NOV 2017 - International Aquafeed magazine

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

ALLTECH COPPENS AQUA CENTRE

International Aquafeed - Volume 20 - Issue 11 - November 2017

- Applications of astaxanthin krill oil in shrimp diets - Functional feed additive helps during parasitic infestation of European seabass - Fish production in Israel - RAS systems for salmon - Expert topic - Giant freshwater prawn Proud supporter of Aquaculture without Frontiers UK CIO

November 2017

www.aquafeed.co.uk

CONTENTS November 2017 Volume 20 Issue 11

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

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Industry News

32 Photoshoot

34 Expert Topic - Giant Freshwater Prawn

46 Industry Events

Design Manager James Taylor jamest@perendale.co.uk

52 The Market Place 56

18 Functional feed additive helps during parasitic infestation of European seabass 24 Fish production in Israel

26 Alltech Coppens aqua centre – The grand opening

Industry Faces

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY COLUMNS

4 Ioannis Zabetakis 10 Clifford Spencer

©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 Applications of astaxanthin krill oil in shrimp diets

54 The Aquafeed Interview

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

FEATURES

REGULAR ITEMS

12 Antonio Garza de Yta

40 Solving disease and pollution issues 42 Operating freshwater salmon RAS

Croeso - welcome

As an academic, one of the nicest pleasures is to see our students graduate with their degrees after a three to four year slog. I have just attended my second graduation ceremony at Harper Adams University in England that focuses so much on food sciences and International Aquafeed Editor animal and plant production Professor Simon Davies and engineering.

It was a great occasion and also seeing my colleague Dr Stephen Mansbridge obtain his PhD in pig nutrition research after considerable work with his numerous piglet trials to evaluate a range of feed additives. It reminds me as to how much common fundamental principles underpin animal nutrition and related biosciences, and both Stephen and I now work closely together on fish nutrition with much gusto with our other colleagues Dr Tharangani Herath and our young researcher Alex Miles!

Stephen is an expert on experimental design, statistical analysis of data and research methods. He is of instrumental support in my work and is involved in contributing to my teaching and current research on fish nutrition to enable more enhancement and injection of novel technologies into my projects.

I have learned much from the world of poultry, swine and ruminant sciences, but I did obtain my Masters in Animal Nutrition at Newcastle University back in 1979 without a fish in sight. Indeed my ‘nuts and bolts’ knowledge base originated from that era under the expert mentorship of the distinguished Professor David Armstrong DSc who was one of the best animal nutritionists’ of his time. He was without doubt the John E Halver of the ruminant world. How fascinating if they had ever met and what would they say about where we should be aiming next? They were both ‘old school’ distinguished and charming scientists displaying wit and humour and great character.

This is the student/professor relationship that was once enshrined in integrity and long-term loyalty.

In school, I was moderately good at mathematics but of course was impeded by a lack of modern day gadgets to help with any advanced work, but I recall with excitement my first scientific calculator that proved so useful for my own PhD. Recently, with the benefits of statistical software and spreadsheets, I have been concentrating on developing quite an advanced growth modelling system for various fish species beginning with rainbow trout and salmon to apply to both nutrition studies and also practical farm conditions.

The model is a more sophisticated approach than previous attempts and builds on a more robust bio-energetic principle as the main driver but enhanced with contemporary and established nutritional data with abiotic modulating factors to provide extra ‘fine control’ and tuning. I am inserting some clever algorithms that will allow growth curves to be generated with more accurate predictions of feed requirements, conversion rates and the effects of stocking density, flow rates, oxygen levels, water quality parameters and of course temperature. This will be an integrated model and can be scaled to different production scenarios such as rearing fish in tanks, raceways, ponds and cages.

This ‘Allowable Growth Model, AGM’ once constructed can be extended to other species and even shrimp. The ‘DigiFish’ platform help to meet the 3R’s concept in animal research and would be very useful in undertaking preliminary assessment of novel diet formulations based on Net Energy concepts for basal metabolism, growth (tissue accretion), digestibility data and nutrient assimilation values. This will take more work but I am pleased to be assisted with my friends at MatureDevelopment BV at my hot desk at The World Trade Centre in The Hague, Netherlands where some very clever IT guys will assist me in taking this idea further with their model building and interface skills.

In this final quarter of 2017 we look forward to Christmas and New Year and in January 2018, I enter my 10th year as Editor of International Aquafeed. I am sure that the industry will prosper as global seafood consumption continues to rise and the Aquafeed market services this need as we move forward into the final two years of this decade and enter the roaring twenties of this new century.

IN THIS ISSUE FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

AQUAFEED SHRIMP: Applications of astaxanthin krill oil in shrimp diets - page 14

Disease and pollution issues: The potential for aquaculture in Australia - page 40

SEABASS: Functional feed additive helps during parasitic infestation of European seabass - page 18

RAS: Operating freshwater salmon RAS - page 42

FEED EQUIPMENT

SPECIES EXPERT TOPIC: Giant freshwater prawn - page 36

FACILITY: Alltech Coppens – The Grand Opening - page 26

Effects of dietary prebiotic fructooligosaccharide supplementation on growth performance, hepatopancreas histology and intestinal short-chain fatty acids in giant freshwater prawn.

www.aquafeed.co.uk

Download the App using this QR code

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 3

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nternational Aquafeed magazine has released an app, meaning that you can access all your favourite articles as well as bonus video content from International Aquafeed, while on the go and at the touch of a button.

You can download the app for free on the Google Play and the Apple App store by searching for “International Aquafeed”.

The App features all of our 2017 editions as well as the Chinese and Spanish language versions.

The magazine reports on the latest developments occurring in the industry, with a focus on the commercial production of fish for food in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Protein from farmed fish is not only highly nutritious, but can be produced more efficiently than any other animal protein based on formulated rations. The new app will show all this as well as fresh news, fresh videos from events, and notifications whenever a fresh magazines hits your screen.

This app is not just a way to read the industry news; it presents an opportunity to experience it.

From interviews to photographs of the people who make up integral parts of the aquaculture industry, the programme offers nuanced channels for everyone’s interests.

Creating an app where people could access the industry leading publication at a moments notice, seemed like a natural progression amid the process of establishing a stronghold on the digital audience through the company’s latest aquacultural broadcasting podium.

With this latest development, we’re embracing technological culture, with aquaculture.

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International Aquafeed launches dedicated mobile app

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News

Biorigin receives the gold seal of the Brazilian GHG protocol

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Ioannis Zabetakis

Obesity kills and fish can combat that n October 11, 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released some rather worrying data: we are getting fatter and fatter at alarming rates.

In detail, the number of obese children and adolescents (aged five to 19 years) worldwide has risen tenfold in the past four decades. If current trends continue, more children and adolescents will be obese than moderately or severely underweight by 2022. The study was published in The Lancet ahead of World Obesity Day (October 11) (Abarca-Gómez et al.). It analysed weight and height measurements from nearly 130 million people aged over five years (31.5 million people aged five to 19, and 97.4 million aged 20 and older), making it the largest ever number of participants involved in an epidemiological study.

More than 1000 contributors participated in the study, which looked at body mass index (BMI) and how obesity has changed worldwide from 1975 to 2016. Obesity rates in the world’s children and adolescents increased from less than one percent (equivalent to 5 million girls and 6 million boys) in 1975 to nearly six percent in girls (50 million) and nearly eight percent in boys (74 million) in 2016. Combined, the number of obese five to 19 year olds rose more than tenfold globally, from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016. An additional 213 million were overweight in 2016 but fell below the threshold for obesity.

So, adding obese and overweight people aged five-19 years old, we have a sum of 337 millions.

You can stop reading this article now, and just think how many obese/overweight people under 19 years old you know. Do these people have a sports hobby? Do they exercise at all? What do they eat? How often do they eat fish?

In our January 2017 article, we mentioned that the Irish Food Pyramid is full of scientific mistakes, mistakes that could promote obesity by passing the wrong message to the public. Meat and fish are not equal in terms of nutritional value and this fact has been overlooked in Ireland. What about the health authorities in other countries? Do they convey accurate diet guidelines?

Fish has excellent nutritional value not only in terms of “healthy lipids” but also in calorific and nutrient contents. I am worried though that we are not doing our best in promoting these fish attributes. I would encourage introducing the fish nutritional value issue as a separate topic in all major aquaculture symposia/conferences.

Eating more fish will not only make aqua companies more wealthy but will make the world more… healthy!

Further reading

Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults.

Abarca-Gómez, Leandra et al. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32129-3/ fulltext?elsca1=tlpr

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.

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iorigin strengthens its commitment to sustainability by joining the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program and has already conquered the gold seal for its first GHG emissions inventory.

Biorigin (Açucareira Quatá SA / Zilor) received the Gold Seal of the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program for having disclosed an inventory of Scope 1 & 2 emissions audited by third a party, in compliance with ISO 14064-3:2007 (SGS).

The GHG Protocol is a tool used to understand, quantify, and manage GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions.

In 2008, the method was adapted to the Brazilian context by the Centre for Sustainability Studies of Fundação Getúlio Vargas and WRI, in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD) and 27 founding companies, launching the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program.

The results of the 2016 GHG emissions inventory of Quatá Açucareira (Biorigin / Zilor) was presented on August 10, at the Annual Event of the GHG Protocol Program held in the auditorium of FGV EAESP in São Paulo.

The results are available online at the online platform of Registro Público de Emissões.

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Main supplier chosen for state of the art salmon processing plant

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software B’Logic® Processing ermaq has chosen Software which integrates CodeIT’s BAADER (Germany) as unique labeling software system. supplier for their new This provides Cermaq with one state-of-the-art salmon single software platform for the processing plant in Norway.

Knut Ellekjær (CEO Cermaq Norway) and entire factory. They will be the first Opening in the second quarter of Robert Focke (Managing Director BAADER) in front of the new factory building.

2018 in March this year construction company equipped according to the Industry 4.0 manufacturing facility began at the salmon plant at standard.”

Storskjæret in Norwegian Steigen.

He continues, “The flow is The factory will cover about 8,000 controlled all the way from the square meters.

Vidar Breiteig, Managing Director, holding pens via “stun & bleed” further to the gutting machines BAADER, expounded, “One should where the salmon is gutted, weighed always be careful using big words and photographed for inside quality but in this case one can truely say grading. All registered information that this factory will be the world’s then follows each individual fish and Knut Ellekjær (CEO Cermaq Norway) and best and most effective salmon Robert Focke (Managing Director BAADER) makes it traceable until it reaches processing plant.” together with the project team after successfully signing the contract. the customer.”

Robert Focke, responsible for Summarising, Mr Focke says, the company’s worldwide fish “The new 'Speed feeder' ensures processing business explained, ulture, Inc. “We | 2017 Adfor Campaign All-in-One Landing efficient distribution to eachPage of the–10% off | Design: C | Version: 1 are Hatchery responsible the entire | Theme: BA144 gutting machines and Frommagazine live fish entering the Page new nternational flow.

Aquafeed | Size: Half | Dimensions: 190mm X 132mm up to our new packing grader with plant up to packing with the new a capacity of up to 160 fish/minute. high-speed packing grader. All this When the plant is completed in 2018 happens in a factory with highThe project teams of Cermaq and BAADER of custody certification. it will be an important showcase.” tech automation controlled by the

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Cabinet Secretary congratulates on recent feed barge order abinet Secretary for the Rural Economy in Scotland, Fergus Ewing, has visited Gael Force Group’s engineering facility in Inverness following the Highland firm’s announcement that they had received their single largest ever order, to build and supply Marine Harvest Scotland with a series of SeaMate 400T concrete feed barges complete with stateof-the-art SeaFeed Offshore Feeding System.

Gael Force Group owner and MD, Stewart Graham, was on hand to provide the Cabinet Secretary with a tour of the company’s engineering facility, which is set to double in capacity to assist in accommodating an increased programme of barge builds over the coming two years, including that of barge build capacity for other Scottish Salmon producers.

The company expect that the initial 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.

They also anticipate that a minimum of another 12 jobs will be created in the Group’s own supply chain and the wider rural Highland economy.

Speaking during the visit, Mr Ewing said, “I am delighted Gael Force has secured this major order from Marine Harvest. This is testament to the quality of their work and strength of their team. It is also a further demonstration of the value of the aquaculture sector to Scotland in terms of the overall economy and jobs created.”

On welcoming Mr Ewing to Gael Force, Stewart Graham said, “We are delighted to welcome the Cabinet Secretary

to Gael Force and I am pleased he has been able to see at first-hand the quality of output from our team. His continued support of the strategic plan for Aquaculture growth to 2030, and of the Scottish Aquaculture industry as a whole, has been unwavering and for that he should be commended.”

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6 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

A Triott Company

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Aquaculture research centre to further innovation

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he Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre officially opened its doors following extensive refurbishment. The innovation centre will be an international aquatic research facility focused on excellence in feed solutions for aqua producers around the world.

The centre received more than €600,000 in investment and will be home to an expanded team of aqua researchers dedicated to quality, innovation and the development of new applications in aqua feed.

The new facility will provide a practical platform for product development and solutions to meet the challenges of modern aqua producers.

Patrick Charlton, CEO of Coppens International, commented, “The centre will further develop our already strong aqua research programmes and allow us to significantly increase the amount and type of aqua innovation we embark upon,.”

Coppens International is collaborating with Guabi, a leading fish feed producer in Brazil.

Guabi, a 43-year veteran in the animal feed business, entered into a strategic partnership with Alltech earlier this year.

Mr Charlton continued, “To date, our research centre has enabled us to achieve global recognition for our recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and the refurbishment will allow us to continue to build upon this and to expand our work into different species, such as saltwater fish.”

Over the course of the last 12 months, Coppens International has progressively replaced the fish oil source of DHA in its diets with Alltech’s innovative, DHA-rich algae technology, ForPlus®. The inclusion of ForPlus allows for a fully traceable, sustainable source of DHA omega-3 and a fish oil replacement.

Neo Green, a high-quality, sustainable trout feed, is one of the many new products developed to provide customers with a sustainable alternative to fish oil and inorganic trace minerals as well as functional additives to support fish health and performance.

See our full feature on the Aqua Center opening on page 26

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Fifth factory inaugurated in Zambia ller Aqua Group has inaugurated its fifth factory – Aller Aqua Zambia, this is an important milestone for the fish feed producer, which has a strong foothold in the African market.

Henrik Halken, Group Vice President for Aller Aqua Group, explains, “The growth in Egypt and the success we experience through our own sales companies in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana prove that there is a market for aquafeed of a higher quality than the customers here are used to. We have been present in Africa for a long time, and so the time was right to take the next step and establish an additional factory.”

The Zambian factory was a US$10 million investment, with a capacity of 50,000 tons per annum. It is established as a joint venture with Oakfield Holdings Limited. Further, Aller Aqua has an off-take agreement with Yalelo Limited, which is one of the world’s largest producers of tilapia.

Yalelo plans growth of 50 percent per annum according to Bryan McCoy, CEO of Yalelo Limited.

Niels Lundgaard, Commercial Director – Africa for the Aller Aqua Group commented, “It is crucial to find the right people for collaboration in any market. We have found these people, and this has given us the best possible starting point in the market. Locally, we have some very strong teams in place. The key is local knowledge, industry specific experience and a drive to take the projects further.”

The African market is predicted to grow significantly within the coming years. The UN forecasts a rise in population on the African continent to two billion by 2050. This will increase the demand for healthy and sustainably produced foods such as fish.

The strategy supports the UN’s sustainable development goals by reducing poverty and hunger, increasing health and creating responsible consumption and production.

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

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WWW.AQUAFARM.SHOW ORGANIZERS:

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Preparing the next generation of aquaculture leaders

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raduates are being given a helping hand to amplify their impact on the aquaculture sector, with the start of a series of tailored personal development sessions.

The sessions are part of the new graduate programme announced by the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and industry partners back in June.

In the months since, 10 BSc and MSc graduates have secured 18-month paid placements within leading Scottish aquaculture businesses including BioMar, Gael Force Group, Loch Duart, Marine Harvest Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms.

The second strand of the initiative – the Junior Executive Development Programme – has begun, with the aim of enhancing on-the-job learning and boosting candidates’ employability.

