July, August 2017

Advances in US sablefish

aquaculture hit snag

Limited number of permits issued for open-water net pens hinders commercial efforts

BY HEATHER WIEDENHOFT

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reached a milestone in May with its rst harvest of an all-female generation of mature sable sh. is is a landmark achievement as it makes the farming of this tasty, buttery sh on a commercial scale within the grasp of US sh farmers. e sh harvested weighed an average of 5.47 lbs each, for a total of 20,227 kgs (roughly 44,593 lbs).

“ at average size is akin to a 10-year-old sh in the wild,” remarked an astonished Kurt Grinnell of Jamestown S’Klallam LLC, owned by the S’Klallam tribe in Washington State and a partner

Taking ‘deadbeat’ sea urchins from the wild and fattening them in captivity opens up potential new opportunities in aquaculture From ‘deadbeat’ to delicacy

BY TOM WALKER

Taking an animal near the bottom of the benthic food chain and elevating its status to a premium sushi product, while helping to restore damaged aquatic ecosystems sounds like a win-win for Urchinomics president Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda.

“We are taking a natural resource that has very little economic value, a sea urchin with little or no marketable roe, and we are turning it into one of the most attractive seafood products on

NOAA scientists Bill Fairgrieve and Adam Luckenbach hold sablefish from a trial that was completed during the first week of May 2017, when the scientists made their first harvest of mature fish raised in net pens

on the research project with NOAA. Grinnell was very happy with the harvest, with low mortality rates similar to cultured salmon species. He sees “a big yield from a small space because sable sh is a hearty species that can withstand low-oxygen conditions and large temperature changes.”

e harvest marks the culmination of e orts of researchers at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle who, in 2015, succeeded in producing a genetically all-female generation of sable sh (Anoplopoma mbria). Females grow faster than males and are up to 30-percent larger at 24 months in aquaculture environments. Since

continued on page 7

the planet,” says Takeda from his company base in Norway.

“I have seen one fresh whole urchin go for $10 each in Tokyo,” says Takeda. “ at’s less than 100 grams of product.” He adds that processed “roe” as it is called (actually the gonads), and known as Uni in Japan, can fetch from $80 to $400 a kilo.

Workers haul catfish out of a pond in Moorehead, Mississippi. After years of decline, the catfish farming industry in the US is rebounding

Innovations, new approaches empower US catfish farmers

Record-high fish prices making segment attractive again

BY MATT JONES

ver the past 14 years, the aquaculture industry has seen a roughly 80-percent decline in the amount of pond space dedicated to cat sh, from a peak of around 80,000 hectares in 2002 to about 25,000 hectares in 2016.

Dr Jimmy Avery, who cited the gures in his paper on the status of the US cat sh farming industry, said however that the rate of decline has slowed signi cantly in recent years and new ponds were built in 2016 due to record live cat sh prices.

Avery is with the Mississippi State University’s ad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center. He presented his paper at Aquaculture America 2017.

“If you look at the period, for example, from 2006 to 2010, you’ve got very at sh prices at about $0.77 to $0.79 per pound,”

Credit: Edward Hayman

Credit: The Catfish Institute

Female and male green urchins spawning

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Treated salmon are sea-lice-free for 9 months

US company’s in-feed treatment approach to fight sea lice in salmon and trout has been found to provide protection against Caligus rogercresseyi most common louse species affecting salmonid farms in Chile — by an average of 35.8 weeks.

Chile was the first country to grant market approval of the Lufenuronbased treatment Imvixa, developed by Elanco. Over 50 million salmon have now been treated with Imvixa. The results show that the treatment is currently the

most effective medicinal product available in the country, said the company.

Salmon with sea lice. An in-feed treatment applied on more than 50 million salmon in Chile has been found effective against sea lice for roughly nine months

The treatment is given in feed to fish in freshwater before they are transferred to sea sites.

Studies have shown that it inhibits the formation of chitin in sea lice, which prevents the lice from developing into adults, said Elanco (ANA, Jan/Feb 2017, page 23).

UM

Project aims to identify and select species that can be successfully raised in RAS

Research promotes farming of tuna and Japanese flounder

joint-venture research project that seeks to advance aquaculture technology for high-value marine fish such as tuna and Japanese flounder (hirame) is underway at the University of Miami’s Experimental Fish Hatchery.

UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and New Yorkbased Aqquua LLC are collaborating in the three-year, $1.5-million project.

“The first step towards implementing viable land-based aquaculture operations is to identify and select species that can be successfully raised in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS),” said Charlie Siebenberg, Founder and CEO of Aqquua US. “For this reason, we have teamed up with UM Aquaculture to identify and select high-value species that can be raised at high stocking densities in such systems.”

The initiative will include upgrading existing facilities at the UM Experimental Fish Hatchery to conduct studies on reproductive physiology other requirements necessary to optimize aquaculture technologies of selected species.

North Carolina shellfish grower sorts oysters.

Lawmakers believe that amending a federal rule that aims to protect submerged aquatic vegetation could boost the state’s aquaculture industry

Credit: Millpoint Aquaculture

Senators want rule eased to boost North Carolina aquaculture

orth Carolina has the potential to become the “Napa Valley of Oysters” but a federal rule that aims to protect submerged aquatic vegetation stands in the way, two state lawmakers contend.

Senators Norman Sanderson (R-Carteret) and Bill Cook (R-Beaufort) filed Senate Bill 410 (Marine Aquaculture Development Act), which seeks to allow shellfish cultivation and aquaculture activities in North Carolina waters containing submerged aquatic vegetation. The senators believe the federal rule that aims to protect submerged aquatic vegetation is too restrictive.

“This policy is more stringent than policies used in other coastal states, including the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said the senators in a statement. “Shellfish lease applications in North Carolina have been routinely denied by the Division of Marine Fisheries due to the presence of any submerged aquatic vegetation.”

They believe that amending the federal rule has tremendous potential to create new jobs in the shellfish and aquaculture industry.

“With our acres of pristine waters and a large and growing interest in cultivated oysters, the potential for the industry in the state is huge,” the senators said. “Our goal is for North Carolina to become the Napa Valley of Oysters.”

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New US agriculture minister urged to support recirc farming

Agroup representing farmers, educators and NGOs committed to helping raise the profile of recirculating farms has asked the new US Secretary of Agriculture to support aquaponic and hydroponic farming.

Sonny Perdue was sworn in as the 31st US Secretary of Agriculture in April.

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Regular Contributors: Quentin Dodd, Ruby Gonzalez, Erich Luening, John Nickum, Matt Jones, Tom Walker, Amanda Bibby Group Publisher - Scott Jamieson sjamieson@annexweb.com

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Consumer watchdogs disagree on farmed-salmon rating

alifornia-based Seafood Watch in June upgraded farmed salmon certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) to “Good Alternative,” which means ASC-certified salmon is now on Seafood Watch’s list of seafood it recommends to consumers.

The updated recommendation will significantly increase the availability of sustainably farmed salmon in retail stores and restaurants, making it much easier for consumers to make an informed decision over the seafood they purchase, said Seafood Watch.

Norwegian salmon farmer pilots game-changing technology

almon farming company SalMar of Norway has taken delivery of the world’s first semi-submersible offshore fish farm that’s seen as a game-changer in the aquaculture industry.

Ocean Farm 1 is designed to test out both the biological as well as the technological aspects of offshore fish farming. The 360-foot-wide structure is designed to accommodate water for farming 1.5 million fish while maintaining a death rate of less than 2 percent, according to media reports in China, where the facility was built. It has a 25-year lifespan, can resist powerful typhoons, and requires only three to seven employees to operate.

