the time. The industry has moved on but the limitations
Above: Decommissioned platforms could be turned into salmon farms
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05/12/2016 13:26:28
Comment
of many sites remain. For a variety of reasons, it can be extremely difficult to obtain permission for new sites close to shore so open sea offers new opportunities. However, taking advantage of these new opportunities may not be so easy because of the barriers between the two very different sectors of salmon farming and oil and gas. It may require a catalyst to break down such barriers and this role may be initially fulfilled by government, with contact between the departments of fisheries and energy. Government, which might see the wider opportunities for local economies, may also provide incentives to help the two sectors work together. The industry strategy for 2030 states a desire
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opportunities may not “beThese easy because of the barriers between very different sectors ” to accelerate innovation, although this appears to be aimed at supporting existing objectives rather than looking ahead to solving future production demands. The longer term strategy reflects current innovation demands rather than taking a wider view. This also needs to change if the industry is to move forward towards higher levels of production, otherwise the opportunities offered by decommissioning could be lost. Reuse of existing structures is surely the greener more sustainable choice. FF
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05/12/2016 13:26:50
Trade Associations – SSPO
Freshwater
future Workshop looks at best practice in key stage of salmon farming
S
ALMON producers, health managers, pharmaceuticals and feed companies were among the industry professionals attending the most recent specialist workshop run by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO). The day-long event, held at Kingsmill Hotel, Inverness, on November 21, focused on the latest techniques, strategies and innovations to enhance freshwater production in Scotland. The future of the sector relies on the development of this section of the industry, which covers the key life stages from egg to smolt, supplying healthy juveniles to the seawater pen sites located around the coast of Scotland. Iain Berrill, the SSPO’s research and data manager, and Jamie Smith, SSPO technical executive, planned and oversaw the workshop, after taking soundings from the industry. ‘Prior to the meeting we contacted the freshwater managers and health and environment teams to get an idea of what we should cover,’ said Berrill, ‘so the programme was very much tailored to their input. ‘In previous meetings we’d covered two important subjects and it was felt that if we are going to grow our industry in a sustainable manner, freshwater is an important part of our production.’ The day began with a presentation by SSPO chief executive Scott Landsburgh, who addressed the industry’s plans for development, and put into context the ambitious targets. ‘Any growth we have in the industry is going to rely on a freshwater sector to support that growth,’ he said. Then the major salmon companies presented an overview of their freshwater production and their plans for the future. ‘The challenge is developing new sites and new capacity and there is still a requirement for the approaches that we use at the moment,’ said Berrill. ‘So while there’s a lot of
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interest in recirculation, it’s also important that the benefits of tank based hatcheries and the loch systems that we use is not forgotten. ‘A lot of the recirculation systems utilise loch production for the latter stages, and the use of lochs is still seen in Scotland as a very important component of what we do here. It pre-adapts fish to the net pen environment.’ Freshwater is a very diverse sector, said Berrill, and the industry has to make sure it can ‘provide juveniles to satisfy the requirements of marine production’. ‘There is a sense that the freshwater sector needs to be able to grow, keeping pace with demand, inclduing the demand for larger smolts, which can help reduce the marine on-growing part of the overall production cycle.’ Following the initial industry development session, there was a health and welfare session, with talks from Pieter van West of the University of Aberdeen, regarded as an expert on Saprolegnia; Jimmy Turnbull, Professor of Aquatic Health at Stirling, talking about optimising fin health and fin condition; Angela Ashby, head of clinical services at the Fish Vet
Group, who discussed fish health optimisation in more general terms; Rod Wilson from Exeter University, who spoke about water quality in freshwater systems; and Kathy Talyor of vaccination specialist Aqualife. Moving on from health, the workshop looked at wild fisheries and containment, with Marine Harvest environmental manager Chris Read giving an overview of his experiences engaging with wild fisheries organisations. As Iain Berrill said, the industry ‘needs positive and two-way engangement with wild fisheries in order to move forward’. Berrill also gave a talk on wild fish perspectives, looking in particular at historical restocking and some of the very earliest agreements between salmon farmers and landowners and fisheries organisations. Jamie Smith then gave an update on the Scottish Technical Standard, and its relevance to freshwater production. This was mainly to alert the industry that the STS is a ‘live activity’ and making sure that if they needed to make changes they should be thinking about them now. The day was rounded off with a session on
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Freshwater future
smoltification, with John Taylor from Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture identifying areas of potential future work. Ross Beedie of EuroPharma gave an update on the benefits of the SuperSmolt programme, now simplified to a specialty feeding process. And Kristoffer Røyset from Patogen described the advantages of the newly available SmolTimer, a predictive tool to provide a better understanding of the optimal time to transfer smolts, and to be able to predict when that may occur. Patogen, being Norwegian based, rolls out most of its products in Norway, but the company is keen to expand in Scotland and there was interest in SmoltTimer, described by those who have seen it as ‘elegant’. Beyond the main workshop, the feed companies Cargilll/Ewos, Skretting and BioMar all had stands at the hotel so their representatives could engage in a more specific dialogue with the farmers, academics and health experts present. This freshwater workshop was the latest in a series of events organised by the SSPO designed to encourage information and best
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Above: Pharmaq’s Chris Mitchell with Gemma Murray of Migdale Smolts; the SSPO’s Jamie Smith, Iain Berrill, John Webster and Scott Landsburgh. Right: Kate Smith of Marine Scotland with Matt Zietz of Wester Ross Salmon. Left: (Clockwise from top left) Chris Read, Jimmy Turnbull, Angela Ashby, Iain Berrill. Opposite: (Far left) Jamie Smith; (left) Rob Murray of Howietoun Fishery with John Webster.
is an area we need to keep “inThis our minds as we consider the development of the wider industry ”
practice sharing across companies. Others have included topics such as gill health and cleaner fish, and the SSPO is planning two further workshops in 2017 on subjects identified by its members, said Berrill. One of these will cover new approaches to lice control, such as lice skirts and thermolicers, as well as covering medicinal best practice too. November’s meeting was typical in being an excellent networking opportunity as well as providing plenty of food for thought. The main message perhaps was that any growth in the marine sector will need equivalent development in freshwater to match the fish needed. ‘The tenor of the day was very much around that – freshwater production will need to grow to underpin planned growth in marine production,’ said Berrill. ‘Access to sites is going to be key but ensuring that the ones we’ve got are still managed and farmed optimally is key as well. This is an area we need to make sure we keep in our minds as we consider the development of the wider industry.’ FF
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05/12/2016 13:31:04
Restocking – River Carron
Back from the dead Highland river in good health but now further funds are needed for DNA analysis of stock BY BOB KINDNESS
T
he River Carron in Wester Ross suffered a dramatic decline in the rod catches for both salmon and sea trout during the 1990s. By 2001, the five-year average rod catch had dropped to 6.2 for salmon and 11 for sea trout. These low catches were undoubtedly a true reflection of the stock levels in the river for both species since a significant amount of angling effort was going on at the time. The decline was so rapid and severe that the cause had to be something physical rather than biological. In the early years of the 1990s, there were five consecutive winters which each had at least one very large spate as evidenced from the SEPA gauging station on the river. These spates, particularly the first one, were of a magnitude to cause
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considerable movement of gravel on the river bed, resulting in severe redd wash-out. With large numbers of eggs being lost each year, by the end of the fiveyear period, there would have been little stock left in the river and very few adults at sea waiting to return. The river was literally wiped out. The main riparian owners on the river were desperate to try to reverse the decline but what would be the best approach? Most people involved in wild salmon management advocate that the best way to improve salmon numbers is to create more good habitat for juveniles within the river and nursery burns. They are adamant that stocking should be the very last resort. While habitat improvement will never be a bad thing, it is doubtful whether it will make much of a difference in situations where a river has plenty of good, but either empty or under-utilised, habitat. In these cases you are simply ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ and spreading out what you already have. While individual fish may grow a little better, producing slightly bigger smolts, this does not increase the smolt output of the river. This approach only works if you have a bigger juvenile population than can be accommodated by the existing habitat. This was certainly not the situation with the Carron. The river is regarded by SEPA as being pristine, with no water quality issues. Clean spawning gravels are present throughout a large part of the catchment and there is no shortage of ideal fry and parr habitat. The problem was a severe lack of young fish. The low numbers of adult fish returning to the Carron combined with the poorer levels of survival both in freshwater and at sea meant that there was little prospect of a natural increase in juvenile numbers (100 adults returning would simply maintain the status quo). There are also no neighbouring rivers with healthy enough stocks to imagine that wandering fish could enter the Carron. The only conceivable option was to establish a stocking programme that would be the first resort and not the last. It is generally considered that using native stock for stocking is most likely to give the best results and therefore, for the majority of stocking programmes, wild fish are taken from the river to use as broodstock. This was not possible for the Carron with so few spawners in the river. Therefore, a captive broodstock was established using eggs stripped from the small number of hens that could be caught. These eggs were hatched and the young produced were reared entirely in freshwater
Left: Bob Kindness in the River Carron. Above: The screw trap in position towards the lower end of the river. Right: Smolts from the screw trap that have suffered bird damage
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05/12/2016 13:35:07
Back from the dead
“
The decline was so rapid and severe that the cause had to be something physical rather than biological until they matured. This meant that the native stock could be maintained and that enough juveniles could be stocked out to hopefully make a difference. The first significant salmon stocking took place in 2001 with 159,000 fry from the captive broodstock. This was followed by totals of 175,000 in 2002 and 230,000 in 2003. Projecting forward, these figures correlate exactly with the rod catches of 141 in 2004, 166 in 2005 and 200 in 2006. It is inconceivable that this dramatic increase in catches could have resulted from anything other than the stocking since the increase in natural spawning would not have resulted in
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”
returning adults before 2008. Stocking has continued with numbers varying between years and, when combined with more natural spawning, catches have held up well with the five-year rod catch being at best over 300 and currently over 200. While the number of fish used in a stocking programme is highly significant in determining its success, the stage in the life-cycle is also very important. Advice is normally given to stock out as eyed ova or un-fed fry to avoid ‘domestication’. However, stocking out at these stages can be extremely wasteful since high losses can occur in the first few weeks in the river. Although
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Restocking – River Carron
some month-fed fry have been stocked into the Carron, the preferred stage has been well-established three to four gram fry stocked out in the late summer/early autumn. The success of these fish to the smolt stage was determined by releasing a total of 104,000 CWT tagged and fin-clipped autumn fry over the three years 2006 to 2008. The fish released in 2008 were monitored through a rotary screw trap revealing that approximately 14 per cent of Above: Bob strips eggs these fish reached the smolt stage. This is on a par with what would be from a small wild grilse expected from wild fish. hen. Opposite top: A finThe screw trap, operating from 2007 to 2015, also allowed an esticlipped stocked salmon damaged by a seal mate to be made of the total smolt output, varying between 30,000 encounter. Opposite bottom: and 40,000. This is double the expected number according to the river’s A full load of smolts in management plan as produced by the local fisheries trust. the trap waiting to be The difference is undoubtedly as a result of stocked fish replacing wild processed juveniles lost during the spring and summer allowing the river to realise its full potential in terms of smolt output. The screw trap also enables smolts to be examined for possible scale loss as a result of bird attacks. The main culprits in relation to predatory
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birds are goosanders and merganzers, normally referred to as fish-eating ducks. There are only three or four pairs of such birds on the Carron catchment during the spring and yet an alarming number of smolts in the trap had some scales missing. While the majority of these smolts will successfully survive and transfer into sea water, in a significant number, the scale loss is severe enough to prevent a successful transfer. In rivers where these birds are much more numerous, substantial numbers of smolts must be lost. During the 15 years of the programme to date, much monitoring has taken place and a great deal of data has been collected. In the absence of a plausible alternative explanation for the stock recovery, it is clear that the stocking programme was mainly, if not entirely, responsible
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05/12/2016 13:36:01
Back from the dead
It is “ inconceivable
that this dramatic increase in catches could have resulted from anything other than the stocking
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for the turnaround. The stock levels have not simply recovered but have reached historic highs. Despite this, there are sceptics who believe that stocking does not work and somehow the Carron’s recovery could have been natural. There is also the problem that the Carron is situated in an area where there is a significant salmon farming presence which, according to some, should have made recovery impossible. The initial recovery of the river was primarily funded by the riparian owners through the River Carron Improvement Association but, to hopefully get definitive evidence on the effects of stocking and how stocked fish were now contributing to a healthy river, additional funding was required. This came from a combination of riparian
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River Carron .indd 29
owners, the local salmon farming companies and the feed manufacturers as a three-year package. This enabled stocking to continue, analysis to be done on the vast amount of data already collected and a genetic monitoring programme to be instigated. Interest from the salmon farming sector is very welcome but perhaps should not be a surprise since it is very much in their interests to demonstrate the successful co-existence of farmed and wild salmon and how this can be achieved. We are now at the stage where more funding is required to complete the job. Since 2011, fin-clips have been taken from all the pairs of broodies used to generate the young fish for stocking, fry and parr have been sampled by electrofishing and clips taken, clips have been taken each year from a sample of smolts going through the screw trap and clips have been taken from the majority of rodcaught salmon. This constitutes a very large collection of clips that need to be processed and the results analysed to determine the DNA. This may well provide the defini-
tive evidence on the performance of stocked fish by comparing the DNA of fish sampled from the river with the original broodies. Many people in the salmon world are keenly awaiting these results. Of particular relevance throughout the restoration of the Carron has been the relationship with the local salmon farming industry. In contrast to the attitude of most river proprietors on the west coast, when salmon farming first arrived in the Lochcarron area more than 30 years ago, the late Angus MacDonald, who owned the Kelso Beat on the river, took the attitude that this new industry was more important to the local community than the river. This attitude was continued by his son Shaun, who now runs the beat, with the appreciation that both the river and the salmon farms need to thrive. This requires co-operation between both sides and not conflict. The relationship has worked well and has been strengthened in recent years with the establishment by the Scottish Salmon Company, that farms in Lochcarron, of a broodstock using wild Carron MSW salmon as the original source of eggs. This enables the company to farm and market a pure Scottish stock that, through DNA testing, has been shown to contain no Norwegian genes. In return, the company provide Carron stock to be returned to the river. The partnership has led to a winwin situation. Bob Kindness has managed the River Carron restocking project for 20 years. FF
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05/12/2016 13:36:25
RAS – Report
More fish in the sea Space and cost remain biggest obstacles to raising salmon on land BY VINCE MCDONAGH
T
HE global salmon farming industry is continuing to lead the way in the use of land based systems, a key new report finds. Released by the International Salmon Farmers’ Association (ISFA) the report is titled the Evolution of Land Based Atlantic Salmon Farms, and it highlights the history and the current state of land based farms for Atlantic salmon. The association’s president, Trond Davidsen, said: ‘Salmon farmers are experts in land based freshwater farming systems and have been successfully using these systems for smolt production and a variety of broodstock programmes for almost half a century. ‘They fully understand the value and limitations of this technology. This report serves as an excellent resource in the ongoing discussion about the future of land based farms for Atlantic salmon. ‘For us, the conversation is about growing healthy, nutritious seafood in an efficient and sustainable manner,’ says Davidsen. The report reviews available studies and information on land based Atlantic salmon farms from around the world, the current state of knowledge and technology, as well as the challenges that have to be overcome as these systems continue to evolve With a history that began in the mid-late 19th century, fish hatcheries and then fish culture facilities with a focus on genetics originated in Canada, Norway and the United States around the same period and for the same reasons – to restock declining commercial and recreational fish stocks, specifically cod and Atlantic salmon. Today, aquaculture continues to use this original concept of land based systems during the freshwater stage of salmon development and for land based breeding programmes. The technology has advanced significantly in the 21st century, allowing for increased salmon smolt size and weight before transferring them to their natural marine environment.