SAIC’s Skills Ambassador, Cori Critchlow-Watton explains, “Industry has set out clear ambitions to double output by 2030, along with the strategic priorities for achieving this growth – strong leadership and a skilled workforce, amongst them. The SAIC graduate programme is designed to deliver both, shaping confident, capable, commercially-aware employees who are able to advance into leadership positions as soon they become available.”

Ben Hadfield, Managing Director of Marine Harvest Scotland commented, “Encouraging a steady stream of new candidates into the sector is vital to the prosperity of Scottish aquaculture, but so too is ensuring that those

candidates are ‘industry-ready’. The SAIC graduate programme is an important step towards achieving both.”

Pauline Donnelly, HR Manager at BioMar adds, “A scheme such as this gives us, as employers, an opportunity to nurture emerging talent from an early stage, while giving graduates the best possible head-start for a successful career in the sector.”

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News

poor food handling can sometimes contract Salmonellosis, a foodborne illness that is estimated to cost more than US$2.3 billion annually in medical care expenses and productivity losses, it is rare for animals to elicit the same response.

The biology of many animals typically shields them from most strains of the bacteria; however, the Food and Drug Administration considers eight specific salmonellae serotypes to be “hazardous” to five animal species - poultry, swine, sheep, horses, and dairy and beef cattle.

To prevent these serotypes of Salmonella from posing a risk to these animals, AFIA and its partners formed a Salmonella in Feed Coalition, providing a US$50,000 grant to the University of Arkansas to conduct a thorough research analysis.

The project will invite 250 US animal food mills that produce livestock feed to voluntarily send samples of their commercial feed to the university for analysis.

Kansas State University, another partner in the project, is developing guidance materials for the volunteers to explain how to collect the samples and will be providing sampling kits.

The facilities will take the samples in the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 from their bulk feed shipments. In all, 500 samples will be collected and analysed. Once the samples are received, Steven Ricke, PhD, the University of Arkansas’ principal investigator for the project, will test to see if salmonellae are present.

If the sample contains the bacteria, it will be further analysed to determine the specific Salmonella serotype.

The university will provide a full report to the coalition at the end of the project, which it anticipates to be end of summer 2018.

Animal feed mills that are interested in providing samples for the research project should contact AFIA’s Preston Buff.

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he Institute for Feed Education & Research (IFEEDER), along with several partners, has launched a new research project with the University of Arkansas to analyse whether animal feed contains any of the serotypes from the bacteria Salmonella that could pose a health threat to livestock.

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), National Pork Board, National Renderers Association, Poultry Protein and Fat Council, US Poultry and Egg Association, and US Soybean Board are the included partners.

The yearlong project is aimed at helping the animal feed industry better understand if the bacteria is prevalent at their manufacturing facilities so that it can make more informed decisions on what additional safety measures, if any, should be taken to promote feed safety and protect animal health.

Preston Buff, PhD, AFIA’s director of regulatory affairs commented, “As an industry, we have long-believed that Salmonella is not a threat in food for animals as it is for people due to the types of grains and ingredients used and the stringent regulatory procedures and processes in place to avoid contamination.”

He continued, “This research will test that hypothesis so that we have the data and scientific analysis we need to continue making safe animal feed for America’s 9.6 billion food-producing animals a year.”

There are more than 2,500 strains, or serotypes, of naturally occurring salmonellae present in the environment and in animals.

Although humans who consume contaminated food or practice

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Research project evaluates salmonella risk in animal feed production

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www.dinnissen.nl

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 9

Seas are changing for the Australian Seafood Industry

Clifford Spencer

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Part two: AwF development in Malawi

o breed catfish first involves collecting breeders, both male and female, from fish ponds and then checking if the females have well matured eggs. The ones with well matured eggs that are at the correct stage in the next few days are put together with males of similar size who are ready to fertilise and are taken to a hatchery. But before putting them together a hormone is injected which induces the laying of eggs and affects the male ones to fertilise within 12 hours of the injection. The fish are left overnight and in the morning they are checked to see if the female has released the eggs and the eggs have been fertilised.

Immediately, the female and male breeders are taken back to the pond and the eggs undergo a process of aeration for two to three days after which they hatch. For the smallholder farmers who may get scared with these demands and requirements of this business, AwF has heard their words and realise they can farm minus the part of developing their own hatchery. That requires a massive capital investment, which is beyond them and even more technical.

There is a way to go around that by adopting an outgrowing system where they can just buy fingerlings from people who breed them in their hatcheries.

Another factor that is holding back a majority of famers is the cost of the feed used making it beyond the reach of majority of rural smallholder farmers. On this front AwF will lobby/encourage the government’s assistance to come and help as the government already recognises the need to develop aquaculture in the country. It is felt that now is the time that government looked at subsidised aquaculture feed just like they did with fertiliser in maize production.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development recognises the challenges the sector is facing, which among them is low access to capital for investment in fish farming and limited availability of improved fish production technologies. There are also a number of complimentary challenges affecting the fisheries industry in Malawi. It suffers overfishing along lakeshores and in shallow water bodies, partly due to weak enforcement of fishing regulations and unexploited deep-water fish resources, and insufficient production in addition to the stated lack of access to quality fingerlings and feed for aquaculture.

Also South Africa, which is running aquaculture programmes recognises that Malawi is taking a lead and recognises that collaboration at country and institutional level will assist it tackle some of the challenges that it is currently facing. Whatever the outcome the potential in integrated fish farming is there for all to see and there is undoubted potential for Malawi to get to a position not only of self-supply of its own markets but also to export fish and fish products to enable the sector make a significant contribution on the country’s GDP. I also met with a member of the AwF US board in September for discussions centred on collaboration on our rapidly expanding portfolio of requests for assistance. This trend, which started at our stand at the very successful, WAS conference in Cape Town has since continued in that vein and collaboration within the AwF charities will be the key to ensuring all smallholder enquiries can be met with appropriate action.

Part one of this column appeared in the October editions of International Aquafeed

Currently Mr Spencer leads the Global Biotechnology Transfer Foundation (GBTF), which is dedicated to promoting the potential for biotechnology to support sustainable, longterm, socio-economic development. He is also Chairman of Trustees for Aquaculture without Frontiers UK.

I

n September the Conference Centre for Seafood Directions 2018 saw over 350 delegates from mixed industries participate in discussing the 'Sea the Future' and be introduced to ground-breaking new technology, research and ideas.

Margy Osmond, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism & Transport Forum Australia urged the industry to recognise the potential of tourism for seafood businesses and to utilise the power of promoting Australian seafood to international tourists.

For the first time at Seafood Directions, aquaculture had a dedicated stream, which was opened with a keynote by Thibault Giulioli, Chief Executive Officer of Indian Ocean Trepang (IOT) who addressed the audience on how IOT is transforming coastal communities in Madagascar for the better by teaching them Sea Cucumber farming techniques.

Patrick Hone, executive director of Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, delivered the conference wrap-up featuring a series of challenges for industry to accomplish

by Seafood Directions 2019.

The conference concluded with the passing of the baton for Seafood Directions 2019 to Seafood Industry Victoria.

Finalists for 2017 Leadership and Innovation awards

I

FFO is proud to announce the finalists for their 2017 Leadership and Innovation Awards.

The winners of the awards will be announced at the Gala Dinner of the 57th IFFO Annual Conference, held in the vast and historic city of Washington DC. Once again, applicants came from a wide cross section of IFFO’s membership, showing examples of success from both small and large producers and traders from across the globe.

The finalists have been chosen by the IFFO Management Board and are as follows: Aller Aqua Group, American Seafoods Co., Bioceval GmbH & Co. KG, High Fortune (China) Group Ltd, OMAURCI, SA and Sea Pride LLC. Andrew Mallison. Director General, IFFO commented, “This is now the third time that we have held the IFFO Awards and yet again we had a strong list of candidates. These finalists have demonstrated impressive examples of leadership and innovation, traits that will ensure that our industry continues to go from strength to strength.”

10 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

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Guangdong Evergreen wins F3 prize

T

Antonio Garza de Yta

What will be in 2040?

he vision we have today of the future will define what we will be in 2040. I had the opportunity to attend the event organised by the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico, headed by Enrique de la Madrid Cordero, where the vision of Mexico for 2040, “Tourism in the Global Vanguard” was raised.

The event, in addition to being very well organised, I think could serve as an example to all aquacultures, especially in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, so that we begin to sit down and talk about how we are positioned both inside and outside our countries in the short, medium and long term.

I would like to comment on some topics that were discussed and that caught my attention: 1. Education - In the case of aquaculture this has been a very delicate case. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

We have produced generations of unemployed graduates. Perhaps what we have lacked is to be part of a broader state vision. What is certain is that the generation of Technicians is fundamental, it takes people from the field, operational and not just people who are dedicated to research. They need both generalists and specialists, and for that we have to define which universities will do it, where they are or should be located, what capacities they all have, what facilities they would acquire those capacities and how many specialists in each branch will be needed . We have to take advantage of the limited resources we have, commit ourselves to quality and make the strategic alliances necessary to fulfill the objectives that we draw.

2. Business Environment and Investment Promotion - It is not about giving money, it is about giving facilities. It is about the investors not having to enter into corruption to acquire permission; that they can move their product freely at any time they want, without having to worry about extreme security measures. It is

that they will not give preferential treatment to the neighbour for being the son of a politician; which will not unnecessarily tax the inputs or allow unfair imports that do not pay the taxes that correspond to them for the benefit of few. The moment we can convince investors that the environment of our countries gives security to their investments, then not only will aquaculture grow, all economic activities will grow. Perhaps we should make sure that this happens as soon as possible, since all countries in the region could be developed countries for the next generation.

3. Inter-institutionality - Many people call it governance, but that from my perspective would involve a broad participation of civil society, which in our region is not so common.

What we have to be very clear is that we are not an island; we are a network. We are interconnected with a number of activities: environmental, forestry; educational; health; economic and political to name a few. If we want to plan ambitious projects, as we should, we have to open dialogues with many institutions and get their support. We have to convince them of what we already know, that aquaculture is no longer the future, it is the present; and to flag them with our cause. If we all work together, the region will emerge and we will achieve detonating macroprojects; such as feasible in the Sea of Cortez or Laguna Madre in Mexico.

Many times I lack space in this column to express everything I would like to pass on to you, today is such a day. I would just like to end this column by inviting them to be activated. The region needs to integrate and make a common pro-aquaculture front that fosters and defends the activity with serious scientific information. Other regions of the world have advanced significantly, but here we have water, space and above all our people.

Let’s begin to see ourselves in 2040 and begin to sketch our future.

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 12 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

T

he Future of Fish Feed announced today that Guangdong Evergreen Feed Industry Co. is the winner of the F3 (Fish-Free Feed) Challenge; a contest to develop and sell the most fishfree feed for aquaculture during a 16 month sales challenge.

The US$200,100 grand prize was presented to Evergreen Feed Company during a special ceremony on October 4, 2017, at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2017 conference in Dublin, Ireland.

To offset volatility in supply and rising costs for fishmeal, aquaculture operators have been seeking nutritionally equivalent alternatives to wild-caught forage fish, such as sardines, anchovies and menhaden, as a main ingredient in fish feed.

With the development and widespread acceptance of their proprietary “fish-free” fish feed blend by customers, Evergreen Feed Co. has emerged as a market leader in costcompetitive alternative feeds for tilapia and carp, which are the top two farm-raised fish in the world by volume.

Evergreen Feed Co. distributes its fish-free feed in China, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia.

Chen Dan, President, explained, “The most important sustainability issue facing aquaculture is the feed issue.

Global wild fisheries resources are currently being depleted to alarming levels and our oceans may be empty soon if we don’t do anything to stop overfishing and reduce the pressure on wild-fish stocks.”

Over 120,000 metric tonnes of fish-free feed was sold since the sales contest launched in May 2016. The amount of fishfree aquafeed sold during the 16-month contest is estimated to have saved over 120 million forage fish from being used as fish feed.

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FEATURE

Applications of ASTAXANTHIN KRILL OIL in shrimp diets

by Dr Lena Burri, Aker BioMarine Antarctic AS, Lysaker, Norway

T

he Antarctic krill fishery is one of the worlds most sustainable fisheries.

Aker BioMarine is specifically known for near-zero by-catch, fully transparent operations and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, the highest sustainability standard for fisheries worldwide. Furthermore, the krill fishery received an ‘A’ rating from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership as the only reduction fishery in the world that is in ‘very good’ condition.

Inasmuch, krill products made from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) provide a sustainable source of important nutrients and feed attractants. While krill meal is characterised by a high content of proteins and omega-3 phospholipids, astaxanthin krill oil contains no protein, instead is rich in neutral lipids and astaxanthin.

Its beneficial effects and how it can be used in high performance shrimp feed is summarised in this article.

where they are harvested from the wild. Even though Antarctic krill are only about five centimeters in length, they represent one of the largest biomasses on Earth with around 500 million metric tonnes. They are shrimp-like in appearance, with big black eyes and a reddish, semi-transparent shell (Figure 2).

They often aggregate in large, dense swarms stretching for tens of kilometres. Krill uses their specialised filtering apparatus in their front legs to help them feed on microscopic algae. Because krill feed on algae that can produce omega-3 fatty acids, the krill themselves become rich in accumulated fatty acids. The same algae that provides the krill’s diet with omega-3 fatty acids is also the source of the antioxidant astaxanthin. This natural astaxanthin is enriched in astaxanthin krill oil and gives it its distinctive red color and acts as a natural preservative, protecting the omega-3 fatty acids from oxidation.

Figure 2: Green microscopic algae are visible in the stomach of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba).

Krill is an underutilised marine raw material

Euphausia superba, also called ‘Antarctic krill’, is the most dominant krill species in the icy cold waters surrounding Antarctica,

Figure 1: Astaxanthin krill oil from Aker BioMarine Antarctic AS is produced from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)

14 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Astaxanthin krill oil composition

A special fishing technology called Eco-Harvesting™ allows the krill to be pumped alive on to the vessel, where it is immediately processed to preserve all the nutrients and ensure superior product quality. The main step is to remove the water content, since krill contain 85 percent water. When the water is separated from the cooked krill meal, an oil is obtained alongside - the astaxanthin krill oil (QRILLTM Astaxanthin oil, www.qrillaqua.com).

The oil consists of 100 percent neutral lipids, astaxanthin (>750 ppm) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, 17% omega-3 and 3% omega-6).

Astaxanthin krill oil study results Improved growth performance - Significantly enhanced growth performance of the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, after dietary astaxanthin krill oil inclusion was shown in a study comparing three oil sources (34.5 g/kg soybean, 26.6 g/kg fish and 48.3 g/kg krill) [1]. Besides, the FCR of the astaxanthin krill oil group was significantly reduced (Figure 4). This study with juvenile shrimp (0.65±0.28g start body weight) went over a 64day rearing period at ideal water salinity (23±1.2 g/L). The diets contained similar nutritional levels with 35.3±0.13 percent crude protein, 8.8±0.67 percent crude fat, 1.14±0.24 percent crude fiber and 4222±46.1 kcal/kg gross energy, but differed in their essential fatty acid profiles.

when compared to the soybean oil group [1]. In addition, the total carotenoid levels increased from 13.8 to 21.4 μg/100 μl in the astaxanthin oil group.

Moreover, the levels of essential fatty acids and carotenoids affected sensory characteristics of shrimp tails, influencing consumer acceptance. Both for color and flavor was consumer acceptance highest for tails from shrimp fed astaxanthin krill oil, when compared to tails from both soybean and fish oil groups. The texture was not significantly affected in the astaxanthin krill oil group.

Improved shrimp tail lipid profiles and consumer acceptance - Chemical analysis of the fatty acid composition showed that astaxanthin krill oil markedly increased EPA+DHA levels in shrimp tails from 9.3 to 69.3 g/kg of total dietary fatty acids,

Superior shrimp performance in high salinity conditions - Omega-3 fatty acids are part of phospholipids that are the building blocks of all cell membranes. As such, they affect cell membrane permeability and are involved in osmoregulation

Figure 3. Typical lipid composition of astaxanthin krill oil.t

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FEATURE Figure 4. Shrimp final body weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR) after 64 days of rearing with either a soybean, fish or astaxanthin krill oil diet

processes. If astaxanthin krill oil can mitigate salinity effects (44g/L water salinity) by improving osmoregulation capacity and growth performance, was tested in a nine week study comparing three lipid sources [1]. The results showed that shrimp grew less when fed soybean or fish oil diets (-0.92 and 0.91 g/week, respectively) compared to those fed the astaxanthin krill oil diet (1.01 g/week). While higher water salinity reduces shrimp final body weight compared to lower water salinity, the astaxanthin krill oil group reached final body weights that were statistically higher than those of soybean and fish oil diets at high water salinity (Figure 5).