ASC-certified salmon is now on Seafood Watch’s list of seafood it recommends to consumers but SeaChoice disagrees with decision

However, SeaChoice — a coalition of Canadian environmental groups — disagrees with Seafood Watch’s decision because the ASC salmon standard, on which the upgrade was based, has allowed some “variances” when applied on certain salmon farms. For example, ASC allows British Columbia salmon farms to be certified with more than 60 times the number of lice permitted by the standard, said SeaChoice. In Chile and Norway, ASC has allowed variances in chemical and drug use on farmed salmon, such that this “far exceeds prescribed limits” in those countries, said the group.

“Allowing variances to meet the sustainability criteria undermines the salmon standard. SeaChoice does not recognize ASC-certified farmed salmon as a ‘Good Alternative’ equivalent for consumers because Seafood Watch did not review these variances in its benchmarking process,” said SeaChoice in a statement. The group is asking ASC to no longer allow requests for variances so ASC can become a true gold standard for evaluating responsible aquaculture.

“The environmental organizations behind the SeaChoice program were so bullish on the ASC standard, and the Sea Choice program itself, when our members in BC were not able to reach that standard or were not recognized by that program. Their failing to recognize the advancements and innovations in salmon farming in BC is unfortunate.”

— Jeremy Dunn, executive director, BC Salmon Farmers Association

The executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), Jeremy Dunn, said the ASC certification is recognized as the gold standard and most robust third-party certification available for salmon farms. “In BC our members are meeting that at a rate as fast or faster than anywhere in the world. Over 15 percent of our production is certified to that standard,” he told Aquaculture North America (ANA) Dunn said close to $200 million has been invested or committed over the last three years mostly in technology and practices that increase the overall performance of BC salmon farms on many of the metrics that ASC measures on. He said many have complimented and recognized the industry for these advancements, thus it is quite “unfortunate” that SeaChoice fails to recognize them.

“The environmental organizations behind the SeaChoice program were so bullish on the ASC standard, and the SeaChoice program itself, when our members in BC were not able to reach that standard or were not recognized by that program. Their failing to recognize the advancements and innovations in salmon farming in BC is unfortunate,” he told ANA Dunn said BC salmon farmers will continue their march to sustainability and to working with organizations that are recognizing the improvements that they are making in their operations.

Seafood Watch’s decision also had its share of support from salmon farming giant Cermaq. Upgrading ASC-certified farmed salmon to “Good Alternative” is important especially in the US market, where the ASC standard is less known than in Europe, it said.

Upon arrival in Norway from Chinese shipbuilder Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group in the second half of the year, the offshore fish farm will be positioned in Frohavet, off the coast of Trøndelag, said SalMar in a statement.

As a full-scale pilot facility, Ocean Farm 1’s objective is to spur new technology concepts that can ensure sufficient growth whilst also ensuring environmental sustainability, said SalMar, adding that the “project could represent a new era in sustainable seafood production and is potentially adaptable worldwide.”

SalMar has reportedly ordered another five similar vessels.

Ocean Farm 1, the world’s first semi-submersible offshore fish farm, is designed to raise 1.5 million fish

Credit: SalMar

Credit: Liza Mayer

FAO issues warning against deadly tilapia virus

Tilapia ranks fourth among Americans’ Top 10 favourite seafood but it could disappear from dinner tables if a highly contagious disease spreading among farmed and wild tilapia is not stopped in its tracks.

Although not a human health risk, the fish disease —Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) — has large potential impact on global food security and nutrition, said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in a warning it issued on May 26.

Feeders

“The outbreak should be treated with concern and countries importing tilapias should take appropriate risk-management measures — intensifying diagnostics testing, enforcing health certificates, deploying quarantine measures and developing contingency plans,” the FAO statement said.

Opposition dogs Newfoundland aquaculture development

Protests focus on industry’s expansion and new salmon-waste composting facility

rieg Seafarms’ planned expansion of operations in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to draw protests from residents concerned over its potential environmental impacts. A new coalition has been formed to advocate for a more responsible expansion of the industry. At the same, a Newfoundland mayor opposes a related project, which she says will have impact her community negatively.

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TILV SIGNS

First signs of the virus were discovered in the summer of 2009 in several fish farms in Israel, where massive losses of tilapia were observed, according the study, “TiLV, An Emerging New Viral Disease of Tilapia spp” by researchers Ra’anan Ariav, Natan Wajsbrot and Allan Heres.

“The existence of fish that survived the TiLV disease strongly suggests that an effective immune response against this pathogen can be mounted. This has important applications for future disease containment strategies.”

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— Ra’anan Ariav, Natan Wajsbrot

and Allan Heres

The Newfoundland and Labrador Coalition for Aquaculture Reform (NLCAR) was formed in March by representatives from concerned organizations, including the Salmonid Council of NL, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, environmental advocacy groups, First Nations bands, and a number of scientific and academic advisors.

Reduce feed handling and labour costs

NL-CAR’s website outlines the coalition’s goals:

• freeze any further expansion of marine net pen aquaculture

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• review and revise marine net pen regulations to strengthen environmental protections

Signs of the disease were “gross lesions… characterized mainly by unilateral or bilateral ocular alterations (cataracts). Other lesions, observed in diseased pondraised tilapia included skin erosions and moderate congestion of the spleen and kidney,” the researchers wrote in an abstract presented at Aquaculture America 2017 in February. They also noted that morbidity and mortality was limited only to tilapia species and hybrids (Oreochromis niloticus X O. aureus hybrid).

parasitic infection, leading to mortality rates of over 50 percent in juvenile tilapia populations. The existence of fish that survived the TiLV disease strongly suggests that an effective immune response against this pathogen can be mounted. This has important applications for future disease containment strategies,” said the researchers.

FAO said TiLV has now been reported in five countries on three continents: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel and Thailand.

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The coalition says government agencies have failed to protect the environment and that there is an inherent conflict of interest when regulatory agencies are responsible for both conservation and development. The coalition also wants an aquaculture advisory committee comprised of industry, government, academia, funding agencies and environmental groups be formed.

NL-CAR did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

GLOVES ARE OFF

Residents of Whitbourne have been voicing their concerns over an industrial composting facility planned for the area. Mayor Hilda Whelan has publicly pondered whether the community’s concerns were falling on deaf ears because the facility would process waste from Grieg’s planned $250-million operation in Placentia Bay, among other clients.

Whelan says that she cannot understand why the planned site for the project is so close to town when there is a no shortage of available areas further away from the community.

But Grieg NL told Aquaculture North America (ANA) that “no such arrange-

ment has been made with the proposed facility in question.” “Grieg NL has made arrangements for any future waste products with currently existing facilities in our area of operations,” the executive said.

Whelan also cited concerns over potential fires, stating that a compost fire is unlike a standard fire and that the community’s volunteer fire department has not been trained to deal with it.

Representatives for the company behind the project, Metro Environmental Services, have disregarded the Mayor’s concerns, telling CBC News that there would be no smell associated with the project and that putting out compost fires would require no special training for fire fighters.

Fire department officials agreed that no special equipment or additional firefighting training is required to extinguish Class-A piled material such as compost.

Environment Minister Eddie Joyce denied that political pressure would have any impact on whether the project is approved or not. “This will be approved or rejected on the information that’s found. This will not be done for any political expediency,” Joyce told CBC Radio — Matt Jones

Tilapia with lemon caper sauce. Americans’ fourth favourite seafood is at risk from a new virus that’s spreading among farmed and wild tilapia

Credit: simplyscratch.com

Residents of Whitbourne, Newfoundland, gather in mid-May for a protest against the proposed industrial composting facility that would process waste products from Grieg Seafarms’ planned expansion in the Placentia Bay area

Credit: Jamie Budden

Advances in US sablefish aquaculture hit snag

continued from cover

then, scientists Adam Luckenbach and Bill Fairgrieve have been raising this generation of sablefish at facilities in Manchester, Washington (Hatchery International, Issue 5 “All Females, All the Time”).