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There are hundreds of land based fish farming systems operating in the world today. In Norway, there are approximately 190 land based fish farms in operation, primarily salmon smolt farms and smaller facilities with various other species. The largest operation has a capacity to produce more than 3,000 tonnes of smolt per annum but that has never been met. However, for land based farming from egg to harvest to become a leading form of production for a commodity product like Atlantic salmon, a number of crucial questions still remain unanswered about the economics of land based farming and its radically different challenges of energy, land and water use, and fish welfare. Above: Natural marine environment
Life cycle and environment issues For the remaining half of the fish’s life cycle, marine pens utilise ocean tides to move water and provide fresh oxygen to the fish. By comparison, land based farms compensate for that natural environment (that is, flow, temperature and oxygen) by pumping water, heating/cooling water, and injecting oxygen - requiring consistent and significant amounts of energy to do so and increasing the risk of loss in the event of a power failure. A brief period without power will kill all fish in a short time because of the high density of
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 13:45:37
More fish in the sea
fish in these land based systems that require continual access to oxygen pumps and filtering to replicate grow-out environments. It has been suggested that farming Atlantic salmon on land has potential if you can select sites with cheap power in close proximity to key markets (Summerfelt, et al., 2012). However, the government of Canada recognised that closed containment aquaculture carries its own set of environmental effects and the carbon footprint generated by closed containment facilities drawing electricity may be significant (2013). A recent report by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) concluded that land based RAS for full production of all growout stages was not financially viable, with the high-energy use and carbon footprint making it an environmentally unfriendly option. Fish welfare The report says farmers have a stewardship responsibility for their animals. Fish are in their care and rely on the farmer to provide conditions that are as close to natural as possible and in which the fish will thrive. Two of the key indicators that salmon in land based systems may not be thriving are precocious maturation and decreased or subnormal growth rates. An additional challenge is that once a patho-
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Salmon Report.indd 31
gen gets into a land based system it is virtually impossible to remove unless the system is depopulated and all the biological filters are disinfected. There have been a number of documented cases of fish health problems that have caused a complete loss of the fish due to pathogens in closed containment systems. The papers reviewed agree that in order for land based Atlantic salmon farms to be profitable, farmers have to raise fish at much higher densities than in marine systems. Conventional marine systems raise fish at a density of about 25 kilograms of fish per cubic metre at their peak size. In order for a land based farm to be profitable, Summerfelt (2012) suggested it would have to farm fish at densities of 80kg /m3 or higher while the CSAS (2008) report used an average stocking density of 50kg/m3 at peak size. Raising adult salmon in the marine environment where they are stocked at densities that
use less than four per cent of the pen space, allowing for natural schooling activity, versus prolonged exposure to technically created environments, produces less stress and consequently a better fish. A Nofima study (2013) supported the case that land based facilities do not eliminate environmental or disease concerns, noting that in a 20-year period a number of land based production systems were tested, and were not successful for a variety of reasons, including incidents of winter ulcer disease in the fish. Decreasing water resources Water resources can be a challenging issue, the report concludes. Although more than 70 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent is freshwater; the remaining 97.5 per cent is ocean. Of the 2.5 per cent, only one per cent is accessible for direct human use. This is the water found in lakes, rivers, reser-
For land based farming from egg to “harvest to become a leading form of
production, a number of crucial questions remain unanswered
”
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RAS – Report voirs and underground sources. Moving all marine Atlantic salmon operations to land based farms may place additional pressure on freshwater resources for food production. Freshwater is in some cases used partly or wholly during the final growing phase because of a lack of access to seawater or because of the necessity to run the production with a lower salinity for physiological reasons. Whether growing salmon in freshwater or saltwater land based farms, accessing water and replicating the natural environment of the ocean is essential for the adult stage of Atlantic salmon. Fluctuations in water quality can have detrimental effects on fish and create challenges for farmers, making it critical that these fluctuations are well managed. Even if it were technically and economically feasible, and if enough coastal land and water were available, the current production in Canada alone would require 28,000 football fields, 33,719 acres, or 136 square kilometres of land to grow fish in appropriate densities and water depths in land based systems. This number could multiply by tens in Norway where plans were announced to produce 20,000 tonnes of salmon in land based systems by 2018. Land farms versus net pens Depending on location and the land based system used, water (fresh and salt) may or may not be an immediate issue. For example, a freshwater grow out RAS system can reuse 99 per cent of the water given the appropriate conditions while a flow through system will not. For every 75,000 tonnes of salmon grown at the stocking density recommended for 4kg adult salmon, 4.16 billion litres of water is needed just to fill the tanks to grow the fish. In addition, another one to two per cent daily addition of make-up water is needed. Then, when the fish are ready for harvest, a 10-day depuration period is needed to rid the fish of the musty growing water taste. Depuration
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Salmon Report.indd 32
The “ pumping of
saltwater to land based farms will increase energy use
”
should be a total tank replacement with clean water every hour (that is, 4.16 billion litres); for each 24 hours, 99.8 billion litres of water is needed, so for a 10-day depuration period, 998 billion litres of water would be needed. In addition, a full production grow-out land based system using saltwater would require that salmon farms be built close to seawater. This could create conflict with other users of the coastal lands and ocean waters and could generate another set of challenges related to fish health, energy use and waste management in these typical flow through systems. As noted by the Canadian Geographic these saltwater flow-through processes must pump water from nearby sources and then back out, which with filtering may break down the waste, but does not contain it. Even if new systems are designed to fully collect any waste that may be created, the pumping of saltwater to land based farms will increase energy use, and subsequently greenhouse gases. Comparable to the amount of salmon grown on Canada’s west coast it is estimated it would require (RAS systems) 4.16 billion litres of water just to fill the tanks for 75,000 tonnes of salmon, equal to one third of the daily domestic consumption for the entire United States Socio economic realities This report has focused on the common challenges of land based fish farming found within
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More fish in the sea
the papers referenced. However, it is important to acknowledge the socio-economic challenges of land based fish farming systems. Although many communications in the media have suggested industry has not moved to land based systems due to increased capital investment (design and engineering, land acquisition, water and power installation, and buildings) requirements, it is the overall operational feasibility that has not yet been developed for scales of more than 1,000 tonnes. The 2013 study by the Freshwater Institute and Norwegian research organisation SINTEF (2011) found that a land based indoor salmon farm was more than three times as expensive to operate as a traditional ocean salmon farm. This could ultimately have a negative effect on the sector’s contribution to the global economy as well as tax contributions in respective countries, provinces and communities. From a broader perspective, this approach undermines the vital socio-economic role which salmon farming provides in coastal communities. There is also a potentially significant issue of devaluing the retail price of the final product by removing (a) the cachet associated with ‘country of origin’ labelling, (b) the question of whether consumers are prepared to pay a high price for an ‘urban’ salmon, and (c) the fact that it is illegal to label fish grown for their entire life in a recirculation unit as ‘organic’.
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The report also recognises that a reorganisation of the salmon industry with increased use of land based farms would encourage a relocation of the production closer to the main markets. This would have a major socio-economic impact on economically fragile peripheral coastal communities around the world.