Astaxanthin krill oil in specialised high performance feeds - Due to its characteristic advantages - i.e., feeding stimulant, omega-3 fatty acids, and most importantly natural astaxanthin astaxanthin krill oil inclusion into shrimp feed shows promise to improve growth performance at all developmental shrimp stages, from larval to broodstock.

The nutrients in broodstock diets define larval quality, survival and health. To support ovarian and testicular development, the shrimp body also takes nutrients from the hepatopancreas. It is therefore crucial that there are sufficient reserves in particular with accelerated maturation and to support frequent spawning cycles. Repeated spawning reduces lipid, protein, glucose and carotenoid transfer to the egg, which can lead to reproductive exhaustion of the female shrimp with 10 percent survival compared to the 40 percent in fresh cohorts [2].

Transfer of triglycerides from the hepatopancreas to eggs is important to give energy for egg development and improve survival [2, 3]. Another important nutrient for egg composition and larval development is astaxanthin known to have antiinflammatory properties by the ability to scavenge free radicals, thereby counteracting oxidative stress and damage to proteins, lipids and DNA [4].

Increased levels of carotenoids have been linked to improved reproductive performance, survival and development. Also omega-3 fatty acids, which are high in ovarian tissues and are important as precursors for hormones, have a crucial role in regulating vitellogenesis. Higher dietary inclusion of EPA and DHA was linked to improved spawning rate, egg production, hatching success and larval survival [5].

Supplementation of shrimp broodstock diets with astaxanthin krill oil that provides triglycerides, astaxanthin and omega-3 fatty acids, may therefore improve ovarian maturation, spermatogenesis, egg quality, hatching success and nauplii production.

In nursery or starter diets, astaxanthin krill oil can be used as immune and growth booster, while in grow-out diets used during stress conditions (e.g. high salinity) astaxanthin krill oil showed promise to improve shrimp growth performance [1]. If astaxanthin krill oil can enhance resistance and restore shrimp growth under other stressful situations, such as disease outbreak, water exchange or temperature variation, will be tested in future studies. In finishing diets, astaxanthin can help to improve

Figure 5. Shrimp final body weights after 9 weeks at high salinity (44 g/L)

Table 1. Astaxanthin krill oil for different shrimp growth stages

Table 2. Possibilities to deliver astaxanthin krill oil to shrimp

pigmentation and the oil can act as a color enhancer, which increases consumer acceptance of shrimp tails [1].

There are many ways to deliver astaxanthin krill oil to shrimp, which are summarised in Table 2. At feed manufacturing it can be incorporated into shrimp feed during processing, while top coating of e.g. old feed with astaxanthin krill oil may help to increase attractability and palatability. Astaxanthin krill oil might also be useful for larviculture, when applied as diet emulsifier, mixed with live algae or as an Artemia enrichment. Alternatively, at maturation it can be mixed with wet natural food or with artificial diets.

In short, options to improve shrimp feed with astaxanthin krill oil are manifold and provide shrimp farmers with several possibilities to enhance shrimp feed intake and growth, boost immune system and disease resistance, or enhance pigmentation and omega-3 content of shrimp tails.

References available upon request

16 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

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FEATURE

Functional feed additive helps during parasitic infestation of European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax

A

quaculture production continues to increase following the demand for healthy and sustainable animal production. In 2015 world aquaculture production reached 106 million tons with a first sale value of US$160,200 million (FAO, 2016). As any other animal production industry, farmers are confronted with a variety of pathological issues that can endanger their production. Careful management practices, a holistic approach, functional nutrition and close surveillance of fish health are essential factors for a successful business.

In this study, a tank trial was carried out in the Atlantic area of South Spain, at the fish farm Finca Veta La Palma, located at the centre of the Guadalquivir River’s estuary marshes. The farm produces European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) in earthen ponds. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of a functional, phytobiotic feed additive on the performance and health of seabream and seabass throughout the changing culture conditions during winter and spring. The use of unfiltered, untreated brackish water originating from the pond farm resulted in a natural disease challenge throughout the trial and imitated the fluctuating environmental conditions encountered in the pond farm.

Materials and methods

Sixteen out-door tanks of four cubic meter volume each have been used for the trial. The design applied for tank diet allocation was a randomised block design (Figure 1). Seabream and seabass juveniles were recruited from the grow-out ponds of the farm.

by Robles, R.*1, Isern-Subich, M.M.2, Román, C.1, Bermúdez, L.1, Ceulemans, S.2, Mazuelos, N.3, Librero, M.3, Medialdea, M.3, Albinyana, G.4, Girons, A.4, Tapia-Paniagua, S.T.5, Moríñigo, M.A.5 and Coutteau, P.2 1 CTAQUA, Muelle comercial s/n. El Puerto de Santa Maria, 11500 Cádiz. Spain. *Present affiliation Robles and Co. Aquaculture. Temporal,8. Puerto Real, Cádiz-Spain.

2 Nutriad International, Hoogveld, 93. 9000. Dendermonde.

Belgium 3 Finca Veta La Palma, Puebla del Rio ,Sevilla. Spain 4 Ictiovet, Provença, 392.PB. 08025, Barcelona. Spain 5 Microbiology Dept. Facultad de Ciencias. University of Málaga. 29071 Málaga, Spain

In total, 880 seabream juveniles and 800 seabass juveniles were stocked in 16 tanks (110 seabream per tank and 100 seabass per tank). Initial average body weight was 54,46±1,02g for seabream and 66,67±1,39g for seabass. Temperature and photoperiod were natural; experimental tanks are located at the exterior of the farm facilities.

Each tank had an individual water inlet and outlet; pure oxygen was supplied to each tank by a porous tube placed at the bottom of the tank. Tank water renewal was set at 66 percent per hour.

The water was unfiltered and originating from the incoming water channels used for the pond farm. Flow rate per tank was controlled once per week. Dissolved oxygen and temperature were controlled three times per day per tank. Every two weeks salinity, total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and nitrite of the culture water were checked.

Fish were fed six days per week with manual feeding and with belt feeders. Feed ration was calculated for all tanks based on feeding tables and as a percentage of biomass. Two diets have been tested per species, control feed, CF, (commercial diet,

18 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Table 1: Scoring system applied for the evaluation of the samples of gills, liver and intestine of the experimental individuals sampled at the beginning and the end of the trial. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the minimum and maximum value for each score using the number of features and the lowest or highest degree of affection.

Score

Gill injury (0 – 18)

Gill parasites (0 – 9)

Histological feature Inflammatory infiltrate Lamellar hyperplasia Lamellar fusion Oedema Cell degeneration Vascular abnormalities Monogeneans Trichodina sp Other ciliates Lipidosis

Liver injury (0 – 18)

Intestine injury (0 – 9) Figure 1: Outdoor tanks used for the trial. In the image, harvesting of specimens during sampling

Intestine parasites (0 – 3)

Hepatitis Cholangitis Haemorrhage Macrophage aggregates Exocrine pancreas atrophy

criteria 1 = lesion affecting up to 10% of gill surface 2 = lesion affecting 10-50% of gill surface 3 = lesion affecting more than 50% of gill surface

1 = single parasite detected 2 = less than 10 parasites detected 3 = more than 10 parasites detected 1 = hepatocytes presented with small intracytoplasmic vacuoles and central nucleus 2 = hepatocytes presented with marked intracytoplasmic vacuoles and central nucleus 3= hepatocytes presented with marked intracytoplasmic vacuoles and lateralised nucleus 1 = focal lesion 2 = multifocal lesion affecting less than 10% of liver section 3 = multifocal lesion affecting ³10% liver section

Mucosa lymphocyte infiltrate 1 = very mild increased impact when compared with basal levels.

Intraepithelial degenerative 2 = multifocal marked increased impact when compared with basal forms levels.

3 = widespread marked increased impact when compared with basal Submucosa mononuclear levels. infiltrate Coccidia

1 = single parasite detected 2 = less than 10 parasites detected 3 = more than 10 parasites detected

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FEATURE Mortality seabass

25 CONTROL

SANCORE GM

%MORTALITY

20

15

10

11.2%

5

4.0%

0 Figure 2. Mortality of European seabass during the parasitic episode. Average value per treatment in red (blue color dots correspond to the 4 replicates per treatment).

Figure 3: Trichodina sps in the gills of European seabass (arrows).

Portugal) and treatment feed, S (same commercial diet supplemented with 0.3 percent Sanacore GM®, Nutriad International, Belgium).

Four replicate tanks were run per diet. Fish were fasted during 24 hours prior to sampling. Total duration of the trial was 150 days (from mid-December to mid-May).

Four samplings (initial, two intermediate and final) have been performed during the trial to control productive parameters: growth, feed conversion and survival as well as somatic indexes and the general health status of the fish. At each sampling moment, gill samples were observed on wet mounts to evaluate the presence of parasites. At the initial and end of trial sampling gill, liver and intestine samples fixed with 10 percent buffered formalin were processed following routine paraffin-inclusion protocol. Haematoxylin & eosin (H&E) 4m thick sections were used for histopathological analysis under light microscope.

A semi-quantitative score system was used in the histopathological analysis in order to evaluate impact of different histological lesions. Each tissue section was scored zero (absence of lesion), one (mild impact), two (moderate impact) and three (marked impact) for each histological lesion. Injury score to evaluate gill, liver and intestine damages were calculated adding individual scores. In addition, a parasite score for gill and intestines were also used as summarised in Table 1.

The intestinal microbiota was evaluated using the DGGE technique.

Intestine samples of farmed sea bass and seabream specimens from both treatments were dissected at two sampling moments: initial (T0) and at the end of the experimental period after 150 days of culture (T150). All samples were kept at -20ºC until further processing at the microbiology lab (University of Málaga).

Intestinal samples from each treatment were homogenised in 1ml PBS (pH 7.2), and then the aliquot was centrifuged at 1000×g for 5min. Total DNA was extracted from samples according to Martínez et al. (1998), with some modifications as described by Tapia-Paniagua et al. (2010). Further processing and analyses of the samples were done according to the standard procedures of the lab. Species richness (R) and Shannon’s diversity index (H’) of microbial communities were determined (Tapia-Paniagua et al., 2010), considering that a relevant band must be present in the DGGE profiles of at least three of specimens analysed per diet.

Results and discussion

Figure 4: Diplectanum sps in the gills of experimental European sea bass.

Below; Figure 5: Coccidian parasites in the intestine of experimental European seabass

Below; Figure 6: Lymphocyte infiltrate in the intestinal mucosa of experimental Gilthead seabream

Average water temperature during the trial was 16,33±3,10 ºC with the minimum of 11ºC in January and maximum of 23ºC in May. According to the registry of the farm, temperature has been unusually high for that period of the year. Average salinity was 12 psu (fluctuating between 9 psu and 17 psu), TAN and nitrite values were lower than 1ppm during the whole trial and average dissolved oxygen in all the tanks was above 100 percent saturation.

An unexpected gill fluke infection occurred during the month of February affecting only the seabass tanks. The diagnosis confirmed an ectoparasite infestation by Diplectanum sps as predominant species.

A treatment with 100ppm formaline bath was applied twice during the episode. Average mortality in this period was 11,15±6,74 percent for control and 4,05±4,66 percent for the treatment (Figure 2). No mortality was recorded in the seabream tanks and the evaluation of the gill-wet mounts did not show the presence of any parasite.

Due to the lack of challenging temperatures or disease events, seabream exhibited good production parameters as well in the control feed tanks as in the Sanacore GM fed tanks (survival > 92%; SGR 0,55 %/d; FCR 1,7) and no significant differences were detected between treatments. In the case of seabass, the parasite incident did not allow to obtain clear data for evaluation of production results.

The histopathological analyses of European seabass gill samples indicate that concerning the gills, the degree of gill injury between the CF and S groups were similar, however the impact of Trichodina

20 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

infection was higher in the CF group (Figure 3). Similarly, impact of Epitheliocystis intracellular colonies was slightly higher in CF group. Prevalence of monogenean parasites (Diplectanum sps.) was low but monogenean related pathology was significant in this species (Figure 4).

The gill damage score provides information on tissue response to insult (e.g. inflammation, lamellar hyperplasia, lamellar fusion and edema). Gill damage score was slightly higher in group CF (8,92) than in group S (7,75). With regard to liver injury, the score was markedly higher in group CF fish (4,57) in comparison to group S fish (2,40) (Table 2). Higher score was a consequence of a higher impact of lipidosis signs at moderate levels and focal degenerative/inflammatory lesions on group CF fish.

Intestine scores were slightly higher in group CF fish. This was a consequence of CF fish presenting moderate to severe lymphocyte infiltrate in intestine mucosa that could be related to mild enteritis signs. Accordingly, coccidian parasites (Figure 5) were detected in both groups but impact was slightly higher in CF fish.

Histopathological findings in Gilthead seabream, indicate that the gill injury scores in fish from group CF (8,67) and group S (8,33) were very similar. Small differences were detected on the impact of certain parasites. In the case of Trichodina, seabream from CF group presented a slightly higher impact. However, group S presented a slightly higher impact of Epitheliocystis (Table 3). In the case of the liver, seabream liver scores for group CF presented a slightly higher liver score (2,15) than the group S livers (1,61). Intestine scores were similar between group CF (4,17) and group S (3,83). Intestinal mucosa showed moderate to severe lymphocyte infiltrate and seabream from group CF presented slightly higher counts of lymphocytes (Figure 6).

Table 2. Summary of the histopathological analyses results from European seabass experimental individuals.

Intestine Gill injury Liver injury Intestine coccidian DIET score score injury score score Control 8,92 4,57 4,33 1,17 Sanacore 7,75 2,40 3,92 0,67 GM

Table 3. Summary of the histopathological analyses results from Gilthead seabream experimental individuals.

Intestine Gill injury Liver injury Intestine coccidian DIET score score injury score score Control 8,67 2,15 4,17 0,17 Sanacore GM

8,33

1,61

3,83

0,00

Table 4. Microbial indexes at T0 and T150 days of the trial for experimental Gilthead seabream and European seabass.

Shannon's Richness R Index H' Gilthead Seabream T0 initial 32±3.0 2.5±0.1 Sparus aurata T150 Control 30±1.3 2.39±0.1 feed group

European Seabass

T150 Sanacore GM group

33±0.7

2.72±0.1

T0 initial

35±2.0

2.98±0.1

T150 Control feed group

29±1.0

2.80±0.1

T150 Sanacore GM group

36±1.0

3.17±0.1

A warm welcome to

Aquaculture America 2018 Las Vegas - Nevada, US February 19 - 22 Bringing all Players to the Table

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FEATURE

Figure 7: Clustering analysis based on pair wise similarity index of DGGE patterns obtained from intestinal samples of the experimental European seabass specimens.

Figure 8: Clustering analysis based on pair wise similarity index of DGGE patterns obtained from intestinal samples of the experimental Gilthead seabream specimens.

Concerning the microbial analyses, Richness (R) and diversity (H’) indexes showed an increased diversity of the microbial population present in the S group, for both European seabass and Gilthead seabream (Table 4). Richness (R) and Shannon Index (H’) are higher in both species for the fish group Sanacore GM (S) compared to control feed diet (CF) at the 150day sampling point. The increased diversity of gut microbiota is considered as a robustness of the population if confronted to any kind of insult or abnormal event that could disturb the microbial community. This could be an explanation of the success of the S group fish when coping with the gills fluke outbreak.

Regarding the clustering analyses based on pair wise similarity index of DGGE patterns, the blind clustering of the 36 individuals

analysed from each species (12 from T0 commercial feed; 12 from T150d commercial feed (CF) and 12 individuals from T150 Sanacore GM (S) group) show interesting results (Figure 7 and 8). The clustering analyses show two different groups clearly differentiated corresponding to T0 and T150 days sampling points. There is a well-defined clustering at T150 reflecting the different diet group (CF and S).

The results show that the dietary supplementation with Sanacore GM induced a substantial variability of the DGGE patterns compared with the profiles observed in fish fed the control diet. This proves the ability of Sanacore GM to modulate the gut microbiota in fish.