BIG HURDLE

The scientists produce approximately 10,000 all-female juveniles each year for grow out in net pens in open water. They have the potential to produce more juveniles, a capability that’s ideal in farming an emerging aquaculture species on commercial scale. The problem, however, is the limited number of permits for net pens in open water, where these juveniles would be raised to maturity. The permits issued by the federal government are already being used to grow non-native fish species in the Puget Sound region. One company, Cook Aquaculture, owns the majority of net-pen permits and is using them to raise Atlantic salmon. NOAA is working on the permitting process for sablefish.

VALUABLE FISH

Sablefish, or black cod, has caught the public’s attention with its rich buttery flavor and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Current wild stock numbers are unknown, but fishing is closely regulated by federal agencies. The controls on fishing have helped drive prices up. Earlier this year, prices were up roughly 11.5 percent from a year earlier — from $10 per lb at wholesale in 2015 to now $12.25 per lb — for fish 10 lbs or larger. Sablefish continues to be the highest valued finfish per pound in Alaska. The largest consumer of sablefish is Japan.

GROWING INTEREST

NOAA is providing a Texas-based aquaculture company, Global Blue Technologies, with about 7,000 fry (each weighing 0.5 grams on average) annually. Still in the development stage, Global Blue hopes to grow sablefish commercially in their indoor recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Their goal is “to meet increasing consumer demand while decreasing fishing pressures on wild stock,” states their website. Black cod is the company’s first choice of species to showcase a commercially indoor-raised fish using RAS. In May, they introduced their product to chefs, university researchers, and government officials in Portland, Oregon, where it well received. The fish was tasty enough for sushi chefs to request Global Blue to harvest smaller sablefish — weighing 400-500 grams instead of 2,000 grams or larger — for the sushi/sashimi market.

The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe continues to work with NOAA and the University of Washington, with funding from Sea Grant, on how to best optimize sablefish growout Success in commercial-scale farming of sablefish means jobs and income opportunities for the tribe.

Outside the US, Golden Eagle in Canada has capitalized on the growing demand for sablefish. The company raises its own stocks in net pens off Vancouver Island. They are the only international provider of cultured sablefish so far.

EFFORTS CONTINUE

Researchers and growers are careful to note that for now, this emerging aquaculture venture is not meant to replace wild-caught sablefish, or even compete with wild stocks. Instead they see it as a way to help take pressure off the limited wild stocks and supplement market supply when fishing season is over. Luckenbach also sees the benefits of farming locally, rather than “bringing in fish from other countries where we don’t know the rearing history or treatments used on the fish.”

NOAA’s research strives to create a sustainable, non-GMO, flavorful product with maximum growth potential while limiting environmental impacts. Sablefish aquaculture ticks all the boxes for sustainability: it is a species native to the Pacific Coast; the eggs are taken from wild, parasite- and disease-free stock; and there’s little to no discharge from feeding in net pens.

A further step in this direction are Fairgrieve’s efforts to develop a diet similar to natural food sources and leaves little to no waste behind after feeding. Luckenbach is also working with the University of Maryland to produce a reproductively sterile sablefish to mitigate risks of crossbreeding with wild populations.

“In the 80s, we saw a big push for aquaculture in the US, but rising costs and other setbacks have left us no longer at the forefront of development and industry,” says Kurt Grinnell of S’Klallam Jamestown LLC, a partner on the research grant with NOAA. He sees hope for aquaculture in the advances that NOAA achieved.

NOAA’s initial harvest of an all-female sablefish at its facility in Manchester, Washington weighed an average of 5.47 lbs each, for a total of 20,227

weighed roughly 135 grams each when they were stocked

December 2015

NOAA scientist Bill Fairgrieve holds a tank-raised monosex female sablefish. Females grow faster than males and are up to 30-percent larger at 24 months in aquaculture environments

kgs. The fish

in the net pens in mid-

Credit: Bill Fairgrieve/NOAA

Fish from a batch reared entirely in tanks is weighed Credit: Edward Hayman

Credit: Edward Hayman

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US catfish farmers continued from

says Avery. “At the same time, feed was beginning to go from roughly $255 per tonne in 2006 to around $375 to $380 per tonne in 2010. So you’ve got increasing feed prices, relatively flat fish prices and increased competition from foreign competitors. And pretty much a sluggish economy during that time frame,” Avery tells Aquaculture North America (ANA).

Ripe for a rebound

After 2010, market conditions began to improve as domestic production has dropped to the point where the market was willing to pay more to make sure it was getting US product, says Avery. Catfish prices went up steadily from $0.80 per pound to $1.21 per pound in 2016 (see graph). Feed prices have dropped to $378 per tonne by 2016 from a high of $562 per tonne in 2012. Meanwhile, likely driven by previously dire market conditions — a variety of new technologies and techniques came to the forefront.

cover

producers be stronger. It doesn’t work for everybody, but it’s helped a lot of producers change the way that they were farming. Our workup is evolution – the strongest will survive and those of us who learn to adapt and tighten up some of our margins and watch everything a little bit closer –we’re able to hang around. We have been doing well for a few years to make up for some of those bad years.”

Joey Lowery, owner of Lowery Aqua Farm and former president of the Catfish Farmers of America, agrees, noting how the smart businesses that survived the difficult times changed their approach.

Catfish farmers have weathered some storms and those who have survived are here to stay, says Roger Barlow, president of The Catfish

Institute

“Whether you’re looking at increased aeration, the use of hybrid catfish, or the use of more-intensive production systems, [new technologies] have really allowed farmers to take advantage of these kinds of fish prices,” says Avery. “We can really get out there and produce more on a per-acre basis. It’s those new technologies that are really allowing people to take advantage of this upturn.”

Credit: The Catfish Institute

The president of the Catfish Farmers of America, Townsend Kyser, of the the Kyser Family Farms, noted that new technologies such as his farm’s oxygen monitoring system, have greatly improved the way they run their business.

“Those changes helped, and there have been some hybrid catfish that have been developed that seem to grow a little bit faster,” says Kyser, who was once named Catfish Farmer of the Year by the Alabama Farmers Federation. “That has helped some

“When prices are low, you need to cut your stocking back,” says Lowery. “You need to do things a lot more efficiently. It just doesn’t pay to try to raise all the fish you can when you’ve got bad economic conditions. People that saw that, and did that, I think fared better than the guys who just kept on hammering.”

A contributing factor in the industry’s upturn is the efficiency of operations in terms of the amount of space utilized. New techniques have allowed catfish farms to produce more fish from a much smaller space.

“I think the average production per acre now is around 6,000 pounds,” says Lowery. “Several years ago, it was around 3,500. That’s really significant, that we’re producing more fish on less acreage. And that’s due to some increased aeration, some split-cell, split-pond production technique.”

Grown in America

Roger Barlow, president of Mississippi’s The Catfish Institute, says what helped the industry further has been finding the right market and positioning the product correctly.

“We are American farmers and we’re growing American catfish for the

American consumer. We are not taking the consumer for granted,” says Barlow. “We understand it’s a challenge to maintain that loyalty that exists between the consumer and the farmer and the product that we offer.”

Kyser goes even further, noting that everyone who is still in business is now using labels that make consumers aware of the differences between their products and those imported from other areas.

“We have higher quality product, raised and grown in a much better environment, and some people are willing to pay for that,” says Kyser. “That’s the kind of people we need to be working with.”

Another recent piece of good news is the announcement that, as of September, catfish imported from Vietnam will be held to the same standards as those produced domestically. All producers we spoke to felt this was a very positive development.

“They [Vietnamese farmers] ought to be doing the equivalent of what we’re doing over here,” says Lowery. “Anything that comes into this country should meet our standards. I think people in this country take that for granted; they think that everything is inspected and everything is up to par, but that’s not the case at all. And we have a right to demand that as Americans.”

Outlook

Barlow posits that as the industry continues to rebound and grow, regulatory issues will become more prevalent and will be the next challenge for the industry.

