SEP 2017 - International Aquafeed magazine

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Functional feed additives

International Aquafeed - Volume 20 - Issue 9 - September 2017

- Insect protein: One solution for alleviating pressure on marine ecosystems - Marketing farmed shrimp and seafood produced in Asia - Protecting against bacteria with enhanced UV systems - Designing Recirculating Aquaculture Systems - Expert topic - White shrimp Proud supporter of Aquaculture without Frontiers UK CIO

September 2017

www.aquafeed.co.uk

CONTENTS September 2017 Volume 20 Issue 9

Perendale Publishers Ltd 7 St George’s Terrace St James’ Square, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 3PT, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1242 267700 Publisher Roger Gilbert rogerg@perendale.co.uk Editor Prof Simon Davies simond@aquafeed.co.uk Associate Editor Dr Albert Tacon albertt@perendale.co.uk International Editors Dr Kangsen Mai (Chinese edition) mai@perendale.co.uk Prof Antonio Garza (Spanish edition) antoniog@perendale.co.uk Editorial Advisory Panel • Prof Dr Abdel-Fattah M. El-Sayed • Prof António Gouveia • Prof Charles Bai • Dr Colin Mair • Dr Daniel Merrifield • Dr Dominique Bureau • Dr Elizabeth Sweetman • Dr Kim Jauncey • Dr Eric De Muylder • Dr Pedro Encarnação • Dr Mohammad R Hasan Editorial team Rhiannon White rhiannonw@perendale.co.uk Zasha Whiteway-Wilkinson zashaw@perendale.co.uk Alex Whitebrook alexw@perendale.co.uk International Marketing Team Darren Parris darrenp@perendale.co.uk Tom Blacker tomb@perendale.co.uk Latin America Marketing Team Iván Marquetti Tel: +54 2352 427376 ivanm@perendale.co.uk New Zealand Marketing Team

Expanding aquaculture

Aquaculture is expanding almost everywhere. While high-quality and balanced feed rations are an essential component in the successful growing of fish in captivity, there are other aspects of fish farming that need to be considered if we are to provide consumers with a product they value and wish to buy. Therefore, IAF has, over recent months, expanded its editorial coverage to embrace more activities involved in fish farming. As a result we have updated our cover this month to reflect that development and introduced a ‘reference panel’ on the Editor’s page to identify the four areas our magazine now covers: aquafeeds, feed equipment, fish farming technology and species.

Peter Parker peterp@perendale.co.uk

12 Insect protein 3

Nigeria Marketing Team Nathan Nwosu nathann@perendale.co.uk

Industry News

26

Photoshoot

28 Expert Topic - White shrimp

46 Industry Events

Design Manager James Taylor jamest@perendale.co.uk

52 The Market Place

54 The Aquafeed Interview

Circulation & Events Manager Tuti Tan tutit@perendale.co.uk Development Manager Antoine Tanguy antoinet@perendale.co.uk

FEATURES

REGULAR ITEMS

56

16 The increasing need for true sustainability 18 Marketing farmed shrimp and seafood produced in Asia - part 1 20 Live feed production

22 Lowering operation costs of extrusion 24 A synergy of expertise for better feed

Industry Faces

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY COLUMNS

4 Ioannis Zabetakis 8 Jeremy Tomkinson

©Copyright 2017 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner.

More information can be found at www.perendale.com Perendale Publishers Ltd also publish ‘The International Milling Directory’ and ‘The Global Miller’ news service

14 Functional feed additives

10 Antonio Garza de Yta

32 Protecting against bacteria with enhanced UV systems 34 Flexibility is key: Biological filtration in aquaculture 38 Designing Recirculating Aquaculture Systems 42 Organism counting

Croeso - welcome

Aquaculture like many industries can be circular in its outlook and many areas go in and out of fashion, for example, various technologies that were advocated decades ago but require reintroduction and refinement for the present age.

International Aquafeed Editor Fish nutrition is just like Professor Simon Davies that and what are claimed to be new discoveries to enhance fish feed and shrimp formulations may sometimes have been utilised previously in some other guises.

An example is the new interest in single cell proteins such as bacterial derived protein similar to a product developed in the 1970s and 1980s using hydrocarbon feed stock. This UK innovation proved very effective until the economic situation resulting from the energy crisis and war in the Middle East proved constraining.

The material had an excellent nutritional profile with respect to amino acid composition and gave very good performance for salmonid fish in numerous experimental studies. In fact one of my earliest papers in 1989 demonstrated the effectiveness of a lysine fodder bacterial protein being a feasible ingredient for juvenile tilapia.

This was a by-product from the production of lysine from a spent bacterial source; apart from lysine supplementation I was able to replace the entire soya bean and most fishmeal in tilapia diets.

It is good to see commercial interest in this area and I am hopeful it can add to our growing list of sustainable feed ingredients and feed additives for use in a wide spectrum of species. Developments in the unicellular algae arena are also very interesting, although back in 1980, a postgraduate student from Ghana was actively showing the benefits of his cultured algae to tilapia in Stirling University with amazing

potential under the supervision of Dr Kim Jauncey.

More lately we are seeing claims that were first demonstrated decades ago in peer -reviewed scientific articles for many similar SCP’s and their virtues in fish and shrimp feed formulations. Likewise we see resurgence in yeast and yeast derived functional products well tested in the 1970s by European scientists and also the effective use of blood meals, feather meals, rendered meat meals from poultry and other terrestrial animal production systems.

What has really changed is the advanced processing technologies, new legislative requirements, attitudes relating to food safety and the transparency of the food chain with new codes of practice being introduced globally. Indeed the question of marine protein use related to cost more than the perception of ethics and availability and pressure on wild fisheries resources in the late 20th Century. The main driver for research then was mainly economic and the El Nino events that hit the Peruvian Fisheries in the 70s. This resulted in a plethora of research development forming the basis of many PhD projects to examine alternatives.

Today we also speak of fish health and welfare as a major topic of concern so ingredient choice also needs to address other criteria beyond just growth and optimum feed conversion ratio. The robust fish and shrimp is high on our target as we face new emerging disease threats as well as old foes in a complex aquatic environment and new types of aquaculture production systems like RAS and Aquaponics where we may require a new generation of feeds.

We are now entering the autumn in the Northern hemisphere and next month we turn back our clocks. It’s that time of the year where I will have to adjust to my own local photoperiod conditions but it will be at least a good time for writing grant applications, scientific papers and refining my lecture notes with updates and new facts in a rapidly changing area under cover from the elements.

I have much to look forward to, 2018 will be a defining moment where a long sequence of chapters is concluded after 32 years and an exciting new phase begins 

IN THIS ISSUE FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

AQUAFEED INSECT PROTEIN: One solution for alleviating pressure on marine ecosystems - page 12

UV: Protecting against bacteria with enhanced UV systems - page 32

ADDITIVES: Functional feed additives to enhance the digestive and metabolic capabilities of fish and shrimp page 14

FILTRATION: Biological filtration in aquaculture - page 34 RAS: Designing Recirculating Aquaculture Systems - page 38

FEED EQUIPMENT

SPECIES

EXTRUSION: Lowering operation costs of extrusion - page 22

EXPERT TOPIC: White shrimp - page 28

PROFILE: A synergy of expertise for better feed - page 24

Litopenaeus setiferus, formerly known as Panaeus setiferus, is the Latin name for the more commonly known “white shrimp”.

www.aquafeed.co.uk

ultinational feed additives producer Nutriad have sponsored The Roundtable Aquaculture Series (TARS), which was held August 16-17, 2017, in Bali, Indonesia. This year’s theme was Finfish Aquaculture: Strategy and growth.

Dr Maria Mercè Isern Subich DVM, Nutriad’s Business Development Manager Aquaculture Health explained, “Parasite control is one of the key issues in health management of all commercial species of fish, including salmon, tilapia and marine fish. However, there is a general lack of basic knowledge on fish parasites in the aquaculture industry, particularly in Asia.”

Professor Montero, involved in research on fish parasitology since 2001, also shared his views on the life cycle and mode of action of different species of fish

parasites relevant for aquaculture, and illustrated current practices and challenges to prevent and/or treat parasites in fish farms in Europe.

TARS 2017 was a platform for the industry to exchange insights and experiences. The objective was to expand and share knowledge enabling producers to better manage and control the variables in fish farming; build on industrialisation; and improve production efficiency on a technical and operational level.

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 3

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Sponsored fish parasite talks

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The transition from the world of academia to a fresh commercial outlook. I have served longer than any US President (Roosevelt had almost 4 terms) and most Popes including John Paul II, having survived for the most part.

Turning to this issue, we have some major news reports and interesting articles and features as usual covering several domains. We have our topical special species section this month being white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus).

I am grateful for all the contributions and technical reports especially. Please be sure to obtain full support for these from your sources and proof read well to professional input into our magazine. I look forward to meeting some of you in forthcoming events and symposia.

Professor Simon Davies

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News

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Ioannis Zabetakis

Caveat Emptor! very interesting and rather intriguing paper on omega-3 fatty acids and fish was published last May in Clinical Nutrition. The authors have reviewed literature with regard to the supplementation of omega-3 LC-PUFAs. Previous evidence stated that high doses omega-3 LC-PUFAs produce a small but significant decrease in blood pressure in older and hypertensive subjects.

Due to the increasing interest in the benefits of LC-PUFAs, the authors aimed to evaluate the scientific evidence provided in the past five years (2012–2016) on the effects of the intake of omega-3 LC-PUFAs on cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and oxidative stress, through a systematic review in PubMed database.

28 articles were related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and are included in this systematic review. The studies included healthy subjects and CVD patients; we included the number of subjects, type of study, type and doses of omega-3 LC-PUFAs, primary outcomes, and results.

The use of omega-3 LC-PUFAs for ameliorating CVD risk factors can be recommended.

However, the administration of omega-3 does not seem to show any benefit for the management of CVD or associated complications (Rangel-Huerta and Gil).

However, the devil is always hidden in the tiny details. Having a closer look at this paper and especially table 3, it can be seen that the authors compare head-to-head studies where pure omega-3 fatty acids were supplemented to humans to studies where fish was consumed.

Despite the fact, that this comparison is not unusual in literature; we have some scientific concerns whether this is the right way of evaluating the cardioprotective properties of fish.

Fish (as all foods) is not the sum of its components! Fish is superior to pure omega-3 fatty acids; fish is more than marine oils as we have presented in our book on Marine Oils (Zabetakis, 2015).

When evaluating the anti-inflammatory or cardioprotective properties of food, compounds, nutraceuticals etc, it would be advisable to compare like with like. Fish is not equivalent to omega-3 fatty acids.

Apart from the fact that omega-3 supplements are neutral compounds whereas fish cardioprotective lipids are polar (Megson et al., 2016), we need to remember that fish contains a myriad of other compounds that could inhibit the development of atherosclerosis.

P.S. Caveat emptor is Latin for “Let the buyer beware” (from caveat, “may he beware”, a subjunctive form of cavēre, “to beware” + ēmptor, “buyer”).

Further reading

Megson, I.L., Whitfield, P.D., Zabetakis, I., 2016. Lipids and cardiovascular disease: Where does dietary intervention sit alongside statin therapy? Food and Function 7, 26032614.

Rangel-Huerta, O.D., Gil, A., Omega 3 fatty acids in cardiovascular disease risk factors: An updated systematic review of randomised clinical trials. Clinical Nutrition.

Zabetakis, I., 2015. Is fish something more than marine oils?, Marine Oils (From Sea to Pharmaceuticals), pp. 155-161. @yanzabet Ioannis.zabetakis@ul.ie

Currently working on Food Lipids at the University of Limerick, Ireland, focusing on feeds, food and nutraceuticals against inflammation, Ioannis is a co-inventor in two patents, has edited a book on marine oils, and has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 19). He is currently writing a book on "The Impact of Nutrition and Statins on Cardiovascular Diseases" for Elsevier.

4 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

Clearly defined environmental goals

G

ier Ove Ystmark, CEO, Sjømat Norge, explained, “We want seafood to represent Norway’s most important contribution to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Our goal is to double food production and reduce the environmental footprint between now and 2030.”

At the AquaNor technology fair, Sjømat Norge presented its vision “Aquaculture 2030 – Think globally, act locally”. It states that the Norwegian aquaculture industry represents the world’s most environmentally friendly production of healthy food and that the industry is to provide world- class seafood, production competency and technology.

Five years ago, the company presented a similar plan and has also coordinated industry efforts over many years to combat fish escape and salmon lice.

Mr Ystmark stressed "We have now defined our ambitions more concretely on behalf of our member companies. The work is now underway and will result in a joint strategy for the further sustainable development of the aquaculture industry and how it should be managed by the year 2030. This will require a new way of thinking and change."

Mr Ystmark continued, “We are very pleased that the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that it wishes to enter into a partnership with Sjømat Norge in order to help the aquaculture industry achieve the vision laid out in ‘Aquaculture 2030’.

Rounding off he says, “Seafood is part of the solution to the need for both food and climate-friendly production. That is why we believe that food-producing sea areas should clearly prioritise fishing and aquaculture operations. In addition, Norway is leading in aquaculture technology and competence and can contribute to more sustainable food production in many other countries by exporting our solutions.”

He summarised, “It is our responsibility to set standards and provide direction on behalf of the industry. Our goal is to have the Norwegian aquaculture industry contribute to achieving the UN’s global sustainability goals through local and international measures. We also believe this will benefit numerous local communities here in Norway.”

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Supplying Scotland with feed barges

G

ael Force Group, a trusted Scottish manufacturer and supplier of aquaculture equipment, technology and services, has announced that they have secured a prestigious new order, to build and supply Marine Harvest Scotland with a series of SeaMate 400T concrete feed barges complete with a state of the art SeaFeed Offshore Feeding System.

The deal marks a milestone moment for the Group, making it their largest ever single-order.

Stewart Graham, Managing Director, Gael Force, announced, “In the face of tough competition, we are

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delighted to be favoured with this order from Marine Harvest. We are now building our 80th feed barge for the industry, and have been proud to supply all of the main Scottish Salmon producers including many previous barges for Marine Harvest. As a direct consequence of the success of Scottish Salmon we have created many new jobs this year and will continue to recruit on the back of this order.

We are grateful to Marine Harvest for placing their order and their trust in Gael Force as a leading Scottish fishfarming supplier.”

He continued, “It can and should be recognised that when all of the stakeholders in our industry, including producers, planners and regulators, work together then we can grow together. It is essential that our regulators take an enabling and proportionate approach to supporting the development of the great Scottish success story that Salmon is. There are huge positive benefits to the wider rural economy and its communities and this order is a great example of that positive impact on the Highland economy. We trust that all necessary support will be given to support the further development of our industry in line with our strategy out to 2030.”

Gael Force has previously supplied Marine Harvest Scotland with 400T Feed Barges – among other barges previously supplied they took delivery of two 400T SeaMates at their Muck and Colonsay sites. Constructed to house 400T nominal feed capacity in six silos, the SeaMate is designed to be sufficiently robust to withstand all reasonably anticipated load combinations and be durable to provide a long, low maintenance service life in the severe marine environment.

Additionally due to the design and construction of the SeaMate feed barges where the bulk of the silo capacity of the barge is below the waterline, this creates a very small visual footprint and high levels of noise suppression above and below the water due to the concrete structure whose walls are 300mm thick. A number of energy saving initiatives are also being looked at, which include the use of LED lighting and trickle charging from small wind turbines.

Feed delivery from the barges will come via Gael Force’s recently developed offshore feeding system, SeaFeed.

Farm operator safety and prevention of water ingress are an integral part of the selector design and there is an emphasis on ensuring the integrity of the barge, with a watertight “homing” position which the swan neck delivery pipe defaults to when not feeding, or when a pipe becomes detached.