(References are available upon request to the authors)

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FEATURE

I

FISH PRODUCTION IN ISRAEL

by Harm Klein, Feed Consultant, Zemach, Netherlands

n Israel yearly approximately 20,000 tonnes of fish is produced, land-based and offshore; mainly seabass, carp and Tilapia. Because of the lack of fresh water, the production of fish per ha., waterarea is the highest in the world.

The veterinary quality control is on high level because of the intensive breeding chain. Zemach is the main producer of aquafeed in the country.

Zemach Feed Mill, in Israel, produces fish feed, animal feed and pet food with a no-nonsense attitude and an emphasis on serving clients, both in Israel and abroad.

It is a good example of a plant that can produce both aquafeed and other kinds of animal feed, all with great success.

The plant is situated on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, at its southern point, where the lake flows into the Jordan River (Picture 1).

About 20 years ago, 15 members of this co-operative asked Zemach to produce aquafeed, resulting in today’s modern plant.

During a visit to the aquafeed plant in the Galilee region in Israel, we met Mr Asher Braun, V.P. Nutrition and Mr Yizhaq Tal, V.P. Operations (see Braun and Tal). Both of who can boast

vast experience in this market. The complete team of the fish feed department counts eight employees.

The Israeli market

In the early years of Zemach Feed Mill, circa. 1965, fish feed was not produced in the country at all. There were only imported products.

Years later the members of the cooperative at Zemach were dissatisfied with the quality, price and availability of the imported products.

Zemach start producing pelleted fish feed and later on their fish feed line was built and the first extruded aquafeed was produced, just before this millennium.

For several years, Zemach was the only producer in the country.

Nowadays, of the three local producers, Zemach is by far the biggest.

Up to several years ago apart from the growers near Bet Shean 20 km away and those in the Northern coastal region, there was a large concentration of fish production in the Red Sea, close to Eilat.

However, intensive fish farming in this area caused damage to the coral and consequently the fish cages were moved to the harbour of Ashdod; open water connected to the Mediterranean Sea (Picture 3).

Today, also in the Negev desert, as example an intensive farm produces 2.000 tons of seabream annually. Weekly several trucks are delivering the high quality feed.

Production quantities

Today, the production volume is under strain because of several threats: the dollar rate, the termination of import taxes on fresh and frozen fish and the stronger environmental regulations, none of which is beneficial for the market.

24 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

70 percent of the aquafeed is for local growers, the rest of the feed is exported to countries in Africa, South America and South East Asia.

For export, the feed is packed in 15 and 25 kg bags, which are loaded in containers then the fish feed is transported over the world from Haifa port.

Today, the pellets for floating, sinking and slow sinking purposes, are produced between 1.5 - 9mm; smaller sizes are produced using a crumbler.

Kinds of products

Aquafeed is produced for several kinds of sweet water fish: tilapia, carp, mullet, and trout, sturgeon. And for saltwater fish: seabream, seabass and black tiger shrimps.

Extrusion and processing take place in a production facility that is completely separated from the feed mill. This ensures a hygienic surrounding without risk of contamination. The production area of the fish feed is situated in a new extension of the animal feed plant.

Zemach Feed Mill produces the feed under the quality systems HACCP, ISO 9001 and Global Gap in conjunction with the Ginnosar, Dor and Sea Agriculture Institute Research Stations.

Quality analyses of raw materials and finished products are made in Israel and if desired abroad. All products must pass physical tests; these are designed to examine the pellet strength, dust percentage and sweet/salty water tolerability.

Production of pet food on the same production line was approved by Israeli Standards Institute and by the veterinary services of Israel, whilst Zemach ensures the separate identity of the products. Due to extensive research and knowledge of Tilapia Zemach has quickly become an authority on this particular feed.

Counselling is provided by the experts on a worldwide scale.

in optimal condition.

Two-third of the steam production, which is 2.5 tph, is available for the fish feed production.

The energy consumption of the extrusion lines is approx.

70 kWh/ton as an average.

Because of the conversion from butane gas to natural gas in this year the costs for the energy will be substantially reduced.

Flexibility

Zemach produces tailor made fish feed; the growers receive the data of raw materials with analyses and prices and in this way they can create their own specific formula. Assistance can of course be given if desired. Over the years, this flexibility showed important advantages, because the circumstances in the farms are quite different.

Ambitions

Zemach Feed Mill’s management is ambitious to become a more important local and international player. Mr Braun and Mr Tal are both working daily to achieve the best product quality and to be become increasingly known in the international market.

These are realistic goals; the attitude and the knowhow of these specialists will serve this objective.

The production lines

Two completely individual production lines continuously produce the aquafeed simultaneously, six days a week, 24 hours a day.

In the past, the grinding process took place in two steps: first coarse grinding and then another hammermill reduced the particles up to 0,9-1,0 mm. An acceptable process but suffering from a disadvantage as the second grinder was often blocked by the fine meal entering the mill without bigger particles to clean the sieve.

The result was blockage of the airstream with low passing fraction and high-energy figures. Now the grinding takes place in one step with the possibility to grind meat and bone meal (from poultry) and fishmeal as well. The fishmeal content of the feeds varies between 0-60 percent.

Extruder line one produces 10 tph for floating pellets, the capacity of the second line for floating pellets is seven tph; this is restricted because of the limited capacity of the dryer.

The two single screw extruders are type Wenger X 185 and X 235. The last one is quite new. This extruder replaced, five years ago, an extruder of another make. Zemach was not content with the now dismantled extruder; another reason is the fact that the spare parts of the two Wenger machines are mainly similar.

Extruder line one consists of a Wenger dryer, an atmospheric coater and a counter flow cooler. On this line, the pet food is produced as well and the coater is suitable for adding flavours, colours, powders etc.

Extruder line two consists of a Wenger dryer; a vacuum coater and a counter flow cooler as well.

The separation of fines and large particles takes place by a rotating drum sieve in order to guarantee that the pellet product is

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FEATURE

“Opportunities of a lifetime... need to be taken... in the lifetime of the opportunity

ALLTECH COPPENS AQUA CENTRE – THE GRAND OPENING

T

he Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre officially opened its doors after an impressive refurbishment, and International Aquafeed were there to witness it.

Based in The Netherlands, the innovation centre received more than EU€600,000 in investment and is designed to accelerate the research capabilities of the leading animal health and nutrition company, Alltech, and its aquaculture specialist subsidiary, Coppens International. It will be home to an expanded team of aqua researchers dedicated to the development of new applications in aqua feed.

This report follows the insightful presentations from Coppen’s CEO, Patrick Charlton as well as Alltech’s CEO, Alric Blake – alongside industry experts who are focusing on the exciting potential of this collaborative effort to pioneer feed solutions for aqua producers worldwide.

This issue also see’s an in-depth interview at the back of this publication with Mr Charlton, future issues will to see host to thorough and comprehensive interviews featured with Ben Lamberigts, Manager Quality, Research and Nutrition, Coppens International and Dr Philip Lyons, PhD Research Scientist, Coppens International.

26 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Having worked with Alltech for nearly 30 years, Mr Patrick Charlton took on the role of CEO, Coppens International in June 2016.

He speaks at the opening ceremony of his role within the company and how he and the business plan to follow Dr Pearse Lyons Alltech legacy, whilst very much creating a legacy of their own.

“Our commitment to the future”

Patrick Charlton - Coppens International, CEO My name is Patrick Charlton, I’m the CEO of Coppens International and it’s a pleasure to welcome so many colleagues, family and friends who have been such an important part of our business, in the past, today and also we hope in the future.

Before we go into the presentations, we thought we would just briefly share with you a little glimpse back in time over the last six months. You can see just how much work has gone into the building, the facility that you’re going to be seeing later on today.

Today will be successful because we have so much support from our friends around the world, we have representatives of 20 of the 60 markets that Coppens International is present in today.

Alltech has talked about the importance of natural, organic, consumer-friendly feeding of animals and humans for some time. It’s been a big passion of ours. Today, everyone always talks about the importance of sustainability, and in Alltech, we’ve had ‘natural’ stuck on our badges since I first joined 27 years ago. It has been very important to what we are and what we do. We think it is imperative that we understand the role we play as businesses in the food chain, not just in the production of fish or fish feed, but in the production of food that is fed to

consumers today.

Every year we hold a very big symposium in the States and this year we had nearly 4,000 attendees from around the world and we hope that some of you will be able to join us next year in May. In the 1988 symposium, we had Italian Professor Mordenti who talked about the importance of products in the future being ‘ACE’ and by that he didn’t just mean they had to be good, he meant that they had to be animal, consumer and environmentally friendly.

Now today you’d say well of course that’s obvious but, in 1988 it was strange thinking and it is something which has been core to our business since that day and will be very much in the future.

“Developing sustainable solutions to meet the challenge of feeding the world”

Dr Pearse Lyons, Founder and President, Alltech, understands that for Alltech to grow and for us to achieve the goals he wants us to achieve, we have to look at different ways to grow and so over the last five years more than 20 businesses have been brought into the Alltech family including 15 months ago Coppens International.

We want to work with companies that are aligned to our thought processes and that is why Coppens International has been such a successful part of the Alltech business over these months and why significant investment has been made here in the research facility and also on the production side. We see it being a big part of our future as well.

Today, over 5,500 employees around the world in 129 countries share Dr Lyons passion for how we can feed the bourgeoning nine billion people by 2050.

We are here to celebrate not the opening - this facility has a long history in the industry - but the reopening of this invested facility. We felt that as we reopened it, it was time to understand the importance it can play not just in the business of Coppens International but in that global 129 country Alltech business and for that reason we decided it was appropriate to rename this facility the ‘Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre’.

We’re very excited about this facility and the role that Coppens International can play in Alltech’s global aquaculture business. See more from Patrick Charlton on page 54

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 27

FEATURE

Mr Anno Galema has been the Managing Director of Coppens International for 20 years; at the opening ceremony he gave a timeline of the company’s history and all of the important steps it made before coming to their groundbreaking partnership with Alltech.

Upon cutting the cake of the collaboration between the two companies, it was reported that this moment could be summarised simply as, “Serving global aquaculture, stronger together.”

“The future of Coppens International” Anno Galema - Former Managing Director, Coppens International We will actively utilise Coppens 20 years’ worth of experience in the market, we will very actively utilise all the research and development that we carried out last year, we will utilise all the extrusion technology know-how that we have developed during the years and we also have to utilise the know-how of aquaculture we have from Coppens.

Alltech has a worldwide network; it’s very active in North America, South America, China, and all over the world whereas Coppens is better known in Europe, Russia and Africa. Alltech has a large nutritional know-how and R&D capacity that we also want to utilise.

There are also a lot of Alltech products that can support and improve Coppens feed. So in the next 10 years, you will find Alltech Coppens worldwide.

In 2016, Dr Pearse Lyons appointed Alric Blake the CEO of Alltech, taking on the responsibility for leading commercial growth and management of Alltech’s business.

This is something he has very happily fulfilled with the acqusition of Coppens International, and talks at the ceremony just what this means for both Alltech and their breakthrough into the aquaculture industry and how these are companies that just keep moving onwards and upwards.

“I don’t know about fish!”... But everybody in the world knows this name

Alric Blake - CEO, Alltech Dr Lyons always explains to me, "Alric, opportunities of a lifetime, need to be taken in the lifetime of the opportunity."

When you’re presented with an opportunity, you actually have to make the most of that opportunity in the lifetime of that opportunity, or it’s gone.

So I can remember, I guess it must be 1.5 years ago, getting a call saying ‘we really must go and see this person called Anno, they’ve got this amazing company, that really are at the forefront of fish and aquaculture.’

So I replied “I don’t know about fish!”

But I’ll go and see this guy’ and in typical style as we go through the due diligence process, everybody in the world seems to know about this name - Coppens.

I’d never heard of it, but everyone we spoke to said, “Coppens, oh Coppens, they are an amazing company. What their research does, what they’re able to do in the aquaculture space is so important and it’s so ground-breaking.”

So we came over and we spent some time together and we decided that this is a company we want to bring into our family. When we bring things into our family, we actually look at ‘how do we grow?’.

So we said, with a company that we knew very little about at the time, let’s say about aquaculture; we had some great specialists in, but we actually didn’t have a platform: ‘where do we go from here?’

We decided that the company that Anno had built, with his great team, that this was going to be the platform for Alltech to build in aquaculture. Within a very small period of time, we’ve been able to grow that out and it has grown out around the world.

Things that our industry has never seen before

That success is down to the team, thank you guys very much for that, but more importantly down to our customers and the experienced distributors, so thank you for that. But therein lay the opportunity, the opportunity to do something very, very different: the opportunity to grow out and to show the world, what could be done. What could be done, not just in an aquaculture space but also with new technologies: with algae technologies, with new nutritional technologies, things that in our industry had never been seen before.

Over the period of over the last 12 months or so, that platform has grown. It’s grown in a number of areas: we’ve applied some completely new sciences, that people haven’t seen before and that’s opened new market places for us.

One of the most important things about that growth is: what we do in relation to research and innovation. People ask me, “What is Alltech?” and I say, “It’s easy, Alltech is an innovation and research company, with a primacy in science.”

We then apply that to the commercial aspects of the world; no more important than the research we’re going to be doing in the new Alltech Coppens research centre.

‘Sad fish, happy fish’

I’m very excited about the future, what it holds for the company, what it holds for the team and what it holds for you. I believe it’s the start, I believe that we have the opportunity of a lifetime and what we have to now do, is work with that in the lifetime of that opportunity.

So, I hope you all enjoy the next few talks; I look forward to seeing you all as a guest in your prospective countries or regions over a period of time, where you can actually educate me a bit more on ‘sad fish, happy fish’.

28 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Alltech is already involved in aquafeed research partnerships in Norway with Nofima, focusing of developing algae and enzyme based technology to ensure greater sustainability of the industry. Øyvind Fylling-Jensen is the CEO of Nofima AS, he has had a diverse and fulfilled career spanning over nearly 40 years. At the opening ceremony he gave an astute talk around dealing with the whole value chain in aquaculture and the promising future of algae based research.

Fish as food and food security

Øyvind Fylling-Jensen, PhD - CEO, Nofima In the next minute I will try to give an overall view about why this is interesting and why Alltech entering into the fish market is important. It’s not only about ‘sad fish, happy fish’ but fish as food and food security for a growing population.

There are about 50-200 scientific papers that have revenue of about 63 million euros; the profits are then re-invested into research.

We deal with the whole value chain in aquaculture from breeding and genetics all the way to the consumer. A key part of their idea is to base their research on insight about their customer, the market they’re operating in and about the end use of the product.

If you take food security with a growing population, and our planet is 70 percent water but only 6.5 percent of protein being eaten originates from the water. This has to change.

In the future, more food must come from the oceans. Today, capture fisheries represents 65 percent of fish being produced worldwide and 44 percent comes from aquaculture. Marine fisheries are 87 percent whilst inland fisheries are only 13 percent. About 68 percent of aquaculture today is inland and the remaining part is marine aquaculture.

If you look at why aquaculture is interesting, if you look at protein retention, and look at what the input factors are such as using one kilo of protein in the fisheries then it’s highly efficient. So it’s a healthy protein and it’s about utilising the input factors in a better way.

In the future, we have to look at countries that have growth potential so new solutions have to be found outside the box.

We are seeing that the use of marine proteins as input factor in fish feed for shrimps or salmonids is going down and today we are able to produce high quality fish feed without marine proteins.

Algae, with its high omega 3 content, is part of that solution and there are more and more people looking at using insect proteins. So this area is moving quicker than even 10 years ago.

In production, more than 40 percent of costs are on feed but one issue that has arisen in Norway over the last few years is cost for treatment of sea lice, which is a tremendous inhibitor for further growth of the Norwegian salmon industry.

Unless we are able to produce feed that mitigates or improves the damages of diseases, we will not be able to grow. The sea lice is an ecto parasite and an important part of the fish’s immune system is the mucosal layer of the skin and if you don’t have high quality feed, you get diseases and it affects the quality of the fillet which is what you get on your table.

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 29

FEATURE

Mr Ben Lamberigts is the QRN (Quality, Research and Nutrition) Manager at Coppens International BV, and has been for just over seven years.

During his speech at the opening he delves into the scientific research side of all of the excitement, he probes into the question on the industries lips, “Is fishmeal still the golden standard?” and what can be done, by the industry and of course Coppens – to create a more sustainable and effective feed solution.