“We can really get out there and produce more on a per-acre basis. It’s those new technologies that are really allowing people to take advantage of this upturn.”

~ Dr Jimmy Avery

“There’s no question, there’s going to be more regulations as it pertains to water quality, groundwater usage,” says Barlow. “That’s coming our way fast. Too much regulation can stifle the industry, the right amount can benefit consumer confidence. A balance will have to be struck.”

Avery emphasizes that while things are going swimmingly now, catfish farmers need to remain adaptable to fluctuating market conditions.

“If production costs increase, say, by 5 to 10 percent, what kind of impact will that have in the marketplace? And if fish prices drop, or feed prices rise two years or three years out, that could certainly bring in new challenges.”

Finding the right market and positioning the product as grown by Americans for Americans has helped in the industry’s recovery, sources say Credit: The Catfish Institute

Large wheel keeps the water circulating in a split pond with catfish Credit: Joey Lowery

At left: Catfish feeding in progress at Lowery Aqua Farm in Amagon, Arkansas Credit: Joey Lowery

FLOATERS & SINKERS

BY JOHN G. NICKUM

The Lacey Act, Injurious Wildlife, and the Intent of Congress

Adecision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in early April this year appears to have brought partial clarification to some of the long-standing arguments between American fish farmers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Has it, or is there more to come? The long and complex history of the Lacey Act indicates that resolution will not come easily and Congress has shown little interest in clarifying or modifying the intent of bygone legislators.

Twenty-five year ago the Department of the Interior attorney chastised me when I suggested that the full meaning of a new regulation (not Lacey Act) would not be known until a substantial volume of case law dealing with the regulation was determined by court decisions. I laughed in response, inasmuch as I considered it to quite an honor to be called “cynical” by a “DC lawyer.”

American fish farmers and the USFWS have engaged in longstanding arguments about the full meaning of the Lacey Act on an array of matters pertaining to aquaculture. Considering the fact that the

Lacey Act was passed initially in 1900, it becomes obvious that judicial clarifications can be a very slow process.

The initial intent of Congress with respect to the Lacey Act had nothing to do with aquaculture, or even fish. The original intent of the Lacey Act was to supplement and bolster state laws for the protection of “game and birds.” Transporting illegally taken game or birds from one state or territory to another was the focus of the Act. Such illegal transport was elevated

Fish are transported for restocking.

The provisions of the Lacey Act that prosecutes violations of state laws and regulations in interstate commerce remain as powerful as ever, says columnist

Credit: Auburn University

to a federal violation, possibly a felony, if the value exceeded a prescribed amount. The Black Bass Act (1926) added similar protections for fish.

Serious disagreements between the USFWS and American fish farmers started to develop in the 1970s as commercial production of channel catfish and several species of bait fish expanded rapidly. Enactment of the Endangered Species Act and amendments to the Lacey Act introduced additional factors, but nothing in the legislation or the accompanying “report language” suggested that Congress was terribly concerned about the potential effects of non-indigenous species and/ or injurious species on endangered species, or native species in general. However, the belief-driven philosophies of environmentalists within the USFWS promoted a culture in which nonindigenous and/or injurious wildlife were matters of great concern and had to be tightly controlled.

The USFWS and environmental colleagues attempted to promote a “clean list versus dirty list” approach to injurious wildlife law in the early 1970s. The proposed regulations would have barred importation of any wildlife or fish not listed as approved (aka, the clean list). Congress, due largely to opposition from the pet industry, aquarium enthusiasts, and fish hobbyists, rejected the “clean list” approach; preferring to list only those species deemed to be “injurious.” The question of whether or not injurious wildlife already present in the United States were to be banned from interstate commerce or transport was not addressed. The absence of Congressional clarification left the door open for actions and interpretations that would impose the tightest controls possible.

When I arrived in the Washington, DC offices of the USFWS in 1985, the arguments were starting to simmer. My appointment as National Aquaculture Coordinator for the USFWS (and the Department of the Interior) in 1989 was driven in part by the USFWS Director John Turner’s desire to “Help Aquaculture Grow” by placing a scientist with aquaculture background in a liaison position. An “Aquaculture Summit” attended by fish farmers, fishery scientists and government officials provided lists of

priorities for research and management strategies. The summit also confirmed the need to resolve issues related to the Lacey Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Acts and government services, such as fish health inspections.

Even as progress on these issues was developing, the belief-driven attitudes of environmental managers dealing with non-indigenous species, endangered species, and the potential effects of rearing animals in captivity was becoming evermore established in divisions other than the Division of Fish Hatcheries. Outright hostility to aquaculture was displayed occasionally. In my opinion, decisions based on personal beliefs, not evidencesupported science became more common. Given their mindsets that interpreted the Lacey Act as providing the USFWS with authority to regulate interstate movement of fish based on their injurious wildlife status was reasonable to these individuals. In their minds it was a logical extension of the Lacey Act. I resorted to keeping a copy of The Evolution of National Wildlife Law on my desk, so as to document my disagreements with them.

Although the decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in April clearly limits the authority of the USFWS to regulate the interstate movement of animals deemed injurious by the USFWS, individual states retain the authority to ban species that the states consider injurious.

Although the decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in April clearly limits the authority of the USFWS to regulate the interstate movement of animals deemed injurious by the USFWS, individual states retain the authority to ban species that the states consider injurious. The provisions of the Lacey Act that prosecutes violations of state laws and regulations in interstate commerce remain as powerful as ever. If a fish farmer in state “A” ships into state “B” a fish banned by state “B” for whatever reason, including classification as injurious, that farmer can be arrested and prosecuted under the Lacey Act.

The basic purposes of the Lacey Act to supplement and bolster state laws and regulations are not affected by the Court of Appeals decision. The intent of Congress stated in 1960 reaffirmed its position that interstate commerce of species listed as “injurious” was not regulated under the Lacey Act. The injurious species provisions of the Lacey Act apply only to foreign species. However, based on my experiences, I will be surprised if there is not further litigation over definitions of “foreign species” that are already present in the United States.

New management fine-tunes BC land-based coho operations

‘Being realistic about fish production numbers’ is key to marketing success

erry Brooks, president of Golden Eagle Aquaculture of Agassiz, British Columbia, says he has the formula to fine-tune coho farming in land-based closed containment systems. “We can do this all day long and provided we don’t outstrip the demand we will be fine,” says Brooks, who got directly involved in the company two years after Golden Eagle acquired the operations from Swift Aquaculture in 2014.

Brooks knows whereof he speaks. Under his management, Golden Eagle’s sister company — Golden Eagle Sablefish on Salt Spring Island, BC — thrived. Today, marketing and fish production at both companies are stable, the key, he said, is “being realistic about fish production numbers.”

‘We think we understand what the reasonable market expectations are. We know what we need to do to make this work.’

- Terry Brooks, president of Golden Eagle Aquaculture

THE NET-PENS DEBATE

The use of land-based tanks in salmon farming is technology that some, particularly environmentalists, favor over net pens in open water.

“Everybody has their own take on net pens,” Brooks says. “Some people want RAS to replace net pens. Some people think it’s the be all and end all and others think it can’t be done,” says Brooks. “I think where we are is we are beyond the research part of it. We think we understand what the reasonable market expectations are. We know what we need to do to make this work.”

“But our particular theory for our recirculation system is that it is a niche market and providing you don’t over produce, it can be a very nice market of supplying highquality fresh fish at a reasonable price. We know fresh is best.”

“There is always going to be a market for good quality fresh salmon,” Brooks says. “That is our goal here at this facility — to produce a good quality salmon and produce it for 12 months.”

Brooks believes one of the advantages of the farm’s location is the water quality. “The farm is on the north shore of the Fraser River, up against the Coast Mountains. A shallow well produces ample 8-14C water. The alkalinity is good, and we don’t have to filter it, but as with any RAS system we do add oxygen.”