Above: Raising adult salmon in the marine environment produces less stressed and better fish. Opposite page: Tradtitional salmon farm
Conclusions Although land based salmon farming technology continues to advance around the world, its success to date remains both scale and location dependent. Canada, the United States, Norway and Scotland have seen some recent advancement in relatively small-scale full cycle grow-out of between 300-1,000 tonnes. The reports reviewed agree that land based fish farms have a quantifiable ecological impact in contrast to the many vague unfounded impacts attributed to traditional net pen production. It is also a documented fact that in such systems fish health challenges can and do occur, that escapes due to handling and human error do occur, and that not 100 per cent of farming waste will be eliminated or contained. The salmon farming industry understands the value of land based salmon farming as well as its limitations. ‘By using both marine and freshwater resources in the most efficient way, the global salmon farming industry represents one of the best ways to feed the world’s growing population with a minimal environmental footprint,’ said Trond Davidsen. To see the full report, visit www.salmonfarming.org/cms/wp-content/ uploads/2015/02/ISFA_LandFarmingreport_web.pdf FF
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05/12/2016 13:48:42
Scotland – Economy
Success story Collaboration drives the growing food sector BY FIONA RICHMOND OF SCOTLAND FOOD AND DRINK
T
he Scottish food and drink industry is booming, and has come a long way in the past 10 years. From static growth, the industry is now one of the best performing in Scotland’s economy. The annual turnover of the industry has increased 40 per cent since 2007 and is now worth £14.4 billion. Furthermore, its manufacturing growth rate (43 per cent) is twice the UK average (21 per cent). Not only are these figures remarkable, they point to something very different happening in the food and drink industry in Scotland in terms of innovation and collaboration. While pausing to reflect on previous success is important, how the sector advances, tackles the challenges ahead and exploits emerging opportunities is crucial. True collaboration is happening throughout the
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Seaweed Conference.indd 34
Aquacul“ture pro-
vides a key contribution to the development of the new industry wide strategy
”
Above: Fiona Richmond gave a presentation at the Scottish seaweed conference
industry, including in aquaculture, with the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership, an alliance of both the public sector and industry stakeholders. The Scottish Seaweed Industry Association (SSIA), one of the newest collaborative associations, held its first ever conference in Oban in November. One of the main themes was the place of seaweed in the food and drink chain and, throughout, delegates and speakers discussed the potential for a sustainable seaweed sector. It’s already clear that the opportunity for seaweed is significant; it is one of 2016’s biggest ‘foodie’ trends, being featured on restaurant menus in London and beyond. In addition, about 27.3 million tonnes of farmed seaweed were produced globally in 2014, worth $6.4 billion and up from almost nothing in 1970, according to the UN University. It’s arguably time for the Scottish seaweed sector to capitalise on this. With a clear vision and strategy and by working together, the seaweed sector will undoubtedly grow. The seaweed sector isn’t the only one ensuring it is part of the food and drink industry success story; members of the aquaculture industry have come together for the first time to create an ambitious new strategy for the sector, with the Vision 2030 Working Group launching ‘Aquaculture Growth to 2030: A strategic plan for farming Scotland’s seas’ in October. The strategy identifies key recommendations required to double the economic contribution of the industry to £3.6 billion by 2030. It is estimated that this will generate over 9,000 new jobs in the sector and establish Scotland as a global aquaculture leader. Now the strategy has launched, the real work begins. The creation of a new Industry Leadership Group (ILG) to reflect that collaborative partnership is a critical first step and already has buy-in from the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing. Scotland Food and Drink will work alongside stakeholder and public sector partners to develop the aquaculture ILG. The strategic plan not only sets out the vision and route for achieving this new aquaculture ILG but also provides a key contribution to the development of the new industry wide strategy on which the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership is currently working. This new strategy, which will map a course to 2030, will examine how to create an environment for continued success for individual food and drink companies everywhere. If it succeeds, it will ensure that food and drink continues to underpin Scotland’s economic future. www.foodanddrink.scot FF
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05/12/2016 13:51:19
Finance
Figure heads Following the money in a growing aquaculture market
A
s the farming of fish and shellfish has become more sophisticated so have the financial structures that underpin the industry’s development. In countries with highly advanced aquaculture sectors, such as Norway, it is the financiers who often provide the most perceptive insights into market trends and are best placed to predict future prospects. Dag Sletmo, senior analyst at Norway’s DNB Bank, told a recent seafood investor forum that there has been a ‘paradigm shift ’ in the salmon market. ‘The new normal in salmon is about high margins and high multiples – farewell to the traditional cyclical pattern,’ he said. ‘The challenge is we know way more about supply than we do about demand – there is a lack of data, it is more complicated, but with lower supply volatility we need to spend more time trying to understand this dynamic.’ Also making sense of aquaculture dynamics are the specialist insurers. Tom Rutter, chief executive of insurer Sunderland Marine, points out that fish farming has progressed through many cycles since his company began insuring farms 30 years ago this year. ‘Since we wrote our first policy for Pairc Salmon fish farm off the north-west coast of Scotland in 1986, the global aquaculture industry has grown from 10 million to 75 million tonnes a year, now representing approximately 50 per cent of all fish supplied for direct human consumption. ‘In the early years, the industry consisted of mainly small owner-operated units. Today, the industry is consolidated under a relatively small
Above: Technical standards. Inset: Dag Sletmo
number of major companies controlling many sites and has led to the introduction of stringent technical standards.’ Aquaculture insurance is a high-risk and specialist business, and we talk to another expert in the field, Neil Hopkins of GAIC, about how those risks are managed by underwriters. We also hear from one of the banks that is playing a crucial role in promoting industry growth in Scotland, where local financing is now seen as integral to realising the sector’s full potential. FF
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05/12/2016 15:43:18
Finance – Banking
ANDREW SLOAN
Local support
The Bank of Scotland’s Andrew Sloan talks to Fish Farmer about building better ties with the aquaculture sector The Bank of Scotland recently refinanced one of the big Scottish fish farmers…is this a sign of a growing relationship with the industry? Over the last two to three years we have taken time to develop our understanding of the sector, its key players and the many challenges, for example biological risks, that can lead to significant volatility in harvest volumes and profitability. Earlier this year we were presented with an opportunity to put this expertise into practice within the salmon farming sub-sector with a competitive refinance of the Scottish Salmon Company. Prior to working with the company, we engaged in considerable dialogue to build a strong relationship and uncovered an opportunity to use our Asset Based Lending capabilities. We believe that building long-term relationships with the sector is an essential step towards increasing our exposure to this growth industry. What was the Bank’s involvement in the industry’s Vision 2030 strategy? We welcomed the decision to try and put in place an ambitious longterm strategic framework for the industry and in particular one supported by so many industry leaders who all share a common goal of ensuring the vision becomes reality. While we were invited to make a modest
contribution to the banking element of the discussions, how it may be provided and shaped in the future, we anticipate that our role may become more prominent in the delivery of the strategy. We should all be inspired to collectively support the strategy and be open to playing our part in the funding required to achieve the ambitious goals set by the group. How can the Bank help grow the industry in Scotland? The industry has performed well over the past five years aided by growing global demand, in particular to Europe, Asia and the US. Much of the attention in future will be on increasing the capacity of Scottish farms in order to meet the high levels of year-round export demand in important markets such as China and the US, and we would like to play our part in that growth. To facilitate this, provision of finance is going to be key, but we cannot operate as the sole UK funder. We hope that other UK banks will join us in creating a competitive funding landscape. This would benefit companies operating right across the industry, and would prevent local industry from looking overseas for the right funding options. The latest Bank of Scotland Food and Drink report showed a bullish sector predicting 75,000 new jobs by 2020, and aquaculture within Scotland will be a net contributor to this wider growth. Access to finance is identified as a major challenge in the sector, especially for SMEs, both farmers and suppliers. Can the Bank help to address this? We are committed to helping businesses of all shapes and sizes, providing them with the fund-
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hope “thatWeother
UK banks will join us in creating a competitive funding landscape
”
Above: High quality products
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05/12/2016 13:59:48
Local support
ing and support they need to grow here and abroad. Since the start of 2011 we have grown our lending to SMEs by 29 per cent net across the Group, while the market has contracted by 12 per cent. In the 12 months to September 2016 we have grown our lending to SMEs four per cent year on year and are leading the way in respect of local banking support to Scottish aquaculture. We welcome ongoing dialogue with a number of industry stakeholders and are committed to exploring ways of increasing our funding to well-run businesses across the industry. Is there a lack of awareness among investors here of the growth potential in Scottish aquaculture? The industry continues to do a good job to market the high quality products that are produced in Scotland, these are world-renowned for good reason, and we need continued support from government and collaboration within the industry to ensure the sector continues to attract all kinds of inward investment. The industry wants to see a dedicated investment fund set up for aquaculture, probably through Scottish Enterprise. Is this something the Bank could become involved in? Our head office has direct lines to all local and national bodies with an interest in collaborating for the greater good of the commercial businesses operating across the country, including Scottish Enterprise, which we work directly with on a number of projects. We have interest and expertise to support the industry so we would evaluate opportunities to add value as they arise.
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Has the Bank set up a specific aquaculture department? The bank has a team of colleagues across both our SME (£1 million-£25 million turnover) and Mid Markets (£25 million-£750 million) businesses to develop the Bank’s understanding of the industry, engage with sector experts, evaluate the key industry drivers and ensure we are as well placed as we can be to provide ongoing support. In due course, we may see further sector specialism as we have across our leading agriculture business, but this will primarily be driven by demand from Scottish companies seeking our support. Can you compete with the Norwegian banks that have a long standing relationship with many aquaculture companies? Absolutely. We have shown through the Scottish Salmon Company transaction that we can put in place an innovative funding solution and offer a company a whole banking proposition that meets the needs of a major company within the industry. Over time I see no reason why we can’t replicate that and tailor accordingly to work with companies of differing scale and provide local support to small, medium and large companies spanning the aquaculture sector. At this stage the Norwegian banks have a scale of experience and expertise but we have demonstrated that in the right circumstances our offering is highly competitive. There was also mention by the industry of establishing better export finance, perhaps with a government scheme similar to Norway’s. Is there a role for the Bank here?
Lloyds Banking Group is committed to supporting the international aspirations of our customers through our ‘Helping Britain Prosper Globally’ initiative tied into our partnership with the Department for Trade to support 100,000 first-time exporters by 2020. We have recently launched our new International Trade Portal, which is available free to all of our customers and is an excellent tool to research overseas markets based on very specific product or service designations. The tool helps identify new or growing markets for customers to target and direct links to local importers of their product, as well as details of relevant trade shows and exhibitions where new customer contacts can be made. Our work here is predominantly managed by our trade team, headed in Scotland by Colin Walls. From a product perspective, we have a full range of solutions available to customers and specifically we aim to support exporters either by mitigating risk in their transactions or by supporting the need to fund often stretched working capital. In our partnership with UKTI we also work closely with UK Export Finance (UKEF) which is a government agency tasked with supporting business finance their overseas trade. With the support of UKEF we are often able to provide levels of funding that perhaps may have been challenging to achieve otherwise. Overall, we aim to work closely with exporters to demonstrate that there are often many more options open to them and enable them to grow their business globally. Andrew Sloan is relationship director, Mid Markets, Bank of Scotland. FF
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05/12/2016 14:00:09
Finance – Insurance
NEIL HOPKINS
Are you
covered? Expert explains why aquaculture is still considered a high risk industry
I
nsuring aquaculture operations can sometimes be a thankless task. In fact, according to a veteran in the business, the insurance and re-insurance market has probably paid out more in claims than it’s made in premiums since insurance was first made available for fish and shellfish farmers. With more than 30 years’ experience insuring fish farms, Neil Hopkins is in a good position to weigh up the risks, both actual and financial. Now an underwriter at Global Aquaculture Insurance Consortium (GAIC), he has spent most of his working life as a wholesale insurance broker, working exclusively in the aquaculture field, prior to establishing GAIC in 2009. With a masters in applied fish biology from Plymouth Polytechnic, he entered the business in 1984 and says he has seen a lot of changes since then. GAIC does little in the UK but insures about 20 different species in more than 20 different countries – ‘most developed countries where fish are farmed’, said Hopkins. What is insured and what isn’t insured? Can a farm be covered for everything – such as a big loss at a farm recently when fish were washed out of the net? ‘In this specific example it would depend on the cir-
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Finance - Neil.indd 38
Right: Perils at sea
cumstances of the loss as to whether this eventuality was a claim or not – had the farmer rigged his nets correctly or had the buoyancy in the cage been compromised due to lack of repair?’ said Hopkins. ‘People talk about an ‘Act of God’ but that phrase doesn’t actually appear in modern insurance wordings ‘Then of course there is the issue of the deductible and wheth-
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
05/12/2016 14:02:45
Are you covered?
LOOKING EAST
“
If you look at the losses since the early 1980s, the claims paid out would have exceeded the premiums
”
WHILE almost 90 per cent of the world’s aquaculture production comes from Asia, this part of the world remains largely uninsured by the global insurance companies. ‘A lot of Asian production was historically (and remains) extensive, with unsophisticated producers who probably don’t buy insurance for any of their assets,’ said Neil Hopkins. ‘And the sort of species they’re growing and the rearing systems they’re using make it very difficult to evaluate a loss. If you’ve got a shrimp farm with ponds that are each three times the size of a football field how do you know how many three or four gram animals have been killed by a single identified loss event? ‘So there’s no sense in insuring something where you’re just going to get a big argument if there’s a claim. ‘I think what people are starting to look at and a more sensible approach for places like China is to provide so called parametric or weather-trigger products, where you don’t have to prove the extent to which you’ve lost your stock, you just need to produce independent meteorological data to prove that the applicable defined parameters have been experienced at the location specified in the contract. ‘It’s a case of buying a financial instrument so, for example, if rainfall exceeds a certain figure for more than a certain period the contract pays out. ‘Or if the wind speed exceeds more than a certain velocity for a certain period the contract pays out. In those situations you don’t need to go in and count the dead fish. ‘China is a bit of a complex situation because there are domestic insurers providing cover for fish and shellfish farmers within their general agriculture portfolio, often with government subsidies, and Western insurers do not therefore have a particularly accurate picture of the cover being provided, the industry take-up and the results that are being experienced.’
er the losses would have exceeded the deductible, whether it was viewed as one event or a number of events with multiple deductibles being applied. ‘And it would depend on precisely what cover they’d bought and what the policy language said. Most people would buy cover for storm or breakage of equipment or loss of stock resulting from breakage of equipment but the majority of policies contain a clause that excludes ‘mysterious
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Finance - Neil.indd 39
disappearance’ or shortfall only discovered at grading or harvesting. ‘Aquaculture stock policies cover mortality or loss of stock and there are two ways of coming at it: either by buying cover against all risks of mortality or loss and then you’ve got a fairly long list of exclusions because insurers obviously don’t want to just pay for bad husbandry and ineptitude. ‘Or you can buy a specified perils contract, in
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05/12/2016 14:03:04
Finance – insurance
“
Insurers are encouraged by the research that’s going into lice remediation and that’s all taken into account
”
which case you’re covered purely against the perils detailed in the policy that you choose to buy. You can decide whether you want to buy cover against predation, for example. It is a slightly more flexible approach.’
‘Arguably, if you weren’t a particularly sophisticated buyer you might take the view that you’ll buy everything because it’s safer that way. ‘The majority of our clients, although they buy specified perils cover, they buy the full range of perils. It’s not just about the perils you wish to insure, it’s also about how high the deductible is and how that applies.’