The initial three-barge order also has options for Marine Harvest to commission further barge construction with Gael Force and allows standardisation of the new site locations that are currently being proposed and developed

by Marine Harvest.

The order will enable the creation of around 20 new jobs at the Group, adding to the 43 staff that have already joined the company this year, and a doubling of capacity at their Inverness based manufacturing facility which will also assist in accommodating an increased programme of barge builds over the coming two years that also has also included barge build capacity for other Scottish Salmon producers. Gael Force also anticipates that a minimum of another 12 jobs will be created in the Group’s own supply chain and the wider rural Highland economy.

6 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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A circular bioeconomy future for aquaculture

hat is the bioeconomy? According to the European Commission the bioeconomy comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy.

As such, aquaculture is intrinsically linked to all the other parts of the sector; from food provision, which is the largest sector of the bioeconomy, to the development of fuels for air, road and marine applications to the generation of new smart materials utilising the chemistry that bio feedstocks bring to the party. It is here that aquaculture has a huge untapped potential.

For example, inroads are already being made into off grid energy production in the UK’s SeaGas project1, which aims to cultivate sugar rich kelp for use as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion. This provides either biogas to use directly for heat and power or via upgrading to pure biomethane that can be directly injected into the grid as a certified green gas or used as a replacement for fossil diesel in HGV’s converted to run on liquified biomethane.

There are wide ranges of research projects worldwide developing commercial routes to exploit the oils found in marine algae.

Applications range from large-scale production of aircraft fuels, through Amyris’ trans β Farnesene platform, to the very high value pharmaceutical and nutraceutical oils like EPA and DHA as an alternative to the less sustainable extraction from fish livers.

These synthetic routes allow developers a greater degree of supply chain integration than in the past as specified fatty acids can be ordered on long term, financially sustainable arrangements – which in itself creates additional value.2 Outside of the fields of energy and fuels, development continues in the production of plastics from chitosan: a chemical derived from the treatment of shells of crustacean such as shrimp with sodium hydroxide. One of the advantages of this unusual polymer is that at the end of its useful life it can be recycled via composting operations negating the need for separation and potentially disposal via landfill. It is possibly the only source of a biopolymer containing an amino function, with important applications in the synthetic chemistry industry.3

Circular economy in aquaculture

A circular economy is one where wastes and by-products continue to be utilised and fed back into the economy, creating a self-proliferating loop with minimal waste.

For example, it is known that by feeding fish Dried Distillers Grains (DDGS), a by-product from the brewing industry, it is possible in some circumstances for fish to gain body mass at a ratio of around 1:1 for food mass input, resulting in increased yields of fish protein. Contrast this with ratios such as the 1:7 (and up to as high as 1:12) ratio for cattle farming, and the advantage is obvious.

This can be taken a stage further where the fish waste can be used directly as feed for crustaceans, whose shells can in turn be utilised as a biochemical feedstock in currently developed processes. The chitosan based plastic has been shown to have antibacterial and oxygen absorbing properties, making it ideal packaging for food… such as for the fish from the original processing line.

However, this is not yet a circular process, as the process still has a definite endpoint. Although, if one considers the fish and crustacean waste from the process that has not already been utilised, this can in turn be used as feedstock for anaerobic

digestion, generating energy. This energy can be utilised to perform the expensive drying process in the production of DDGS, or for the heating of the water in the original fish culture, thus “closing the loop” and resulting in a circular economy that is by nature far more commercially attractive than looking at these a separate vertical business strands.

This is just one ‘integrated’ example of how aquaculture can benefit, not only from circular economy principles, but also from the bioeconomy.

Where does the NNFCC feature?

We have expert knowledge across all areas of the Bioeconomy, from market analysis to technical processes, and provide management consultancy for bioeconomy projects.

Our expertise allows bioeconomy developers to advance their business strategy beyond their own specific knowledge of their sector. For the circular economy to work, it must be well managed, and we can provide organisations with the tools to maximise their profits and provide a more sustainable future for their company and their customers.

Our work with the BioBase4SME and SuperBIO projects, makes available to UK and NW EU SME’s, money and technical assistance, access scale up facilities, provision of strategic business advice to innovative companies working in the bioeconomy allowing them to progress from the difficult TRL 5-8 ‘valley of death’ stage of innovation transition We also have demonstrable experience with algal based projects having been the major partner in the EnAlgae project, where we were responsible for investigating the political, economic, social, environmental and technological opportunities and barriers to algae use for energy in North West Europe, and developed a roadmap for future work, looking to promote the uptake of algae in all of its downstream sectors.

We are also currently major participants in the DAFIA project, seeking to develop business models for the successful exploitation of fish waste as a resource, again showing our pedigree for work with the aquaculture sector.

With the right development and business strategy, the marriage between aquaculture and the bioeconomy has extraordinary potential; it just needs exploiting.

The NNFCC work closely with Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) through AwF’s co-ownership of the National Aquaculture Centre for which NNFCC is a preferred and trusted partner.

References

1) http://seagas.co.uk/ 2) http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/biotech/ sd-me-genomics-biofuel-20170619-story.html https://energy. gov/sites/prod/files/2017/05/f34/Algae_Huesemann_132501503%2C%20505.pdf 3) https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/chitosan-bioplastic/ https://phys.org/news/2017-01-surf-earth-prawn-bags-planet.html

Jeremy Tomkinson is the Chief Executive of the NNFCC, which is the UK’s premier bioeconomy organisation and in that capacity, official advisor to the UK government on all connected matters.

Chairman of AwF, Clifford Spencer stated that, “Apart from being a professional colleague, Jeremy is a trusted friend of decades standing.”

8 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

Bßhler – gentle processing at its best.

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Florida Organic Aquaculture LLC retains M and A specialist

Antonio Garza de Yta

For true progress it is important to level the playing field!

Today I want to concentrate on a very important subject, the subsidies.

In past days I talked with a good friend who gave me the subject of this column. His request was simple, yet difficult: "Please, somehow make the federal and state government understand that subsidies, instead of boosting aquaculture, are plunging it. Do not give more support to the bottom, better help us to get credits to good cups!"

Obviously we had a long talk after that, impossible to summarise in 600 words, but his points were clear. He, like many other producers in the country have never asked for support, however, many times they have been affected because the moment a subsidy is given to a producer in the region; Whether for infrastructure, food or livestock, it can go out to market at lower prices and this encourages unfair competition. It is obvious that someone who does not have an input or who does not have to pay the initial investment in infrastructure can handle a different structure of prices, and this is not fair for someone who somehow invested in an aquaculture company.

In addition, these producers generally go on the market for a few years and leave the aquaculture activity, since it did not cost them anything the project and often they do not have vocation of aquacultores, only generating instability in the local markets and negatively impacting the established producers. It is better to offer many billions of pesos in credits to good mugs to those who are willing to invest in aquaculture, to give away some hundreds in projects that may work for a few years but that do not really impact in the long run.

Another clear example that I could observe is a fishmonger that opened with

drums and saucers less than a year ago and offered only top quality Mexican products.

Within the same area a fishery financed by the state government opened offering aquaculture products at farm prices, obviously causing the first to lose market and profitability, therefore forced to close its doors. In this case we are not against supporting producers, but they are not supported at all if they are not taught to be entrepreneurs. The state fishmonger had to have increased the sale price of its products by at least 30 percent, because otherwise, instead of promoting the opening of points of sale, it is inhibiting them!

When someone opens a business of these, you have to pay light, rent, staff, telephone and other expenses; and where will the money go to pay for it? If this model wants to franchise, it will have to have considered this increase in the sale price, or else the State will be condemned to be the only one that manages these points of sale. This is neither its function nor historically proven to do so efficiently.

This type of “support” and subsidies in general can hurt the sector more than it helps. What we have is to promote competitiveness! Facilitate credits, permits and encourage micro, small, medium and large companies. We have to level the playing field because otherwise lucky individuals or influences will have an advantage over others who do not have them.

It is time to redesign the supports that are given to aquaculture and think about a vision of long-term progress. Let’s end with the people who live on subsidies and generate entrepreneurs.

Antonio Garza de Yta, Ph.D in Aquaculture from Auburn University, President of Aquaculture Global Consulting, Director World Aquaculture Society and creator of the Certification for Aquaculture Professional (CAP) Program. He is currently Rector, Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas Bicentenario

10 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

F

lorida Organic Aquaculture LLC (the “Company”) has retained Equity Partners HG to seek an investor, partner or buyer for the state- of- the-art, technology-driven shrimp farming operation.

Located on 100 acres in Southern Florida, the Company breeds, processes and sells all-natural shrimp for the US domestic market in a scientifically advanced, indoor and bio-secure aquaculture facility.

Florida Organic Aquaculture has focused their research on alternative shrimp dietary approaches and developing successful cultivation processing techniques.

A water treatment methodology and emergency back-up devices maintain perfect growing conditions year-round. The Company’s technological advantages have eliminated the limitations faced by competitors allowing production yields of approximately 20 times more shrimp than traditional pen and pond farms.

These production methods enable faster grow out, making it practical to sell shrimp that command up to twice the price of commodity sizes.

Finished products are currently sold directly to a tier-one grocery chain, seafood wholesalers and several prominent seafood restaurants.

Future opportunities include franchising out the Company’s technology and know-how, to become the leader in the shrimp farming market. To date the company has had inquiries to create sister projects in California, Hawaii, and Wyoming, as well as from Europe, China, and the Middle East. The Company is also developing a value add component to leverage their shrimp and create additional revenue.

Hank Waida, a Managing Director at Equity Partners HG commented, “This is an excellent opportunity to invest in or purchase a state-of-theart shrimp farming operation with infrastructure in place to quickly expand as needed.”

FEATURE

INSECT PROTEIN

I

One solution for alleviating pressure on marine ecosystems

By Syrine Chaalala, nextProtein Chief Operating Officer

n July, the European Commission officially authorised insect-based processed animal proteins (PAPs) as feed for aquaculture animals.

The regulation text to came into effect on July 1, 2017, and promises to be a very important reform for the aquaculture and insect-based protein industries.

Insects are a significant part of the diets of wild fish, however aquaculture fishmeal is largely based on catches of pelagic fish.

With the vast majority of farmed fish relying on fish meal and the depletion of our marine ecosystems, insect-based proteins offer the aquaculture industry a more sustainable way to ensure fish for human consumption.

Readers keeping up to date with the latest news from our industry will have noticed the rise in headlines about the potential for insect farming to change the future of animal feeds.

But why the urgent need to introduce insects into our farmed food chains?

By 2050, the world’s population is estimated to reach more than nine billion. To feed this larger population global food production will have to increase by 70 per cent on current capacity. Yet the world’s natural systems are already at breaking point – land and water scarcity are urgent constraints as is environmental degradation and waste.

Meanwhile one third of all food produced is wasted. Our current situation is staggering and a worry for future generations.

But there are solutions for hope. There are countless innovators around the world who are aware of these issues and working on ways to feed the world’s population sustainably.

One such innovation is harnessing the natural qualities of Hermetia illucens, or more commonly, Black Soldier Fly. This species has been selected specially for its beneficial, highyield quality.

It is quickly become an attractive insect to raise at industrial

scales because they grow quickly and reproduce in high numbers.

Under optimal conditions, a single female fly can lay more than 500 eggs. Two to three weeks after hatching, these grow into the final larval stage, which is when the larvae are harvested.

Fly larvae are raised, harvested and then processed into valuable components of animal feed: an insect based protein for aquaculture, livestock and pets, an extracted fat and an organic natural fertiliser for use in agriculture.

What we do

At nextProtein, we do exactly that. From our operations in Tunisia we rear Black Soldier Fly larvae for harvest and production, primarily for aquaculture feed and pet food. We’re working towards the goal of having this feedstock used in other sectors too, including feed for poultry and pork.

If we can feed more farmed animals on insect protein that use significantly less resources to grow, and have close to no carbon footprint, we can lessen the impact we make on our planet’s natural systems. Importantly business investors agree and nextProtein has key support from high-profile European investment and business angels.

Importantly for our business case, the Black Soldier Fly can be reared on organic waste, namely fruit and vegetables from markets, which are some of the substrates approved by the EU. Our operations include local partnerships; ensuring supply of such otherwise inconsumable organic matter does not go to waste. Indeed, hygiene and safety in this new sector is also paramount. This is why nextProtein is a member of a task force within the industry group International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) that is working on developing a good hygiene practices manual for the sector.

Our goal for next year is to be able to convert between five and 10 tonnes of organic waste into one tonne of protein and oil from our new 2500m2 production site and with our 15-person team.

To put this in perspective, our process can produce the

12 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

BALANCE IS EVERYTHING!

equivalent amount of protein from 100sqm of insect farm as 100ha of soy field. This means a dramatic reduction in land, energy and water use for the same protein value and of course a huge reduction in the associated emissions from supporting transport and logistics, given most formulators are Europe based.

What does this mean?

For the aquaculture industry in particular, this means much less reliance on wild fish caught for farmed fishmeal and breathing room for stretched marine ecosystems.

The push for greater sustainability in agriculture is very much a core passion for us at nextProtein. I co-founded the company with my partner Mohamed Gastli, after witnessing firsthand the human impact of malnutrition amid failing traditional farming methods.

This occurred during a decade working with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, in some of the world’s poorest nations hit by natural disasters.

Four years ago I was working on a programme dealing with a plague of locusts that were decimating traditional crop and livestock pastures in Madagascar while local communities went hungry. As the crops disappeared while protein-rich insects piled up all around us, it was obvious that insect protein could become the missing piece of the puzzle for the future of agriculture and aqua feed.

Insects are one the most abundant and untapped sources of alternative proteins for our agricultural feed cycles but we still need further innovation and change, more investor confidence and greater regulatory support. Because industrialising insect rearing is an innovative technology, investment in research and development is a vital component in ensuring the sector’s expansion.

However if our industry can respond, we believe insect proteins can unlock that future of food, address land and resource scarcity and feed a rising population sustainably.

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FEATURE

Functional feed additives to enhance the digestive and metabolic capabilities of fish and shrimp

A

by Peter Coutteau, PhD, Sam Ceulemans and Alexander van Halteren quaculture is the fastest growing industry producing animal protein.

Still, aquafeed production only represents four to five percent of global animal feed production and is fragmented over many species and countries around the globe.

This lack of critical mass limits research developments, particularly for tropical species of fish and shrimp. At the same time, the young aquaculture industry suffers from several bottlenecks that must be solved to maintain its sustainable growth and satisfy growing global demands for fish and shrimp.

Solving these bottlenecks requires multi-disciplinary work and combined progress on different areas including breeding programs, vaccine development, farm technology, husbandry, zonal hygiene management, and nutrition. At Nutriad, we believe that functional feed additives, powered by natural, bio-active compounds with specific functional properties, are an important component to solve these key issues.

Strong fluctuations of feed ingredient prices, sometimes in combination with low market prices at the farm gate, have repeatedly affected the profitability of all bulk species, including shrimp, marine fish, trout and pangasius.

As a result, optimising cost-efficiency of feed is a major issue for aquaculture producers. For carnivorous species such as salmonids, marine fish and shrimp, formulating feed using increasingly reduced levels of fishmeal and fish oil, without affecting performance nor health status under production conditions, has proven to be a challenge.

The upcoming new generation of aqua feeds are using significantly lower levels of marine ingredients. This has been achieved by the use of alternative ingredients, mostly proteins and fats derived from plant crops, in combination with feed additives which enhance the digestive and metabolic capabilities of the fish and shrimp to deal with these “unnatural” ingredients in their diet.

Increased nutrient utilisation efficiency is key to achieve more cost-efficient feeds

Functional feed additives that enhance digestive and metabolic processes are crucial to make novel feed formulations work within the limitations of the digestive system of fish and shrimp.

Potential products for improving digestion and feed utilisation in fish include phytobiotic compounds, organic acids, enzymes, and natural emulsifiers.