The three P’s concept

Ben Lamberigts - Manager Quality, Research and Nutrition, Coppens International Anyone who’s in the industry knows - if you don’t come from the University of Ghent, you don’t get very far.

What we are doing here at the new ACAC, for 17 years – a lot of research and ideas we want to share with you. General research presentation – one of the first slides shows the synergy between our two companies, Coppens International and our mother company Alltech.

We, as Coppens are the aquaculture specialist where Alltech brings us naturally, nutritional solutions to be that aquaculture specialist. We both focus on sustainability and natural additives; we are both ‘raw material specialists’.

Firstly, the most important and certainly the most difficult topic, is of course the replacement of fishmeal. In our company we always call fishmeal the golden standard of the alternative proteins. There are three reasons for that, the first reason is that fishmeal has a lot of essential nutrients, DHA but also amino acids; it’s perfect for fish; secondly, fishmeal ensures good performance and thirdly it’s stable to buy.

But the question for the future is, ‘Is fishmeal still the golden standard?’

We have alternatives to DHA and protein sources that fit the same needs of the fish as fishmeal does, (a trial we conducted in 2015 shows that protein retention varies a lot between different qualities of fishmeal).

Fishmeal supplies are stable but we are growing as an industry, so need to find alternative protein sources to produce the fish. Meaning that fish meal can not be the golden standard any longer, so we are looking into blood meal; poultry meal; animal by-products; vegetable by-products like corn; gluten and soy and these proteins are the future.

We base this upon our ‘Three P concept’ and the first P is for ‘Palatability’ (is the fish eating the feed?) then ‘Performance’ and finally ‘Pollution’.

Coppens International is a recirculation specialist. So by reaching a high score on these three ‘Ps’, we think that we can achieve the same level of performance with these alternative proteins as we have with fishmeal.

So the second big change for the future will be fish oil replacement and at the moment it’s not fish oil that we need but marine DHA. We are getting this DHA through large fish we catch and these fish eat small fish who eat crustacean and this crustacean eats micro algae and it’s only the micro algae that is capable of producing DHA - the essential fatty acids that we need.

But now we have a direct source of micro algae through Alltech, so fish oil replacement has been very easy for Coppens International because now we have the source of DHA and we don’t need fish oil any more. So both the fish oil and fishmeal replacement, the marine independency, as we call it, can be expressed as the ‘FIFO factor’ (‘fish in, fish out’) - how many kilogrammes of fish do I need to produce one kilogramme or 1000 kilogrammes of aquacultured, farmed fish? Worldwide, we have a ‘FIFO factor of 0.7, meaning we need 700 grammes to produce one kilogramme of farmed fish.

China has a very big influence on this figure, they are a key country in aquaculture production; the main species that is farmed in China is carp.

Carp is not a carnivorous fish – so they don’t use fishmeal in farming.

We have been at this worldwide level, below one (0.7) since 2012. I read a couple of weeks ago that one of our competitors achieved this goal half way through 2017, so we are far ahead at Coppens International.

Since Alltech bought us, we decreased our company FIFO factor to 50 grammes for 100 grammes of fish, this is of course because of the use of the algae; we don’t need fish oil anymore, we can use the algae. Meaning now we need 50 grammes of unsustainable fish, wild-caught fish, less than last year. We have been trying to commercialise the information we have gathered via our research and we have succeeded. In 2015 we developed NeoGreen, it’s a diet without fishmeal and fish oil.

After five trials here at our ACAC, we have now achieved the same performance with this NeoGreen diet as one of our best and highest energy trial diets in the market. We did this by using the Alltech technologies, but also by using the concept of the three ‘Ps’ and the raw material selection.

Then Alltech came in and we were able to go one step further, we could replace the fish oil in this diet as well. Our figures from 2017 show that the performance of NeoGreen with fish oil and NeoGreen with (FORPLUS) are the same, there is no significant difference. So, now we have developed NeoGreen: high-performing fish feed, 100 percent free of fishmeal and fish oil. Feeding NeoGreen results in high flesh quality, which you can experience yourself during dinner, because we will serve Neogreen fed fish.

We used FORPLUS, so this is DHA rich algae, which we use as a source of the essential omega 3 fatty acids for the fish. This is a highly sustainable feed that also fits the ‘natural’ strategy and vision of Alltech because it is an organic feed and this is the future. We have to produce feed without fishmeal and fish oil; we haven’t stopped with NeoGreen trial diets, for the coming years at our new ACAC Centre, we have trials planned for NeoGreen for catfish.

We are in the process of comparing our NeoGreen diet with one of our best performing diets for catfish in the market at the moment and we’re almost there with performance. It’s not only the Aquaculture industry that we think needs to shift to fishmeal and fish oil free diets; it’s also the hobby market for Koi feed.

We are working on the idea of producing NeoGreen Koi, they don’t eat much fishmeal, so we want to bring that fish back to nature for example as Alric said, with insect meal. Certainly, with the technologies of Alltech, with DHA and FORPLUS and maybe we can use some of the other technologies Alltech is working on.

We can prepare juvenile fish, get them used to the new proteins and less fishmeal, so they are prepared in their adult stage to utilise NeoGreen in the best way. It’s not only about fishmeal and fish oil; over the last year, we were flooded with information about Mycotoxins, because Alltech has a lot of information on this.

One of the main conclusions that we came to is that Mycotoxins are underestimated in the fish industry and a lot of research still needs to be done. So we started the Mycotoxins Management, which includes three pillars. The first is that we are trying to set limits, both for end products and for raw materials, not only for salmon but all the species we use feed for.

The second pillar is that we want to bring in a positive release testing on risky raw materials, so in close cooperation with Alltech we are looking at a quick testing method of Mycotoxins, to make sure the risky raw materials are screened before they arrive at the factory. The third pillar is doing risk assessments on raw materials and end products, by doing that we can predict and support usage of Mycosorb. With the help of Alltech we will be able to use these assessments, to use Mycosorb in a productive way. It’s not only about big raw materials it’s about actigens; after Alltech acquired Coppens International we directly started to use these kinds of products: bio-moss actigens; promoters; bio-plexes; better available trace elements. We saw some other benefits, we saw an increased survival rate of 20 percent due to the bio-plexes that we use; inorganic minerals stress the feed.

The future of the ACAC

We have built a brand new system here at the ACAC, we can handle more than six different species, there are 32 tanks available, enough treatments and replicates; we will be able to manage temperatures, from six to 25 degrees salt or fresh water. So we have a brand new system and we’ve heard from today that we will have enough work to fill this centre.

I think we have only scratched the surface with technologies for recirculation farming. In the next 10 years, the changes will come from that, the technologies we will bring in will be huge - I think that will be the biggest change in the aquaculture industry.

30 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

PHOTOSHOOT THE BIG PICTURE - PORTUGAL

This image was taken by ©Tiago Repolho as part of the 2014 International Aquafeed photo competition.

Remember, this year photographers everywhere are invited to submit digital photographic work on the theme of ‘Create, Nurture and Grow Aquaculture’ to the International Aquafeed photo competition.

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

EXPERT TOPIC GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

1

Introduction by Zasha Whiteway-Wilkinson

GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

EXPERT TOPIC

Macrobrachium rosenbergii, also known as the giant river prawn or giant freshwater prawn, is a commercially important species of palaemonid freshwater prawn.

It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the Indo-Pacific region, from India to Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. The species has also been introduced to parts of Africa, Thailand, China, Japan, New Zealand, the Americas and the Caribbean.

It is one of the biggest freshwater prawns globally and is widely cultivated in several countries. Whilst it is considered a freshwater species, the larval stage of the animal depends on brackish water. Once the individual shrimp has grown beyond the planktonic stage and becomes a juvenile, it will live entirely in freshwater.

It is also known as the Malaysian prawn, freshwater scampi (India), or cherabin (Australia). Locally it is known as ‘bara chingri’ in Bangladesh, ‘udang galah’ in Indonesia and Malaysia, ‘uwang’ or ‘ulang’ in the Philippines and ‘koong mae nam’ or ‘koong ghram gram’ in Thailand.

The prawn can grow to over 30cm (12 inches) long and are predominantly brownish in colour but this can vary. Smaller ones may be greenish in colour and display faint vertical stripes; the rostrum is very prominent and contains 11-14 dorsal teeth and eight to 11 ventral teeth. The first pair of walking legs and elongated and very thin, ending in delicate claws, which are, used as feeding appendages. The second pair of walking legs is much larger and more powerful, especially in males. The movable

claws of the second pair of walking legs are distinctively covered in dense bristles, giving it a velvet appearance. The colour of the claws varies according to their social dominance.

Male prawns have a strict hierarchy: the territorial BC (Blue Claws) males dominate the OCs (Orange Claws), which in turn dominate the SMs (Small Male). The presence of BC males inhibits the growth of SMs and delays the metamorphosis of OCs into BCs, an OC will keep growing until it is larger than the largest BC in the group before transforming. All three stages are sexually active, although the females that have undergone their premating molt will cooperate with any male to reproduce. BC males will protect females until their shells have hardened, the other groups do not display this behaviour.

Their wider abdomens and smaller second pereiopods can differentiate females, and their genital openings are found on the body segments containing the fifth and third pereiopods in males and females respectively.

In mating, the male deposits spermatophores on the underside of female’s thorax, between the walking legs. The female then extrudes eggs, which pass through the spermatophores, she then carries the fertilised eggs with her until they hatch; the time may vary, but is generally less than three weeks. A large female may lay up to 100,000 eggs.

34 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

EXPERT TOPIC

GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

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EXPERT TOPIC GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

2

GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

Effects of dietary prebiotic fructooligosaccharide supplementation on growth performance, hepatopancreas histology and intestinal short-chain fatty acids in giant freshwater prawn

A

by Wee Wen Chen, Master of Science (Aquaculture and Marine Biotechnology)Stéphanie Fontagné-Dicharry3-

quaculture is one of fastest food producing sector in the world. A persistence goal in various type of aquaculture is to maximise the efficiency of production to optimise profitability. The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii is a valuable aquaculture species in many countries due to its commercial value and their aquaculture production has only moderately risen from 196,848 to 213,958 tonnes between 2004 and 2015 (FAO, 2017). Some of the constraints in the expansion of this cultured organism include high feed costs, slow growth rates, poor seeds quality and diseases. Sustainable M. rosenbergii farm production could be achieved when good seedling quality, improved broodstock strain and optimised formulated feed are available to the local prawn hatcheries.

Hence, there are few important areas that requires further research. Besides aquaculture system development, genetic and breeding improvement, health and environmental management, evaluation on feed supplementation is necessary for sustainable prawn farming. In addition, the rise in feed ingredient prices also have an impact to the aquaculture production cost. It is possible to reduce the cost of production if the prepared diets not only provide essential nutrients but also increase growth and health development of the aquatic animals in commercial aquaculture.

These problems may potentially be mitigated by dietary prebiotics.

Dietary supplements of sustainable feed additives such as prebiotics can impart beneficial effects on fish or crustacean growth and that turn direct into financial benefits by decreasing feed cost per unit growth of aquatic animals. The use of prebiotic appears more practical to stimulate favourable condition for beneficial bacterial in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of aquatic animal.

Also, if the survival, growth performance and feed efficiency of aquatic farming animals are increased, the cost of production is

likely to be reduced. Then, feed additives have a great potential to increase sustainability of aquaculture production. Good formulated feeds supplementation could yield healthy and better growth seedling, resulting in good quality prawns.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are often confused with probiotics. Prebiotics are indigestible food ingredients that may improve the growth and health of the host by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in the GI tract (Ringo et al., 2010). When improving the symbiosis between host and beneficial microbiota, this can indirectly improve nutrient utilisation, metabolism, disease resistance, immunity and survivability of the host (Gatlin III & Peredo, 2012). Prebiotics potentially represent eco-friendly additives since these are natural feed ingredients that include alginate, inulin and various oligosaccharides. Although prebiotics are carbohydrates, not all indigestible carbohydrates are prebiotics (for review, see Ringø et al., 2010).

Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and short-chain fructooligosaccharide (ScFOS) are a group of oligosaccharides consisting of beta-linked fructose units ending with glucose and are commonly established prebiotics in the diets terrestrial animals, including humans (Sabater-Molina et al., 2009). In aquaculture, both dietary FOS and ScFOS have gained much interest due to its growth promoting factors on various aquatic species including white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Zhou et al., 2007), narrow clawed crayfish Astacus leptodactylus (Safari et al., 2014) and Asian seabass Lates calcarifer (Ali et al., 2016), etc. Moreover, antioxidant stimulation of prebiotics are well documented, and can include an enhancement to the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), as shown into the soft-shell turtle (Ji et al., 2004), triangular bream Megalobrama terminalis (Zhang et al., 2013) and Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis (Jia et al., 2017).

One of the potential benefits to the bacterial fermentation of prebiotics are the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) including acetate, butyrate, and propionate in fish and prawns

36|November2017-InternationalAquafeed

EXPERT TOPIC

GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

CROSS-CONTAMINATION SALMONELLA

INCONSISTENCY REGULATIONS

PATHOGENS

(Geraylou et al., 2013arabinoxylan oligosaccharides (AXOS; González-Peña et al., 2002). In one study, two percent prebiotic supplementation of arabinoxylan oligosaccharide increased the total SCFAs concentration in Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii and altered microbial composition which led to slightly increased growth compared to those fed an untreated diet (Geraylou et al., 2013)arabinoxylan oligosaccharides (AXOS. To the best of our knowledge, the potential relationship between prebiotics and SCFAs in crustaceans has not yet been performed and may further elucidate the beneficial role of prebiotics to this animal group. The goal of this study was to determine the optimum inclusion level of FOS required by M. rosenbergii post-larvae and the effects of prebiotic FOS supplementation towards the growth and health condition of M. rosenbergii.

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Figure 1: Superoxide dismutase activity (%) within the hemolymph of M. rosenbergii after eight weeks of being fed diets with increasing fructooligosaccharide supplementations. ab Mean value (mean + SE) with different superscript letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).

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Figure 2: Malondialdehyde (MDA) equivalents (μM g-1) within the muscle of M. rosenbergii after eight weeks of being fed diets with increasing FOS supplementations. abcd Mean value (mean + SE) with different superscript letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).

37|November2017-InternationalAquafeed ET-275C.indd 1

12/22/15 3:33 PM

EXPERT TOPIC GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN Research study

Post-larvae used for this research study was obtained from local prawn hatchery. After one week of acclimatisation, post-larvae (PL-12) were weighed and randomly assigned into five treatments with four replicates group in 150 L glass aquaria (n=80 per aquaria with average initial weight of 0.030 ± 0.002 g). A total of five isonitrogenous experimental diets having 35 percent protein with different levels of FOS (Sigma F8052) at zero percent (control), 0.1 percent, 0.4 percent, one and two percent were formulated and extruded through a single-screw extruder (Brabender KE19; Brabender GmbH, Germany). The prawns were fed with their respective experimental diets twice a day until apparent satiation for eight weeks.

Results showed that FOS enhanced the growth performance of the prawn at all dietary FOS inclusion levels, with the best growth in 0.4 percent FOS treatment (Table 1). Addition of 0.4 percent FOS was found to be the optimal concentration to enhance the growth in M. rosenbergii PL, where one and two percent FOS decreasing their growth. It is important to determine the optimal prebiotic inclusion levels in all aquatic species in order to maximise the efficacy of prebiotic in the host.

For example, it was shown that dietary inclusions of scFOS up to 0.8 percent had no effect to the growth of white shrimp L. vannamei PL (Li et al., 2007), but with the same species, Zhou et al. (2007) found that dietary FOS of 0.4 percent improved growth and feeding efficiencies of the juveniles shrimp. Taken together, such contradiction appears to show that the success of dietary prebiotics are largely based on the right combination of prebiotics in different life stage of the aquatic organisms.