“We are running our RAS system at about 80- to 90-percent recirculation,” Brooks says. “An Aquacare micro-bead biofilter system filters the water and a couple of local dairy farmers take the wet solids to fertilize their fields.”

“We are sourcing 5-gram fry from Target Marine,” says Brooks. “This is coho stock that they have been breeding for 20 years”.

Golden Eagle has two or three intakes a year. The fry are quarantined in a separate heated building, before being

Coho from Golden Eagle Aquaculture. ‘We are definitely on the higher end of the salmon product. We’re within the $3.75- $4.50 (C$5-6) per lb range at wholesale,’ says Terry Brooks

transferred to six 280m3 growout tanks, which are outside under unheated fabric domes. Total production is currently 120 tonnes a year.

The company uses a combination of Ewos and Taplow (local BC company) feeds. “We are using a very standard formula based on years of Pacific salmon research, so it’s pretty much a done deal,” says Brooks. “We do things a little bit differently because it’s a recirculation system.” He says that they work closely with Taplow, in particular, to continually develop their feed. “We use small low-tech automatic feeders.”

“Feed conversion ratios are pretty solid at 1.25 to 1.3,” Brooks says. “We have a customized conditioning method 10 days prior to harvest. The coho pigment up very well.”

Brooks says the fish are graded once at around 50 grams. It takes 16 months to reach a target harvest weight of 5 lbs. Fish are harvested every 10 days and then it’s off to a custom processor in Vancouver. The fish are distributed as both whole and fillets by Willowfield Enterprises, a Surrey, BC specialty food distributor that carries Ocean Wise-certified fish.

RETAIL MARKET

“We are doing retail right now,” says Brooks. “The fish are distributed, always fresh, between BC and Alberta. We

Tanks containing coho for grow-out. ‘Our particular theory for our recirculation system is that it is a niche market and providing you don’t over produce, it can be a very nice market of supplying high-quality fresh fish at a reasonable price,’ says Terry Brooks

don’t ship to the US. We are trying to source customers for this project as close to the farm as possible.”

“We are definitely on the higher end of the salmon product,” says Brooks. “We’re within the $3.75- $4.50 (C$5-6) per lb range at wholesale.”

“We have worked from the market backwards for two years now,” Brooks explains. “We have lots of customer feedback. We know the product is doable, so now the job is to find out what is going to be the overall tonnage we can put into an area without having send the fish too far away.”

“We are looking at expanding, but again, not to exceed the market capability [to absorb our production],” says Brooks. “I think $5-6 is sustainable. I could tell you that I’d love to get $8-9 a pound. There are certain markets that will let us do that, but they are so small that it wouldn’t be prudent to budget on that.”

– Tom Walker

From ‘deadbeat’ to delicacy continued from cover

Urchinomics is currently partnering to test ranching techniques to fatten the roe of wild-caught sea urchins, using a specially formulated feed and a proprietary tray system, at several Canadian locations.

LIGHT-BULB MOMENT

It all began in Japan, after the 2011 tsunami. The tsunami washed away predator species such as crabs and starfish and within two years the urchin population increased about seven-fold, Takeda explains. “They ate the entire kelp bed that is the foundation of the coastal fishery,” he says. “No cover for fish to spawn and hide means no fish, and the ecosystem collapses. One of the most important fishery regions in Japan went from super productive to dead.”

Observers note that these so-called “urchin barrens” are occurring more frequently not only in post-tsunami Japan but also across the globe when the predator/prey balance is out of whack. “It seems to be a combination of overfishing, pollution and climate change,” notes Takeda.

If unchecked, urchins will over graze an area, destroying the kelp and eating themselves out of house and home, but the hardy creatures don’t die says Takeda. They keep their size, but remain in a dormant state. If something shows up they eat it, which will prevent the kelp from coming back and then they return to being dormant. But the roe that is the edible part of the urchin shrinks away. “Fishermen don’t want them and even the predators don’t eat them,” says Takeda. “They seem to know that they are empty.”

Gonads from a green sea urchin. Also called ‘processed roe’ and Uni in Japan, gonads can fetch from $80 to $400 a kilo

“We are taking an overly abundant resource that is hindering the growth of other stocks and turning it into something that tastes good and sells.”

— Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda president, Urchinomics

incentive for fishers to remove these deadbeat zombie urchins,” says Takeda “The trials in Japan were fantastic, almost too good, we thought we should probably do this again. And that was when the Mitsubishi Corporation came on board and partnered with us.”

CANADIAN COOPERATION

“We have this catch-and-feed technology that we developed in Norway and we wondered if it might work in the Japanese situation,” Takeda says. “The plan was to catch, feed and fatten up the roe in these urchins and after 10-12 weeks sell them as a premium seafood product.”

“We wanted to create an economic

Urchinomics is currently working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, the DFO in Saint Andrews New Brunswick, the Memorial University in Newfoundland, and Merinov in Quebec.

“We have signed partnership agreements that include information sharing,” Takeda points out. “Cooperation and cross pollination of information is very important to the company.”

Over the last 20 years, Nofima — the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and

• 0,2g to 1000g

• Easy setup and use

• Compact Units

• Pipeline or flatbed counting

Stacks of urchin trays on John Lindsay’s boat. Urchinomics devised a proprietary tray system for sea urchin ranching

Sea urchin feed from Nofima holds its form in the water for between 7-14 days without dissolving, a quality important for urchins, which take a long time to eat

Trials show promising results, but more work needed

Dr Chris Pearce, research scientist at the DFO Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, says the practice of enhancing urchin gonad yield shows promise but a lot of work needs to be done to determine its economic viability on a commercial scale.

Pearce has had a lot of experience working on gonad enhancement in urchins using commercial diets. He even developed a feed on his own.

“I was first approached by John Lindsay, a BC urchin fisherman and member of the Pacific Urchin Harvesters Association. He came to me to talk about taking low-roe-yield adults from the wild and impounding and feeding them,” says Pearce. “I knew the Norwegians have been using special trays and feeds for gonad enhancement and I eventually connected with Brian Takeda at Urchinomics.”

Pearce has just completed a 12-week gonad enhancement trial in partnership with Lindsay and Urchinomics. The company supplied the trays and the feed in-kind for the project.

“We used both green and red urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis and Strongylocentrotus franciscanus that Lindsay collected from the wild,” says Pearce. They were housed in the trays supplied by Urchinomics and fed either a Nofima diet or a control diet of bull kelp. “The results of the trial showed that the prepared diet increased gonad yield much more than the kelp after the animals spawned part way through the trial.”

Pearce says in previous work with prepared diets, he started with animals as low as 3- to 5-percent roe yield and

within 12 weeks has been able to get that up to 20- to 25-percent yield.

“Research on this practice of enhancing gonads has been around for decades, but there has not been much work on a commercial scale,” Pearce points out.

“We can certainly bulk them up with these prepared diets. Some of the latest formulations are showing we can get the right color and flavor although there is still some work to be done there,” says Pearce. “The containment systems work well, but can you make money at this?”

The Norwegian trays have been developed specifically for urchin gonad enhancement and are more expensive than say, an oyster tray. There is a mesh bottom that supports the animals, with a mesh size small enough to hold the pelleted fed, but large enough for the feces to drop through. The feces and unused food collect on the solid lid of the tray below.

“There are labour costs involved with lifting up the stacks of five or 10 trays to the surface, cleaning and disposing of the waste material appropriately and then feeding every tray, restacking them and placing them back in the water,” Pearce points out. “There is a lot to be worked out.”

“We are considering research to put in a commercial site and look at this on a much grander scale,” says Pearce. “I think it can work biologically. We really need to prove it on an economic basis by considering tray cost, feed costs, labor, boat costs and market value. And we want to look at the environmental impacts as well.”