Do more farmers tend to go for tailor made policies? ‘This is partly geographical – for example, in Norway they tend to go for an all risk approach – and it also depends to some extent on which insurer you go with. Some of our competitors utilise an all risk approach whereas at GAIC we tend to prefer a specified perils approach because we think it’s more transparent. ‘The insured can see what is covered rather than thinking he’s covered for everything then having a claim and being forced to comb through the policy to page 53 exclusion three part four sub D to discover that that cause of loss is specifically excluded.
Are deductibles in this sector higher than in other sectors? ‘Oh definitely. I think fish farmers would say deductibles are far too high and the rates are too high but those of us in insurance would argue that in many years we pay out more in claims than we get in premiums and that if the deductibles were lower, the premium rates would be unaffordable. It is just a reflection of the high risks inherent in the business of rearing animals in the aquatic environment. ‘It’s not the case that insurers lose money every year or we’d be out of business, but I think if you look at the losses since aquaculture insurance started in the early 1980s, the claims that have been paid out would have exceeded the premiums. ‘And over the last couple of years the claims have definitely exceeded the premiums. We had big superchill losses in eastern Canada two years ago; we’ve had volcano and plankton losses in Chile in the past two years and so insurers are hurting at the moment, and there will be quite a lot of pressure
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Finance - Neil.indd 40
Above: Transparent approach. Opposite page: Sea lice
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05/12/2016 14:03:26
Are you covered? successful over the years, those rates are down to around one per cent. ‘The premium is based on average exposure because, if you think about it, if you’re insuring a building the value is the same every day of the year, but on a fish farm the value changes constantly with harvesting and growth and mortality and so it’s done on this adjustable basis.’ So the Norwegians pay less because they’ve been successful? ‘Yes, the history of that part of the world has been better than other areas, but the statistics available on the Norwegian government insurance website are now showing that, overall, Norwegian insurers are losing money on aquaculture business.’ One of the big costs of the industry in Scotland is sea lice – and AGD in some farms. Will premiums go up across the industry because of this problem in some farms? ‘What insurers are trying to do is balance their exposure and claims against the premium that they get in so that over a long period they will make a profit. We’re not here to make a profit every year, that’s not how it works, but seen over a long-term period, insurers have to make a financial profit, like any business. ‘It’s about taking the volatility out for our insured’s shareholders, so some years we accept there’s a big storm or a big issue that nobody has foreseen and then the claims will exceed the premium, but over a period of time the aim is that the premiums you get in from all of your insureds exceed the claims you pay out to the unfortunate or unlucky few. ‘If you’ve got a trend like AGD or sea lice it’s a question of whether it becomes an inevitability rather than a fortuity. If something is becoming inevitable, what insurers would tend to try and do is reduce our exposure to it by putting on an increased deductible, or only insuring those farms that are in good locations or had the correct management procedures to reduce their risk.’
on people to pay increased premium levels even if they have not personally suffered losses.’ ‘The basic principle of insurance is that the losses of the unlucky few are paid for by the many policyholders and while those insureds that have had high loss activity will experience a more severe reaction on their terms, the premium base as a whole has to be re-assessed by general rate increases or restrictions in cover. ‘Although some of the basic risks may not be as high as they were at the onset, it’s still an industry that’s considered a high risk one for the insurance market, said Hopkins. But there is some good news, for farmers at least. ‘Because of the improvement in those risks, the premium rates have come down. Back in the 80s, fish farms were paying rates of around five per cent of the average value at risk over the policy year, and now in some parts of the world it’s more like three or three and a half per cent, and in Norway, where the salmon industry has been pretty
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Would you say that’s what’s happening with this particular biological risk? ‘Insurers are encouraged by all the research that’s going into lice remediation and that’s all taken into account.’ If the farm changes its way of operating significantly would they have to keep the insurers informed? Farmers are deploying a lot of different methods to deal with sea lice for instance, would the insurers want to know about that? ‘Definitely. That would be part of the underwriting process- when you take a risk on you’d be looking at what their historical losses are from various different causes and what risk management procedures they’ve got in place to deal with it
and prevent or reduce the probability of a recurrence. It is an obligation for all clients applying for insurance to disclose material facts that could influence the insurers’ perception of their risk and most policies also contain a clause that obliges insureds to disclose any material changes that occur during currency of the policy.’ Thermolicers, for instance, are part of a new method of treatment – would they be protected against loss during trials? ‘It depends on the circumstance of the loss. If the process directly killed the fish then it probably wouldn’t be considered as a valid fortuitous claim. However, if it was something the insurers knew the client was doing and had accepted that it was part and parcel of their way of operating and then there was some sort of unforeseen problem that caused the loss, it probably would be payable as a valid claim assuming the insured had not been negligent in some way. ‘Things like biological control with wrasse and lumpsuckers are interesting. That would be viewed quite positively if people are embracing new technology and trying new things to mitigate their loss.’ Is there a constant dialogue between the insurers and the farmers? ‘Different insurers work in different manners but quite often surveyors will be sent out to the sites to look at what they’re doing and check that everyone’s up to speed. ‘If you’re looking at the large multi-national operators they’re a very different proposition to a small owner operator that doesn’t have access to the same research capability and resources in terms of well boats and so on. Each risk needs to be evaluated differently.’ Are there more disputes in this industry than others? ‘Wherever there’s insurance you’re going to get some disputes. The numbers involved in aquaculture policies nowadays can be very large and if a claim is around $10 million, some insureds may feel that it is worth appointing a lawyer to argue over any ambiguity, whereas in the old days when it was $10,000 or $15,000 the cost of lawyers wasn’t justified. ‘A lot of people in
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Finance – Insurance re-insurance believe they’ve paid the learning curve of the salmon farming industry. There have been some very large losses over the years and the pool of premiums from aquaculture insurance is actually quite small in comparison to the global aquaculture industry.’ Some of the biggest producing countries, such as China, don’t tend to have commercial insurance for their aquaculture industries, said Hopkins. ‘It is generally accepted that the total global aquaculture premium is between $100 million and $150 million per annum for all fish and shellfish insurance that is insured. ‘That is a pretty small number, particularly when you compare it with the fact that the insured salmon losses in Chile this year on that one algal event were about $120 million. In addition to that one loss event, you’re still getting the small scale, high frequency attritional storm and disease losses that are an everyday part of fish and shellfish farming. ‘It’s quite a volatile class of insurance to be in, not just because of the technical risk of the industry but also because the premium income is relatively low in comparison with the exposures that are out there.’ This may explain why there are only three direct aquaculture insurance providers that are active globally. It’s so difficult to make a profit insuring fish farms, said Hopkins, that a number of people have entered the market, lost a lot of money and left. ‘The ones that are still doing it, we’re all struggling a bit. I think that’s the issue that fish farmers need to bear in mind. The people who are providing the insurance are in a commercial venture and if you can’t make money from it you’ll stop doing it. ‘There’s all this talk about the offshore industry and putting cages out in the middle of nowhere and it’s automatically assumed that there’s going to be some rash person who’s going to be brave enough to insure it. ‘The fish farmers don’t assume that fishmeal producers will sell fishmeal to them for less than it costs to produce it and yet that’s effectively what they’re expecting insurers to do if costs (claims) exceed income (premium).’ Hopkins said he views some of the more unconventional plans for offshore farming in Norway with ‘some reservations and suspicion’. ‘Partly because they’re experimental, which is fine – we need to be looking
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at new ways of farming fish and ways of using more of the ocean- but does that mean I want to insure anything in them in the first year? No. ‘The other thing is cost effectiveness. It’s no good saying we can technically farm fish in these circumstances but if it’s going to cost twice as much as it does putting them in a traditional cage then that has to be a flawed economic model.’ He is also sceptical about land based recirculation systems, which have ‘massive’ capital costs and ongoing operating costs. Recirculation systems may be acceptable for a product that has a very high value per kilo such as salmon smolts or sturgeon for caviar but for such a farm to compete with traditional cage culture in an established location, as an on-grower of widely available farmed species is, surely, a challenge in all but the most unique circumstances. ‘My own view is that brand new recirculation systems are the worst risk we see – I tend to shy away from them until they’ve had a year or two under their belt. ‘They’ve got to operate them at very high stocking densities in order to make them pay their way and then if the slightest thing goes wrong you get a very big claim quite quickly just because of the densities. ‘You’re so reliant on all the equipment working and there not being any failures, and the people operating them, who may initially be inexperienced, getting to know what goes on. ‘The vast majority of smolts produced nowadays are raised in recirculation systems and that’s okay because it’s proven technology and it’s experienced people operating those long established hatcheries. ‘They know the systems where they are working and if they get an abnormal reading or an alarm goes off, their experience and familiarity tells them that it’s probably because pump four is ‘on the blink’ again and they quickly go and tweak it. ‘It’s just a question of familiarity with the intricacies of the equipment and the way that it interacts with the water chemistry and the biological requirements of the stock. ‘But these new turnkey projects where people design a system and go and give it to a grain farmer in Timbuktu and say here it is get on with it, that’s a bit scary!’ If a large multi-national company went ahead with one of their new concepts (donuts or eggs fpr example) would you say we’re not going to insure you for the first year? ‘I think the existing insurers of these companies would feel obliged to give some cover because they are insuring the rest of the company. If those insurers are sensible I think they’d exclude any losses that are attributable to experimentation, and maybe if they felt that it was a very high storm risk they’d refuse to cover that or put in an increased deductible or charge a very high rate. ‘There are ways and means of dealing with it and I am sure that these large companies will have done their research and homework before investing a lot of capital. This information will,
Above: Relevant exposures. Opposite page: Cobia
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Are you covered?