Although the microbiota of the GI tract from M. rosenbergii was not investigated, it appears likely that 0.4 percent FOS promoted beneficial bacteria since this led to the highest amounts of acetic acid and propionic acids, which are by-products from bacterial fermentation of certain carbohydrates including prebiotics (Lauzon et al., 2014). The production of these SCFAs may have contributed to the significantly improved growth of the prawns since SCFAs can act as an antimicrobial to bacterial pathogens or enhance nutrient availability and provide energy to the host (Fernández et al., 2016). Interestingly, when dietary FOS was increased to one and two percent which would presumably increase the available substrates for bacterial fermentation, this did not correspond with increased SCFAs production and actually significantly reduced the propionic acid compared to prawns fed with 0.4 percent FOS. Further study is required to determine whether these dietary FOS levels reduced the composition of intestinal beneficial bacteria or led to excessive accumulation within the intestine that reduced prebiotic fermentation.

Previously, Olsen et al. (2001) showed that a high dietary inulin supplementation of 15 percent to Artic charr led to excessive inulin accumulation within the intestine that subsequently impaired cell function. It is important to note that prebiotics are generally not supplemented at such a high level.

Figure 3: Histological sections of the hepatopancreatic tubules from M. rosenbergii post-larvae. The control treatment (A) showing overall normal hepatopancreas tubule organisation with B-cells (B), R-cells (R), E-cell (E) and F-cell (F). Hepatopancreas in 0.4% FOS treatment (B) showing densely packed and organised tubule structure with higher amounts of R-cells. Hepatopancreas of M. rosenbergii post-larvae in 1% FOS (C) and 2% FOS (D) treatments showing hypertrophied B-cells (hb). Magnification × 400, H&E.

Moreover, dietary FOS levels of one and two percent decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (Figure 1) and increased lipid peroxidation (Figure 2) in the prawns, indicating the FOS inclusion levels were exessive since this led to oxidative stress.

When reactive oxygen species production exceeds their removal

by SOD, increased lipid peroxidation and decreased SOD acirivty is a consequence which likely explain the pattern in the current study. Further research is certainly needed to explain the cause for oxidative stress in prawns fed with one or two percent dietary FOS in the current study, although this appeared to be supported to some degree by adverse changes to the hepatopancreas of the prawns.

In crustaceans, hepatopancreas histological analysis can provide information on the metabolism, nutritional status and health condition of crustaceans (Fernández-Gimenez et al., 2004). Significant alteration in the epithelial cells prevalence and structure of tubule were noticeable at the end of feeding experiment (Figure 3). The hepatopancreas of control prawns exhibited normal tubule structure with clear lumen, B-cells, R-cells, E-cells and F-cells (Figure 3A). The hepatopancreatic tubules of the prawns fed with 0.4 percent FOS were better developed with densely packed together which would allow for greater sites for nutrient storage, digestion and processing (Figure 3B). The number of R-cells were abundant in hepatopancreas tubules of prawn fed with 0.4 percent FOS at the end of feeding experiment. Increasing in R-cells improved the nutritional health in prawns as evidenced by significantly highest specific growth rate in 0.4 percent FOS fed prawn since R-cells are the major site for nutrient reservation and responsible in lipoprotein metabolism (Genc et al., 2007). However, when the dietary FOS increased to

Table 1: Final weight (g), weight gain (%) and specific growth rate (SGR) of freshwater prawn (M. rosenbergii) after eight weeks of being fed diets with increasing levels of FOS supplementations.

Experimental diets Parameters

Control

0.1% FOS

0.4% FOS

1% FOS

2% FOS 0.02±0.00

Initial weight (g)

0.02 ±0.00

0.02±0.00

0.02±0.00

0.02±0.00

Final weight (g)

0.23±0.04

0.26±0.04

0.34±0.05

0.30±0.01

0.27±0.01

Weight gain (%)

943.89 ± 38.54 b

1038.22 ± 52.91 b

1376.48 ± 116.76 a

1165.49 ± 14.18 ab

1065.61 ± 37.30 b

4.18 ± 0.06 b

4.34 ± 0.08 b

4.79 ± 0.15 a

4.53 ± 0.01 ab

4.38 ± 0.05 b

SGR weight (% day-1)

38 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

EXPERT TOPIC

GIANT FRESHWATER PRAWN

one or two percent there were reductions to both B- and R-cells, wider interstitial spaces as well as some instances hypertrophic B-cells and necrotic tissue within the tubules (Figure 3C & D).

Such patterns and variations in the hepatopancreas of prawns fed with one and two percent FOS might have been due to oxidative stress which affecting the normal hepatopancreatic integrity of M. rosenbergii, but further research is needed.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of this study, dietary supplementation of prebiotic FOS at 0.4 percent significantly improved the growth performance, SCFAs production and hepatopancreatic condition of the prawns. Therefore, it can be recommended as a dietary supplement in this prawn aquaculture industry. Higher inclusion levels of one and two percent dietary FOS appears to be excessive as it led to oxidative stress and abnormal hepatopancreas structure. Further study is needed to fully understand the underlying mechanism(s) for this finding in M. rosenbergii fed dietary FOS to include potential changes to the bacterial composition/amount, digestive enzyme activity as well as immunological response.

Note from the author: I would like to specially acknowledge my supervisor Dr. Natrah Fatin Mohd Ikhsan and co-supervisor Dr. Nicholas Romano for their invaluable supervision and guidance in my research study in Universiti Putra Malaysia. weewenchen@gmail.com

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

by John Knights, Business Manager, Asia, Calix

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector in the world. * However, irresponsible aquaculture can negatively impact the environment. Chemicals can pollute the water and disease can spread rapidly, threatening entire species. Therefore, the industry’s key challenge is finding innovative and sustainable aquaculture solutions that contribute to food security, nutrition, livelihoods, and economic growth, according to Calix.

Solving disease and pollution issues: Australians are demanding to know where their food is sourced, and are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on country of origin. It is time Australia stepped up when it comes to aquaculture. Our farmers are knowledgeable and we have one of the cleanest industries in the world.

Australia could become one of the world’s leading providers of seafood. Currently we import most of the prawns we eat, for example, from Asia. But there is plenty of potential for Australian prawn farms to lead the world. There are many places ripe for creating sustainable prawn farms including northern New South Wales, Townsville, and Darwin.

With the right approach to prawn farming and other types of aquaculture, not only could we provide our own produce, we could also export much more to many Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, who pay top price for quality produce, as well as Europe and the USA. These countries are looking for reputable, clean sources of food.

One of the most important ways to help Australian aquaculture businesses succeed is to make it easy for them to farm sustainably and cleanly. Calix has developed a safe, environmentally friendly water conditioner that directly addresses problems associated with intense aquaculture such as disease and pollution, and delivers improved feed performance and yield.

Calix has developed AQUA-Cal+™ from its core technology, mineral honeycomb. Results from testing on both Pacific White Shrimp and Tiger Prawn farms show that AQUA-Cal+™ has a superior performance and economic benefit to the farmer compared to other methods such as administering probiotics.

AQUA-Cal+™ is based on natural mineral raw material; no chemicals are used during production. It works by digesting the toxic sludge that can build up in aquaculture ponds. This sludge is currently dumped or digestion using a probiotic is attempted, which produces bio-products that need to be further treated with harsh chemicals. AQUA-Cal+™ digests the pond sludge quicker than current methods while absorbing waste bioproducts. These are then converted into a slow-release fertiliser, which dissolves into the water enhancing the natural algae, which is food for prawns and shrimp.

40 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Ultimately, Calix takes a natural product, and activates this by calcination and hydration. AQUA-Cal+â&#x201E;˘ is dosed into aquaculture ponds to enhance and improve aerobic digest of toxic sludge. The bi-product of digestion helps to feed the fish, prawn or shrimp without dumping toxic material making the whole system sustainable.

Calix is a multi-award-winning Australian technology company that focuses on solving global challenges with new processes and materials. We work with Australian aquaculture farmers, and can help create sustainable farms to feed Australia, and the world. * http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/aquaculture.cfmÂ

41 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #2 Operating freshwater salmon RAS

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

Operating a RAS is quite a daunting task; the salmon are like astronauts of life support. I haven’t had a disaster for over a decade thanks to robust design, back up systems and a good alarm, but I still can never be quite sure what I will find in the morning.

In this, the last of my three articles, I’ll describe how to run a RAS in the best way possible. A lot of effort goes into the design and building of the unit but that’s just the start, there’s the smooth running of the system with a proper maintenance schedule and crucially, the care of the stock.

I can’t say I’ve read a huge amount about fish rearing but I can’t ever recall seeing an article devoted to the wellbeing and behaviour of the fish reared and how crucially important it is to for the smooth running of a RAS unit. Carp are very tolerant of bad environments and are easily domesticated but salmon are like racehorses and will take every opportunity to die that is offered.

Operation

I would imagine most people know about pH, ammonia, nitrites etc. levels so I won’t dwell on this for very long assuming the system is up to the job. I don’t monitor these anymore unless there might be a problem, my systems have a large cushioning water volume and I keep the bio-filter alive between crops.

A bio-filter should be coping with ammonia after a day or two; the nitrites can take up to a month to stabilise and in three months the filter is fully mature. A RAS is home to two animals, the fish and the filter, if one dies then the other dies with it. For this reason it’s very dangerous to have anything around that might accidentally kill either, chemicals like Chloramine T destroy filters instantly and the fish will die soon after if there isn’t enough fresh water to call on.

The filter can grow with the fish if a batch policy is operated, a continuously harvested system has a stable biomass but is probably always running near its maximum capacity like fully laden truck going top speed all the time, good for efficiency but more likely to crash. I use a batch process with discreet units and harvest over a period of time; this gives my static filters a rundown phase in which to clean themselves.

Once the RAS is running it settles down to a life of its own, the operator will get used to the flow rates of the water and the sounds of the machinery. These things can be noticed from day to day.

A single operator will notice any slight changes that are a precursor to an equipment failure such as a noisy bearing on a pump, which can then be replaced in good time. I look after my RAS 365 days a year (which is probably a bit sad!) but I have sole responsibility and no one else to blame if warning signs are not heeded, I can’t see how this can work so well with multiple personnel.

A tip here, don’t change anything on the RAS then leave it! It’s after an equipment change that something can fail, for example a pipe might not have been properly secured after a pump change, and will come off a few minutes later.

There will still be some natural variation of water parameters over time; temperature varies with the seasons and with it an evolution of the filter flora and fauna causing changes in water clarity or oxygen levels.

This doesn’t seem to bother the fish but it can have implications for the smooth running of the system. For example if the water goes cloudy, the mortalities can’t be seen to be removed if they are normally visually speared or scoop netted, a rotting dead salmon in an RAS will cause chronic health problems in the rest of the stock.

It’s not always the case that addition of fresh water will help the system, I find I have the urge to add more borehole water ‘because it must do some good’ but this isn’t necessarily the case. If the temperature is right and the fish are happy changing the water conditions will actually disturb them, spring or borehole water might look wonderfully clean to us but it’s often not a very good environment for fish in its raw form.

Husbandry and salmon behaviour

There are a lot of enthusiasts out there who make a very good job of running complex aquarium setups so it would be reasonable to assume that there’s no shortage of staff who could do a reasonable job of operating a commercial salmon RAS. I would say that that’s the easy bit; it can make huge difference to the harvest outcome if the salmon are ‘happy and contented’. This is especially important with RAS mainly because the subtle behaviour of the fish is the best indication of how well the system is running.

I don’t think salmonids can be domesticated very easily especially as they aren’t bred for this trait; Atlantic Salmon are only a few generations from the wild anyway. I’ve grown a few commercial Rainbow Trout recently and was surprised that even they weren’t more comfortable with human presence.

The more they are disturbed and scared the more nervous they will be. If you go out a night and shine a torch into a tank of salmon, the first time they will just calmly swim about, second or third time they will 42 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY be disturbed, and by the fourth or fifth time they will go absolutely nuts and smash themselves about, in fear presumably.

It might seem trivial to a lot of people to stand at the side of a tank to look at the fish but it could mean to the fish that they are about to be netted or sucked up a fish pump. A salmon doesn’t enjoy being scooped out of the water any more than I like being throw in the water and held under, a good dose of empathy is needed here.

A day’s disturbance is at least a day’s production lost, to get the best growth out of salmon you need to get them settled in the right zone then leave them alone and go down the pub for a beer!

My salmon are handled only three to four times in their whole lives and each time it takes a few weeks for them to settle and the mortalities drop to effectively zero.

Currently I have a single mortality from a tank of 3000 salmon every two to three weeks, if this increases to say two in a week I suspect that something is wrong. The increased mortality of ‘poor doers’ that are present in any population are the canaries in the mine foretelling of a problem in a RAS, if the other possible causes have been eliminated by good husbandry.

Salmon are an ocean going pelagic fish so the most that can be done to allow them their natural behaviour the better. They need to swim hard most of the time so a circular tank with a good fast flow allows them to do this, with the by-product of a good firm flesh at harvest.

The tank has to be large enough and stocking density low enough and feeding rate high enough to prevent them

Image: Ben's partner Carol with a RAS 22kg Salmon

damaging themselves or each other at certain times.

One thing that surprises me with other RAS I’ve seen is the lack of screens to prevent the salmon jumping out, in my tanks the salmon would leap out all the time if they could, just as they do in the cages, maybe there’s something I’m not doing right! I think overfed salmon tend to jump out more as they don’t have to concentrate so hard on obtaining their food, but it is interesting to see their behaviour and feeding rate change with the time of year.

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Above: You will be rewarded with fish like this one metre long specimen if you look after your stock

As I write this in September, the four kg salmon in the outside tanks are feeding hard presumably to store up reserves for a possible spawning migration next year. It’s a help with the rearing to know that these subtle changes of behaviour exist even in RAS. For your stock intake, always start with eggs is a good rule to operate, not only does it eliminate imported disease risk but the salmon start off in the environment they will live in and will be well adjusted. You will know you can select a top grade and sort the fish as they grow to your specification.

This helps a lot with final harvest weight and level of maturation later on.

For this year’s harvest at my RAS there is less than four percent maturation brought about by taking in a very low grilsing strain, the right photoperiod regime and selection for silver coloration at 100g.

Another one of my rules is: No freaks!

I’ve experimented with triploids, different species of trout and hybrids over the last three years (I have a few 10kg tiger trout outside) and I have to say none of them have performed as well as the standard diploid salmon; they catch up in size even with rainbow trout in the end.

The main problem with ‘freaks’ is deformities and raised mortality levels, there may be a case for all female salmon but I’ve only grown them to 200g so I can’t say. For a commercial salmonid RAS I would stick with salmon, I don’t think they are harder to grow than trout once you know what you’re doing and the price is so much better, but then I am a salmon specialist and probably biased.

Feeding

Seeing as a major portion of fish feed is fishmeal, uneaten food has effectively the same rotting potential as dead fish; perhaps more, because the pellets soon break up into tiny particles and release oil and organic matter into solution.

In normal single pass rearing tanks the pellets are usually carried away, but in a RAS it’s of critical importance not to feed more than the salmon are willing to eat. Of course, it’s necessary to observe if there is any uneaten food and when it’s produced, that’s where a waste settlement chamber has a great advantage over a more standard RAS setup. This problem is compounded by the fact that the human being is hard wired to feed as much food as possible to anything that it nurtures; and compounded again by the fact that salmon (like crocodiles and great white sharks) are cold-blooded organisms, which can survive for more than a year without food. Food for them is not such a high priority; a salmon can enter a river in January and not feed again until spawning time the next December.

It’s especially difficult with newly introduced stock, it’s almost impossible not to overfeed in the first few days after the new stock goes in and then underfeed in the subsequent fortnight before finding the right amount to feed each day.

Uneaten food in the water is potentially a very bad start

particularly for newly introduced and handled salmon, which are vulnerable to fungal infections in fresh water. This is usually the only time I need to treat the salmon; 100-120 ppm formalin is a great help here.

When I first started with salmon RAS I grew them in a brackish water (which is the best environment for a lot of fish) but once again, with good husbandry this is not necessary. It can be expensive to add salt to freshwater and difficult to keep the concentration stable, but is useful as a treatment option.

In normal feeding conditions I like to regulate the amount of feed by using specific number of small feeders. That way the temptation is removed to put a bit more than required into a large hopper.

I don’t feed ‘to tables’, the manufacturer’s recommendations seem to always be too high; I’m currently feeding four kg salmon at the rate of 0.4 percent per day at 13C. It’s best to keep them hungry, even if it means getting soaked by the fish when filling the feeders!

I see there are special feeds for RAS coming on to the market formulated with very high oil and low nitrogen and suspended solids output. I think this approach is not a good one for market size salmon production, the design of the RAS should allow the fish to be fed whatever feed is necessary to produce the highest quality product possible, at least while RAS produced salmon are still a niche product, also the more unnatural the diet, the more possible health problems that might occur.