However, it is difficult to predict the functionality of many of these products for a wide range of fish species, covering carnivorous, omnivorous, and herbivorous feeding habits, marine/freshwater habitats, cold/tropical climates, and extremely different feed formulations.

At Nutriad, a continuous programme of empiric screening for important aquaculture species aims at identifying promising compounds for application in aquaculture. Our research has mainly focused on compounds that are heat-stable in order to facilitate application under practical processing conditions for aquafeed.

In omnivorous fish such as tilapia and catfish, digestive aids have shown interesting results to improve nutrient utilisation from cheap ingredients and improve economics of farming and filet processing. Lin & Wu (2014) demonstrated that the dietary protein level could be reduced in tilapia feeds by supplementing a feed additive capable of enhancing nutrient utilisation. Tilapia fed two percent less protein and supplemented with a digestive/ metabolic enhancer, showed even better performance in terms of growth, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency and retention, Table 1. Performance and hepatic G6PDH activity of tilapia fed a control diet (28% crude protein) or a diet with reduced level of protein (26%) but supplemented with a digestive/metabolic enhancer (AQUAGEST OMF, Nutriad) during 18 weeks. Different superscripts in the row indicate significant (P<0.05) difference between different dietary treatments. Values are means ± SD from three groups of fish (n=3) with 45 fish per group. FCR: food conversion ratio; PER: protein efficiency ratio (modified from Lin and Wu, 2014).

CONTROL 28/7

LOPRO 26/7+AG

% change vs control

93.3±2.2

96.3±2.6

+3.2%

Survival (%)

Statistics

Initial wt (g)

177.3±1.8

174.7±2.1

-1.5%

Final wt (g)

469.6±13.2

482.0±12.1

+2.6%

Daily weight gain (g/d)

2.32±0.11

2.44±0.03

+5.2%

Feed intake (g/fish)

860.5±21.6

840.3±17.0

-2.4%

FCR

2.95±0.20b

2.74±0.04a

-7.1%

P<0.05

PER

1.22±0.08a

1.40±0.02b

+14.8%

P<0.05

Protein retention (%)

27.70±1.73

29.72±0.04

+7.3%

P<0.05

163±40a

267±29b

+63%

P<0.05

Hepatic G6PDH

14 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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Fig. 1: Evaluation of bile salts as partial replacement of cholesterol, n-3 HUFA and phospholipids in practical grow out diets for the white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei). The positive and negative control diet only differed in terms of levels of essential lipids by reducing the level of fish oil (-0.5%), reducing the level of lecithin (-0.5%) and eliminating the cholesterol supplement in the negative control. The reduction of essential lipids was compensated using a formulation of bile salts from bovine origin (LIPOGEST, Nutriad). Modified from van Halteren et al. (2016).

and fileting yield compared to control fish.

Furthermore, fish fed the enhanced low protein diet showed lower levels of visceral fat and plasma triglycerides, but enhanced activity of the enzyme G6PDH, which indicated effects on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism (Table 1). The metabolic effects can explain the release of non-protein energy, which in turn results in protein sparing and more effective utilisation of protein for muscle growth.

For carnivorous fish such as marine fish and trout, digestibility enhancers adjust for decreased digestibility, particularly of dietary fat and energy, for fish fed feeds containing low levels of fishmeal and high levels of vegetable proteins.

Also, digestive/metabolic enhancers allow to formulate lower fat levels in high energy feeds without affecting performance whereas improving liver health.

efficiency of dietary lipids, shrimp formulations can be made more cost-effective by reducing the formulated values for phospholipids, cholesterol and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) without affecting the performance.

At Nutriad, our team of aqua experts works hand-in-hand with producers around the globe to identify and resolve bottlenecks in aquaculture productivity by the application of our innovative functional feed additives.

Nutriad delivers products and services to over 80 countries through a network of own sales offices and distributors. Supported by four application laboratories and five manufacturing facilities on three continents. www.nutriad.com

About the authors

Alexander van Halteren is Business Development Manager Aquaculture Nutrition, Sam Ceulemans is R&D Manager Aquaculture and Peter Coutteau is Business Unit Director Aquaculture at Nutriad International, Belgium. References can be obtained from the authors - p.coutteau@nutriad.com

Current trends in the shrimp feed industry

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Reducing the levels of marine ingredients in shrimp feeds may result in a reduction of essential lipid nutrients, including n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) and cholesterol, as documented by a recent survey of commercial shrimp feed brands in India (van Halteren and Coutteau, 2017).

Reducing the level of essential lipids like cholesterol, phospholipids and n-3 HUFA significantly affected growth, feed conversion and protein efficiency in white shrimp Penaeus vannamei in a controlled feeding trial in clear water (van Halteren et al., 2016).

The above trends in the feed industry promote the application of digestibility enhancing additives, which improve the absorption efficiency of the increasingly limited levels of cholesterol and n-3 HUFA. Digestive enhancers like bile salts and phospholipids are natural emulsifiers capable of enhancing the digestive capacity for lipids in the digestive system of shrimp by improving the lipid emulsification and micelle formation, resulting in a faster absorption of lipids in the hepatopancreas.

Furthermore, bile salts constitute an alternative source for the steroid ring which shrimp cannot synthesise, which is at the basis of their requirement for dietary cholesterol. Adding bile salts from bovine origin to the diet lower in essential lipids restored the performance of the shrimp to the same level as the control diet with elevated levels of essential lipids (van Halteren et al., 2016; Figure 1).

Recent work by Lin and Mui (2017) showed that the expression of the genes involved in molting signals (ecdysteroid receptor b, retinoic acid X receptor) are improved by adding bile salt from bovine origin in soybean meal-based diets for white shrimp.

This further supports the use of bile salts a functional replacer of cholesterol in diets for shrimp. By improving the utilisation

FEATURE

The increasing need for true sustainability Producing More With Less

T

here was a time, until well into the 1980s, in which the question where fish and animal feed came from, didn’t play a big role. As long as large amounts of animals didn’t fall ill, nobody was concerned about feed safety.

In 2017, this attitude is impossible.

We are currently going through the same development in the field of sustainability. There are great opportunities for companies that lead in that field.

A dialogue with Johan den Hartog (GMP+ International) and Jose Villalon (Nutreco)

A company in the feed chain that is unable to demonstrate that it meets the standards for safe feed by means of a certificate, will have less and less countries that accept its products.

Certificates such as GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance (FSA) and equivalent schemes have gained such a strong position across the globe in the past decades, that they have meanwhile become a license to sell in many countries.

“Feed safety hasn’t just gone mainstream, it has become top-ofmind throughout the chain,” Den Hartog explains in his office at GMP+ International in Rijswijk (the Netherlands).

In the past ten years, a second aspect was added, sustainability.

Den Hartog, ‘GMP+ International, was increasingly asked by the chain how companies could demonstrate that they not only work safely, but also take their responsibility for people, animals and the environment. Companies were wondering, for instance, how to demonstrate the use of responsible soy.’

Core strategy

Jose Villalon, Corporate Sustainability Director at Nutreco confirms this development, “In the past ten years we have seen how sustainability evolved from a perception of it coming ‘from the dark side’ to it being a core strategy. Of course there are different maturity levels due to specific geographies or market pull, but in general the transformation has been significant. I am a believer that in the next 15 to 20 years, sustainability will be a pre-competitive concept much like food safety is today.”

According to Villalon, the current ‘headliner’ focus points for the aquaculture industry are related to five major sustainability issues: the use of antibiotics, the increased dependence on soy (and the associated deforestation), the dependence on the ecologically valuable, but vulnerable small pelagic fisheries and modern slavery in the fishmeal and fish oil sector and the efficient use of natural resources for feeds.

The aquaculture industry is up for the challenge, Villalon believes, “The farmed seafood sector has a history of embracing its challenges

and addressing them in a transparent and pre-competitive way.”

In response to the increasing importance of sustainability, GMP+ International launched Feed Responsibility Assurance (FRA) in 2014, an add-on certificate to GMP+ FSA, as proof of a sustainable and responsible work method. The auditor that audits the companies for safety can also include sustainability in his audit on request.

Den Hartog explained, “The role of GMP+ FRA is mainly to build a bridge between – for instance - the responsible cultivation of soy or fishing (for fishmeal production) and the use thereof in compound feed for farmed animals and fish farms by proper assurance throughout the chain of custody.”

But whereas safety is a ‘hard’ theme that can be measured relatively easily thanks to calibrated feed safety limits, sustainability is software, and subject to so many different interpretations, depending on the region, culture, branch and practice, that it is difficult to impose rules that are feasible and acceptable for everyone.

For that reason, GMP+ International decided to not define any limits and refrain from imposing our definition of sustainable on the market.

“With GMP+ FRA, we offer a framework within each sector can establish its own sustainability standards by means of market initiatives,” says Den Hartog.

“These market initiatives are only included in GMP+ FRA if there is enough demand in the market.”

More with less

The need for sustainable work methods is felt more expressly in aquaculture than in other sectors, mainly because the activities within this sector are often carried out in areas of shared natural resources. The space available is shared by fish populations, fishermen, country communities and high conservation areas.

For that reason, sustainable work methods have been the natural order of business within aqua for quite some time.

Villalon of Nutreco pointed out that, “If you consider the FAO estimates that the industry should increase its’ output by 70 percent to meet the surging demand for food expected by 2050, and some NGO’s are estimating that we are already consuming the equivalent of 1.5 planet Earth’s worth of natural resources, it all boils down to our ability to produce more with less. Addressing this with micro ingredients and feed additives to increase digestibility and nutrient performance is essential.”

“Due to the urgency of these issues, aqua has taken the lead compared to other sectors with regard to sustainability,” Villalon observes.

“The farmed salmon sector has been able to reduce dietary fishmeal from 50 percent of the diet to less than seven percent and today we have the technology to produce with zero percent

16 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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fishmeal. We have seen how farmed shrimp grows 30 percent faster with 30 percent less feed.”

Purchasing requirements

The framework van GMP+ FRA consists of two elements: certification requirements and the feed responsibility management system which contains requirements for the companies, focused on assuring sustainable feed.

The requirements for the companies can be summarised with: strict purchasing requirements, records that show that the purchasing and sales of sustainable feed are in balance and correct business processes – which mainly comes down to awareness and training of personnel.

An agreement has been made with various marketing initiatives about the concrete interpretation, the main one relating to the production of responsible (RTRS) soy (GMP+ MI101). In this, suppliers are assessed based on the use of soil (preventing deforestation, mainly the Amazon jungle), use of pesticides and the labour conditions.

In addition, Duurzame Zuivelketen (Sustainable Dairy Chain), a market initiative from the Dutch Dairy sector, established a standard for responsible dairy feed (MI103) in collaboration with GMP+ International. In the core, this comes down to the use of RTRS soy (byproducts) in dairy feed. The sectors guard this by means of a white list of feed suppliers that meet this requirement.

In conclusion, standards have been established for responsible pig and poultry feed (MI102) in collaboration with SMK, the manager of the Eco-label (Milieukeur) in the Netherlands. Den Hartog believes that, in time, products such as maize and fishmeal can be added to the scheme.

Groan, a trade company specialised in the supply of raw materials to the compound feed industry in the Netherlands, Belgium, German and France, was the first company that received a GMP+ FRA certificate, early 2015.

“We are aware of the impact that soy cultivation has on the climate and the social wellbeing in the production areas,” Jaco Scheurwater, quality manager of Groan said.

“That is why we want to contribute to a chain for sustainably produced soy. This is one of the reasons to seek certification for the GMP+ MI101 for the trade in RTRS soy.”

Unique opportunity

That awareness is shared by more and more companies, Den Hartog observes. In 2016, the number of GMP+ FRA certified company grew rapidly; meanwhile, about 350 companies received this certificate, the majority of which is located in West Europe.

That is why Den Hartog believes that there is a unique opportunity for companies in other parts of the world – after

all; a responsible production process is becoming increasingly important outside of Europe as well.

“Companies that are currently leading in sustainable work methods – and are able to demonstrate this by means of a certificate – not only contribute to a healthier world, but can also present themselves in their market as leader in the field of sustainability.”

Although the GMP+ FRA certificate initially is a step towards a better world, practice in Europe has shown that the companies that are among the first to obtain a certificate, benefit from this in their trade.

“And that’s fine, after all, there must be food on the table as well.”

Villalon sees certification schemes as, “a viable way for a producer to demonstrate its’ responsible production to customers and consumer. But they are not an end to themselves. In addition to certification, there will always be a need for legislation,” says Villalon.

“Unfortunately, sustainability certification does little to raise the floor for many small holder (producers) that don’t trade in global markets and don’t experience the demand for certified product. There is a clear need for improved national regulation in some emerging economies as well as enforcement capabilities, especially in undervisited marginal and rural areas.”

Free of antibiotics

If the developments in the field of sustainability are compared to those in the field of safety, mainly similarities are found: just like safety which was once without obligations and today an absolute must, sustainable work methods are considered more and more to be a requirement as well. And there are a lot of opportunities for companies willing to go the extra mile.

“I believe there is an ever increasing role for commercial retailers and food service stakeholders to partner with and recognise those suppliers that go beyond the demand of environmental standards and offer products that are much more responsibly produced,” says Villalon.

“Think of highlighting fish grown without fishmeal and fish oil.

Think of a complete antibiotic-free line of products. Both of these are currently available and could easily make it into the supply chain as we are beginning to see in some markets.”

Sustainability is not a trend, underlines Den Hartog of GMP+ International, “It is not a hype that will pass in a couple of years, but a logical next step towards a world that will become increasingly safe and sustainable for everyone.”

In terms of aqua, Villalon is positive about the future, “The outlook is very challenging and the sector has a lot to achieve going forward, but I am very optimistic that the solution is in our hands and within our abilities.”

15-16 FEBRUARY 2018 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & TRADESHOW ON AQUACULTURE, FISHING INDUSTRY, VERTICAL FARMING AND ALGACULTURE

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PART 1

Marketing farmed shrimp and seafood produced in Asia

by Roger Gilbert, International Aquafeed In the first of a two-part report, International Aquafeed presents the presentation of Hervé Lucien-Brun of Aquaculture and Qualité, and who is also working with Jefo Nutrition of St Hyacinthe in Canada, on ‘Marketing of farmed seafood from Asia to global markets’ which was the keynote address at this year’s Asian-Pacific Aquaculture Conference 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 24-27, 2017.

In part one he identifies the importance of the local market, exchange rates, market differences, time of year, shrimp size, retail quality, colour, location and other factors that impact sales. We will carry the second and concluding part of this report in our October issue, concentrating on other quality and safety factors.

A

quaculture production has almost doubled in quantity over the past 15 years and modern day marketing is demanding greater a awareness and understanding by producers, especially those in Asia.

“If we compare farmed livestock, such as farmed chicken, pigs or beef animals the consumer does not compare those products with wild animals,” says Hervé LucienBrun of Aquaculture and Qualité in his opening presentation to the Asian-Pacific Aquaculture Conference 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 24-27, 2017.

“No consumer today buys a wild chicken, however if you buy fish or shrimp today you have to make a decision as to whether it is farmed or wild.

“If you want to market well you have to be prepared to meet the real demand of the market and for us that means to have a good knowledge of the fish market.”

Each market has its own specification in quality control and specification, he adds.

Brazil, during the Ecuador White Spot disease in 1999, became a strong exporter. But due to international exchange rate fluctuations it has become less attractive for Brazilian farmers to export shrimp to the US, or to Europe, so in response the industry

Shrimp as an example

If we view the world production of shrimp we see by far that Asia is the main producer.

“However, in the eyes of the consumer you don’t see so much Asian shrimp. You see Asian shrimp more in commodity products and this is not good. We need to understand why.”

He said we should not overlook the importance of the local market.

The local market is a real market and should not been seen as just a secondary market.