inevitably, be made available to insurers in order to enable them to evaluate all the relevant exposures. ‘We try to look at any opportunities that come in with the proviso that the rearing system and stock recording has to be adequate to enable us to quantify the extent of a loss if there is a claim, and if there were new species coming on we would take a fairly conservative view on the premium we would need and particularly the disease cover we would offer. ‘With a trout or a sea bass or a sea bream or a salmon we know pretty much what the diseases are and how they can be dealt with. But if you’re looking at some exotic new species in a remote part of the world you don’t know really what diseases they’re vulnerable to and how you can treat them.’ Hopkins said he isn’t that surprised at how the industry has taken off over the course of his career – ‘you only have to look at those FAO statistics about increasing population and the fact that the traditional capture fisheries are all
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over-exploited to see that aquaculture has to carry on expanding’. And despite the pressures, he considers himself fortunate, having travelled the world insuring fish farms, from China to Chile, Australia to South Africa. ‘There’s no substitute for seeing something with your own eyes. You can get proposal forms in or get surveyors to carry out a survey but you have to see things for yourself. More to the point, it’s far more interesting being on a fish farm in southern Chile or Greece than sitting at a desk in EC3!’ FF
“
Brand new recirculation systems are the worst risk we see
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Above: Tilapia
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05/12/2016 11:01:48
‘Pharmaqademy’ – 2016
Widening the scope From vaccines to sea lice to dissolved gas – scientists swap stories BY CHRIS MITCHELL
T
he annual gathering of ‘Pharmaqadians’ in Inverness took place at the end of October and, in keeping with tradition, involved a session with brushes and rocks at the Inverness curling rink – (rather more ‘Game of Stones’ than curling given the high level of competition and deviousness being played out on the ice). Prior to this, approximately 50 delegates from across the Scottish and Irish aquaculture industries had spent the afternoon attending presentations allied to the theme of vaccine development. This commenced with an update on Pharmaq’s long awaited vaccine solution to salmon pancreas disease, the development of which has involved extensive field trialling in both Norway and Ireland. Clear benefits including reduced mortality, pancreatic and cardiac pathology, as well as reduced virus load, were described in vaccinated fish after challenge. This was confirmed through a significant reduction in mortality among vaccinated fish during natural outbreaks of pancreas disease under commercial conditions. The main benefit of milder pathology it seems is improved performance as directly measured through growth. Anne Aas-Eng, Pharmaq’s principle scientist who developed Alphaject micro 1 PD, promised the audience additional information as it becomes available. Another of Pharmaq’s scientists, Monica Gausdal TingØ, presented her development story of Pharmaq’s new vaccine for Yersiniosis (enteric red mouth) in salmon which now has a marketing authorisation in Norway. She explained the clear differences between the strains of Yersinia ruckerii that affect salmon from those isolated from rainbow trout suffering from the same disease, and went on to emphasise the importance
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Above: Game of Stones
of choosing the appropriate vaccine with the correct isolate for the vaccinate species; the vaccine for trout will NOT adequately protect against strains typically affecting salmon. Marianne Bordevik presented the (ongoing) story of Pharmaq’s new vaccine for Piscirickettsia salmonis, the cause of salmonid rickettsial syndrome (SRS) that has plagued the Chilean industry, not just through stock losses but also the unsustainable reliance on antibiotics as a control method. So a few years ago Pharmaq began working on a novel approach to address this disease by developing a live attenuated vaccine containing a non-pathogenic but nevertheless immunogenically potent version of the SRS organism. The product received a provisional MA in Chile this year and, although early days, so far the results from the field are very promising. Sandra Adams from Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture continued the health theme by informing delegates of the wide variety of bacterial conditions that can affect cleaner fish. Some of these are more associated with wrasse, notable atypical A salmonicida, while others, notably vibrio species, more commonly affect lumpsuckers. This is challenging for vaccinologists who must choose which microbes to include in vaccines. She went on to highlight a project based at the University of Bergen which seeks to improve the development of cleaner fish vaccines through
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Widening the scope a greater understanding of the fish’s innate as well as memory based immune system. Separate to this, but in many ways related, is a new SAIC project established to enhance the sustainable supply of lumpsuckers to the Scottish salmon farming industry. The following day Ben North, managing director of Pharmaq, kicked off proceedings with a reminder that at Pharmaqademy 2015 we announced that Pharmaq had been acquired by Zoetis.He drew attention to the synergies between Pharmaq and Zoetis, which despite the obvious significant difference in size (200 versus 10,000 employees) gives Zoetis access to world class expertise in the aqua health space. The first technical presentation was given by Kiranpreet Kaur from NMBU (the Norwegian University of Life Sciences) who described a major resistance mechanism which sea lice can exhibit to Azamethiphos, a common bath treatment used to combat infestations of this parasite. She explained how she and her colleagues have discovered a single mutation (Phe362Tyr) in a gene coding for acetylcholinesterase that confers resistance in lice towards azamethiphos. Lice that are homozygous for the resistance alleles (362Tyr) display the strongest resistance whereas those which are reciprocally homozygous for the wild type (Phe362) allele are sensitive to azamethiphos, with heterozygous individuals showing partial resistance. Haplotype studies have indicated that the origin of this alternative (resistant) version of the gene is almost certainly not a de novo mutation but rather a widespread variation that has existed long before recent selection pressure that has elevated its prevalence. Herve Migaud of the Institute of Aquaculture moved the discussion from genes to chromosomes by way of a summary presentation on the progress to date of the BBSRC/Innovate UK Salmotrip project. The project was established to investigate and describe the optimal husbandry conditions and technology inputs required for the successful cultivation of triploid salmon. Not only do polypoid fish offer a potentially faster production cycle through enhanced performance, but they also represent a greatly reduced threat to native wild salmon populations in the unlikely event of them escaping. Significant progress has been made in establishing optimal egg incubation regimes as well as diets to reduce the incidence of malformations, an issue that, until now, had largely extinguished interest in the farming of triploid salmon. The response of triploidy fish to vaccination is also under investigation in this project; so far no ploidy effect has been observed. Diet formulation of farmed fish feed is the central determinant of the compelling data presented by Dr Matthew Sprague of the IoA. Matthew is well known for his annual assessment of long chain omega 3 levels (EPA and DHA) in fish presented for sale on the counters of British supermarkets. In 2016 he published his findings in Scientific Reports (part of the Nature stable of journals) and delighted delegates at Pharmaqademy with a summary of this work (shown here in Fig 1). Due to being fed high levels of fish oil, Scottish salmon rank highest as a source of omega 3 in the salmonids included in the survey, even above wild salmon from the western seaboard of Canada. One of the issues that remains top of the ‘challenge league table’ for salmon farmers is of course combating sea lice. While a number of novel technologies are being tried in order to move away from medication, the use of parasiticidal medicines still remains a vital component in the
farmer’s tool box. Herve Migaud, presenting results on behalf of the IoA’s Luisa Andujar, suggested that there may be an optimal time of day to administer such treatments in order to optimise the outcome. Luisa has shown differences in the stress and toxicological responses in fish to hydrogen peroxide and MS 222 depending upon the time of day of exposure. Fish responded more quickly to anaesthesia in the morning than at night time. Likewise, hydroBottom left: Fig 1 Levels gen peroxide induced a more enhanced toxicoof the beneficial logical response in the livers of fish exposed in long-chain omega-3 the morning than in the afternoon. fatty acids (EPA+DHA, Consideration of fish livers, however, did not g.100g-1 ww) in various seafood products feature in Trygve Poppe’s presentation on salmavailable in the UK. Above: on gill pox virus. Trygve, who now does work for Fig 2 Diagrammatic Pharmaq Analytiq, explained in detail where this representation of the salmonid virus fits into the phylogenetic tree of levels at which elevated these viruses as well as how it manifests itself in carbon dioxide is infected salmon in both sea and fresh water. To considered problematic this end he presented some nice histopathology within recirculating images of lesions within infected gills adding aquaculture systems (RAS). Ref Global Change that initial diagnosis is now possible with PCR. In keeping with Pharmaqademy’s broad Biology (Ellis, Urbina & Wilson, 2016) scope credentials, we invited Professor Rod Wilson from Exeter University to speak about the impact of dissolved CO2 in aquaculture. He was able to provide some quite poignant comparative data on levels which are ‘tolerated’ in aquaculture but which would be considered great cause for alarm in the ocean. He also explained that fish exposed to elevated dissolved CO2 have been shown to display disruption of behaviours associated with sensory and cognitive functions (for example, smell, hearing, vision, learning) as well as social cohesion (boldness and aggression). This is just one reason why good dissolved gas management is essential for healthy fish stocks whether in tanks or in the ocean! Chris Mitchell is national sales manager of Pharmaq FF
Hydrogen peroxide induced a more enhanced “ toxicological response in the livers of fish exposed in the morning than in the afternoon ”
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Research – Lumpfish
Strong
attachment Improving survival in the early stages of development with additional substrate BY CLAUDIA WITTWER
L
umpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) is the booming cleaner fish species for the biological control of sea lice in salmon farms. A big advantage is that it is possible to produce juveniles relatively easily compared with the other cleaner fish species, such as ballan wrasse. It is beneficial that all lumpfish juveniles used in salmon farms can be supplied from lumpfish farms and do not rely on fisheries, giving a controlled supply all year around and not affecting wild stocks. In recent years, there has been much research, still ongoing, into improving the survival, welfare and efficiency of lumpfish in sea pens. Nevertheless, it is a new species in fish farm-
ing and there can be challenges during the rearing process. Low survival during the larval phase or tail nipping during the on-growing phase can be issues. There is therefore room for improvement in the rearing process of lumpfish. As the name lumpsucker implies, one of the main characteristics of this species is the ventral adhesive disc. In the natural environment lumpfish use this disc to attach to rocks or seaweed which gives them protection against predators at their early stages (Ingólfsson and Kristjánsson 2002). This behaviour also makes them quite a novelty in fish farming, as they attach to the walls and bottoms of the tanks. Therefore, it was of interest to investigate the influence on the survival of early stage lumpfish by providing more resting and settlement places for them. Adding additional substrate I constructed an external substrate which could be easily introduced into the tank and which provided additional surface area for the fish to adhere to. The surface area of the substrate was around 1m² and was suspended in the centre of the 1,400 litre and 5m² cone shaped tanks at Arctic Cleanerfish (based in Lofoten, Norway). These additional substrates were introduced into three of the six tanks. The other three tanks were kept with the original design as a comparison. Two individual studies with different size classes of lumpfish were carried out at different times. Therefore, survival between the trials could vary as larval survival can vary between egg batches or with time of the year. In trial one, approximately 40,000 lumpfish larvae with an average start weight of 0.35g were stocked in each of the six tanks. In trial two, approximately 25,000 lumpfish larvae with an average start weight of 0.8g were stocked in each tank. The duration of both studies was 21 days. The fish were fed till saturation, depending on the appetite of the fish in each individual tank. Right: Lumpfish. Left: Claudia Wittwer
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Resting places are “ important for the welfare of lumpfish in sea pens ”
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Strong attachment
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Research – Lumpfish FIGURE 1
Figure 1. Survival rate [%] of lumpfish from trial 1 and 2 in tanks with (black) and without (white) additional substrate. Data were analysed with one-way parametric ANOVA and a p-value of < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant.
Table 1. Average number of dead lumpfish from trial 1 and 2 with and without additional substrate. Mortality [n] Trial Trial12 and 2 in tanks with (black) and without (white) Figure 1. Survival rate [%] of1lumpfish from trial additional substrate. Data were analysed with one-way parametric ANOVA and a p-value of < 0.05 Substrate 42±23 232 ± 18 was regarded as statistically significant. Without
159±117
459±32 TABLE 1
Increased surface area increased the survival
Table Average number of dead In both1. trials the survival of lumpfish was sig-lumpfish from trial 1 and 2 with and without additional substrate.
nificantly increased in tanks where an additionBenefits of adding substrates al substrate was introduced (p<0.001, Mortality [n] Trial Fig.1). 1 Trial 2 When the numbers of dead fish were examined An additional surface increased the survival of lumpfish at the early stage. Resting places are there were more than two to four times the Substrate 232(Imsland ± 18 et al. 2015). important for the welfare of lumpfish mortalities in tanks without the 42±23 substrate (Table in sea pens 1).
In the present study, fish159±117 in all tanks had enough attachment surfaces on the walls in the beginning Without 459±32
Benefits of adding substrates and did notsurface showincreased much swimming An additional the survival activity. of lumpfish at the early stage. Resting places are important as for the the welfare of lumpfish seathe weight more than doubled during the study, the fish in the However, lumpfish grew in and pens (Imsland et al. 2015). Benefits of adding substrates tanks without thefish substrate In the present study, in all tanksdid had not have enough surface to attach to and did swim much more. enough attachment surfaces the of walls in the Especially towards theonend the study, large schools of swimming fish where observed in the water beginning and did not show much swimming An additional surface increased the survival of lumpfish at the early stage. Resting places are column. activity. Figurepens 1. Survival important for the welfare of lumpfishAbove: in sea (Imsland et al. 2015). However, as the lumpfish grew and the weight rate [%] of lumpfish In contrast, lumpfish with anthe additional surface swam more than doubled during the study, fish from trial 1 and 2 in much less. Fish could adhere to the substrate in the without the substrate did not have tanks with (black) Inand thetanks present study, fish in all tanks had enough attachment walls inthat thethe beginning no fish, or only a few, were swimming throughout the study.surfaces It could on be the suggested enough surface to attach to and did swim much and without (white) and did not show much swimming activity. higher swimming in the thestudy, other tanks is due the lack of sitting and resting places. additional substrate. more. Especially towardsactivity the end of large schools of swimming fish where observed Data were analysed with one-way in water column. However, as the lumpfish grewinand the weight more than doubledindicates during the theinfish Intheconclusion, a higher survival tanks with an additional substrate thatstudy, lumpfish thein the parametric ANOVA and In contrast, lumpfish with an additional a p-value of < 0.05 was tanks without the did not have enough surface to attach to and did swim more.in early swam stages require rest and sitting Therefore, not only is the volume of the tankmuch important surface much less.substrate Fish could adhere to places. regarded as statistically the substrate and no fish, oralso only athe few, were rearing lumpfish butthe area of theschools tank to of provide enough forobserved attachment. Especially towards end ofsurface the study, large swimming fishspace where in the water significant. swimming throughout the study. It could be Table 1. Averagefor number Whether this is as important for older lumpfish, example after vaccination (8g and higher), needs column.that the higher swimming activity in of dead lumpfish from suggested toother be investigated the tanks is due to further. the lack of sitting and trial 1 and 2 with and without additional resting places. In contrast, lumpfish with an additional surface swam much less. Fish could adhere to the substrate substrate In conclusion, a higher survival in tanks with Further challenges and no fish, or only a few, were throughout Right: Lumpfish with an the study. It could be suggested that the an additional substrate indicates that lump-swimming additional surface swam fish in the early stages require rest and sitting higher swimming activity in the otherless tanks is due the lack of sitting and resting places. places. Therefore, not only is the volume of additional substrates to increase the surface area for early stage lumpfish the tank important in rearing lumpfish but In conclusion, a of higher substrate indicates thatin lumpfish intanks. the to attach to will be implemented the new build also the surface area the tanksurvival to providein tanks with an additional Arctic Cleanerfish is always aiming to improve the methods enough space for attachment. Whether this is early stages require rest and sitting places. Therefore, not only is the volume of the tank important in and technology of the rearing process to produce healthy and good quality as important for older lumpfish, for example rearing lumpfish but alsoneeds the surface area of the tank to lumpfish. provide enough space for attachment. after vaccination (8g and higher), to be In addition, there are more challenges such as theneeds water quality which investigated Whether further. this is as important for older lumpfish, for example after vaccination (8g and -higher), seems to be of great importance during the rearing process. This can be to be investigated further. especially challenging during the start feeding phase when larvae are fed Further challenges with micro diets. On the basis of this study, the idea of using
Further challenges
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Strong attachment
Another major advance would be to close the production cycle completely and produce the eggs from a hatchery reared own broodstock. Although Arctic Cleanerfish has had broodstock since 2015, there is still reliance on wild caught fish. Controlled spawning with high quality eggs and larvae are the future objectives. Farming a new species is challenging and exciting at the same time, especially with a species that has so much potential for sea lice control. The aim is to improve the production cycle to produce even healthier and more robust fish which will give good performance and survival in the sea pens.