The whole feeding process is very good for monitoring the current state of a RAS; the operator should be looking for the smallest change in feeding enthusiasm. If food is not eaten, is it because the fish are frightened or is there a problem with the system?

There are subtle things to notice like the amount of froth on the water, if there is none that means there is oil from uneaten food on the water surface, if there is a lot then the feeders are probably not working, either symptom could be the forewarning of potential problem in the near future.

Conclusion

In fact, I believe a lot of the health problems that are encountered in fish farming can be sourced to not operating the good rearing techniques described in this article, leaving the fish chronically stressed.

In my experience, if the RAS is properly quarantined and operated, then any health problems must be because the husbandry is below standard. It makes the running of a RAS much simpler if the negative effects of system not functioning properly aren’t masked and confused by effects of poor husbandry.

It’s a shame if after all the hard work of planning and construction, a RAS project fails because the salmon are not properly cared for.

It’s not all negative; calm undisturbed salmon use less oxygen, convert food more efficiently and need less labour to look after, they end up larger and their flesh is better quality, which is true of all fish farming of course. One of my jokes is that I know the RAS is doing well when I find myself in the supermarket buying cat food!

As for me, I’m taking a break from the day to day running of my RAS to get involved in some RAS construction projects. I’ve had the opportunity to have my say over the three articles, in which there is a lot of free advice, I hope at least some of it is taken.

44 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

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Industry Events Events listing n 1 – 2/11/17 - GMP+ International Conference Netherlands WEB: www.feedsafetyconference. com n 3 – 5/11/17 - 6th Annual World Congress of Aquaculture and Fisheries 2017 China WEB: www.bitcongress.com/ wcaf2017/default.asp n 07 - 10/11/17 - LACQUA Mexico WEB: was.org WorldAquacultureSociety wrldaquaculture n 08 - 09/11/17 - JTIC INTERNATIONAL 2017 France WEB: www.jtic.eu n 08 - 10/11/17 - EXPO PESCA & ACUIPERU 2017 Peru WEB: www.thaiscorp.com n 09 - 11/11/17 - Fi India India WEB: www.figlobal.com/india n 09 - 11/11/17 - Taiwan International Fisheries & Seafood Show Taiwan WEB: www.taiwanfishery.com n 28 – 30/11/17 - Fi Europe Germany WEB: www.figlobal.com/fieurope n 29/11/17 – 1/12/17 - Sustainable Ocean Summit 2017 Canada WEB: www.oceancouncil.org/event/ sustainable-ocean-summit-2017/

Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2018 Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2018 (APA18) is the mega event on Aquaculture in the Asian Pacific Region.

The international conference and tradeshow, organized by the World Aquaculture Society, and hosted by the National Taiwan Ocean University will be held at the Taipei International Convention Centre (TICC) on April 23-26 2018, Taipei Taiwan.

The conference will include three days of topics-based parallel sessions as following, Grouper, Ornamentals, Seaweeds and Live feed, Fish Culture: Freshwater, Mollusks and Crustaceans, Food safety, Aquatic Animal Health, Shrimp Health & Disease and Aqua-feeds amongst others.

Abstract Submission for APA18 - Deadline January 31, 2018. Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2018 would like to encourage everyone to submit a high quality abstract for both oral and poster presentations. Authors are strongly encouraged to consider poster presentations as poster sessions are an integral part of the programme.

Papers submitted for “oral presentation only” may not be accepted as oral presentations due to the limited number of available time slots. All abstracts must be in English - the official language of the conference. Each oral presenter shall be entitled to no more than 15 minutes for a presentation, plus five minutes for questions.

Authors of studies involving proprietary products or formulations should present this information in workshops or the trade show. Oral presentations should use Power Point.

Overhead and slide projectors and video players will not be available or allowed.

Please submit your abstract as early as possible before the deadline on January 31, 2018.

Ocean Summit: Only one month to go The 2017 edition of the Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS), organised by the World Ocean Council (WOC) is looking very promising.

The number of registrations has never been so high, and at one month before the event 300 high level participants are expected. This three-day conference event provides a yearly review of status and trends in Ocean economic activity. The 2017 edition will be held in Halifax, Canada, November 29-December 1, 2017.

The SOS is uniquely designed to bring together leadership companies from the diverse Ocean Business Community: shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, seabed mining, tourism, renewable energy, ports and dredging amongst other.

Last year the event was held in Rotterdam. Over 200 participants gathered to discuss the role of the ocean business community in addressing critical marine environment and sustainability challenges.

For more industry event information - visit our events register www.aquafeed.co.uk

IFFO Awards at the 57th Annual Conference

READ INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED FOR FREE ON YOUR MOBILE!

bit.ly/readaquafeed

The IFFO’s 57th Annual Conference came to a close with the announcement of the winners of the IFFO awards.

Danish feed company Aller Aqua (IFFO Non-producer member) won a leadership and innovation award for their expansion work in Africa.

IFFO Producer member American Seafoods Co. won a leadership award for their work in driving fisheries improvements in their industries, such as MSC certifications of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Pacific hake fisheries, both posting the highest MSC scores in any whitefish fishery; and being the first US fishing company to complete a four puller, Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) with no corrective actions.

This year’s conference was attended by 400 delegates from 37 countries and included 47 presentations from leading industry scientists, case studies on countries and specific industries and analyses of latest market trends. Presentations included the USA’s National Fisheries Institute’s John Connelly giving an insight into the host country’s seafood market and warned the global industry to keep a close eye on US trade policies in this turbulent period.

46 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

23 & 24 May 2018, Aviemore, Scotland No other UK event provides aquaculture professionals with direct access to suppliers from all over the globe representing all aspects of the aquaculture industry.

Over two days Aquaculture UK offers a valuable opportunity to network, discover new products and meet decision makers. The atmosphere is dynamic and exciting with open and friendly interaction between exhibitors and visitors.

DON’T MISS THE UK’S LARGEST AQUACULTURE EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE Aqauculture UK 2018 Supported by

Visit www.aquacultureuk.com to register as a visitor or contact info@aquacultureuk.com to find out more about exhibiting.

Industry Events

A bright future

for New Zealand aquaculture

by Peter Parker, International Aquafeed magazine

T

he 2017 New Zealand Aquaculture Conference was held September 20-21, at the Rutherford Hotel in sunny Nelson, a city on the northern coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The two-day event is held annually and brings together the nation’s aquaculture industry as well as exhibitors and international delegates.

Featuring the Cargill EWOS sponsored technical day on the Wednesday, and the New Zealand Aquaculture conference on the Thursday, this event was the perfect opportunity for the industry to network and share ideas towards building a strong and sustainable aquaculture industry for the future.

Throughout the event participants were discussing the excellent Sanford sponsored cocktail function which certainly lived up to the hype on the closing hours of the event.

According to Aquaculture New Zealand, the conference’s inspiring speakers, amazing seafood and unparalleled networking opportunities, has it “widely celebrated as New Zealand’s best primary sector conference.”

Nelson

It is most fitting that Nelson is the scene for this conference, aside from being a beautiful place with great facilities for catering to visitors, it is also one of New Zealand’s key aquacultural hubs with a number of the key aquaculture support organisations being based there; such as Aquaculture New Zealand, the Cawthrone institute, and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

The Aquaculture New Zealand organisation was formed in 2007 to be the single voice for the New Zealand aquaculture sector.

Where previously, the New Zealand industry was made up of three independent species bodies in the New Zealand Mussel Industry Council, the New Zealand Salmon Famers Association and the New Zealand Oyster Industry Association.

Aquaculture New Zealand aims to bring together these memberships. According to the Aquaculture New Zealand website they are primarily funded through an industry levy, and their chief role is the implementation of the industry strategy which aims to grow the sector to earn NZD$1 billion annually by 2025. A value which was frequently mentioned throughout the conference with passion and optimism.

While in Nelson I was fortunate enough to be taken on a tour through the Cawthrone Institute’s aquaculture park by Dr Leo Zamora an aquaculture scientist currently conducting research on geoduck, a large edible clam with potential to be farmed in New Zealand. This was one of many species being studied at the 20 hectare aquaculture park that is equipped with purpose built wet

Darren Bray, Business Development Manager, BIG Nutrition (representing Cargill/EWOS in South Pacific) Our company started importing grow best feeds out of Indonesia 13 years ago and that progressed to being more fish driven rather than shrimp driven, over time we became the representative for EWOS/Cargill.

This is my sixth time attending Aquaculture NZ Conference. In regards to the number of attendees, there has been definite growth over the past five years.

This is our third year sponsoring the salmon stream technical day.

Our focus in the New Zealand aquaculture industry is salmon, currently we supply fresh water feeds into New Zealand, but grow out feeds from all different regions into Australia.

I would like to see increased growth in New Zealand’s aquaculture, a diversification of species would also benefit the region. I believe there is good potential for King fish as well as Hapuka and Trout, where currently salmon is the single species.

In order for this to happen I believe government support is required, a recognition of and continued R&D on new species.

48 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

Industry Events Aquaculture scientist Dr Leo Zamora and International Aquafeedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Peter Parker at the Cawthron Institute following a tour and introduction to the exciting aquaculture studies underway there

Joe McElwee, Cesar Lopez, and Brendan Lee at their stand promoting their solutions to the New Zealand industry

Ross Briggs, Senior Project Manager, Fresh by Design Fresh by Design is an aquaculture facility design company and an equipment supply company. Based out of Australia, with offices in Northern New South Wales, Sydney, and as of last year in Hobart.

Servicing the salmon industry in Tasmania, the barramundi industry in Queensland, and also the prawn industry.

The main products we are providing into New Zealand currently are the biostream fish pumps, we are the exclusive distributor for these products, they go up to 14 inch now so they can be used for anything from baby fish at five grams, all the way up to nine kilogram fish. We also do a wide range of graders, fish counters, ultra-violet sterilisation, feeders, water pumps. This is my first time at this show, but the company has been coming for several years.

About 50 percent of our business is facility design for RAS systems, we do this for a range of industries, everything from salmon brood stock systems, hatcheries, and recently a barramundi advanced fingerling system. We offer a complete solution, and we have found that what is really essential is the post-project support.

We have got a couple of projects going on in New Zealand, and we are looking at getting an office set up here in either Nelson or Christchurch. The New Zealand industry is growing very fast, it is well developed, and they have the benefit of hindsight in terms of seeing what the Atlantic salmon industry has done to have grown.

Some of that technology has been available quite early in terms of their growth, whereas the wider salmon industry was developing that technology as it was growing. It is the same as the barramundi industry, they are able to adopt technology which was developed for the salmon industry to their own industry. Everyone seems to be smart and focused on growing business in a healthy way, I think this industry is going to be fine.

The University of Limerick (UL) is a rapidly growing, modern university. UL is a young, energetic and enterprising university with a proud record of innovation in education, and excellence in research and scholarship. We take great pride in attracting students who are seeking a supportive learning environment to help nurture and achieve their personal and professional dreams.

UL is highly regarded for conducting leading-edge research in key areas such as biological sciences, information and communication technologies, materials and surface science, environment & bioengineering and humanities & social sciences.

Limerick is in western Ireland, an ideal starting point to explore the Wild Atlantic Way. Shannon International airport is only 24km away with frequent bus connections. Limerick, with an urban and hinterland population of over 200,000, has something to offer everybody thanks to its many cultural, historical, architectural, sporting, shopping and business activities. With almost 50 per cent of Limerickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population under the age of 30, it is a vibrant, living, cosmopolitan city.

www.ul.ie International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 49

We have the largest work placement programme of any university in Ireland, with a network of over 1700 employers Amazing academic and sporting facilities on a stunning campus Graduate employment rates that are 18% above the Irish average

Industry Events laboratories, intensive algae culture facilities, dry laboratories, and more. The park which was formally opened in February 2011 is protected by Nelson’s boulder bank and is the ideal location for aquaculture research, development and commercialisation.

Cargill EWOS Technical day

Day one saw attendees receive a welcome from Aquaculture New Zealand’s Technical Director Colin Johnston. This was followed by a full on day of 20 presentations across two halls, the majority of which divided into the salmon stream and the diversification & resilience stream.

The presentations covered a wide ranging scope, with an opening plenary featuring Global Aquaculture Alliance’s President Dr George Chamberlain discussing aquaculture’s number one issue globally – biosecurity, sharing with the audience his experiences internationally with biosecurity.

The second plenary speaker was Associate Professor Christopher Burt on strategies to improve employee safety, highlighting the ever present problem across industries that is new employees’ safety and how to address this.

Topics were discussed throughout the day by University professors, research institute scientists, and industry representatives, ranging from ocean acidification, the potential of seaweed, right through to antimicrobial coating and surface additive solutions for the processing stage.

Attendees I spoke to said they had especially enjoyed a block dedicated to research and development, a topic especially relevant to the relatively young industry of aquaculture where innovation is both commonplace and necessary.

David Koedyk of Baldwins Law Limited gave a presentation and answered the audiences in detail on the intricacies of intellectual property law and the processes businesses should aim for. This was followed by presentations on the supply chain, the importance of precompetitive R&D, and a panel discussion.

The day was closed with the New Zealand Salmon Farmers Association meeting for members and invited guests.

Garry Seidl, Managing Director, Hexcyl Systems, Australia We produce an extremely robust shellfish basket with a unique and highly efficient design that is ideally suited for use with the adjustable long line oyster farming system. Our latest range of products has been on the market for approximately two years but the first of the baskets has been available on the market since around 2008. At the moment we sell into mainland Australia, France, USA, Canada, Japan, and of course here in New Zealand.

The key benefit of these baskets is their longevity and robustness so material selection was a key criteria when we started the project back in about 2005. At the time we identified one of the biggest problems in aquaculture was that a majority of the infrastructure components going into the marine environment were substandard.

A unique feature of our 25 litre shellfish baskets is the patented connection system where the suspension system connects to the body of the basket. The unique design of this connection system helps to eliminate unnecessary and destructive wear of critical components. Whenever you put something into a marine environment one of the key failing is wear, because of the constant motion of the environment.

This is my second time at this conference, I was here two years ago and so it has been great to come back and re-visit and see where the industry is progressing and as you can see there is some really good technology coming out in sub-tidal shellfish farming for mussels and those same technologies can be adopted for oysters.

There is a real cross over for some of the larger fin fish farming operations that are also considering delving into shellfish.

So the industry is really bouncing back particularly after the pacific oyster mortality syndrome, it is great to see all of the hard work that has been done over the past years coming to fruition.

The conference

The official conference was officially opened with a mihi whakatau (formal Māori welcome) performed by Archdeacon Harvey Ruru.

Most notably in his welcome he acknowledged how the decisions made by attendees throughout the conference is for the future children of New Zealand.

The conference day offered over two hours of refreshment breaks sponsored by the Cawthron Institute, New Zealand King Salmon, BNZ, and NMIT. The presentations were generally more conceptually focused rather than technically focused like those the day prior.

Aquaculture New Zealand’s A+ Certification

In recent years Aquaculture New Zealand has developed a sustainable management framework called A+. It is a world class sustainable management framework which enables the New Zealand aquaculture industry to better engage with our communities and continuously improve our environmental practices while strengthening global demand for New Zealand's farmed seafood.

In an interview Aquaculture New Zealand’s Environmental Manager, Rebecca Clarkson on A+ she explained, “One of the arms of our organisation’s strategy was environmental sustainability. We started thinking of ways we could assist the industry in demonstrating their sustainability and we decided we could help the industry join a certification program such as GAA (Global Aquaculture Alliance) or ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council).”

She continued, “What came out of market research and cost-benefit analysis was that with such a range of markets and producers in the New Zealand industry, it didn’t suite for everyone to meet that high

Mike Baker, Co-Director, N-Viro Mooring Systems and Marine Flex Elastic Mooring Systems We are involved in all aspects of underwater anchoring and environmentally friendly mooring.

Marine Flex is a rubber cord mooring system which replaces anchor chains that cause a lot of disturbance and liquefaction of the seabed. Ofcourse being a natural rubber product it is environmentally friendly, supported by a screw anchor system which has a small footprint, and can take on very high vertical loads.

We developed the screw anchor system nearly 30 years ago and have since done over 20,000 of them in New Zealand and abroad.