All images credit: Fisheries Oceans Canada

Aquaculture — has developed a unique feed that holds its form in the water for between 7-14 days without dissolving, explains Takeda. “Urchins, unlike fish, take a long time to eat so the feed has to keep its form and not dissolve,” he says. “The feed does contain some fish meal, sourced from sustainable off cuts.”

Although urchins eat mostly kelp, they are not herbivores, Takeda points out.

“We have secured the global rights to the feed technology as well as the rights to the Norwegian sea-based farming technology and some land-based technologies,” says Takeda.

FARMING TECHNOLOGY

“Anyone who has oyster farming infrastructure has 98 percent of what they need to be able to do urchin farming with our specifically designed cages,” says Takeda. “We are trying to deliver all the pieces that you need to be able to do this farming. We take responsibility for the entire value chain from start to finish at our operating sites.”

“We bring not only the production technology, but also the seafood distributors from Japan and China that are ready to sign long-term contracts for production because they want to secure supply,” Takeda adds.

“A sea-based solution will probably be the most cost-effective, but we are also developing land-based systems for colder climates or less optimum sites,” says Takeda. “The prototype we hope to launch in a few months will be designed for both for flow-through and recirculation.”

Takeda says the pilots they are running suggest that the economics make a lot of sense. “If we factor in the ecological impact we provide and the social benefit we provide through jobs, the total bottom line looks very promising,” he says.

“There is not an aquaculture that I know of that adds that amount of value in just 10-12 weeks,” says Takeda. “We are taking an overly abundant resource that is hindering the growth of other stocks and turning it into something that tastes good and sells.”

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“Anyone who has oyster farming infrastructure has 98 percent of what they need to be able to do urchin farming with our specifically designed cages.”

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Studies performed at the Oceanic Institute (2001) indicate “poultry meal can replace fish meal at an inclusion level of 45% in shrimp diets without loss of growth.”

Maine Aquaculture Business Incubators

We o er:

• Extensive technical support with access to juveniles and seed

• Academic partnerships with the University of Maine

• Entrepreneurial training & business counseling

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• Business support facilities and networking opportunities

We provide entrepreneurs and business startups professional support and excellent facilities to develop their aquaculture ideas.

Research performed at the University of Missouri (2009) showed poultry by-product meal can completely replace fish meal in the diets of largemouth bass and rainbow trout without affecting weight gain while reducing the cost of dietary protein by 60%

• Assistance in grant writing and identifying funding opportunities

• Plus exceptionally high quality sources of water!

For more information, contact: Chris Davis, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center 193 Clarks Cove Road, Walpole, ME 04573 Phone: (207) 832-1075, cdavis@midcoast.com

New biotech fishmeal approaches scale-up stage

Fish fed with microbe-derived feed passes consumer taste test

Massachusetts-based biotech company KnipBio has unveiled a sh feed derived from microbes instead of wild-caught sh or agricultural crops.

e new product, named KnipBio Meal (KBM), is derived from the company’s development of a range of single cell proteins, all drawn from non-food feedstocks.

them to move KBM towards commercial production.

“ e key appeal of this development is that we can take a low-value item, say by-

KBM makes use of the bacteria Methylobacterium extorquens, a common bacterium cultured by the conversion of methanol through fermentation. But instead of beer as end product, the fermentation produces a bacterium that the company says is composed of “protein and amino acids very similar to the protein found in wild sh.”

uses fermentation process to produce a variety of protein meals that can be milled into

KnipBio has already released test results showing that a diet consisting of between 30 and 100 percent of the pelleted bacterium would be a suitable feed for farmed sh and shrimp.

To nd out if sh fed with KnipBio passes consumer tastes, the company and its collaborator, Kampachi Farms, conducted a taste test involving samples of yellowtail (Seriola rivoliana) shashimi.

e yellowtail were fed a diet containing up to 7.5 percent of the KnipBio meal. e trial was conducted at the Food Innovation Center at Oregon State University.

Larry Feinberg, CEO of KnipBio, said the results indicated that testers were “statistically unable to discern any di erence between KBM-fed samples and a control shmeal-fed sample.” Further tests are planned across a wider range of species.

e next big challenge for Knipbio is to nd a development partner to enable

products from ethanol production, and use that as the base on which to grow the new protein,” Catherine Pujol-Baxley, Knipbio’s vice president for research & development, told Aquaculture North America (ANA).

“Having started the company four years ago, and the R&D work (behind KBM) two years ago, we’re now at the point where we have the bacteria ready for scaling up to commercial production.

“ e science is already great, being based on work which started 20 years ago. We know how to grow it and maintain it. What we’re looking now, is to nd a partner who will help us to scale up and take it to the marketplace.”

Working with Knipbio in the project are the New England Aquarium, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Roger Williams University and the USDA Agriculture Research Service.

— Colin Ley

Larry Feinberg, CEO and co-founder of KnipBio Credit: UMass-Lowell Innovation Hub

KnipBio

fish feed

Credit: KnipBio

AQUAPONICS

What makes aquaponics succeed or fail?

Indiana-based operator shares hard lessons learned on the journey to commercial success

BY TREENA HEIN

mong other cutting-edge presentations at the Aquaculture America conference in San Antonio, Texas in February, one focused on how success with commercial aquaponics can be achieved. With interest in these types of ventures growing, but the success rate not exactly stellar, the topic was certainly timely.

Presenters at the session were the team behind Greener Scenes Aquaponics (GSA) in Brazil, Indiana, who outlined their exciting journey from small proofof-concept to commercial success. GSA was established in 2012 by chief operations officer Mathew Pollom. In 2013 and 2014, respectively, he brought on board chief production officer Brandon Hall and chief financial officer Dan DeBard. CEO Zachariah Chambers joined in mid-2015 and, by the fall of that year, the team started building the facility at the city’s historic Telephone Building.

While the team did an excellent job in estimating costs, they did not anticipate construction delays. “Building and rampup took about nine months longer than anticipated, resulting in money out the door with no revenue coming in,” Chambers recalls. “To keep things on track, we advise being 100-percent sure your build-out meets all codes and requirements and all pertinent parties are properly introduced to the project. Still, anticipate delays.”

One particularly large snag reared its head during electrical system installation. Two of the three required approvals went swimmingly, but a delay on the third put GSA about four weeks behind schedule. Chambers adds, “Things we did ourselves took much longer than anticipated, whereas contracted work with external experts was pretty much on time, so understand that unless you are an expert in construction, your schedule will slip if you choose to do it yourself.”

The GSA business plan stipulated that the greens side would be established first. (Among others, Aqua Greens in Toronto is also following this model.) “It’s a nobrainer,” Chambers explains. “Lettuce has a very quick turn-around and it’s profitable. By July, when we have more plants growing, the entire business will be self-sustaining just based on income from the greens.” Sales of their salad mix greens — oakleaf, arugula, kale, Swiss chard and spinach — began in April to the firm’s sole customer, Baesler’s Market, in Terre Haute. GSA ships about 10 lbs to Baesler’s every second day as it ramps up production and, by around the end of 2017, it will reach Phase II with a maximum of about 100 lbs every second day. Expansion to the second floor, a rooftop greenhouse, and/or a second site may someday be in the cards.

Aquaculture component

And the fish? They’ll go to market sometime in 2018. “We currently have the tilapia in 27 IBC tanks, and we plan to have up to 5,000 in the system,” Chambers says. “We had to start with economical tank options. Right now, they are providing our nutrient load and when we’re ready, we’ll look at selling to grocery stores and restaurants, along with non-food markets such as pond maintenance fish.”

While some aquaponics ventures have each component of the business –fish and plants – being operated to maximize each one’s profit by giving plants fertilizer if needed, or by getting rid of excess fish wastewater through composting or field application, GSA operates holistically to achieve a balanced nutrient load. Chambers says they want to keep the system simple and consume everything that’s being produced.