REFERENCES Imsland, A. K., Reynolds, P., Eliassen, G., Hangstad, T. A., Nytrø, A. V., Foss, A. and Elvegård, T. A. (2015). Assessment of suitable substrates for lumpfish in sea pens. Aquaculture International, 23(2), 639-645. Ingólfsson, A., & Kristjánsson, B. K. (2002). Diet of juvenile lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus (Cyclopteridae) in floating seaweed: effects of ontogeny and prey availability. Copeia, 2002(2), 472-476.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arctic Cleanerfish found a great solution with special ‘bottom-cleaning‘ start feeding tanks, which maintain good water quality and give high survival during the larval stage. Furthermore, it would be of interest to test different diets during the early stages, as they can have a big impact on the water quality as well as on the quality and the performance of the lumpfish larvae.
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Claudia Wittwer, of Arctic Cleanerfish, Lofoten, is interested in sustainable and environmentally friendly aquaculture, with a main focus on early development. She studied biology at the University in Kiel in Germany, and aquaculture at the University of Nordland, Norway. While studying, she worked on fish farms in Norway and Scotland to gain practical experience. In particular, she had the chance to work on projects involving the early life stages of marine species. While working in Norway on her master thesis, ‘A new micro diet with big potential to improve first feeding of lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus’, she came into contact with nearby Arctic Cleanerfish. They provided the lumpfish larvae for her project and she had the opportunity to have a closer look at commercial production and work there seasonally. ‘Fortunately for me the lumpfish business is growing,’ said Claudia, ‘and I could start working as a biologist at Arctic Cleanerfish directly after my studies.’ Now she is responsible for the early stage lumpfish and works mainly in the hatchery, start feeding and in the first phase of the on-growing period. ‘I am working with five very skilled and smart colleagues who bring along a lot of experience of fish farming,’ she said. Arctic Cleanerfish started up in 2011 and has produced 1.5 to 2 million lumpfish this year.
Farming a “ new species is challenging ”
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Site insights
Research – Sea lice
Using computer models to inform aquaculture management BY DR TOM ADAMS
A particular challenge for the salmon aquaculture industry in recent years has been the control of infectious agents. Parasitic sea lice are one of the key issues facing the industry at present- it is estimated that sea lice management measures cost the industry more than €33 million annually in the UK alone, and upwards of €305 million globally. Infectious Salmonid Anaemia Virus (ISAV) poses a more sporadic (but still potentially very costly) challenge. In 1997, an epidemic resulted in compulsory uncompensated slaughter at several salmon farms on the west coast of Scotland. In 2007, Chilean salmon farming suffered catastrophic losses of around $2 billion through an ISAV epidemic which spread rapidly between farms. The industry faces consistent pressure from a range of stakeholders to manage farms responsibly to limit outbreaks of sea lice and ISAV, minimising impacts on wild fish populations and ensuring high welfare standards on the farms themselves. Meanwhile, there is pressure to minimise the use of chemical treatments, which are costly, reduce fish welfare, may have impacts on the local marine environment around farms, and are subject to genetic resistance. Application of chemical treatments and fallow periods on sites (which break the sea lice life cycle) is most effective if these activities are co-ordinated between sites in close proximity to one another. For this reason, the industry operates Farm Management Areas (FMAs), one of the goals of which is to allow co-ordinated management activities to assist with sea lice control. Disease Management Areas (DMAs), defined by Marine Scotland to assist in controlling the spread of ISAV, are based on tidal excursion estimates. In Figure. Salmon aquaculture sites on a portion of the west coast of Scotland. Active sites are shown Figure. Salmon aquaculture sites on a portion west coast of Scotland. Active sites with black discs, inactive with white discs (biomassofatthe June 2015). Approximate boundaries of are Farmshown both these cases, the management units defined with black discs, white discs (biomass at June 2015). Approximate of Farm either combine objectives, or are defined based Management Areasinactive (FMAs)with are indicated. This information is superimposed over the boundaries computational ‘mesh’ used to calculate current in the region. Management Areas (FMAs) arefields indicated. This information is superimposed over the computational on highly simplified representation of water movements. “mesh” used to calculate current fields in the region. lobally, salmon farming is undergoing a sustained period of expansion, A recent piece of work, carried out by the Scotwith production operations focused along fjordic coastlines offering tish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) as part shelter from highly variable oceanographic conditions. The west coast of the European Union AquaSpace project, sought of Scotland is one such region. to investigate how effective these management When planning future developments, we should think about how sites are units are likely to be for the purpose of controlling distributed along the coastline to consider the most effective and efficient sea lice on the west coast of Scotland. management of these sites. We calculated the ‘connectivity’ between farm
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Site insights
Figure. ‘Particle releasingaasingle singlesimulated simulatedparticle particlefrom from Figure. “Particle tracks’ tracks”generated generated by by releasing each salmon each salmon aquaculture site on a portion of the west coast of Scotland, aquaculture site on a portion of the west coast of Scotland, superimposed over the model’s superimposed over the model’s computational mesh. computational mesh.
sites, examining the probability of a sea louse larvae hatching at one site and reaching any other site. The movement of sea lice larvae between fish farms was predicted using a computer model, capturing essential properties of the sea lice life cycle and variability in tidal and weather conditions over one calendar year. By grouping sites within existing management units (such as FMAs and DMAs), we were able to identify how effective those units were at keeping lice larvae within them, as opposed to allowing lice to ‘escape’ into other areas. This is important, as it indicates how effective particular management units are likely to be when treatments are co-ordinated within them. We found that managing sites together, even within small management units such as FMAs, could lead to a dramatic reduction in transmission of sea lice. On average, only around 25 per cent of sea lice travelling between sites moved between sites in different FMAs. If larger units such as DMAs were used to practise co-ordinated management, our results indicated that further reductions in transmission between sites in different management areas would be achieved. In turn, this would
These methods also provide “opportunities for scoping new locations ” www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
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Figure. Connections between salmon aquaculture sites on the west coast of Scotland generated by counting particles moving between each pair of sites in a single two-week simulation. Such connections fluctuate greatly between Figure. Connections between salmon aquaculture sites on the west coast of Scotland ge different time periods, though some robust patterns are observed. counting particles moving between each pair of sites in a single two-week simulation. Su connections fluctuate greatly between different time periods, though some robust patte beobserved. expected to lead to further reductions in sea lice abundances in the
region. There are around 70 individual FMAs on the Scottish west coast and neighbouring islands. These FMAs differ in their level of connectivity with neighbouring areas. In general, northward dispersal is dominant, and there are clusters of relatively highly connected sites and areas. These clusters give insights into how spatial co-ordination of management could be carried out differently to provide improved control of parasite spread; changing FMA or DMA boundaries could have great benefits in certain localities. These methods also provide opportunities for scoping new site locations and allow identification of how sites may influence spread of parasites. In the future, such efforts may be combined with an understanding of sea lice population dynamics on the farms themselves, and take account of wild fish interactions. These offer great benefits if they can be tackled effectively, allowing the industry to determine the most cost-effective and sustainable management practices. The complete article describing the study is available freely at http://www. int-res.com/abstracts/aei/v8/p585-596/. Dr Tom Adams, Scottish Association for Marine Science FF
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Humane harvesting â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Slaughter systems
BY JEFF LINES
Stunning
advances The industry continues to innovate to improve the welfare of farmed fish
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he livestock industry needs to kill animals - this is an inevitable part of farming. In a society increasingly at armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s length from food production, killing has become a sensitive matter. So a deal has evolved in Europe that allows us to kill livestock as long as we show enough care and consideration for the welfare of the animals and for the qualms of the public. Society was slower to become concerned about fish than about many other animals but the last 20 years have seen a huge increase in interest. This has resulted in new developments in the industry and significant welfare improvements. With fish retailers increasingly reflecting, and even anticipating the concerns of the public, the welfare of fish at harvest is becoming a commercial, as well as a moral, imperative. The trend of increased concern and improving methods has long been seen in other parts of the livestock industry. For pigs, sheep, cattle and poultry there has been the gradual but constant development of new and improved handling techniques and slaughter methods, with older, poorer methods being discarded. The last 15 years have seen major changes in the poultry industry and recently yet another new technique, Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning, was developed - this time in the US. European poultry welfare scientists have assessed it closely, think it is significantly better Above: Stunning salmon. than current slaughter methods, and so are Inset: Stunned trout pushing the EU to allow its use in Europe. The pig industry, watching this development, think it might also benefit pigs, so they are looking for ways to develop the technique further. Elsewhere, scientists in industry and universities are following other lines of investigation to find humane slaughter techniques for poultry and
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cows that meet the halal requirements of our Muslim communities. The fish farming industry in Europe has moved from basic killing methods developed only for the convenience of the farmer through a wide range of methods to the present position where automated percussion and electric stunning are the norm. While it is beyond doubt that these methods cause the fish less stress and suffering than previous methods, we also know that they are not perfect. We know that fish can suffer because they are the wrong size or are deformed or they enter the machine the wrong way around. They can get painful pre-stun electric shocks by touching another fish further into the electric stunning machine or they can start to recover after stunning because they were not stunned and bled properly. We also need to consider what happens before the fish are stunned, how the fish are collected, captured and transported. We know that poor crowding techniques can cause deaths. We know that brails and badly designed fish pumps can cause injury. We know that long transport pipes can leave the fish so exhausted that they are unable to swim properly. And we know that being out of water even for a short time is so stressful for most fish that they take hours to recover. In real life things do go wrong on occasions, so progress is made by continually assessing the problems and actively looking for new ways, large or small, to avoid the problems and minimise the risks. This is part of the deal we have with society and it is increasingly what the retailers and standards authorities are expecting. Many members of the fish farming community are rising to this challenge. In Scotland, I have been able to work with a fish processor that is
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Stunning advances
“
The techniques used are not important: it is the results that matter
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testing and developing a technique to electrically stun in a pipeline and then use automated percussion and bleeding. The fish rapidly lose consciousness in the pipeline while they are still in the water, then the percussion and bleeding ensures there is very little chance of recovery even if one of the processes doesn’t work as well as it should. Because the fish are not thrashing about as soon as they are out of the water, the staff can work more quickly and so staffing levels can be reduced. In Denmark, I recently visited a fish farmer who uses a boat mounted stunner so that stunning and slaughter take place at the cage side far from the processing factory. The fish avoid the stress of transport by well boat or by a long pipeline and instead are stunned and killed within seconds of leaving the net. In Greece, a farming company is pushing forward with a stunning system that can be used on board harvest boats to stun the fish before putting them in ice. The industry norm for sea bass and bream is to drop fish directly into iced water without stunning, yet scientific research tells us that this doesn’t result in a rapid death – it just prevents the fish moving so that they look dead. In Vietnam and in Chile, I know farmers and processors who are trying to adopt the best welfare standards because they recognise that leading the industry in welfare standards helps to secure their future and opens up new markets for their fish. Even in Japan, where concern for the welfare of fish is rare, some farms are adopting humane stunning methods because they see bene-
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fits in the quality of the fish. Many people across the industry are innovating to improve the welfare of fish and progress is being made, but there is still much further that we can go. We need to aim higher. We need to find methods and techniques which allow us to reduce the density of the crowding, that avoid the stress of transport by killing on site, that avoid the problems of pumping perhaps by stunning the fish before the pump, and that minimise the chance of mishaps in the stunning process and the possibility of post stun recovery. This might be achieved by developing existing techniques, or by adopting completely new ones. The techniques used are not important: it is the results that matter. This will be a long haul with lots of practical problems on the way, but like every journey we will benefit more from it if we embrace it as a challenge rather than waiting until we have no other option. FF Dr Jeff Lines is an R&D engineer focusing on the livestock sector. He supports universities, industry and welfare organisations in the development of welfare monitoring and humane slaughter systems.