For example, almost all production from Ecuador is exported while in Mexico almost all shrimp production is consumed by the local market and the country is even importing shrimp to meet local demand.

18 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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has developed a local market.

“If you look at the statistics you can see that Brazil does not export very much at all, but is still a significant producer.”

The major international markets are still Europe followed by the US and then Japan while China is “coming up”, he says.

China was a net exporter before, now it is a net importer of shrimp. In Europe Spain is the main importer followed by France.

These two countries account for almost 16 percent of the total imports.

“Why do you need to meet the demand of the fish or shrimp market? The type of product each market imports is different.

For example, the southern countries of Europe import head-on shrimp. The northerly countries of Europe import added-value, the US added-value while Japan imports everything.”

The time of year is also important, in Europe it is between Christmas and New Year that is the main period for shrimp consumption. In the US 25 percent of shrimp are consumed during the Super Bowl, in Japan it’s during the Spring Festival.

“So you need to have product ready and take into consideration the time it takes to get it from farm to the market.

“To prepare for Christmas in Europe importers close their orders in November which means the last exports are in October or even in September,” he adds.

Exchange rates also impact the market and who is buying and who is reducing their purchases, he adds.

The size of the shrimp is also important

It appears that as the price of shrimp decreases the size/weight becomes increasingly important. When the price increases, consumption decreases and that’s the same in the EU as in the US. Another aspect is whether-or-not the market is buying shrimp to cook before selling onto the consumer or whether the consumer is buying frozen, raw shrimp, which leads to ‘retail quality’ rather than a French or a Spanish quality.

Those cooking shrimp are likely to lose up to 10 percent of weight in the process, which impacts the price of the shrimp.

It’s important to provide the market with the type of shrimp it wants as suppliers can be blacklisted if their products do not respond well in the cooking process due to size or losses during the cooking process for example, he says.

“Once you’re on a black list you’ll be on it for a long time.”

There are also issues of size when selling to restaurants. Size is not as important as the number of pieces in this case.

“All these market requirements you need to know,” he says.

Farmers preparing shrimp for export must be prepared to look at their shrimp with a critical eye and from the perspective of the buyer and or the consumer.

“Will they accept it or not? Once your shipment is questionable and the buyer starts to count the shrimp he will always find something else wrong.”

He showed examples of shipments that would be accepted and rejected. Colour was also a subjective issue that impacted acceptance or not. Draining shrimp prior to weighing is also a factor that must to be agreed with the buyer in advance.

He says Latin American shrimp producers understand the requirements of the US and European markets very well.

Finally, he turned his attention to an image, the image of the country or location where the shrimp are being produced which has a significant impact on market perceptions.

The impact of origin on demand cannot be underestimated.

Projecting a positive message about the country, it’s environment and appeal is important, says Dr Lucien-Brun.

When consumers enjoy shrimp - they dream of visiting that location or country

“For example, Japanese consumers who buy New Caledonia shrimp visualise an island that is the closes thing to paradise. The French love Madagascar, which for a very long time a French colony. In the minds of the French, the Madagascar shrimp is associated with an idea environment. It’s not shrimp that’s being sold, it’s ‘shrimp from Madagascar’.”

The challenge for Asia now is to enter the southern countries of Europe where the market is bigger.

FEATURE

Live feed production The bottleneck for shellfish, marine finfish and shrimp hatcheries

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by Industrial Plankton, Victoria, Canada

ndustrial Plankton is a Canadian company manufacturing live feed equipment focused on biosecurity and automation. The equipment stabilises hatchery yields by increasing the predictability and reliability of on-site live feed production.

To handle biosecurity, the 1000L algae photobioreactor shown here is automatically cleaned and sterilised between culture runs using an internal spray cleaning system and biodegradable detergent. Air is micron filtered as it enters and exits the sealed tank. Incoming water is micron filtered, then UV sterilised at the point of entry, and a peristaltic pump is used for the automated harvest.

The harvested algae is ideal for feeding shellfish larvae, spat and broodstock, providing greenwater for shrimp and marine finfish hatcheries, or providing feed for zooplankton. The large volumes produced also make a great inoculant for larger tanks or raceways.

Stable culture parameters achievable through automation are also important for biosecurity. Large fluctuations in water temperature, nutrient availability, light levels, and other factors, can cause a portion of the algae culture to die off. The decomposing cells spike the total organic carbon (TOC), creating an environment that encourages the growth of early colonisers, often pathogenic bacteria like vibrio, the most common and

serious pathogen in fish and shellfish marine aquaculture worldwide (Chatterjee, et al. 2012).

Despite efforts to maintain biosecurity in the algae room, pathogenic vibrio species can often be found in algae bag cultures, and even in stock cultures at aquaculture hatcheries (Elston, et al. 2008).

A 20L carboy is an ideal starter culture for these bioreactors, which the control system will scale up to the full tank volume in seven to 10 days. Once full, harvest is done continuously by overflow, or periodically using the onboard peristaltic pump, with water and nutrients added automatically after each harvest.

Alternatively, the whole tank can be harvested as a batch. The optical density sensor can be used to fine-tune the cultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production. To boost the productivity, a specially designed tank is used to double the surface area exposed to light, letting cultures grow denser before self-shading limit cell growth.

In 2016 Industrial Plankton released an automated 1250L LED algae bioreactor for aquaculture hatcheries, as a follow on product to its original 1000L reactor. The 1250L is ideal for continuous diatom production, which is traditionally challenging for even experienced algae producers.

A touchscreen gives operators control over the various parameters, such as nutrient addition rates, light levels, harvest density, etc. The data is graphed in real-time, and logged for later analysis to help operators optimise their production.

20 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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FEATURE

LOWERING OPERATION COSTS OF EXTRUSION:

I

A path to sustainable production of fish food

by Farmet

n recent years significant effort has been given to sustainability in feed production. The path of lowering energy demands of the process and thereby the operation costs is one of the means of achieving sustainable feed production.

Farmet a.s. has 25 years of experience in the field of technology of feed production via extrusion as well as oilseed pressing. The current demand for lower energy costs of the process inspires research and development of technologies that are less demanding of energy. To meet this challenge, Farmet is introducing an innovative way to recuperate energy for extrusion lines, coupled with an intelligent system for the control of process parameters.

Increasing efficiency by energy recuperation

For an evaluation of energetic demands of the processing of feed by extrusion, the following terms are commonly used: Specific Mechanical Energy (SME), i.e. energy supplied by the extruder’s engine, and Specific Thermal Energy (STE), i.e. energy supplied by heat transfer, most commonly by steam.

The processes of extrusion and the following drying are very demanding energetically. The sum of SME and STE varies between 50 and 140 kWh/t and a nearly similar amount of energy is required for drying. During fish food production the feed mixture is heated up several times, when the feed is being shaped as well as when being dried. That is when energy loss by radiation and evaporation (after the extrudate has left the extruder; during drying) occurs.

Our key innovation lies in a sophisticated system for energy recuperation that can save up to 30 percent of the overall energy consumption.

Waste heat, generated by extrusion and drying, is used for a multi-step preheating of entering material before it reaches the extruder. For that purpose a special bin for the mixture is used,

where a system of heat exchangers preheats the material. This causes a decrease in SME and STE of extrusion.

The control of the recuperation process is fully integrated into the extrusion line’s control system. It is the integration of the control of all the components that is key to ensure the stability of the process. The control system allows the operators to shorten the run-in required to achieve desired granule quality or to switch material type, which saves the resource material by decreasing the amount of insufficiently processed material.

Extrusion line management – advanced control of process parameters

Thanks to our long-term experience with automation of technology control and evaluation of process data for optimisation we offer a special tool for the control and optimisation of extrusion. Extrusion line management allows evaluation of process parameters and data from external sources, such as laboratory tests.

The solution is always crafted according to the investor’s requirements; it is optimised for the particular technology in terms of operation costs, product quality, and serves as a resource for Farmet’s technical support.

In feed production by extrusion, Farmet focuses on the optimisation of process parameters regarding both the quality of feed and a reduction in energy consumption. We have years of experience in this field thanks to collaboration with universities and research institutes and our own research and development. Combining our own know-how with the academic sphere is important for future success in this field. Effective technology and complex services comprise our company’s philosophy. We approach every client individually with the aim of providing the best possible solution regarding costs, product quality, and sustainability. www. farmet.eu

22 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

PEGASUS® VACUUM COATER HYGIENIC, HOMOGENEOUS & MULTIPLE LAYER COATING Create a vacuum environment in your production process? Then everything is possible! Such as applying and impregnating liquids homogeneously in powder, pellets and granules and to switch over easily and quickly to another recipe.

WWW.DINNISSEN.NL

The perfect partner for process automation We deliver: Design and engineering Build and installation MCC and PLC panels Software engineering PLC/SDADA MES application Batch Explorer Integration to other software packages Turn Key installations incl. training, service & support

info@inteqnion.com www.inteqnion.com

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 23

FEATURE

A synergy of expertise for better feed

T

Pro Pond feed in the automated hopper

by Tom Blacker, International Aquafeed he JBL story started in 1960 with a small specialist pet shop in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which Joachim Böhme, a trained chemist, beetle expert and aquarium enthusiast opened. This turned his hobby into a profession. When diseases in ornamental fish became a problem in the early days of fish keeping, he developed a remedy named Punktol for 'white spot disease' (Ichtyo). It can still be purchased to this day.

To bring this remedy to market, he needed a brand name, which he created from his own initials JB, and the “L” of his location at the time, Ludwigshafen.

After the launch of the JBL brand, the JBL company (based in Neuhofen/Pfalz since 1984) - rapidly developed to become one of the biggest full range suppliers for aquarium, terrarium and garden pond products in Germany. 180 employees work on the company site of about 2.5 ha. Today JBL supplies 60 countries worldwide with a range of over 1000 products and over 300 spare parts covering all apects of aquarium and pond fish keeping.

JBL Pro Pond products

I visited their premises in Neuhofen along with our Chinese milling expert partner, Dr Wenbin Wu and a contingent from London and South East Milling Society (LSEMS), to take a look at the Pro Pond feed range (just one of a plethora of specialist feed products that the company produces).

Current Head of Research and Development (R&D) and Quality Management at JBL, Michael Donner led the group through a presentation and factory tour. Michael is a fisheries biologist and expert in fish nutrition and fish health, having received his education at Ifm-Geomar Kiel and University Konstanz.

His role in the R&D department is of huge importance to JBL because of the need for continous product innovation in the competitive ornamental fish market.

Company ethos

On the JBL website, the General Manager of JBL, Roland Böhme, says, “We follow the commitment of my father, who founded the company 50 years ago. He loved animals of all kinds and made it a central issue to create products that would optimise the keeping of animals, and thus stop their removal from the wild.

I am happy to continue this aim!”

The fishmeal that is an ingredient in the feed is from certified and sustainably farmed aquaculture facilites located in northern France. This gives sustainable and high-quality fish protein at the correct scale for JBL, which also promotes protection of the environment with no wild fish necessary. The offcuts from human fish fillet production are used, so co-products of aquaculture are an important raw material.

Another raw material is wheat, sourced only from local farms.

Continuing the theme, JBL’s building itself was adorned in many solar panels that generate electricity for its own power; impressively displayed on a live board above the main door.

Michael showed us around the main halls on site with a close view of the Pro Pond range with Neo Index®. This range is available in several different protein to fat ratios to allow targeted nutrition depending on the time of year (or water temperature) with versions of Pond Pro feed available for spring, summer, autumn and winter. There are also specialised versions formulated

24 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Fawema FA438 in action

JBL's Koi display fish tank

to boost growth or colour as well as diets optimised for specific species requirements.

JBL is a company with a strong set of values. These values extend to the full quality control examination of the feed ingredients, along with the controlled cultivation, freshness and pollution control in Pro Pond products.

Customer support

The packaging for the Pro Pond range provides a link to JBL's online portal ‘MyJBL’ . A gateway to JBL’s expert team for advice regarding their products, along with a blog and more information about the companies activities.

Additionally, there is an annual JBL fan meeting, catalogues, newsletters, guide booklets and community calendar for adding value far beyond their core products to their customers. www.jbl.de

Pellets go through a processing and extrusion phase at the same site as the packaging hall and warehouse storage hall. JBL has chosen Fawema for its feed packaging bags and has recently installed and run the FA438 for small packets and the FA456 for packaging large sacks of fish feed.

These two servo-driven automated lines are able to deliver efficient and reliable packaging for the fish feed in flexibility, strength and durability, speed, reliability and simplicity.

Fawema and JBL share a passion for innovative technology to assist their industrial customers, which is a perfect synergy. This is a true complementary relationship between Fawema and JBL that provides excellent value and benefits on many fronts: feed safety, efficiency and professionalism of commercial feed to the ornamental fish and aquarium sectors.

Schneider control touchscreen for the Fawema FA438 bagging system

Maximize capacity, conditioning, and control.

WENGER’S AQUAFLEX XT HIGH CAPACITY EXTRUDER When maximum volume matters, the Wenger AQUAFLEX XT High Capacity Aquafeed Extruder is the choice, processing up to 12,000 kg/hour. Equipped with either our High Shear Conditioner (HSC) or High Intensity Preconditioner (HIP), the AQUAFLEX XT is ideal for aquatic feeds as small as 0.5 mm. Precise control of finished product density delivers either high capacity floating or sinking feeds.

Know more about the industry-changing designs and customized options of AQUAFLEX. Email us at info@wenger.com today.

PHONE: 785.284.2133 | EMAIL: INFO@WENGER.COM | WENGER.COM USA

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BELGIUM

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TAIWAN

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 25

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BRASIL

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CHINA

PHOTOSHOOT THE BIG PICTURE - PHOTOCOMP

This image Sea Bass fry hatching was entered into the International Aquafeed photo competition in 2014. This year photographers everywhere are invited to submit digital photographic work on the theme of ‘Create, Nurture and Grow Aquaculture’.

Submissions are still being accepted for the foreseeable future, and some great prizes are on offer, including a Ipad Pro For full detials visit: www.aquafeed.co.uk/photocomp17 Sea Bass hatching - ©Bernd Ueberschar

EXPERT TOPIC WHITE SHRIMP

WHITE 1

Introduction by Zasha Whiteway-Wilkinson

SHRIMP EXPERT TOPIC

Litopenaeus setiferus, formerly known as Panaeus setiferus, is the Latin name for the more commonly known “white shrimp”, also known as; gray shrimp, lake shrimp, green shrimp, green-tailed shrimp, blue-tailed shrimp, rainbow shrimp, Daytona shrimp, common shrimp, southern shrimp and finally, in Mexico – camaron blanco.

Requiring warm water, and unable to survive at temperatures below 3°C (37 °F), the white shrimp is a species of prawn found along the Atlantic coast of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered the subject of the earliest shrimp fishery in the United States. It can only sustain appreciable growth at temperatures over 20°C (68 °F).

The range of L. setiferus extends from Fire Island, New York to Ciudad Campeche Mexico.

The crustacean may reach a total length (excluding antennae) of 197mm (7.8inches), with females being larger than the males.

The antennae may be up to three times the length of the body, which is bluish white with a tinge of pink on the sides and have black spots.

The pleopods (swimming legs) are often redder, and the uropods (posterior appendages) and telson (posterior-most division) are green. The rostrum (from the Latin rostrum meaning beak) is long and thin, with five to 11 teeth on the upper edge and two on the lower edge, and continues along the carapace (upper section of the exoskeleton) as a dorsal carina (ridge). Deep grooves alongside the carine seperate the related species Farfantepenaeus aztecus (“brown shrimp”) and Farfantepenaeus duorarum (“pink shrimp”) from L.setiferus.

The shrimp lives in estuaries and from the littoral zone to water with a depth of 100 feet (30m) in the Atlantic, or up to 260 ft (79 m) in the Gulf of Mexico. It is an omnivore; in Lake Pontchartrain, it feeds mainly on the seagrass Vallisneria americana and detritus.

