INDUSTRY EVENTS
Aquaculture America 20 5 by Tom Blacker, International Aquafeed
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Tom Blacker, International Aquafeed magazine with Dr Craig Browdy, Director of Research & Development at Zeigler Bros. Inc
own by the busy Mississippi River, New Orleans once again hosted Aquaculture America which focused on ‘Aquaculture – Centre of the Plate.’ The event ran from February 19-22. Hosted by the local chapter of the WAS – including the US Aquaculture Society, the National Aquaculture Association and the Aquaculture Suppliers Association – the event took over the top three floors of the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street. Official media partners, International Aquafeed, exhibited and attended the entire exhibition and conference and also attended the Industry Tour Day that travelled out to the Mississippi after the final day. (We carry a report elsewhere in this magazine about the research and development happening in and around Mississippian aquaculture.) Beginning at the Opening Ceremony and Plenary Session, Kathleen H. Har tman, outgoing President of the US Aquaculture Society, welcomed all to New Orleans and this year’s Aquaculture America conference and exhibition. Other speakers from the seafood restaurant and distributor parts of the value chain were great in promoting aquaculture from their perspective. The common thread of the conference this year was ‘Centre of the Plate’. This meant that each speaker described what is the priority on the plate, how it reaches it and how consuming aquatic products is better for our society, our planet and us as humankind. Both the market and the public’s perception of aquaculture is changing and becoming more appreciative of our products. We were all told that we have to believe in aquaculture in order to change the tide and agenda of, in this case, the American consumer and the anti-aquaculture movement. On this note, the meeting of Federal Regulators came to the conference’s second day. No meaningful outcomes were achieved to the disappointment of attendees. The US aquaculture industry was said by many throughout the conference to be languishing and in need of developing larger economies of scale. Examples, such as the way that regulations for aquaculture differ greatly between states, the changing climate, the difficulty of raising capital and investment to start up, reinvest and grow and also how the cottage industry still sits alongside the developed industry were mentioned with room for improvement. At one conference session on US tilapia and soybean feed, a great ‘Aquaculture Handbook – Fish Farming and Nutrition in Pakistan’ produced by the American Soybean Association (ASA), the World Initiative for Soy in Human
Visitors to Rangen Inc's stand
Kristina Macias, Inside Sales Manager at Waterloo USA, Inc
Left to right: Dr Kevin Fitzsimmons, Aquaculture Researcher at Arizona University presenting the WISHH, USDA and ASA's 'Aquaculture Handbook—Fish Farming and Nutrition in Pakistan' to Dr RSN Janjua and a Tilapia Fish Famer.
March-April 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 46