However Marine Flex is a relatively new development which we have brought into the market place, a lot of companies have shown a huge interest in it, including Aqualine, Norway. It removes anchor chains which are very destructive on the sea floor, the anchor chains are metal products with a high corrosion rate, so the elastic mooring has been very well received by the industry.

This is our first time at the Aquaculture New Zealand Conference, we have really enjoyed the feedback we have had today. A lot of the people here are our clients, it has been nice to sit down in a non-working environment and talk about future products.

Of course the industry is moving offshore into much more harsh environments, so this type of product is very useful.

50 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

Industry Events

Dr Mark Burdass, Aquaculture Programme Co-ordinator, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology We have three aquaculture programs available, a two year diploma, a three year bachelor’s degree, and a post graduate qualification which is one year. I think we are the only significant aquaculture training organisation offering that range of levels in New Zealand.

We have heavy engagement within the industry, in both supporting the program and our graduates. We work collaboratively with the industry here in Nelson in terms of our training programs. We have joint project work with the Cawthron Institute, SPAT NZ, New Zealand King Salmon, and also feed producers such as Skretting and Ridley as well.

All of the programs require the students to gain some level of work experience. Diplomas get four periods of work experience, the degree gets four periods of work experience plus an internship/ research dissertation, and post graduate students get a four to five month block of straight research dissertation.

NMIT are a gold sponsor here at the conference, my students are speaking and presenting posters here. This conference is great for us to liaise with the industry in a cohesive way, it is intense and allows us to catch up with a lot of people. It allows students to mix with the industry and meet potential employers.

Over the six years I have been coming to this conference it has grown in size and scope, not only the amount of people attending but also what is being talked about. There is certainly a more dynamic attitude towards aquaculture, people have improved confidence in the industry.

There are certainly challenges but there is a general measure of optimism which is good to see. We are gaining confidence as an industry that what we do is relevant and worthwhile, and that we should be making sure that everyone knows the good we do.

level certification tick with the audit requirements that are in place.

What they did need was to have their existing environmental codes of practices to be bought into an over-arching framework, with requirements to self-report against KPIS and independent verification of the industry’s performance to ensure the programme has integrity.”

Summarising she said, “We thought that the sweet spot of the whole of the New Zealand industry was to put something together that demonstrated and helped them achieve best practice. The resulting objectives aligned with the BAP and ASC.” The idea behind A+ is to get the entire industry up to a certain level, and then if they want to the jump up to either BAP or ASC that move will be easier.

Ms Clarkson commented, “Interestingly we found that the real value that emerged when developing this program wasn’t the market focus, but the community focus. In New Zealand there is a really strong requirement from the public for the aquaculture industry to have social licence. There is a real need to demonstrate to the communities that we are being responsible. A+ is now more geared towards being open and transparent, and striving for continuous improvement.”

Sanford cocktail function

Without a doubt the social highlight of the two day show was the Sanford sponsored cocktail function. Discussed by returning visitors the moment the exhibition started on Wednesday, the cocktail function delivers four hours of mingling with colleagues over the fruits of the industry immaculately prepared kai moana (seafood) – king salmon, green lipped mussels, and pacific oysters.

An excellent way to round out a successful event. It must be said that the enthusiasm and ideas of the people I met left me feeling optimistic that the future of New Zealand’s aquaculture is a bright one.

Asia Pacific Aquaculture

APA

April 24-26 Taipei - Taiwan

All info: www.was.org Trade show & Sponsorship: mario@marevent.com

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 51

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

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

Certification Chemoforma +41 61 8113355 www.chemoforma.com Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com Liptosa +34 902 157711 www.liptosa.com Nutriad +32 52 409596 www.nutriad.com Sonac +31 499 364800 www.sonac.biz

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

Bag closing Cetec Industrie +33 5 53 02 85 00 www.cetec.net

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

GMP+ International +31703074120 www.gmpplus.org

JEFO +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com

Equipment for sale

Conveyors Vigan Enginnering +32 67 89 50 41 www.vigan.com

Colour sorters

ExtruTech Inc +1 785 284 2153 www.extru-techinc.com

Event organisers

Bühler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com Satake +81 82 420 8560 www.satake-group.com

Computer software Adifo NV +32 50 303 211 www.adifo.com Format International Ltd +44 1483 726081 www.formatinternational.com Inteqnion +31 543 49 44 66 www.inteqnion.com

Coolers & driers Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de Bühler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com Consergra s.l +34 938 772207 www.consergra.com FrigorTec GmbH +49 7520 91482-0 www.frigortec.com Geelen Counterflow +31 475 592315 www.geelencounterflow.com Muyang Group +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com

Elevator buckets Alapala +90 212 465 60 40 www.alapala.com Tapco Inc +1 314 739 9191 www.tapcoinc.com

VIV +31 30 295 2772 www.viv.net

Extruders Almex +31 575 572666 www.almex.nl Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com Brabender +49 203 7788 0 www.brabender.com Buhler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com Dinnissen BV +31 77 467 3555 www.dinnissen.nl Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br IDAH +866 39 902701 www.idah.com Insta-Pro International +1 515 254 1260 www.insta-pro.com Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com Zheng Chang +86 2164184200 www.zhengchang.com/eng

Feed and ingredients

STIF +33 2 41 72 16 80 www.stifnet.com

Aliphos +32 478 210008 www.aliphos.com

VAV +31 71 4023701 www.vav.nl

Aller Aqua +45 70 22 19 10 www.aller-aqua.com

52 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

Jefo +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com SPAROS Tel.: +351 249 435 145 Website: www.sparos.pt

Pest control

Level measurement BinMaster Level Controls +1 402 434 9102 www.binmaster.com

TSC Silos +31 543 473979 www.tsc-silos.com

Pipe systems

Hatchery products Reed Mariculture +1 877 732 3276 www.reed-mariculture.com

Tornum AB +46 512 29100 www.tornum.com

Rentokil Pest Control +44 0800 917 1987 www.rentokil.co.uk

Jacob Sohne +49 571 9580 www.jacob-pipesystems.eu

Sensors

Used around

Aqualabo +33 2 97 89 25 30 www.aqualabo.fr

all industrial Plants sectors.

Fr. Jacob Sรถhne GmbH & Co. KG, Germany Tel. + 49 (0) 571 95580 | www. jacob-pipesystems.eu

Amandus Kahl 40 727 710 www.akahl.de

Visit us! www.pipe-systems.eu+49

Agromatic +41 55 2562100 www.agromatic.com

Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com

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

Moisture analysers

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

CHOPIN Technologies +33 14 1475045 www.chopin.fr

FAMSUN +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com

Doescher & Doescher GmbH +49 4087976770 www.doescher.com

Ottevanger

Dol Sensors +45 721 755 55 www.dol-sensors.com

Shrimp feed additives Dishman +31 318 545 754 www.dishman-netherlands.com

Training Aqua TT +353 1 644 9008 www.aquatt.ie/aquatt-services

+31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com

Hydronix +44 1483 468900 www.hydronix.com

Wynveen +31 26 47 90 699

Vaccines

www.wynveen.com Seedburo +1 312 738 3700 www.seedburo.com

NIR systems

+86 2164184200 www.zhengchang.com/eng

Probiotics

NIR-Online +49 6227 732668 www.nir-online.de

Biomin +43 2782 803 0 www.biomin.net

Packaging CB Packaging +44 7805 092067 www.cbpackaging.com

Lallemand + 33 562 745 555 www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com

Research

Cetec Industrie

Imaqua +32 92 64 73 38 www.imaqua.eu

+33 5 53 02 85 00 www.cetec.net Mondi Group +43 1 79013 4917 www.mondigroup.com

Safety equipment Rembe +49 2961 740 50 www.rembe.com

Palletisers Cetec Industrie

Second hand equipment

+33 5 53 02 85 00

Sanderson Weatherall +44 161 259 7054 www.sw.co.uk

www.cetec.net Ehcolo A/S +45 75 398411 www.ehcolo.com PAYPER, S.A. +34 973 21 60 40 www.payper.com

Pellet binders Akzo Nobel +46 303 850 00 www.bredol.com Borregaard LignoTech +47 69 11 80 00 www.lignotechfeed.com

Ridgeway Biologicals +44 1635 579516 www.ridgewaybiologicals.co.uk

Zheng Chang

Silos Denis +33 2 37 97 66 11 www.denis.fr Kepler Weber Group +55 11 4873-0300 www.kepler.com.br Obial +90 382 2662120 www.obial.com.tr MYSILO +90 382 266 2245 www.mysilo.com Muyang +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com

International Aquafeed - November 2017 | 53

Vacuum Wynveen International B.V. +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com

Weighing equipment Parkerfarm Weighing Systems +44 1246 456729 www.parkerfarm.com Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com Wynveen +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com

Yeast products ICC, Adding Value to Nutrition +55 11 3093 0753 www.iccbrazil.com 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 Patrick Charlton, Vice President at Alltech and CEO of Coppens International BV Patrick Charlton is Vice President at Alltech and CEO of Coppens International, a specialist aquaculture feed company, which was acquired by Alltech in 2016. Before joining Coppens International, Mr Charlton oversaw the activity of 32 Alltech offices across the European region.

He graduated from the University of Nottingham and joined Alltech UK in 1991, becoming the technical manager in 1995. In 1998, Charlton moved to Cape Town, South Africa, to become Technical Director for Alltech’s Africa and Middle East region.

He currently lives in the UK and received a master’s degree in fermentation and distilling from Heriot-Watt University in 2006.

What has Alltech brought the Coppens brand since the procurement?

I think the biggest thing has been the technology. It was very much nutrition focused, quality ingredients to make a quality diet, which was their focus.

I think the additive side has taken us in a new direction. You saw Ben Lamberigts (QRN Manager) speech and I was really proud because a year ago he might’ve struggled giving that presentation but now he’s seen the products working, like the work they’ve done on astaxanthin and the minerals here. So of course he’s a lot more confident when it’s his data.

The technologies have allowed us to stake a claim that we didn’t have in terms of high-end technology in the field. I think the other thing is global presence. Although Coppens was a global company it was still a small regional feed company.

They are now part of a much large company with offices in 129 countries.

We’re not pushing Coppens through all of them, we’ve said from the get go we’ll only work with Alltech where it’s relevant, we’re not going to every Alltech office and saying sell Coppens feed because it’s not fair. Not all of them have aqua people and markets and even if some of them do; selling feed is a different business to selling additives, it’s a B2C business, as opposed to a B2B business.

It becomes possible because we have the people. The biggest challenge with any of these markets is people.

What would you consider to be your top target areas in the future?

I think for this business it’s ultimately going to be distance, we do a little bit in Asia of our very high-end products – Coppens is very good at starter diets.

You get above one - 1.5ml diets and realistically, exporting those intercontinentally becomes challenging, but we do very little in Asia, which is 67 percent of the world’s aquaculture, so we’d have to look at that and go from there.

Pearse has always said to follow the road least travelled because that’s where the opportunity lies.

Obviously, you’re wearing two hats, VP of Alltech plus CEO of Coppens. How do you manage to balance those two, is there much synergy?

I’m a big believer that my role is to represent both businesses, both ways. By that, I mean I think there is a lot Coppens can help bring to Alltech in terms of it’s business structure, such as it’s Aqua Centre.

Dr Lyons said to me the other day, “You’re my go to guys, on the aqua side.”

He would always say we’re very focused on not creating business silos, so he uses a passionate phrase, “One Alltech”.

What he means by that is – Yes, the fish feed business is different and separate, but that doesn’t mean the team on the fish feed side are separate to everyone else. They’re not different citizens.

One of the ways Alltech has succeeded is by always breaking down barriers, we want to avoid barriers being built; having me wear both hats, that helps. I can make sure that the Coppens flag is flown within Alltech and globally; but similarly my job has been to help the Coppens team feel ‘Alltech’. That’s really been the big goal; I personally wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The biggest challenge with an acquisition is integration; the team here has been exemplary in how they’ve integrated into the business, because Alltech is a different company and we do things different ways.

I think that cross-pollination is so important and that’s why you need to avoid creating a silo mentality between the businesses that you have. When someone’s put in charge of a business and their attitude is, “I’m in charge of this business, so I’ll put a border around it because that’s all I’m responsible for.”

But I still see my responsibility being the success of Alltech, of which Coppens is now a significant part.

What area of aquaculture do you think is most important to focus on?

At the moment, the vast amount of technology goes into, what I would consider ‘cash crops’, like trout or salmon, that aren’t necessarily going to feed the world, but there might be residual benefits in relation to utilising those technologies elsewhere with different species.

It’s kind of like the difference between mining for diamonds and mining for iron ore.

One of the reasons we bought Coppens, is a level of frustration within Alltech with the more conservative nature of the feed industry.

When you sell feed at the end of the day, you’ve still got farmers who are looking to get the best beef; you still get price thrown back in your face and you can’t ignore that. We can all make the best feeds in the world, but at the end of the day, someone’s got to sell them and farmers will look for the best price.

The attractive thing about Coppens for Alltech, was it’s global footprint, but also it’s species footprint. We’re working with trout, catfish, sturgeon, tilapia and we’ve got the hobby sector and the list goes on and Alltech has helped move them into the salmon side of things, part of which is related to here.

We did that to showcase some of our technologies, the aim was to get a feed that was fish product free. The big missing piece of the puzzle for Coppens was that they could go without the fishmeal but they were struggling to go without the fish oil, the DHA. So we came in and added the final piece of the puzzle in.

54 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

PEOPLE

THE INDUSTRY FACES

New Key Account Manager at Leiber GmbH

D Dr Thomas Bissot

r Thomas Bissot has joined Leiber GmbH in their Animal Nutrition business unit as the Global Key Account Manager for Pet Food.

In this newly created position, he is taking care of the international market leaders and opinion formers in the pet food industry in order to expedite the expansion of Leiber yeast products and extracts in the pet food segment around the world. Dr Bissot is concentrating not only on supporting existing customers, but also on acquiring new business partners by developing customer-specific sales and marketing campaign solutions.

Following a degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Liège in Belgium, Dr Bissot first gained practical experience in a small-animal clinic and at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ghent. In 2005 he joined the Royal Canin Research and Development Centre as project manager. His projects here focussed on small animal gastroenterology and obesity biology, as well as the nutrition and behaviour of small animals in intensive-care medicine.

From 2008 to 2015 he was responsible for scientific communication and coordination between 60 countries in the eastern and southern region. From 2016 to 2017, he also achieved an executive MBA at Montpellier Business School.

Joining the board with immediate effect

Y

ngve Myhre has been announced by Benchmark today as a Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect.

Yngve Myhr

At 48 Mr Myhre has more than 20 years experience in the aquaculture sector as a senior executive, adviser and investor. He was chief executive of leading Norwegian salmon producer Salmar, and of international white fish supplier Aker Seafood during periods of successful growth. He is now chairman of Chilean salmon producer Nova Austral, and sits on the boards of Mediterranean fish producer Andromeda and Norwegian aquaculture research institute Nofima.

He also acts as strategic adviser to investors in the aquaculture sector. He has a very strong track record in Benchmark’s focus area of aquaculture, both in the Norwegian and international markets.

Alex Hambro, Benchmark’s Chairman, commented, “The Board of Benchmark carried out an extensive international search to bring to the Board additional international industry and commercialisation expertise. Attracting Yngve is a testament of the strength of our industry standing, our technology platform and our potential.”

Bringing over three decades of experience

H

ugo Wahnish has been announced by Benchmark today as a Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect.

At 65 he has over 35 years of experience in the animal health and pharmaceuticals industry, firstly with GlaxoSmithKline, and more recently with Merck during a period of major growth in the organisation.

Hugo Wahnish

He previously held the post of Chief Commercial Officer Animal Health at Merck, having responsibility for Merck’s commercial operations worldwide.

Since stepping down from that role in 2012, Mr Wahnish has acted as an independent senior advisor with several multinational companies, private equity groups and consulting firms primarily in the animal health sector. He brings a wealth of international experience to the board of Benchmark, alongside his expertise in aggressively growing businesses and in the commercialisation of medicines and animal health products.

Alex Hambro, Benchmark’s Chairman, commented, “The Board of Benchmark carried out an extensive international search to bring to the Board additional international industry and commercialisation expertise. Attracting Hugo is a testament of the strength of our industry standing, our technology platform and our potential.”

56 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed

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