An important member of the food chain, many aquatic animals feed on the shrimp, including fish such as red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and turtles such as the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).

Spawning occurs whilst the water is warm, between the increase in water temperatures in the sprint and the sudden decline in temperature in the fall. Generally occuring within nine km (5.6 miles) of the shoreline, the water is less than nine metres (30ft) deep in the Atlantic or eight to 31m deep (26-102ft) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Males attach a sprematophore (a capsule containing spermatozoa) to the females, which is then used to fertilise the eggs as they are released. Each female releases 500,000–1,000,000 purplish eggs, each 0.2–0.3 mm (0.008–0.012 in) across, which sink to the bottom of the water column.

After 10–12 hours, the eggs hatch into nauplius larvae, which are 0.3 mm (0.012 in) long, planktonic and unable to feed.[1] They molt five times to reach the protozoea stage, one mm (0.039 in) long. These grow to 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long over two molts, before passing through three molts as a mysis larva.

About 15–20 days after hatching, the animals reaches the postlarva stage; in the second postlarval stage, at a length of seven mm (0.28 in), they begin to enter estuaries and drop down to the substrate.

Spring rains flush the shrimp out into the ocean. In the Eastern United States, shrimp then migrate south towards warmer waters.

Native Americans carried out subsistence fishing for prawns along the Atlantic coast. This knowledge was passed on to European settlers and Litopenaeus setiferus became the subject of the earliest shrimp fishery in the United States, with commercial fishery starting as early as 1709.

28 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

Power up your aquafeed too.

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Interested? Find your local contact at nutriad.com

EXPERT TOPIC WHITE SHRIMP

2

C

WHITE SHRIMP

Improving White Shrimp productivity on a Mexican farm

by Dr Ron Cravens, Amlan International

alibrin-ZÂŽ has been proven to bind a broad spectrum of biotoxins, both mycotoxins and bacterial toxins. Prior published research using Calibrin-Z showed that alpha and NetB toxins from Clostridium perfringens, which causes necrotic enteritis in chickens, could be controlled in vitro and in vivo.

Then research reported at the World Aquaculture Society conference in 2015 showed that Calibrin-Z bound the two major toxins from Vibrio parahaemolyticus that cause Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) and ameliorated their effects on juvenile shrimp.

Testing in Arizona showed that feeding Calibrin-Z increased the survival rate of shrimp from five percent (Challenged Control) to 84 percent (Challenge + Calibrin-Z) during EMS challenge studies.

Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the value of adding Calibrin-Z to shrimp feed used on a commercial facility.

Research Methods

Nine million juvenile shrimp in nine 5-hectare ponds located in Sonora, Mexico were used in this study. The ponds were at high risk of having an outbreak of EMS during the trial period. The shrimp in four of the ponds were fed Calibrin-Z (0.5% inclusion), and their results were compared to those of five ponds of shrimp that were fed a diet supplemented with a mixture that was felt to help control EMS. The study was conducted from August to November 2016, typically the last shrimp production batch of the year for this area.

The feed formulation (other than the additives that were being compared), immunisation programme, and management were the same between all the ponds. The shrimp were fed multiple times per day and feed consumption of each pond was recorded weekly

to calculate the feed conversion ratio at the end of the study.

Mortality, weather conditions, and water quality were monitored for each pond.

No outbreak of Early Mortality Syndrome was observed during the study and survival rate was similar between the two treatments. Shrimp were harvested when they reached an average of 14g. Days on feed and shrimp weights were measured on the day of harvest.

Results

Shrimp fed Calibrin-Z reached market weight six days sooner (84 vs. 90 days) than those on the Control group. This is because feeding Calibrin-Z increased weekly weight gain â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1.16 g/shrimp for those fed Calibrin-Z compared to only 1.07g/shrimp for those in the Control group, an 8.4 percent improvement (Figure 1). That weight came using less feed; at harvest the feed conversion ratio for shrimp fed Calibrin-Z was 9.2 percent better, with 1.52 feed: gain for those on the Control compared to 1.38 when Calibrin-Z was fed (Figure 2).

Previous research showed that feeding Calibrin-Z would control biotoxins that damage the digestive tract. The improvements in feed conversion seen in this study indicate that feeding Calibrin-Z resulted in shrimp with a healthier gut environment; and thus, improved productivity and profitability.

Return-on-investment

The Return-On-Investment from adding Calibrin-Z in this instance was 6:1. The calculation is shown in Table 1. Costs were based upon the values at the time in Mexico. Adjustments were made so that harvest was at a consistent 90 days. The extra cost of the additives in the Control diet was not included in the calculation, therefore, the 6:1 was a minimal return-oninvestment.

30|September2017-InternationalAquafeed

EXPERT TOPIC

WHITE SHRIMP

CROSS-CONTAMINATION SALMONELLA Figure 1. Average weekly weight gain (g). Shrimp fed Calibrin-Z had 8.4% higher weekly weight gain that those fed the Control diet. This would result in achieving the 14 g market weight 6 days earlier than shrimp fed the Control diet.

Figure 2. Feed to gain ratio. Feed conversion was 9.2% better when Calibrin-Z was fed to white shrimp.

INCONSISTENCY REGULATIONS

PATHOGENS

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE ELEMENTS

Table 1. Return on investment of Calibrin-Z in this study. Shrimp, feed, and Calibrin-Z price were obtained based upon the prices at the time and location of the experiment. Average shrimp feed cost $20.00 Mexican Pesos/ kg, shrimp cost $150.00 Mexican Pesos /kg. The extra cost of the additives in the Control diet was not included in the calculation, therefore 6: 1 was a minimal return-on-investment Item

$ 9,375

Value of needing less feed, Mx Peso/pond

$ 14,765

Value Creation, Mx Peso/pond

$ 24,140

Calibrin-Z Investment, Mx Peso/pond

$ 3,965

Minimal Return-on-Investment

PRODUCT CONSISTENCY PROCESS FLEXIBILTY VALIDATED KILL-STEP

Per Pond

Value from more kg shrimp, Mx Peso/pond

DOWNTIME

FOOD SAFETY VERIFIED EXTRUSION CERTIFICATION SANITATION CONTROL

6: 1

PLANT CERTIFICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Shrimp, feed, and Calibrin-Z price were obtained based upon the prices at the time and location of the experiment. Average shrimp feed cost $20.00 Mexican Pesos/kg, shrimp cost $150.00 Mexican Pesos /kg. The extra cost of the additives in the Control diet was not included in the calculation, therefore 6:1 was a minimal return-on-investment

Conclusion

Calibrin-Z has been shown to bind biotoxins from Vibrio parhaemolyticus and decrease their ability to cause EMS in shrimp. This commercial study was conducted to determine Calibrin-Z’s effects on growth performance. Feeding shrimp 0.5 percent Calibrin-Z increased weekly weight gain by 8.4 percent (1.16 g vs. 1.07 g) and improved feed conversion by 9.2 percent (1.38 vs. 1.52) when harvested at a market weight of 14g compared to the shrimp fed a diet containing mixture thought to help suppress EMS. Shrimp fed Calibrin-Z reached market weight six days earlier with a return-on-investment of 6:1.

Shrimp fed Calibrin-Z (5 kg/MT feed) in a commercial trial had: • 8.4 percent increased weekly weight gain • 9.2 percent improved feed conversion • Six fewer days-to-harvest • 6:1 return-on-investment

P.O. Box 8 100 Airport Road Sabetha, KS 66534, USA Phone: 785-284-2153 Fax: 785-284-3143 extru-techinc@extru-techinc.com www.extru-techinc.com

31|September2017-InternationalAquafeed ET-275C.indd 1

12/22/15 3:33 PM

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

by Ultraqua, Denmark

The Danish trout and pike perch producer, AquaPri, decided in 2016 to expand its production facilities due to the increasing demand for fish. From a production capacity of 250 metric tonnes of pikeperch farming, adding another 500 metric tonnes plant, AquaPri can now ensure continuous output throughout the entire year.

Protecting against bacteria with enhanced UV systems The new plant was originally designed without a UV system in place, but throughout the startup phase, problems with bacteria grew rapidly.

Therefore, ULTRAAQUA’s challenge was to properly design and size a UV system for retrofit, that effectively ensured protection against bacteria, as well as increasing the survival rate and drastically reducing the use of medication.

AquaPri’s pikeperch farm is a state-of-the-art RAS plant, where the stable production and biosecurity is kept through several of ULTRAAQUA’s UV Channel systems. The main systems are two MR100-350SS Channel units which were chosen for keeping the recirculated water free of diseases.

The units have a disinfection volume of 2600 m3/h/ unit in a very compact area, where the footprint of the 35kW unit is under 1m2. Each unit holds 100pcs of 350W lamps, with a guaranteed lamp lifetime of 16,000 hours, which can save up to 22 percent in operational costs. Ultraaqua has developed the most powerful yet most efficient UV-systems in the market, where the long lifetime and efficiency is a result of 20 years research and development work. The guaranteed Figure 1 Figure 2

32 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Figure 3 Figure 4

16,000 hours lifetime is achieved by an advanced optimisation between the lamps and their lamp-drivers.

The Channel system is developed for fully automatic use. An advanced PLC control is constantly monitoring and adjusting the electrical parameters of each individual lamp to ensure their optimal performance to meet dose requirements in the most energy efficient way.

Henning Priess, owner and managing director of AquaPri, is very satisfied with his newly installed ULTRAAQUA channel units, since the facility experienced a log four reduction in bacteria count after installing the units. As a result, this has created a much more stable environment for the fish, which has increased feed rates and overall growth in the population.

By incorporating our UV Channel to be part of AquaPri’s water treatment system, the mortality is reduced significantly, while the stability is increasing.

Martin Vestergaard, company manager at AQUAPRI says “We measure bacteria level through our online system in RAS system A and we can see a significant effect of the UV system when we turn it on.”

All of Ultraaqua’s channel systems are modular and flexible meaning that a cost-efficient solution can be made for all water depths and construction widths.

Table 1: System design parameters Reactor material

AISI316L

Flow rate

2600 m3/h

Number of lamps

100

Graph shows 140 clarity of the water. UV 120 system was 100 turned on the 9th of 80 January 60

Lamps power

35000 W

40

Lamp lifetime

16000 hours

20 0

Figure 1: The UV Channel Figure 2: Assembling the UV Channel systems Figure 3: The system is ON. The green light is the UV light coming out of the water before covers was installed Figure 4: The channel series include an isolated and dry top compartment for tool free maintenance

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 33

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #2

by Gary E. Miller, PhD, President, Advanced Aquacultural Technologies, Inc., USA

In recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), a necessary component is the biological filter. These devices provide for the conversion of soluble wastes to solids through bacterial growth. Most notably being the nitrogenous wastes associated with ammonia and urea. These materials are toxic to aquatic animals until oxidised to nitrate by the various species of chemoautotrophic bacteria known collectively as nitrifiers.

Flexibility is key: Biological filtration in aquaculture There are a large variety of biological filters used in aquaculture. All designs strive to provide a large surface area for the bacteria to colonise.

Typically these filters have a stationary (fixed) bed or a moving bed of material.

The kinds of materials used (wood, stone, sand, plastic shapes) all reflect the designers intent to confine the materials (and the water being treated) in a space that will not demand a large footprint in the production facility, will be to a large degree self cleaning, will not cause the loss of large volumes of water in the cleaning process and will not consume large amounts of energy or labour to operate.

Trickling filter

One of the oldest designs is a trickling filter. The earliest designs consisted simply of a hole in the ground filled with rocks. It was cheap and relatively easy to build, but subject to accumulating biological solids and very difficult to clean.

Over time, other materials such as wood or plastic slats or structured shapes replaced rocks and the structure was built above ground to facilitate plumbing and provide for protection from the environments.

The advantage offered by the trickling filter is in the simplicity of design.

The materials were mounted on a structure to allow water to move toward a discharge manifold and an enclosure is provided to keep the water confined.

In time, it became apparent that sufficient space (void fraction) was required within the design layout of the filter medium to allow flushing (self cleaning) of the bacterial solids that accumulated from the growth of bacteria as they consumed the nutrients in the inflow of water.

For the wastewater treatment industry, these devices were built outdoors without regard to most weather conditions; other than freezing.

For RAS facilities, this becomes problematic because environmental conditions are important. The purpose for developing a RAS facility is to provide control of the production conditions to allow year around production, sanitation control and protection from parasites and disease.

As production facilities become larger, the size of trickling filters becomes an issue. As the number of fish (and the amount of food provided) increases, a larger footprint can be required by the filter.

However, the degree to which the water is treated does not increase. The only way to improve the performance of a trickling filter is to make it taller; requiring taller (more expensive) buildings and greater pumping expense to lift the water to the top of the filter. As the filter becomes taller, it allows the bacteria to specialise; each group feeding on the wastes of the bacteria above them.

All biological filter designs used in aquaculture are based in principle on designs originating in the wastewater industry.

In wastewater, large equipment can be designed to ensure that solid wastes are captured and properly processed before removal from the discharge water. The process is energy consumptive and the expense is covered by the municipality. These expenses must be limited in aquaculture since the cost of production must be passed on to the consumer.

Further, there are frequently areas within the process where the water is allowed (deliberately or otherwise) to become anoxic or anaerobic.

These are unacceptable conditions in RAS facilities because the bacteria inhabiting these conditions generate materials that cause unacceptable flavors in the fish.

Filter types that deliberately agitate small material to provide a large surface area in a small space and generate a self cleaning process can also be energy consumptive and require specialised mechanical filtration afterwards to collect the very fine material generated by this agitation which destroys the matrix of material keeping the bacteria collected in a floc.

34 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY These devices often use large amounts of water to flush away these solids.

Stationary fixed medium can be suspended in the water column with the water passing upward or downward over the medium. This allows the bacteria laden matrix to collect on the medium. This is then removed while more intact, but again requires the wasting of water to flush away the solids.

This process is often labour intensive as well.

Rotating biological contactor

The rotating biological contactor (RBC) was developed in the wastewater industry to address the issues cited above with the trickling filter.

In the early 1970s, RBC’s were being introduced to wastewater facilities having medium diameters of 3.6m (12ft) and unsupported shaft lengths of 7.6m (25ft).

In many cases these units proved to be unable to withstand the conditions to which they were installed and failed. Although many of the weak design and application features were later improved, the RBC lost favour.

However, the improvements in performance over the trickling filter that the RBC was intended to replace remain desirable.

Consider a tall trickling filter placed on its side in a trough. Now consider the medium on a central shaft and turned at a slow revolution per minute (rpm). The contact time that the water has with the medium in a trickling filter is short (measured in seconds). The same flow rate through the length of the trough takes much longer if the amount of medium on the shaft is equivalent to the amount of medium in the trickling filter (measured in minutes).

Because the shaft is rotated, all of the surface area is constantly wetted. As the shaft rotates, the water rushes into and out of the medium, providing constant flushing of excess bacterial growth, aeration and CO2 striping.

The unit is self cleaning.

This can be remedied in the trickling filter by providing forced ventilation in a counter flow direction (additional energy cost).

However, even trickling filters can become locally blocked by an accumulation of biogrowth.

If this condition is not severe, the filter will remain self cleaning because those bacteria attached to the medium will become starved of nutrients as the film becomes thicker. They eventually die and the overlying material sloughs away.

Testing side-by-side

At Advanced Aquacultural Technologies Inc we have appreciated the simplicity of the trickling filter, but also recognised the important improvements offered by the RBC.

Double Shaft Paddle Mixers (DPMA) The Wynveen double shaft paddle mixers, realizes high mixing capacity with a relative small mixer content. The mixer has a mixing time, depending on the product type and quantity, from 30 to 60 seconds.