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World – Norway
Record interest in Aqua Nor 2017 Scotland books pavilion for first time while Danes demand double the space
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HE leading international aquaculture exhibition, Aqua Nor, is already generating record levels of interest ahead of the August 2017 event, said the organisers. The Nor-Fishing Foundation’s communications director, Erik Hempel, said: ‘We had to close for new bookings in October. Would-be exhibitors have now been put on a waiting list. ‘We are working hard on finding solutions that will allow us to accept more bookings. Normally we don’t shut down bookings at all.’ The growing interest in Aqua Nor, held every two years, is complicated by the fact that plans are afoot for expanding the exhibition halls, Trondheim Spektrum. Three of the older halls are to be demolished to make room for a large new hall, which will add 5,000 m2 of indoor exhibition space to the present 18,000 m2. The plans were to start demolishing the old halls in January 2017 so that the new hall would be ready for the opening of Nor-Fishing 2018 – the biennial fisheries exhibition – in August 2018. This would mean that Aqua Nor 2017 would have to offer some temporary solutions, among them the erection of a tent hall on the sports arena next to the present exhibition halls. ‘We are planning to put up a hall covering 6,000 m2 there,’ said Hempel. ‘But at the present time this entire hall is now fully booked, so we’ve asked for another 2,000 m2. ‘However, we are dependent on what the Trondheim City Council, which is the majority owner of Trondheim Spektrum, decides.’ The council, which met in November to discuss the issue, is due to meet again on December 15 but a decision on the halls will not now be made until the end of January.
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Top: Trondheim, which hosts AquaNor. Above: Erik Hempel. Right: How the new Spektrum centre might look
‘Until then, we cannot give any more definite information about this,’ said Hempel, who believes the council won’t start tearing down the old building before August 2017, ‘which means we’ll have the old building plus the tents in the sports arena. We’d have more than enough space then. ‘We’ve booked the normal 550 exhibitors but most of them want more space than they usually have, which we haven’t given them so far. For instance, the Danish pavilion usually has 220 m2 but now they’ve asked for 450 m2. ‘And Scotland for the first time in history has asked for a Scottish pavilion – and they want a big one.’ Those who’ve asked for more space may be given more once the organisers know when the building work is to start and Hempel says they probably won’t know that for sure ‘until the end of January at the earliest’, once the council has made its decision. ‘Exhibitors are used to sending their bookings in February or March but we’ve had to call the loyal exhibitors and say ‘are you coming, get in quick!’ ‘But, really, this is a luxury problem for us. The reasons for the growing interest in Aqua Nor are many, but among the most important is the fact that more international suppliers see the exhibition as the place to be. ‘Aqua Nor is fast becoming a truly international fair, whereas at the beginning is was purely a Norwegian affair. ‘Among the exhibitors last time we had about 35 countries represented and among the visitors we had 76 countries represented. I’m not sure we’ll have any more this time but you never know.
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Record interest in Aqua Nor 2017
international suppliers see “theMore exhibition as the place to be ”
‘Secondly, we have seen a number of suppliers, who earlier concentrated only on the offshore oil industry, come to Aqua Nor to find out how they can serve the marine aquaculture industry. ‘They came to Nor Fishing but the ones I’ve talked to in that business are saying that aquaculture is even more interesting to them because it’s moving in the direction of offshore operations. ‘And thirdly, the salmon farming industry, which is very much in focus at Aqua Nor, has had some extremely good years and the fish farming companies are in a position to invest in expansion and renewal of equipment. ‘At any rate, we are sure that Aqua Nor 2017 will be the largest and most important aquaculture event in the world.’ There will be two conferences held during the exhibition, one on aquaculture technology but focusing more on non-salmon species to show that Norwegian aquaculture technology is more than just about salmon. The other conference will be on finance. ‘We did have a finance session at Nor Fishing this year and it was extremely interesting and very popular,’ said Hempel. ‘The speakers came to me and said can we do this again next year with the aquaculture people. ‘We had the Oslo Stock Exchange, the tax people – they contacted me and asked for the opportunity to speak. So we covered the whole thing from investors to banks to insurance companies.’ Aqua Nor 2017 takes place from August 15-18, at the Trondheim Spektrum. Visit www.aqua-nor.no for more information and registration. FF
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World – Japan
Dainichi explains the success of its new production methods for red sea bream BY BONNIE WAYCOTT
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he quiet coastal city of Uwajima in southern Ehime Prefecture is home to one of Japan’s most thriving aquaculture operations.Takeo Matsushima, chief operating officer of Dainichi Corporation, a seafood and aquaculture firm in Uwajima, believes that the nearby Uwa Sea has played a key role in guiding the company to success. ‘Uwajima is blessed with a rugged, indented coastline, deep bays and calm seas that are home to many offshore cages,’ he said. ‘The area from the mountains to the sea is cliff-like and nutrients flow easily into the water. ‘Close to land, the sea is also very deep with currents.This helps prevent problems like eutrophication, and because the bays are sheltered they’re often unaffected by typhoons. Conditions couldn’t be better.’ Since its establishment in March 1982, Dainichi has made full use of the Uwa Sea to farm various species, such as bluefin and yellowtail. The company prides itself on being an industry leader and has recently enjoyed further attention with the development of a new internationally patented system - the deep sea farming of red sea bream. ‘We came up with the idea about 13 or 14 years ago,’ said Kanji Tsurukawa, assistant manager of Dainichi Corporation’s Aquaculture Technical Division. ‘Red sea bream live at deeper depths, and because the Uwa Sea is deep we thought we’d be able to raise the fish in an environment that’s very close to their natural habitat. ‘It took several years for production to stabilise but now our red sea bream [known as madai in Japanese] is sold across Japan and abroad for 1.2 to 1.5 times the price of ordinary red sea bream.We market it as Shinkai Madai, or
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deep sea red sea bream.’ Red sea bream has traditionally been regarded as a fish to mark special occasions. Valued for its brilliant red skin (considered to be lucky in Japan) and translucent white flesh, it’s a sweet tasting fish with a firm texture that’s eaten during auspicious or celebratory events such as New Year and wedding ceremonies. It’s also notable for its leanness and lack of smell compared to other species, making it popular in Japanese cuisine. Fry from a nearby hatchery are delivered to Dainichi by boat and reared at sea until early spring.When they’re around 300g, they are moved to different offshore cages where they stay until they reach about 800g to 1kg. At this stage they are transferred again to another cage and reared until they are ready for shipping, at 1.8 to 2kg. The whole process takes about two and a half years. Every year, 80,000 red sea bream, or around 6,000 to 7,000 fish per month, are shipped across Japan. As they grow, the fry are given extruded pellets (EP) that are low in fat and high in protein. Because these pellets only contain around seven per cent water, they can be kept in paper bags and stored for several months. Six months before the fish are due to be shipped, when they weigh around 1.3 to 1.6kg, they are lowered to deeper depths of around 50m and fed through a feeding hose. ‘Raising fish at deeper depths has many advantages,’ Tsurukawa said.‘For example, the high water pressure results in thick, firmer flesh with a chewy texture and denser muscles, while ultraviolet rays can’t penetrate so this prevents melanin generation and gives the fish a bright red colour. We cover the cages with black sheets to prevent ultraviolet rays from entering. ‘The risk of disease is minimal, and the fish
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Farming in the deep
the cameras help a lot, “it’sAlthough hard for us to monitor the fish ” have plenty of space to swim around. They aren’t exposed to sudden fluctuations in temperature or changes at the water surface due to weather either, so we end up with good quality fish that are bright red.’ Matsushima added:‘Another advantage of the Uwa Sea is that it becomes deep close to the shore. ‘Usually, the sea gradually deepens the further offshore you go, but here it’s about 50-60m near land. ‘The farming process is much easier too. For example, our staff don’t have to travel far to feed the fish or check the cages.’ After six months in the deep water, the fish are raised to shallower depths.The process takes around two days and must be done slowly to prevent the fish’s swim bladders from bursting due to the sudden change in water pressure. The fish are monitored each day by a small underwater camera that is attached to a hose and lowered into the cages, while hand-held monitors are used on land for observation. However, this is not without difficulties. ‘Although the cameras help a lot, it’s hard for us to monitor the fish when they are at deeper depths,’ Tsurukawa said. ‘It’s difficult to make out their size, and although we have a staff member who checks things by diving, we’d like to have more efficient cameras that can be easily operated in deeper waters, and bigger monitors. ‘We need to know exactly how big the fish are
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Oppossite: Ready for shipping (Picture: Dainichi Corporation). Clockwise from above: Red sea bream at supermarket; sea cages; Dainichi staff; to market (Pictures: Bonnie Waycott); Takeo Matsushima; Kanji Tsurukawa (Pictures: Dainichi Corporation).
and how many are in the cages because this is our livelihood. We can’t sell our fish if we don’t know what is happening below.’ Adult fish that are almost ready for shipping are given a specially formulated diet that is rich in shrimp meal, squid meal and fishmeal, in particular sand lance (ammodytes personatus). The shrimp meal is a powder with anti-oxidative effects and the carotenoid astaxanthin that gives the fish its colour. Squid meal has plenty of amino acids, such as glutamic acid, and helps in the production of digestive enzymes. ‘In order to determine how much and how often the fish should be fed, we watch them to see how they behave at the surface,’ said Tsurukawa. ‘If they seem still we stop feeding, and give them more if they’re thrashing around. Usually, we’ll give about 400kg of feed a day but the fish will eat different amounts depending on factors such as water temperature or weight. ‘Our biggest challenge is to ensure that we are giving the right amount and that the feed doesn’t accumulate at the bottom of the cages.’ Dainichi is exploring other channels to expand its sales and cultivation opportunities, and hopes that its deep sea farming will go far. Its main clients in Japan are restaurants, department stores and food related industries across the country, and with an office in the US, there are also exports to wholesalers in south-east Asia, the Middle East, the US and Europe. Meanwhile, a new project is underway with Kagoshima University to develop a system that can weigh fish by lowering a camera into the water, and a new automated feeding system is also in the works. ‘We’re looking forward to our business expanding and hopefully making further inroads abroad,’ Tsurukawa said. ‘Our brand has an extremely good reputation, so much so that I’d like to think it’s the most well known in Japan. ‘If we can continue to provide an environment with conditions that support the growth of red sea bream, we could be an industry that is even more prosperous for the Ehime region and beyond.’ FF
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05/12/2016 15:06:12
Processing News
Oslo Airport plans modern new seafood hub
It’s all about salmon
A modern new hub may be built at Oslo Airport to better handle the growing volume of processed seafood exports, especially farmed salmon.
AVINOR, the authority responsible for Norway’s 46 state owned airports and air navigation services, is believed to be working with the largest exporters within the seafood industry. Avinor has been working on a feasibility study for facilitating a new ‘world class’ seafood centre for
air cargo. Norwegian exports, with salmon taking a clear lead, have been increasing apace during the past 18 months. The number of overseas markets, especially in the Middle East and Asia, has also been on the rise, which means better facilities are now needed. The plan is for a
15,000 sq m complex to include industrial facilities built to accommodate future growth and value creation in the aquaculture industry. Avinor has said its development ‘will be important for the Norwegian export industry at large’ and will be ‘crucial for reaching the seafood
industry’s export goals in the future’. Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen said: ‘The current direct flight capacity from Norway is not sufficient to meet the increased demand for fresh seafood in Asia and North America. ‘Around 600 tonnes of Norwegian seafood is exported daily as air cargo to the world. Only 30 per cent of this goes by air from Oslo Airport, the rest is carried by land transport to Europe for flight connections to Asia and North America. ‘The main players in the Norwegian export industry want future oriented facilities at Oslo Airport.
Increased demand
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The main players want future oriented facilities
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‘These must be able to accommodate future growth, ensure top product quality and facilitate export of Norwegian seafood in an even better way. We are therefore inviting private actors in the export industry to build and operate a state-of-the-art seafood centre.’
MAREL will demonstrate the latest and best in salmon processing technology at its 16th annual Salmon ShowHow, taking place on February 8, 2017, at Progress Point in Copenhagen, Denmark. On display will be a wide spectrum of Marel’s equipment, including new machines, standalone units, and complete integrated processing lines. The Salmon ShowHow includes live demonstrations, lectures, and guest speakers, and is a great opportunity to meet colleagues.
Global seafood demand Peterhead visit prize for top firms ‘outstripping supply’
Above: Shifting consumer tastes
THE global demand for seafood is outpacing supply, Canada’s Clearwater Seafoods said. And it is creating favourable market dynamics for vertically integrated producers such as Clearwater, which have access to resources. Clearwater, which acquired Scotland’s Macduff Shellfish group last year, recently announced results for the third quarter of this year showing a 29 per cent increase in sales to $189.5 million and a 16 per cent rise in adjusted EBITDA to $45.2 million. The company said demand has been driven by a growing worldwide population, shifting consumer tastes towards healthier diets, and the rising purchasing power of middle class consumers in emerging economies. Clearwater said: ‘The supply of wild seafood is limited and is expected to continue to lag behind the growing global demand.’