Additional revenue streams were never a part of the core GSA business plan and still aren’t today. “We wanted to be conservative and achieve financial sustainability just from greens production,” Chambers explains. “However, additional revenue is coming from consulting, tours, and from sales of home aquaculture kits and components sourced primarily from Hydrofarm.” This echoes findings in the study “Commercial Aquaponics Production and Profitability” published in the January 2015 issue of the journal Aquaculture –that operations that sell equipment, offer consulting/educational services or integrate agritourism are the most profitable.

Other keys to success

Organic certification is listed as a big success factor for some aquaponics operations – not just for the premium price that organic fish and greens can bring, but also to secure demand. For GSA however, it’s not worth the effort. “For our market, locally-grown trumps organic, and people will buy Indiana-grown food over shippedin organic vegetables,” Chambers says. “We are part of a hub of many Indiana-grown vegetable operations and we are very glad GSA greens are among the large number of locally-grown items that Baesler’s Market carries.”

Cost savings during greens build-out and production come from the use of induction lights, which are less expensive upfront than LED but have equivalent efficiency and nearly equal growing results, says Chambers. GSA has 36 of them, each one set up on a track with a small electric motor moving it back and forth over its designated plant bed. “We reduce the number of fixtures from four per bed to one, and we just have to run them a little longer,” says Chambers. “We also have our

insect pest control ‘automated’ and done naturally through the release of a large number of lady bugs, green lace wings, praying mantises and so on.”

GSA has also reaped start-up cost savings by having only Pollam and Hall draw salaries (from full-time positions). Chambers, a professor of mechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and DeBard, a retired accountant, have not yet taken pay, but will do so sometime in the future.

Lastly, Chambers advises that all aquaponics ventures involve a team with core expertise in fish, plants, operations, finance and marketing –ideally with expertise overlap – and with

a performance-driven and dedicated mindset. “The light is always at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel just keeps getting longer as you hit challenges and obstacles,” he says. “And when that obstacle does present itself, you need to have a team, the team that doesn’t give up and digs down and makes it happen. Starting a business is hard, especially when it requires infrastructure and multiple levels of expertise. Aquaponics takes all of the challenges of hydroponics and aquaculture and elevates the difficulty. GSA has made it through the darkest parts of the tunnel and we are now in production!”

Sales of Greener Scenes Aquaponics salad mix greens, including oakleaf, arugula, kale, Swiss chard and spinach, began in April to the firm’s sole customer, Baesler’s Market in Terre Haute, Indiana

GSA ships about 10 lbs of salad mix greens every second day and hopes to bump that up to 100 lbs every second day by the yearend

Greener Scenes Aquaponics will market their tilapia sometime in 2018

Aquaponics operation in Yukon to begin construction this fall

orth Star Agriculture (NSA) of Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon territory has partnered with NutraPonics of Alberta to build a vertical aquaponics facility later this year. The facility will be built in Carcross, home to the Carcross/ Tagish First Nation, who has pledged to become 51-percent owner.

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) announced in May an investment of roughly $55,000 (C$75,000) to support the project.

NSA CEO Sonny Gray says it will cost millions to build the facility, which will annually produce 200 tonnes of tilapia and over 200,000 kg of assorted greens and vegetables. “The focus for the hydroponics is to have fresh greens and vegetables available yearround for Yukon residents as what we have access to in the winter here is usually terrible or non-existent,” Gray tells Aquaculture North America (ANA)

Construction of Yukon’s first vertical aquaponics farm begins this fall. People behind the project are (front L-R): Tami Grantham of CTFN (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Sonny Gray, CEO North Star Agriculture, Jillian MacIsaac and Krisandra Reid, both from CanNor. (Back L-R) Tanner Stewart, CEO Nutraponics, Joel Gaetz, CFO North Star Agriculture, Travis Armour, Strategy North Consulting and Andy Carville, Chief of the CTFN

“The fish is for export. We will be selling them to Washington or California via Alaska. Fish raised in a clean way are in great demand. Consumers don’t want to eat the fish from Indonesia and other parts of Asia that is farmed in lakes containing pesticide residues and other contaminants.” Gray is preparing to secure letters of intent from at least one US fish buyer.

Tilapia was chosen because it is a proven aquaculture success that can be raised at high stocking densities and because they thrive at the same temperature (20°C) that the greens need.

The venture, not yet named, has received an exemption from the Yukon government’s current ban on fish farming. Gray says the Yukon Department of the Environment has

been very supportive, and is working to create aquaponics regulations and to secure an agreement from the federal government to allow tilapia to be raised in the territory. While the venture will use electricity from the grid, Gray says there are plans to look into solar and wind. About 20 employees will be needed for greens and fish production, including ongoing care, harvest, processing, flash freezing, packaging and shipping.

— Treena Hein

Producer donates 48,000 servings of tilapia

Tilapia farmer Regal Springs donated 48,000 servings of tilapia to SeaShare in Honor of National Volunteer Week in April.

SeaShare is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the seafood industry contribute to hungerrelief efforts in the United States.

Regal Springs has been a supporter of SeaShare since December 2015, having donated over 140,000 servings of healthy tilapia to the organization.

Regal Springs made its latest donation of tilapia during National Volunteer Week, an annual celebration to promote and show appreciation for volunteerism

“We are thrilled to work with Regal Springs again,” said Jim Harmon, executive director of SeaShare, “and so grateful for this generous donation. With their continued support, we are able to provide thousands of people with nutrientrich, high-quality fish that they might not have access to otherwise.”

Credit North Star Agriculture

FEEDING

Coho farmer: algae feed behind ‘unprecedented’ sustainability

Asalmon farmer says it has begun feeding its Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch or coho) with AlgaPrime DHA, a whole algae feed ingredient, and has achieved “unprecedented sustainability” as a result.

The farmer, Ventisqueros of Chile, used the Forage Fish Dependency Ratio (FFDR) metric to define sustainability. FFDR describes how many kilograms of wild fish are needed to produce one kilo of farmed fish. The current industry average FFDR is about 1.3 kg, but Ventisqueros’ Silverside Premium Pacific Salmon fed with AlgaPrime DHA results to an industry-low FFDR of 0.5 kg, the company says.

AlgaPrime DHA, made by TerraVia and Bunge in Brazil, is deemed more sustainable because it reduces the aquaculture industry’s dependence on fish oils for feed. Terra Via Global Sustainability Director Jill Kaufmann Johnson last year described the manufacturing process to Aquaculture North America (ANA): “What we do is that sugar [sugarcane feedstock] is crushed at the mill and it is fed to the algae in very large fermentation tanks – like eight stories high.

“The algae grow plump with oil, as algae is the original oil producer, that’s what it

naturally does. We remove them from the tank and then they are dried – it’s like a powder. The oil is still encapsulated in the algae. We are making the DHA product in a matter of days.” The innovation represents a step change to current industry solutions and offers consistent supply and quality to customers.

CEO of Ventisqueros, José Luis Vial, said by achieving an FFDR of 0.5 kg, the company has become the first “net fish producers” in the salmon farming industry.

In January, IFFO — the international non-profit organization that represents and promotes the fishmeal, fish oil and wider marine ingredients industry worldwide — cautioned that the use of FFDR as a measure of sustainability should not be not be examined in isolation. Rather, it said FFDR should be regarded as part of an overall package of information relating to aquaculture sustainability.

Coho fed with AlgaPrime DHA to hit US market in October

Chilean salmon farmer Ventisqueros, a boutique salmon producer in north Patagonia, said it will start harvesting Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch or coho) fed with AlgaPrime DHA in October.

Prior to feeding their fish with the algae-based feed made by TerraVia and Bunge, Ventisqueros used standard formulas from different feed producers, whose main ingredients included fishmeal, fish oil and vegetable protein, said Guillermo Staudt, commercial manager of Ventisqueros.