Features • Capacities available from 500 to 20.000 liters • Mixing accuracy of 1:100.000/C.V. < 5% • Short mixing time of approximately 30-60 seconds • Minimum filling degree will be 25% of the nominal content • Extra wide bomb doors.

www.wynveen.com International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 35

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

So, why build the facility with trickling filters?

We needed to get the facility up and running and already knew how to build a good trickling filter. Developing a modular RBC was going to take time that we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have.

Trickling filters are very effective and very reliable if correctly sized and properly installed. Once in operation, a trickling filter should never need tending. We have trickling filters that have been in continuous operation for over 20 years without being serviced or cleaned.

We chose to develop an RBC specifically for the intermediate RAS sized facility; bridging the gap between the startup farm and a full blown commercial operation.

Making the RBC modular allowed the filter to be designed (or redesigned) to fit the application rather than to rely on a product off the shelf. We selected a medium diameter of 1.8m (6ft) and a trough diameter of 2.1m (7ft). Since we have been a hybrid striped bass RAS facility since 1990 and utilised trickling filters, we chose to develop the prototype RBC to replace one of the grow-out trickling filters and test it against an operating twin with medium stacked 1.8m x 3.7m x 4.9m (6ft x12ft x 16ft ).

Both systems were operated at a flow rate of 1.7m3/min (450 g/min).

Medium from the removed trickling filter was shaped and used in the RBC to speed up the conditioning process.

Additional medium was added to match the volume of the trickling filter. Contact time as the water passed through the trickling filter was approximately 30 seconds (a path of 1.8m).

Contact time in the RBC was approximately 30 minutes (a path of 22m; 72ft).

There were 12 stages consisting of a 1.8m (6ft) shaft with 1.2 linear meters (4ft) of medium per stage. The staging of the water flow provided an opportunity for the bacteria to specialise in processing the waste load as presented in each stage.

Each stage bulkhead provided a block bearing where the individual shafts were linearly interconnected and provided support and stress relief for the shaft assembly.

The medium was mounted centrally in the trough with a free board between the medium and the trough of 15.2cm (6in) and a submerged depth of approximately 35 percent of the diameter. Rotational speed was 1.2rpm.

The water quality in the RBC exceeded that of the trickling

filter before reaching a distance of 11m (3 ft). Why? Because of the extended contact time compared to the trickling filter.

Also, the entire medium surface was wetted and not plugged by excess material as can happen, if only temporarily, in a trickling filter.

Initially the RBC was built with a paddle wheel in each stage and driven by the water being pumped through the system and by blown air at each stage.

Due to the resistance caused by the medium density, rotational speed would not exceed 1.2rpm. Momentary hesitation as the paddles broke from the water also created friction burn in the bearings.

The paddle wheels were replaced with an additional segment of medium and the blowers were replaced with a 0.75Kw variable speed, 3rpm gear motor for each three-stage assembly (5.5m; 18ft).

This eliminated problems associated with the paddle wheels, doubled the life of the wear points in the bearings and increased the medium available by 20 percent We now operated the unit at only 1.5rpm.

The RBC has a larger footprint than a trickling filter. We did effectively lay the trickling filter on itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side.

However, with two three-stage assemblies we can maintain total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) at 1.5mg/l in systems using 60kg of high protein diet daily to support 120kg/m3 (1.0lb/ gal).

If the production building is designed beforehand for the use of RBCs, the water head of the RBC can be set a few centimeters above that of the production tanks for a gravity flow return. With this small difference in head, the water can be airlifted at a high flow rate back to the RBC. This could reduce the energy budget for recirculating the water by 50 percent.

Why did we want to convert to the modular RBC? 1) To save energy use over the trickling filter with a labor efficient process 2) Ease of assembly since all parts can pass through a man door and assembled with hand tools 3) The filter is customised to fit the application 4) Contact time allows for superior treatment and better overall performance 5) The staged segmentation of the filter allows for enhanced bacterial performance

36 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 37

28-03-17 08:55

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #3

by Ben Green MA (Cantab) CEO The Supreme Salmon Co, UK

Recirculating Aquaculture System design is a fascinating subject; it’s been one of my life’s great projects. There are many ways to build a system that works, but there are different designs that work better than others, and that’s the challenge; what’s a very good system and what’s not?

RAS systems should be shaped by cost, durability, efficiency and suitability for the species cultured. This article is all about the layout of RAS system that I’ve reached after 25 years of designing and redesigning RAS for salmon.

Designing Recirculating Aquaculture Systems Salmon are pelagic fish and love to swim, if they can’t swim in a straight line they have to swim in a circle, and if there’s a flow of water against them so much the better. They don’t do lengths like a human swimmer so a raceway design is out and that includes concentric annular ring designs with a large filter in the middle, which are effectively curved raceways. A circular tank with outlets in the middle takes advantage of the conservation of angular momentum, so a relatively small flow of water can provide both a comfortable environment for a salmon and will clean itself sending all the solid wastes to the middle.

This is where the fish live but our elegance of design principle states that the most functions must be completed with the least effort in the simplest, safest way. The main tank is the best place to introduce supplementary oxygenation; it should be deep enough to efficiently dissolve from diffusers and if it’s supplied from a liquid oxygen cryotank and all else fails, there is some independent life support for the precious stock.

I’ve recently started introducing ozone along with the oxygen (something marine aquarists have been doing for years) so no need for a separate external power consuming apparatus for this and it has the wonderful side effect of removing the earthy taste which can make the product unsaleable, so no need for a separate depuration set up. Most of the systems I’ve seen have a single outlet but why not make use of the fact that nearly the entire solid wastes sink to the bottom of the tank?

My tanks have a double circulation, the main outlet in the middle, high in the water and a smaller outlet at the bottom to take away the solid waste. A double circulation builds in more safety if an outlet gets blocked or either one of them fails for any reason. It’s taken many years before I had the nerve to remove the outlet screen to the bottom drain but salmon like open water and hate dark pipes so now any mortalities are carried straight out of the tank, inefficient mort removal can be a massive problem in RAS. The main tank is also a good place to skim any froth from the surface of the water; it can be a third outlet at the middle at the surface. I haven’t thought of a good use for a third circulation so it’s a good place for a small overflow pipe to discharge any changeover water as well.

So we already have several functions operating before we’ve even left the main fish holding tank and not really consuming any power either.

Filtration

I must confess a dislike for mechanical filters. Most systems use a drum or belt filter for solid waste removal; they work well enough and save a lot of labour but there are several drawbacks.

Firstly, they tend to discourage a modular approach (separate individual RAS for each growing tank) because they need quite a lot of installation.

Secondly, they consume power when there are alternatives that don’t.

Thirdly, it’s another expensive mechanical device to maintain and possibly go wrong. Lastly, it’s not easy to inspect the outlet for mortalities or uneaten food.

In my opinion, it’s much better to have a small settlement chamber, the operator can learn a lot when syphoning away the solid waste, it’s possible to see if (and even when) the fish are overfed. Of course, that’s not possible with a single outlet on the main tank because the settlement chamber would have to be too big, and hence the dual flow. My hatcheries use foam cartridges for the remaining really fine particles; the larger units use a settlement media which can be backwashed.

However, this is where I would consider using a mechanical filter, if the installation is really large, or if several individual units are to be linked at this point.

Similarly I’m not a great fan of fluidised bed biofilters. Once again they need a separate power system, have a more complicated installation and could introduce vulnerability if they failed. They are fairly compact, efficient and don’t need cleaning, but correctly designed and operated static media filters have more benefits.

A properly sized fixed bed filter has to be relatively much, much bigger; around 100kg of salmon per cubic meter of filtration media but the benefits are enormous for the wellbeing of the system. The larger water volume cushions the rate of build-up of pollutants such as ammonia and nitrites, slows down the emergence of problems that arise, like oxygen depletion as the fish grow, and also gives temperature stability.

38 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY A fluidised filter only provides a single environment; a large static filter has many different habitats for different organisms, which can all do their job in filtering the water.

Why only use only a few bacteria species to filter the water when there is the help of a vast diversity of organisms out there to harness?

My filters contain freshwater shrimps, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, various zooplankton such as daphnia and cyclops and endless other species that would greatly interest a biologist, all living off the filter bacteria, organic material and each other, leaving almost nothing at the end of the process.

There are downsides of course. There is occasional natural de-sludging, which reduces the water clarity but fascinatingly strips off all the deposits on any surface. It takes time for these organisms to colonise but it’s not that long if they are properly seeded, and then the filters don’t need cleaning for several years, although it is worth installing a flushing system for when the unit is empty. I haven’t noticed any problems with pollutants from the action of anaerobic bacteria; that would happen with an overloaded filter that’s too small in the first place and there can be a generation of sulphite in seawater but seawater shouldn’t be used anyway (more of that later).

Fixed bed filters probably consume more oxygen to function, cost more to build and use more space, but in my experience the benefits far outweigh the downsides when a RAS is to be operated over a long period of time and look at the benefits of intestinal flora diversity in human beings!

Schematic Diagram A Random Media Static Filter B Settlement Chamber C Backwashed Solids Collector D Central Sump Outlet E Ordered Media Trickle Filter F Main Pump Well G Main Water Outlet to Filter

Pumps and return of water to the fish

In my systems, the water is gravity fed through right the way to a pump well after the filter. I now use pipe/ propeller pumps to return the bulk of the water to the rearing tank, as they are the most efficient. They pump a very large volume of water, which really moves the water through the tank, and their only drawback is that they can’t pump to a high head, but some models with twin propellers can raise the water high enough to cascade through a very large spraybar that provides all the CO2 stripping and a lot of the oxygenation.

This means a separate degasser and oxygen injection isn’t necessary. Interestingly, looking through the internet I can’t see any system that has the facility to control pH and buffer hardness, this can help a lot with keeping the CO2 concentration down. I have water from a limestone aquifer so I only occasionally add calcium carbonate. On my medium sized systems I return the water to the main tank through an ordered media filter on a gantry, that’s much better than a spraybar at gaseous exchange and adds

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International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 39

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY Photo 1: The pipe pump is pumping water up onto the ordered media. On the long radius bend is an alarm sensor that phones me if the pump stops working for any reason.

Photo 2: This is a 20 year old design with a split take-off from a single outlet design.

It works but not that well.

Note the foam cartridges from the hatchery next door on the left and an ozone generator at the top right.

1

2

more biological filtration, the water then drops onto a chute to give the tank a circulation.

For the secondary solids removal circulation, I might use an efficient impellor pump situated after its own static filter.

Pumps correctly sited and continuously run with plenty of inlet pressure and clean water intake will last several years, keeping routine replacement costs to a minimum. I add my fresh replacement water straight into the main tank, usually less than five percent of the water volume a day, this percentage might increase if the ambient temperature gets high but will decrease if it would lower the temperature below that needed for optimum growth as it’s a constant 10ºC all year round and we really want to be at 14-15ºC if possible.

Any RAS system should be able to go without an intake of fresh water for several days in case of adverse weather conditions or supply problems, a heat exchanger can be useful in the middle of the winter to warm the intake water but it’s a good idea to site a RAS where there’s no need to be continually fighting the climate. I think a sterile brackish borehole is the ultimate water supply but a sterile freshwater borehole should be high on the list, abstracting from an open water body with a population of wild fish is undesirable if the intake decontamination should fail.

In any case it’s best to incorporate a hatchery in the facility as it rather defeats the object of having a secure closed system if juveniles are imported from an unsafe site. With seawater, especially taken directly, there is more disease risk, more corrosion, electrical shock risk, lower oxygen carrying capacity and less efficient biological filtration although on the upside there are less fungal problems, larger quantities available and (hopefully) less constraints on the discharge.

(An aside here: Pump ashore salmon farming died a death a long time ago as it couldn’t compete with cage rearing, I can’t see why a RAS should be more competitive, in the same situation? Someone will enlighten me on that one.)

Peripherals

No electricity supply is 100 percent reliable so it’s a given that any RAS needs a backup generator. I have a second smaller, manually started, generator with which I can run some of the pumps in case the main generator fails; it does happen!

I make my own extremely reliable alarms (from a mobile phone and a few sensors) and buy my DO and ORP meters from Ebay, there’s plenty of ways to save money, especially at start up. Most things like water dosing, testing and treatment I do manually, I like to be in control. The only thing that’s really good to be automatic is the feeders, a

continuous trickle of food is just the thing to maximise the conversion ratio.

I tend to link my larger individual units with a small water circulation, it helps cushion the effects of start-up when new stock is introduced, saves on maintaining water levels on multiple tanks, evens out temperature variation and repopulates the filters’ flora and fauna. In this case, the fresh intake water only needs to be added in one place.

Hatchery

My hatchery units are basically a small version of the larger units with a table tank on top of the main tank, which takes the eggs through to about 0.6g. They do have other features as well. They come in kit form and sit on a flat floor so can be sited in any insulated building without any major alterations.

They incorporate UV sterilisers but I’m not sure how good they are for actually doing their job, ozone is better but not good for humans in a small enclosed space, it needs to be to vented out or timed to go off before routine maintenance is carried out. All the salmon RAS hatchery units I’ve supplied over the last three decades are still in use today.

Principles to Follow

So what are the principles that should drive the design of an RAS system?

Firstly: Fish welfare: My systems have evolved from quite a few years of growing fish in RAS, it’s the fish welfare that must come first and be the primary force in the RAS design.

RAS systems must be designed by fish farmers as much as by engineers to provide a ‘happy’ environment where the fish can grow at their maximum rate undisturbed, month in, month out. Good fish welfare means a quality product at harvest and almost zero mortality if you can get it right; a bad environment leads to morale sapping losses and erosion of profitability. I’ll be expanding on this point in a lot more detail in my next article.

Secondly: Robustness or reliability: I’ve made this second but it should really be equal first with fish welfare. Over a 25-year life just one disaster can wipe out at least two years of production and can fail a project if it happens in the early years. Over-engineering to create safety margins is no bad thing, a RAS is a biological system and it’s hard to accurately calculate what the exact specification might be. A modular design means if one unit has a problem it can be contained within that unit and not be a problem for the whole farm; I’ll have several baskets for my eggs thanks. Why design a system where a single action like turning a tap or switching a switch will cause the RAS to crash? It’s bound to happen

40 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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3

sooner or later, a design that prevents cascading failure is a must.

Thirdly: Elegance and simplicity of design: The way the components of the system work with each other in the most efficient and simplest way, there’s no point in bolting on a feature if it can be incorporated without the need for another pump or monitoring system. With elegant design each component can perform many functions while preserving robustness. It’s good to allow some flexibility for upgrades and design changes, once a RAS has been built that shouldn’t mean it’s set in stone.

Fourthly: Playing to strengths: Location, location, location.

I like being close to several cities, I have 24/7 backup within an hour if my generator failed for example. That’s from the manufacturer not the local electrician; it could make the difference between business as usual and a lot of dead fish. RAS is very special in that it can be located where there aren’t the usual resources for a fish farm, benefitting from being close to local markets for example.

Fifth: Maximum profitability: This is last, because for me, growing some fine quality fish is the prime reason for undertaking the enterprise, the profit is a by-product that comes at the end. Driving down input costs and getting the best price for the product applies to every business of course, and should be an everyday working principle. RAS needs to get a higher price because the cost of production is higher. Low input costs don’t mean cutting down on labour, using quality construction materials or a cheaper feed if it will jeopardise the fish harvest at the end. I relentlessly drive down costs, and as these come from my own wages; I guess that makes me an honorary Scotsman!

But I’m still in business after all these years.

With low interest rates there’s a lot of money looking for a better return on capital, debt finance is very much in fashion these days, but it’s all got to be paid back at some point. Spending more money at the beginning doesn’t necessarily make a project better and profit doesn’t really start until the project is debt free.

In house construction, cheaper DIY alternatives, good simple design, etc. all keeps down the debt burden.

So here we have my thoughts on the best RAS system design, advanced doesn’t mean more complicated or higher tech, it means more elegantly efficient, robust, cost effective and a good environment for the fish.