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SOME of the leading fish and chip businesses from across the UK were due to visit Peterhead from December 6-7 on a study trip. The five businesses – all finalists for the Independent Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year Award – were due to see at first hand the vital supply chain for the fish frying industry and the wider UK food sector. Currently undergoing a £50 million facilities upgrade, the port of Peterhead is at the forefront of the Scottish fishing market – with a total of 127,000 tonnes of fish and other
Above: Europe’s top port
seafood, worth £111 million, landed during 2015. Although traditional catching and fish processing skills continue to play a vital role, finalists were also due to see how the nation’s fishing heritage is married together with modern technology and equipment, Marcus Coleman, chief executive of awards sponsor Seafish, said: ‘It’s important that we encourage people to pursue a career in the fish and chip sector...but to do so they must have a strong understanding of the wider seafood industry.’
Processing relief after strike deal THOUSANDS of fish processing workers in at least two countries breathed a sigh of relief following settlement of the Icelandic fishermen’s dispute, which threatened to play havoc with supplies. Some 4,000 people who work in Iceland’s fish factories and hundreds more in processing plants on the Humber, who depend on Icelandic fish, faced the prospect of mass lay-offs last month. There was also the very real prospect of a serious disruption to Christmas supplies.
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Archive – September 1982
Dr Ted Needham:
the producer’s view’ ‘Nonsense’ from Rayner’s report
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OW should a government help fish farming? Obvious props like grant aid, tax concessions, and loans are useful, particularly in otherwise unattractive regions. Government can remove impeding laws. It can provide a framework for co-operative activities. It can support fish farming in the face of competitive interests. All this the present government is doing – to a greater or lesser extent. Like most governments in a strange area it is tending to follow rather than lead. It continues to postpone doing anything particularly controversial in fish farming. This could be about to change if Ministers accept the swingeing cuts proposed by the Rayner team looking into government-funded fisheries research. Unfortunately it is difficult to find a consistent pattern between national government support and a strong fish farming industry. There are clear examples like Norway and Japan where government interest has been intense and fish farming directly or indirectly has flourished. The converse is also true. Rudimentary In Italy the increase in trout production far outstrips our own. Yet the Italian authorities have undertaken virtually no support activities whatsoever. The Italian health services are notably rudimentary. Similarly in France the trout farming boom has been quite unrelated to government activity. Research has been restricted to disease and maturation problems. Where government scientists have been active in, for example, promoting Coho salmon culture, there has been little commercial impact. In many other parts of the world the technical help from government or supranational agencies has made a considerable commercial impact. Perhaps with rainbow trout we are near the top of our learning curve and there are few technical improvements still necessary. Yet with other species in other countries it has been found essential to provide competent advisory services, training courses, and organise the central supply of seed organisms. Most important of all, in the most successful and advanced fish farming nations there is usually a government applied research programme. Such programmes in countries as diverse as Israel, Philippines, Norway, USA and Japan feed on information supplied by growers and pioneer new and sensible advances.
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Even in the USA where Reagonomics makes Mrs Thatcher into a moderate most of the successful federal-funded fish farming programmes have remained intact. Set against all this we have the Rayner review proposing that MAFF [the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] should now abandon their research into trout and marine fish farming. Should we be disquieted or has the writing been on the wall for many years? Rayner defined his task as examining the costs, efficiency, and effectiveness of government-funded fisheries research and development. In the case of MAFF fish farming research they were able to state quite positively that the costs did not justify the potential benefits. They observe that the research into marine fish cultivation had only resulted in a small industry. They suggest that it is only likely to be intermittently profitable in the UK. Indeed expansion is more likely to occur in warmer waters further south. Rayner states that marine fish cultivation research has not been one of the ministry’s most successful attempts at pump priming. Primitive In fact a primitive cost-benefit analysis of this area of MAFF research was commissioned by the Fisheries Research Development Board in 1977. It was found that, using the sort of criteria used for the rest of agriculture and horticulture, research into turbot culture was far too expensive given the predictions the scientists were making then for successful results and a rapid take up by industry. These predictions have proved over-optimistic. I believe that MAFF scientists should have appreciated that they were backing the wrong horse. Following this review in 1977 there was a belated switch by MAFF into some research into trout farming. Indeed in one of its more bizarre comments the Rayner report states that a sevenfold expansion of our trout industry in the last seven years has been largely due to MAFF research and development. The development advances Rayner cites are on sex reversal and year-round breeding. This is utter nonsense! The sex reversal work originated from and has been largely pursued by
DAFS [the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland] in Scotland. It is not widely practised in the trout industry. Year-round breeding does not yet exist commercially. Indeed Aberdeen University who were wanting trout sperm this summer had to look overseas. I hope Rayner investigators show a better technical appreciation in other parts of their report. Oblivion Rayner consigns the idea of a MAFF trout farm into oblivion – there I blame MAFF for pitching their costs of £600,000 at far too high a level. Nonetheless there is an urgent need for the trout selective breeding programme to survive in some form. I suggest MAFF collaborate with industry and a university genetics department. The report concludes, correctly I think, that the trout industry’s main technical requirements are disease control and an advisory service. Consequently disease research in MAFF survives the Rayner scrutiny despite the fact that little of it passes beyond the scientific literature to bring tangible benefits to trout farms. Perhaps because of duplication and differences of approach in the past it is suggested that the English and Scottish efforts are combined into one laboratory. Some thought is given to the advisory service we have been requesting for so long. It is recommended that it should be operated through ADAS [Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, previously part of MAFF] who themselves should be advised by scientists from the MAFF fish disease laboratory. This is a frightening prospect. I would prefer the advisors to be there carrying out development trials on commercial farms in areas such as water use and feeding. Really the only people who tend to give good advice are those who have done the work. The scheme proposed by Rayner is ludicrous and must be rethought. FF
The only people who tend to give good “ advice are those who have done the work ”
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05/12/2016 15:14:30
Markets & Retail News
Fish fingers and salmon top UK food menu FISH fingers and salmon are now firm favourites on Britain’s menu of best liked foods, says Young’s Seafood. Young’s recently commissioned the research to delve into the nation’s culinary habits, with bacon, pizza, roast potatoes and sausages also making the list. Whatever our food of choice, the research revealed that we like to tuck into our preferred dish 16 times a month. Fish fingers were named by almost a third of respondents as their favourite food, beating off competition from salt and vinegar crisps and kebabs. And it is not just children who like them. They came out top of the list in the 45 to 59 age group. Salmon also emerged as a favourite in the seafood list. The research also polled attitudes to
Above: Firm favourites
both buying and eating UK produced food. Some 68 per cent of people prefer to buy British, and most do it to support British producers, they said. Four out of ten (41 per cent) said they felt the quality was better, while another one in four said buying British made them
Big impact Some 68 per cent of “people prefer to buy British ”
feel patriotic. Glaswegians and residents of Edinburgh are the most passionate about buying British in the UK as a whole. Yvonne Adam, marketing director at Young’s Seafood, said: ‘It was really interesting to look into the nation’s eating habits, and explore the UK’s favourites. ‘These foods clearly have a big impact on us. Some 81 per cent of people say they eat their favourites to make themselves feel happy, or perk them up after a hard day. It’s also fantastic to still see such a high demand for fish fingers.’ The study did find, though, that Britons are now more open minded when it comes to trying new foods. Almost three quarters of adults said their culinary horizons had expanded. More than half formed their opinion on favourite foods in childhood.
Grimsby fish market faces long festive shutdown GRIMSBY fish market will close for 12 days over the Christmas and New Year holiday one of the longest periods for many years. The last trading day is Thursday, December 22, and the market will not re-open until Wednesday January 4. One of the reasons is that both Christmas and New Year fall over a weekend, adding extra public holidays to the list. Much of the Icelandic fishing fleet on which the market largely depends will also be laid up over Christmas and many ships do not return to sea until after Boxing Day, so the supply of fish is limited. Demand for fish traditionally soars in early January.
EU fish consumption falling THE total volume of sales of fresh fish and seafood fell in western Europe from 5.99 million tonnes in 2010 to 5.88 million tonnes in 2015, according to Euromonitor International. Sales of processed fish and seafood also declined, from 2.63 million tonnes in 2010 to 2.58 million
tonnes in 2015, said Euromonitor as it released an overview of fish and seafood in Western Europe.
UK’S top two healthiest fish and chip shops Two fish and chip shops offering healthier choices have been recognised as they compete for the Healthy Eating ‘Fish and Chips’ Award in the 2017 National Fish & Chip Awards, organised by Seafish. THE two finalists – Towngate Fisheries in Idle, Bradford, West Yorkshire and Fish City in Belfast, Northern Ireland - will now compete against each other. To secure a place as a coveted finalist, the shortlisted businesses have been appraised across a variety of judging criteria including menu diversification and innovation to include healthier options, staff training on product contents and ingredients, promotional and marketing activity to highlight healthy meal options to customers, and the monitoring of customer feedback on healthier menu options. Over the coming weeks, finalists will receive mystery judging assessments from awards auditors who will undertake in-depth audits of both the front and back-of-house operational aspects of the businesses. This final stage of competition judging will determine the overall winner that will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on January 26, 2017. The Healthy Eating ‘Fish and Chips’ Award acknowledges UK fish and chip businesses that excel in educating and informing their customers about healthy eating choices and the nutritional values of fish and chips. Marcus Coleman, chief executive at Seafish, said: ‘Research shows that fish and chips is nutritionally better than many other takeaway foods – with
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a portion providing the body with healthy amounts of protein, carbohydrate, vitamin B6 and B12, iron, calcium, phosphorous.’
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05/12/2016 11:11:45
Opinion – Inside track
Age of reason BY NICK JOY
M
y father is very unwell. As I am due to be 60 next year and he will be 91 in January, this is hardly a surprise to anyone, least of all to me. Yet, of course, it is still traumatic and saddening. All the time travelling back and forward to see him has allowed me to reflect on his life, mine and in turn to my career in our industry. When my father was born, the world was recovering from the First World War and the depopulation of our country through war. Food was plentiful, easily produced and available to those who had the funds to pay for it. What we forget is that there was little or no refrigeration and most food had to be eaten almost immediately or if it was meat was eaten well hung. All meals tended to be derived from the meat source until it was used up or unusable. Quality of produce was not an issue because there was only extensive production of food and no one even contemplated how to reduce the cost because food was produced by methods that were very old and ingrained. Please don’t assume that I am suggesting that these methods were either kind to the animals or necessarily produced good, healthy, wholesome food. Then the Second World War happened and food rationing drove the post war government to decide that cheap food was a necessary way to make our society fairer. This drove the food production and market we see now. It’s a long road from there to salmon farming. When I first told my father the business I was heading into, he could hardly credit it and kept asking how we caught the salmon. His generation could not countenance the idea that this was necessary, let alone possible. So my career has been a thing of wonder to him. We have taken a fish that was plentiful and cheap 150 years ago, which then became the province of the rich, and brought it to a place where it is the most easily available and recognisable fish on the shop counter. In so doing we have encountered some enormous problems (despite the bleatings of people who criticise for a living without ever having done anything themselves) and overcome them. Our industry is still developing and still faces some interesting challenges (and the same bleaters keep on bleating). We may not have succumbed to the challenges at sea but I would argue strongly that we have succumbed to the pressures put upon by the developments of post war food production. We are driven to produce more and more cheap food. Cost leadership is the primary strategy that holds sway in our industry and this leads to a very singular view of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against cheap good food, but I want to see quality and range. The supermarkets press for price differentiation primarily or ask for any differentiation at the same price. The whole drive is not to create real differentiation but to create the illusion of it. Meanwhile, our industry is enjoying a golden period of prices, which will not last forever. When it ends maybe it is time and maybe
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we “areMaybe mature
enough to look at diversifying into ranges of quality
”
we are mature enough to start to really look at diversifying into ranges of quality. It would be wonderful to face a range of qualities of salmon. How about if our industry concentrated on how to stun the salmon consuming public with the quality of our taste, the health giving properties and the quality of meal that can be had? How much better if we compete in this space? How about fighting over how high we can go rather than how we can knock off another pence in production costs? Ok, it’s time to go and see Dad again and my thoughts appear romantic in the face of the stark realities of life. I hope you will forgive my indulgence but this dream of a food production, which transcends the less than benign influence of capitalism, has been the focus of my career. I still believe that our industry can do all of the range and I believe the market wants it. Maybe I am pushing too hard and it will come by itself. I hope so as I believe it is a sign that this wonderful industry has finally matured. FF
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05/12/2016 15:20:12
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Forging New Frontiers
Aquaculture AMERICA 2017 February 19 - 22, 2017 San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter San Antonio, Texas SPONSORED BY:
Associate Sponsors American Tilapia Association • American Veterinary Medical Association Aquacultural Engineering Society • Aquaculture Association of Canada Asian Fisheries Society • Catfish Farmers of America Global Aquaculture Alliance International Association of Aquaculture Economics and Management Latin American Chapter WAS • Striped Bass Growers Association US Marine Shrimp Farming Association • US Trout Farmers Association
In Cooperation with: Texas Aquaculture Association
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