There are still plenty of things for me to explore with RAS design. There’s aquaponics of course, airlift pumps, anaerobic nitrate filters, anaerobic digesters, saltwater pump ashore hybrids and the challenge of scaling up to larger production tonnages, to name but a few.

RAS is still really in its infancy; who knows what marvels the future will bring?

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 41

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #4

by XpertSea

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food source in the world. On an annual basis, we now consume twice as much seafood as we do beef.

Meanwhile, the global population continues to grow; in 2050, there will be 9.5 billion people on earth, and with already 800 million malnourished people today, it is becoming evident that the aquaculture industry will need to play a major role in solving the impending food shortage by providing the world with a reliable and sustainable source of protein.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The magic bucketâ&#x20AC;?: A patented technology merging optics and machine vision A huge technology gap is currently preventing aquaculture from reaching its full potential, being far less developed than agriculture in spite of its rapid growth.

An efficient and controlled aquaculture operation requires counting and tracking every animal and recording every input (biomass or feed). Across the globe, traditional labour-intensive methods such as hand counting and visual inspection are the most common way to keep track of the production of small aquatic organisms.

In their pursuit of a better alternative to these inaccurate sampling methods, Canadian technology company XpertSea has developed a new and unique solution for inventory management and quality assessment of early-stage organisms.

Since 2012, the XpertSea team has visited over 150 aquaculture facilities and has had interactions with more than 1000 producers, realising along the way that even if there is an improvement in feed formulations or genetic pools of fish or shrimp, without an efficient production system, the whole industry will struggle to reach sustainability (lots of waste, lower margins, no accurate data for optimising cultures, rampant diseases, etc.).

A modern solution to a widespread problem

It is from this industry pull and strategic collaborations with leading companies, universities and research centres that XpertSea developed the XperCount2, a device built on patented technology that merges optics and machine vision to automatically count, size and image up to millions of small aquatic organisms at a time.

The device features a robust bucket with a fully electronic lid, a seven-inch touch screen and a longautonomy battery, meaning no external computer or power outlet is required during operation.

Specimens can be counted and sized in under a minute, with accuracy of 95 percent or higher without the need for a single hand count to calibrate the device. Weighing approximately seven lbs, the XperCount can be transported easily by one person through facilities and requires no installation like flow-through counters, thus integrating quickly and painlessly in all types of aquaculture operations.

Made of FDA-approved materials, the device and its counting process are 100 percent safe for live aquatic organisms. Initial research has shown that by using the XperCount to reduce their feed and labour cost, producers can increase profit margins by up to 40 percent.

XpertSea continually works toward developing new counting applications to fit the needs of all types of aquaculture producers and to make the XperCount as flexible a device as possible.

A host of applications have already been developed for counting shrimp nauplii and post-larvae as well as various types of live feed and microalgae.

Furthermore, XpertSea observed while visiting customers worldwide that producers were often mishandling, losing, or simply not recording precious information about their aquaculture production, and as their personal lives were 42 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

becoming increasingly digital, they were beginning to realise it was time to digitise their business too.

The company became aware that a hardware device that could count aquatic organisms was only the first step, prompting the evolution of its offer into a complete and integrated solution that combines their cuttingedge hardware with modern management software technologies.

Accessing organised production data

Customers who purchase the XperCount have access to XpertSeaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online data management system for aquaculture production. This 'SaaS' (software as a service) solution pairs with the XperCount and automatically saves the deviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s measurements to the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal account in the cloud through a wireless connection. Information is then organised and stored safely, allowing correlations and

tracking over time.

By centralising this digital data in a comprehensive and secure way, XpertSea aims to provide aquaculture producers worldwide with a user-friendly resource management tool. The control center offers a centralised dashboard to store and access device measurements, track critical population quality parameters, record and assess transaction efficiency, manage devices and users, and more.

This data provides producers with the insight needed to make the best decisions to improve their processes, increase their yields and maintain efficient and thriving businesses.

But just as importantly, these solutions mark another step towards ensuring that aquaculture can reach its full potential as a leading source of healthy and sustainable protein for the planet.

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 43

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #4 - 20.9 - XpertSea - CASE STUDY

WESTCOAST HATCHERIES | SHRIMP POST-LARVAE The customer

WestCoast Group is a fully integrated aquaculture enterprise operating in the west coast of India and Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat State, benefiting a large number of small businesses and people, both economically and socially.

The company is engaged in the business of Shrimp Hatcheries, Shrimp Farms, and Processing & Freezing of seafood. It also engages in trading and distribution of Shrimp feed and other aquaculture inputs, marketing and distribution of indigenous and imported frozen food products, E-commerce, Supply to Hotels, Restaurants & Caterers.

Cambay Tiger, the company’s flagship brand, is the most popular shrimp brand in the country. For 20 years, the company’s hatcheries have been developing shrimp aquaculture clusters on the west coast of India.

They pride themselves on using new technologies and establishing best practices to ensure a high quality, fully traceable product.

Their focus on quality and leadership had helped them become one of the largest aquaculture businesses in India.

The challenge

WestCoast Hatcheries are a major producer of Whiteleg Shrimp postlarvae, producing 20-30 million each month to supply their own farms and to sell to local farmers. But maintaining high quality at this level of production comes with many challenges: • How do you know how many shrimps you are growing and shipping?

• How can you tell if the post larvae are healthy and high quality?

• How can you make sure that your shipments are accurate and consistent?

Using traditional methods, West Coast was combining manual counts and extrapolation to have an idea of the quantity of their production and decide how many post-larvae to send to the farmers.

“Before the XperCount, our counting was done manually and there were no tools available to measure the accuracy of the counts,” said Rahul Kulkarni, Director of WestCoast Group.

But how can you sell something when you don’t know the exact amount?

Because they did not know the exact amount of post-larvae and there was so much uncertainty in the counting process, WestCoast was giving extra post-larvae to their buyers to compensate and make sure the farmers were happy.

He continued, “We ended up giving more bonuses for EVERY shipment happening.”

It may be surprising, but it’s quite common practice to include a 10-20 percent bonus with every shipment of post-larvae to help account for the inaccuracy of manual counting. Both hatchery and farmer are used to this practice for it’s almost a tradition in the transaction process. If you give bonuses, you are throwing money away.

The problem is that without knowing the exact number of organisms you are selling or buying, every transaction is a gamble. It’s a lose-lose situation for the seller and the buyer when there is no transparency or accountability in the transaction. The process relies on antiquated methods with serious margin of error and it often causes frustration and conflict between businesses.

In addition, farmers would not be able to properly manage their cultures in the ponds since they don’t know the exact amount of post-larvae they are getting.

counting of post-larvae. That’s what caught Rahul’s eye when he first saw the XperCount in action. He was impressed by the speed and how easy it was for anyone at the hatchery to use.

After a quick demo from the XpertSea team, he was convinced.

Results

And the results have been impressive. Using the automated counting, WestCoast was able to count more post-larvae faster and more accurately.

“It used to take two people 25 minutes each to count the PL from a random bag during packing. Now with the XperCount one person can count up to five bags in that same time… The XperCount has completely replaced manual bag counting, and increased our counting accuracy by 60 percent” says Mr Kulkarni.

That means that they could stop adding large bonuses to their post-larvae shipments, and have more confidence in the product they sent to the farmers.

It also came with a surprising side benefit. WestCoast used to need to send PL samples to their laboratories where they would incur cost to have them sized and find the coefficient of variance, an important measure of health and quality in shrimp.

But the XperCount measures the size of the PL while it counts them, and reports the CV. Mr Kulkarni observed, “We used to rely on labs for sizing, but now we can do it ourselves while we count the PL.” All this ends up saving a lot of time and money, and Rahul couldn’t be happier.

“The XperCount is a novel technical innovation in aquaculture farming. We have recommended it to all other hatcheries and farms across the country.”

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

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Industry Events Events listing n 18 – 20/09/17 - Seafex UAE WEB: www.speciality.ae/seafexseafood-aquaculture n 20-21/09/17 - Aquaculture New Zealand Conference New Zealand WEB: www.aquaculture.org.nz/ conference/ aquaculturenz n 26 – 28/09/17 - Aquaculture Innovation Europe UK WEB: http://aquaculture-innovation. com/ AHInnovation n 28 – 30/09/17 - Aquaculture Taiwan 2017 Taiwan WEB: www.aquaculturetaiwan.com/ en-us/ n 28 – 30/09/17 - Livestock Taiwan Expo 2017 Taiwan WEB: www.livestocktaiwan.com/ en-us/ n 3 – 7/10/17 - Aquaculture Singapore Singapore WEB: www.aquasg.com/ n 11 – 13/10/17 - DanAqua Denmark WEB: www.danaqua.net/uk/ n 25 - 27/10/17 - Animal Farming Ukraine Ukraine WEB: http://en.animalfarming.com. ua/ animalfarming AnimalFarming n 3 – 5/11/17 - 6th Annual World Congress of Aquaculture and Fisheries 2017 China WEB: www.bitcongress.com/ wcaf2017/default.asp n 29/11/17 – 1/12/17 - Sustainable Ocean Summit 2017 Canada WEB: www.oceancouncil.org/event/ sustainable-ocean-summit-2017/

Aquaculture Taiwan Aquaculture Taiwan Expo & Forum will debut at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from September 28-30, 2017, in Taiwan.

It is set to be a one-stop B2B trade show and will bring together manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers in the aquaculture industry to exhibit feed additives, fry, feeding systems and highefficiency aquaculture environmental control equipment.

The conference focuses on “Enhancing Technology In Aquaculture” and will introduce the latest technologies and trends of aquaculture production, fish and shrimp health control and marketing strategies.

The speakers combination of industry, official and university includes Dr Sheen, Shyn Shin from National Taiwan Ocean University, Mr. Philip Shieh on behalf of Aquaculture Development Association of Taiwan and Mr Otto Tsai, General Manager of Quadlink Technology, Inc. www.aquaculturetaiwan.com/en-us

Record-breaking Aqua Nor The figures have come in for Aqua Nor 2017 after they closed their doors after four days.

The final count showed that no less than 27,110 visitors had found their way to the exhibition.

This represents an increase of over 30 percent compared to Aqua Nor 2015.

Kari Steinsbø, Project Manager, Nor-Fishing Foundation commented, “A strong professional programme, excellent stands, professional stand personnel all round the exhibition and a good feeling through all four days have made Aqua Nor 2017 an exhibition to remember. In addition, there has been a marked increase in the number of students visiting Aqua Nor, and this hold great promise for the future of the industry.”

Number of visitors per day: Tuesday – 6,550 Wednesday – 8,043

Thursday – 8,211 Friday – 4,306 Total: 27,110

The visitors came from 71 different countries. There was also an increase in the number of exhibitors since the last Aqua Nor. A total of 600 exhibitors showed their technology and shared their expertise at the stands. Exhibitors represented 25 countries.

Aqua Nor 2019 will take place from August 20-23, 2019.

Aquaculture Vietnam 2017 Expo and Conference The Aquaculture Vietnam 2017 Expo and Conference, from October 25-27, 2017, will be held at the Can Tho International Fair Center, Can Tho, Vietnam.

The Conference features many world-class speakers and local speakers who will share their experience and technology with 500 participants from Vietnam and the Mekong Delta SubRegion, under the theme of Aquaculture – Profitable & Sustainable Business.

To attend or sponsor the Conference please contact - Ms Sophie at Thao.Nguyen@ubm.com or call +84 28 36 222 588. www.aquaculturevn.com

Sustainable Ocean Summit This year theme is “The Ocean Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 14): Business Leadership and Business Opportunities”, the event will be held in Halifax, Canada November 29 – December 1, 2017.

Over three days, Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS) 2017 attendees will explore a range of maritime cross-sector topics such as: marine pollution, ocean industry projections and the future of the ocean economy, climate change and ocean acidification, sustainable fishing and aquaculture…through plenaries, workshops, and several parallel sessions. The working format will help identify clear, realistic pathways to successfully achieving shared objectives for sustainable ocean use.

Over the years, the SOS has become the premier forum for advancing industry leadership ocean sustainable development, science and stewardship. Each year the event is gathering the International Ocean Business Community.

Registration is now open with early bird rates available until October 1, 2017.

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For more industry event information - visit our events register www.aquafeed.co.uk 46 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

Fish farming technology on display at Asia-Pacific Aquaculture 2017

A

Luca Micciche and Ana Mathieu Rengel of Pentair

Mikhail Orlon and Ekaterina from Fishance Berhad Stephanie with colleagues Yang Sheng Lee and Chris Haake on the MSD Aquavac stand

by Roger Gilbert, International Aquafeed

sia-Pacific Aquaculture, the regional chapter of the World Aquaculture Society, is going from strength-to-strength.

This was perfectly illustrated in this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event held in the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in late July 2017.

The event attracted 2834 participants from 46 countries to attend 37 conference and break-out session and view some 120 poster displays. There were 325 presentations in total and over 170 exhibitors on the exhibition floor.

Not only is the science and research behind aquaculture thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of key importance and which is the traditional focus of the WAS events, but the display of technologies and the latest developments from companies supporting the expansion of the industry is vital to the success of aquaculture; particularly in Asia where fish farming is widely accepted and fish a central protein source in the daily diet.

APA 2017 tick all those boxes and in fact hosted the most concentrated display of equipment and service companies to be hosted by the organisation in Asia so far, and in response, the visitors attended in huge numbers.

The event was busy for the full three days, with the exhibition hall being almost over-crowded at key times.

APA 2017 was hosted by Department of Fisheries (DOF), Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based

Steve Turner, Christina Garcia Diez and Alvaro Rodriquez

Fasrshad Shishehchian, CEO of Blur Aqua

Holger, Pradeep and Nikolaus of Leiber

Alexandros Samartzis (left), Grant Xi and the rest of the Evonik team

Supornchai Sri-Nhonghang (left), herve (3rd) and kabir (right) with colleagues and friends on Jefo stand

Patrick Lavens, Innovations Director for INVE

Sandor van Oudheusden of Sonac with a client

Vincent Chia of Wynn Tech United, part of Nanrong Group

48 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

Industry Events The organiser

Following the success of the APA17 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which was attended by more than 2800 visitors, the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and the Asian Pacific Chapter (APC) have agreed to organise the next APA conference APA18 from the April 23-26, 2018 in the Taipei International Convention Centre (TICC), Taipei, Taiwan.

This will occur together with the help of National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) and local partners, Taiwan Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture (FA), National Pingtung University, FBAT and Fisheries Research Institute.

The Steering Committee chaired by Professor ChingFong Chang, President of NTOU) and Dr Guillaume Drillet President of WAS-APC held its first meeting during APA17 in Kuala Lumpur.

The programme committee was led by Professor Ming-Wei Lu (NTOU) and A/Professor PhamQuoc Hung of Nha Trang University and has set a deadline for abstract submission of January 31, 2018 and online abstract submission is encouraged at www.was.org.

The theme of the conference has been chosen – ‘Innovation for aquaculture sustainability and food safety’.

The three-day conferences programme offers special sessions and workshops covering all aspects of aquaculture in Taiwan and Southeast Asia on marine and freshwater fish cultures, production systems, seaweed and algae, food safety and much more.

Plenary topics will include trends and prospects of Taiwanese aquaculture and biotechnology application in the aquaculture industry.

The three day exhibition featuring international and Taiwanese companies will showcase the latest products, services, instruments and equipment for aquaculture management and all aquaculture-related information to encourage sustainable aquaculture practices within the industry.

Dr Christian Lückstädt, Technical Director ADDCON

We experienced a newer, bigger show with increased size and participating companies since we visited last in 2011.

I have been surprised by the show and the scientific area which gives a good knowledge transfer to those who are visiting.

This is where Addcon is participating. We have been here to discuss our research on potassium diformate in Tilapia. We specifically submitted two abstracts to the EPA because we thought that Tilapia is one of the main species in South East Asia.

We could have had it also at the World Aquaculture Society Conference in Cape Town a month ago but we have specifically chosen APA 2017 for those two Tilapia topics.

Addcon has been working in this field for 10 years. We were amongst the first companies to come up with the use of dietary acidifiers in fish nutrition. This has proven to be the right track when it comes to fighting antibiotic multiple resistant bacteria as antibiotics are now being avoided all over the world, especially in a couple of Asian countries where there is a ban on antibiotic use in farming - including aquaculture. Its use is going to be phase out.

So the industry is looking for alternatives, and we believe that the acidifier among them can be a part of that replacement.

Evonik interview

APA17 has been an excellent event. What we were trying to achieve during the APA Conferences is to put on a session where we invite renowned professors from all over the globe to participate as speakers on topics that the industry would benefit from. We put together an entire session on amino acids and their application in aquaculture nutrition. We were very pleased with the turn out.

We wanted to cater for everyone participating at the APA Conference, of course our clients and partners were invited first and foremost but this was for the entire aquaculture industry. It was a small contribution from us in order to help regional aquaculture sectors.

Our conference focused on one specific topic, in this case it had to be on the applications of amino acids in aquaculture, but besides our own personal talks we have been introducing our tools such as amino shrimp, services and reviews done on amino acids. The rest of our speakers, no matter what they had to say, would have been of benefit to the delegates and for investors.

International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 49

Industry Events VDS in Asia - A company profile form APA 2017

There’s an advantage to being small yet operating globally and VDS, exhibiting at APA 2017, proves this point.

Starting life as a feedmill in Belgium in 1968, VDS has since evolved into a premix company that has global reach and diversified into aquaculture.

“We are not completely worldwide,” says the company talking to International Aquafeed at APA 2017.

The company currently operates in the region from the Atlantic through to the Indian ocean and is now expanding into South East Asia. ““We have always been active in the Indian ocean because it all started here for us with a shrimp farm. From there we moved to Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania.”

Since widespread diseases collapsed those markets, the company has moved further north to the Middle East, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and India.

“In brief we are exporting our aquaculture to North Africa, East Africa, Middle East and India, but we’re not completely worldwide.”

The company has built its own in-house RAS research and development unit in Asia for aquaculture “because this market is too far from

Belgium,” says the company.

“We’re a small team with our focus firmly on production and feed machinery optimisation.

“We have a nutritionist working on feed formulation and raw material sourcing. A veterinarian service for aquaculture and a biologist who is helping farmers, focusing on water management and feeding techniques.”

The company does not yet compete in countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, where there is local premix production with vitamins sourced from China. Bringing vitamins from China to Belgium and sending them back to Asia does not make sense, it adds.

“So that is our strategy for these Far East markets: we have experience in formulating shrimp feed, making blends with additives, vitamins and minerals.

“So we say, they can take out the vitamins and the minerals and buy them locally and let us focus on the knowledge we have gained over the years with our clients and over the past four-tofive years from our research and development.”

That is how this small company is penetrating the Asian and global aquaculture premix market and is working and collaborating with other companies such as Imeco of Italy in several research projects each year.

50 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

From left, Otavio Castro, Gildas Joalland, Philippe Tacon, Pascal Termignon and Huynh Lanh of Phileo Dato Cheng Liang Goh and son Allen (4th and 5th from left) of GST Group of Malaysia with sales tem

Exhibitors, students, organisers, speakers, visitors and entrepreneurs of the event

Industry Events

Petra Fux-Nilsen from Aker Biomarine of Norway with her colleague from Mumbai, India

Nutriad team

The team from Sheng Long Bio-Tech International of the Heid Group with vice-president Maple Hung fifth from left

Ben Ben Song from BOC China and of the Linde Group

Industries, Malaysia. The conference and trade show organised by World Aquaculture Society – Asian Pacific Chapter, Malaysian Fisheries Society and University Putra, Malaysia.

The theme of APA 2017 was ‘Transforming for Markets Needs’ (and we report the keynote presentation by Hervé Lucien-Brun of Jefo on ‘Marketing of farmed seafood from Asia to Global Markets’. We report his presentation in two parts, the first appearing on page 18.

The three-day conference program with its 325 individual presentations at special producer sessions, workshops and regular conferences saw special sessions on marine shrimp, freshwater fish culture, production systems, tilapia, marine finfish, molluscs culture, risk management, aquafeeds and nutrition, development and planning, marketing and trade to name a few.

The plenary included trends and prospects in Malaysia aquaculture, promoting trade and fair trade in seafood.

Following the conference and expo, the Malaysian Fisheries Society organised a post-conference farm tour which International Aquafeed will report on in next month’s edition.

Kaula Lumpur proved an idea location for a regional event with excellent international flight connections and vastly improved local train, metro and monmo-rail services to help visitors beat the traffic congestion which this city has been noted for in the past.

WORLDWIDE CALENDAR 2017-2018 VIV MEA 2018

FEBRUARY 5-7, ABU DHABI, U. A. E.

VIV Europe 2018

JUNE 20-22, UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

VIV Turkey 2017

VIV China 2018

JULY 6-8, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

SEPTEMBER 17-19, NANJING, CHINA

WWW.VIV.NET International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 51

POULTRY Africa 2017 OCTOBER 4-5, KIGALI, RWANDA

Enzymes Ab Vista +44 1672 517 650 www.abvista.com

Welcome to the market place, where you will find suppliers of products and services to the industry - with help from our friends at The International Aquafeed Directory (published by Turret Group) Additives

JEFO +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com

Equipment for sale

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Analysis Laboratorio Avi-Mex S.A. de C.V +55 54450460 Ext. 1105 www.avimex.com.mx R-Biopharm +44 141 945 2924 www.r-biopharm.com Romer Labs +43 2272 6153310 www.romerlabs.com

Amino acids Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com

Bags Mondi Group +43 1 79013 4917 www.mondigroup.com

Bulk storage Bentall Rowlands +44 1724 282828 www.bentallrowlands.com Chief Industries UK Ltd +44 1621 868944 www.chief.co.uk Croston Engineering +44 1829 741119 www.croston-engineering.co.uk Silo Construction Engineers +32 51723128 www.sce.be Silos Cordoba +34 957 325 165 www.siloscordoba.com Symaga +34 91 726 43 04 www.symaga.com TSC Silos +31 543 473979 www.tsc-silos.com Westeel +1 204 233 7133 www.westeel.com

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Elevator & conveyor components 4B Braime +44 113 246 1800 www.go4b.com

52 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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Buhler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com

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Agromatic +41 55 2562100 www.agromatic.com

FAMSUN +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com

FineTek Co., Ltd +886 2226 96789 www.fine-tek.com

Ottevanger

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Shrimp feed additives

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Zheng Chang +86 2164184200

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www.zhengchang.com/eng

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International Aquafeed - September 2017 | 53

Lallemand + 33 562 745 555 www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com Leiber GmbH +49 5461 93030 www.leibergmbh.de Phileo (Lesaffre animal care) +33 3 20 81 61 00 www.lesaffre.fr

To include your company in the International Aquafeed market place in print, and a company page on our website contact Tom Blacker. +44 1242 267700 โ ข tomb@perendale.co.uk

the interview Bjørn Myrseth, President, EAS (European Aquaculture Society) Bjørn Myrseth is a Norwegian biologist and businessperson. He is currently serving as the President of EAS (European Aquaculture Society), where he was also one of the founding members.

The EAS website describes the idea for establishing the ‘European Mariculture Society’ being launched at the occasion of the Tenth European Symposium of Marine Biologists, which took place in Oostende, Belgium, 1975.

The website explains that, “The founding meeting took place on April 29-30, 1976 in the office of the Institute for Marine Scientific Research (IZWO), that has supported the society and has provided office space for the EAS secretariat until the late 1980s.”

“The original name “European Mariculture Society” was changed into “European Aquaculture Society” in 1984 to better reflect the activity field of the society,” it enlightens.

Mr Myrseth was educated in fishery biology from the University of Bergen, (where he went on to become an Associate Professor) and was a co-founder of Stolt Sea Farms in 1972, where he was CEO until 1987. He then sold his stake in the company and founded Marine Farms, where he remained as CEO until 2011. Mr Myrseth originally founded marine Farms in 1976 as Lax AS, for his ownership in Stolt Sea Farm. After the shares were sold in 1987, the company started making its own investments in fish farming.

Due to his long tenure and considerable expertise, he is considered by many as one of the pioneers of the modern fish farming industry.

He now works on project development and a board member in various companies related to aquaculture.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I have always been interested in fish. As a boy I liked fishing and kept tropical aquarium fish - I always wanted to become a fishery scientist.

I graduated from the University of Bergen with a Masters in Fishery Biology. During my studies, I had worked as an assistant on marine research vessels and in the summer of 1970 I worked on a Danish trout farm. I noticed the emerging fish farming activity in Norway and in 1971 I got a job at a company owned by a ship owning company, Stolt-Nielsens Rederi. There I become in charge of developing a fish farming company, Stolt Sea farm.

Can you tell us a bit more about this company?

After initial problems, the company specialised in smolt production. There was a great shortage of smolts and the company became a huge success.

I became a 10 percent owner and made money when the company was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 1985. This was the first fish farming company in the world that became a public traded company.

Sea farm expanded and started operations in Scotland, USA and Canada. For various reasons, it was delisted in 1991. The next company that became listed was Pan Fish AS in 1997.

You were one of the founding members of The European Aquaculture Society in 1976 and were an active Board member for years. What sparked your interest in this society?

I soon realised that there was a lot to learn from what other countries were doing in aquaculture and EAS was an excellent opportunity to meet other people working in the industry and scientists doing important research.

The Aquaculture Europe meetings of EAS are still the most important forums to learn about developments in aquaculture.

This conference and trade show attracts more than 1000 participants every year. It is a fantastic place for meeting people and to learn.

This year the AE2017 is in Dubrovnik from October 17-20, 2017.

Next year it is in Montpellier in France in late August and is an event organised in cooperation with the World Aquaculture Society. In October 2019, the meeting will be in Berlin.

Sea bass and sea bream farming also became an area you are involved in?

This happened after Sea Farm acquired a UK company, Sharewater Fish farming, that had experimental operations in Greece, Spain and France. I saw that the cage farming technology we used in farming of Atlantic Salmon could be

used for farming of sea bass and sea bream. The hatchery technology was different and more difficult.

But once that was learned, farming in cages was a big success.

I left Sea Farm in 1987 and started Marine Farms, investing in sea bass and sea bream farming in Greece in 1987 and Spain in 1990. This was the start of Galaxidi Marine Farm in Greece and Culmarex in Spain.

Did this mean that you left farming of Atlantic salmon?

By no means. Marine Farms invested also in Atlantic salmon farming in Chile and in the UK. In Chile, this was a joint venture with Foundation Chile and two other local companies.

It specialised in smolts of Atlantic salmon and I believed that having diversified would help us through the ups and downs we always had seen in farming of Atlantic salmon. This proved to be right. The cycles in salmon, sea bass and sea bream have never happened at the same time.

There have been great synergies as the salmon farming industry always has been the first to develop better methods and technologies we have been able to transfer to the sea bass and sea bream industry.

What happened to your company Marine Farms?

To get access to capital to grow faster, the company was listed in 2006 and in 2010 Morpol purchased it. They kept the salmon part and sold off the other companies.

Given your lengthy tenure in the industry, how do you see it developing over the coming years?

We all see the challenges the industry faces with sea lice and escapees and I believe discharge from cages is another emerging threat. Producing big smolts on land has become more and more common as it reduces the time in sea cages and the risks in the sea. We will see more of that and I believe we will see more smolts produced in closed floating containments.

To produce market size fish in closed containments inshore will be the next step as well as production in offshore cages.

Closed containments give the fish a stable environment. This is something fish like and I believe that this will solve the issues related to sea lice, escapees and discharge (as the sludge can be collected). Also, pushing water is much cheaper than lifting it into land based systems. With the environmental problems taken care of, the industry can grow and I expect to see three million tonnes being produced in Norway by 2030, using a number of various systems. With variable fees on the various systems, the authorities can steer the industry in the direction they want.

I see continued growth for this industry.

54 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

PEOPLE

THE INDUSTRY FACES

Nutriad Manager receives aqua award

A

llen (Ming-Hsun) Wu, Regional Manager Aquaculture APAC of Nutriad is the Board Director of the World Aquaculture Society.

Dr Endhay Kusnendar, President of WAS-APC presented him an appriciation award for his outstanding services and contributions to WAS-APC during his last board meeting in APA18 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 26, 2017.

Allen (Ming-Hsun) Wu

Mr Wu commented, “I am honoured to form part of WAS and to be able to actively contribute to WAS and to the progressive development of our industry at the same time.”

He has been a member of WAS since 2002, he was elected to his Board of Directors role for 2015-2017. He served as a member of the Industry relationships committees since 2012 and as a member of the Asia Pacific Aquaculture 2013 steering committee.

He will be a steering committee member of APA18, which will be held in Taipei in 2018.

‘Directorate of Fisheries Environment Award’ winner

M

r Geir Helge Johnsen was presented The Directorate of Fisheries’ Environment Award at this year’s Aqua Nor event by Director of Fisheries, Mrs Liv Holmefjord. Until the August 1, 2017, he served as CEO of Rådgivende biologer AS in Bergen.

Geir Helge Johnsen

Today, Mr Johnsen is responsible for water-related issues in the same company. He has been with them for 22 years, and has through his work had a great influence on the development of Norwegian aquaculture.

The award is given to a company, organisation or individual that has contributed to increased sustainability in the aquaculture industry through new solutions and innovation.

Oyster industry advocate will not seek re-election

S Senator Bill Cook

enator Bill Cook has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018. First elected to the state of House of Representatives in 2010, Senator Cook represented the 6th District, including Beaufort County and a portion of Pitt County. In 2012 he was elected to his current seat in the State Senate.

Throughout his political career, Republican Cook fought to keep North Carolina’s waterways and marine life under state control. He helped to repeal for hire coastal recreational fishing licenses logbook requirements, aimed to limit the federal observer programme and introduced bills in an effort to depoliticise the N.C. Marine Commission.

He was an advocate for North Carolina’s emerging oyster industry, working with the Department of Environmental Quality to replenish sanctuaries across the coast.

He commented, “I am proud of my work in promoting our oyster industry, keeping our inlets open and defending our fishermen. I am most proud of starting a new industry in North Carolina – deep water fish farming, an industry that will greatly benefit our economy.”

Ace Aquatec win Innovation Award

H Nathan Pyne-Carter

aving developed a method for the electric stunning of fish in the sea, Ace Aquatec Ltd, Inverness, Scotland has won the Innovation Award at this year’s Aqua Nor event.

The company received 28 applications for the award from companies in 14 countries. This was a 64 percent increase from the event in 2015.

The award was received by Managing Director Nathan Pyne-Carter, the prize included a cheque for NOK100,000 and a work of art and diploma from Minister of Fisheries Per Sandberg and the Chairman of the Nor-Fishing Foundation, Mrs Liv Holmefjord (International Aquafeed’s July interview focus).

The method which won them the award was as previously stated “a method for electric stunning of the fish in the sea”, the description continues, “before a special pump brings the unconscious fish through a transporter pipe to the bleeding table. Three to five electrodes in the sea stun the fish in a matter of one second in an area of one metre from the transport pipe.”

The company say that this has a 100 percent success rate in rendering the fish unconscious, with up to 75 tonnes of fish being stunned per hour without either stressing them or damaging the flesh.

The award was presented at the opening of Aqua Nor 2017.

56 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed

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Absolute Protection Mycotoxins decrease performance and interfere with the health status of your animals.

Mycofix is the solution for mycotoxin risk management. ®

mycofix.biomin.net

Naturally ahead