Staudt noted the fish fed with the new formula are growing well. “We see no deviations in any productive parameter versus what we expected. The use of AlgaPrime DHA allows us to reduce the amount of fish oil and consequently have a lower FFDR (forage fish dependency ratio),” Staudt told ANA

He said that the company’s efforts are focused on the US market, where the product, to be sold under the brand Silverside Premium Pacific Salmon, will be sold at a premium. “Algae-fed fish addresses consumer demand for responsibly sourced seafood. This is an important topic for consumers today and many are willing to support products like the one we are offering, even if there is a difference in price. Nevertheless, we believe we must remain at competitive and affordable level,” he said.

Ventisqueros is the first company to feed coho with AlgaPrime DHA.

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Silverside Premium Pacific Salmon fed with AlgaPrime DHA results to an industry-low FFDR of 0.5 kg compared to the industry average of 1.3 kg

By achieving this figure, we have become the first “net fish producers” in the salmon farming industry, said José Luis Vial, CEO of Ventisqueros

Sashimi from Ventisqueros’ coho salmon harvest. The topic of responsibly sourced seafood is important for consumers today and many are willing to support such products, says Guillermo Staudt, commercial manager of Ventisqueros

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Alaskan shellfish and marine plant farmers have access to capital

Alaska’s mariculture industry gets a boost

laska’s goal to grow its fledgling mariculture industry from $1 million currently to $1billion over the next 30 years is getting some help with the passing of two bills that will expand existing frameworks to better manage the industry.

The Alaska House of Representatives in May passed Bill 76, which would amend the Alaska Mariculture Revolving Loan Fund to include eligibility for shellfish hatcheries. HB 128 would allow non-profits to pursue enhancement and restoration projects with oversight by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Representative Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan) sponsored both bills.

These bills would help increase and diversify Alaska’s fishery portfolio to help realize the $1 billion potential of commercial shellfish production.

“I hope to support the continued growth of local industry, and help Alaska remain competitive with China, Russia, and Canada, all of whom have invested significant resources in mariculture infrastructure,” said Ortiz in a statement. “We can do this by ensuring Alaskan shellfish and marine plant farmers have access to capital to jumpstart the year-round, in-state seed supply they need.”

By expanding the purview of an existing revolving loan fund, HB 76 provides the financial infrastructure to develop a stable supply of seed for resident aquatic plants and other shellfish at no additional cost to Alaskans. Today, Alaska shellfish farms do not have a regular, in-state source of seed for aquatic plants and other shellfish.

HB 128 allows qualified non-profits to pursue enhancement and/or restoration projects involving shellfish species, including red and blue king crab, sea cucumber, abalone, geoduck and razor clams.

Marine Harvest rolls out ‘freshness indicator’

High-tech label a ‘game changer’ for the industry, says company

arine Harvest has introduced a new technological innovation for their fish products on the European market.

Called “Keep-it,” the smart labels are attached on the product directly after the fresh fish is cut and packed. Throughout the cold chain, Keep-it will track the actual temperature impact on the fish product in real time, thus enabling a more dynamic and precise shelf life than traditional date stamping.

The innovation is a first for the company and for the industry. “The technology will revolutionize and redefine the way the industry will define shelf life by making it much easier to secure freshness, food quality and reduce food waste,” Marine Harvest said.

The project has been launched in Europe and is in its early stages. The company is planning to introduce their products with Keep-it indicators in 10 European markets by 2019. While the technology is not yet being introduced in the US market, it may be something that will be explored in the American market in the future, a source from the company told Aquaculture North America (ANA)

FeedKind attracts new investors

Packaged salmon with a ‘Keep-it’ indicator

California-based boitech firm Calysta Inc said it has raised $40 million in extra capital to advance the commercial scale manufacturing of its FeedKind protein, a new fish-feed ingredient that is touted to reduce aquaculture’s use of fishmeal.

Mitsui & Co Ltd of Tokyo, Japan, and Temasek, a Singapore-based investment firm, are new investors in the company. Current investors include Cargill, the Municipal Employee Retirement System (MERS) of Michigan, Walden Riverwood Ventures, Aqua-Spark and Pangaea Ventures.

Calysta expects the facility, located in Memphis, Tennessee, to be completed by the end 2018. Commercial production of the FeedKind protein is expected to begin in 2019.

Jakolof Bay Oyster Co owners Frank and Margo Reveil examining sub-market-sized Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) on their farm in December 2016. Two bills passed by the Alaska House of Representatives in May will ensure

MHC awards fish pens contract to local firm

arine Harvest Canada (MHC), British Columbia’s largest salmon aquaculture company, has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a local company that designs and builds aquaculture infrastructure.

Campbell River-based Poseidon Ocean Systems — dealing on behalf of manufacturer Hvalpsund Net — will construct eighty-seven 120-metre diameter high-density polyethylene circular fish pens for Marine Harvest. The first orders for 29 pens were immediately placed by MHC and will be built on Vancouver Island.

“The HD 500 Extreme pens are a wider and more stable platform than existing pens in use at Marine Harvest Canada, and are particularly well-suited to dual-net predator-exclusion programs,”

says Matt Clarke, President of Poseidon Ocean Systems. “In addition, the pens were supplied with alternative supplementary flotation that allowed us to eliminate the use of polystyrene foam inside the float pipes, which is a nice environmental benefit.”

Marine Harvest says the new cages are one part of a multi-million-dollar investment to further improve its farming operations, which has also recently included feed and monitoring systems and staff accommodations.

“It’s great to see local businesses on Vancouver Island with the ability to supply these vital services to our company,” says Marine Harvest’s Production Director, Dougie Hunter.

Marine Harvest Canada has ordered 87 high-density polyethylene circular fish pens

Credit: MHC

Wal-Mart sells Norwegian salmon fillets in 485 stores

The world’s largest retailer has added a Norwegian salmon product to its wide range of offerings in 485 stores in the US midwest.

Citing consumers’ more discerning attitudes towards food, retail giant Wal-Mart says pre-portioned and seasoned Norwegian salmon fillets, under the brand Salmon Man Salmon Portions, caters to their preferences.

The product is now available in Wal-Mart stores in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, where there is a large Scandinavian population and an appetite for authentic Scandinavian salmon, the retailer says.

The Salmon Man sources it premium salmon from Platina Seafood, which raises salmon in ocean farms in Norway.

Wal-Mart has launched pre-portioned and seasoned Norwegian salmon fillets in 485 stores in US midwest, which has a large Scandinavian population

Breeding blue cod brings new possibilities

cientists have managed to successfully breed blue cod for the first time, opening up new potential opportunities in aquaculture.

Behind the milestone are the Seafood Technologies team at Plant & Food Research’s new fish hatchery in Nelson, New Zealand, and Ngāi Tahu Seafood Ltd.

For the first time, they have managed to breed and grow blue cod to fingerlings. “New Zealand can now consider potential opportunities for this desirable table fish, such as intensive aquaculture grow out or supplementing local populations under pressure from fishing,” Plant & Food Research said in a statement.

Chief Executive of Ngāi Tahu Seafood, Joseph Thomas, says the outcomes of the programme could have real commercial and guardianship benefit for the seafood industry.

Around 2,000 hatchlings have been raised, most of which are now around 5 to 7cm long. Their parents were wild blue cod from the Marlborough Sounds

“By enhancing our understanding of blue cod breeding we may be able to identify ways to replenish and strengthen our fishing stocks, which will have a positive impact on customary, recreational and commercial availability. It will help us sustain the health of our fisheries,” said Thomas.

S1000 oyster trays

Efforts underway to farm sea cucumbers

Limited supply and strong demand in China for the rubbery creature make it a good candidate for aquaculture

BY TOM WALKER

esponding to strong market demand for sea cucumbers in China, Alaska- and Washingtonbased researchers are developing hatchery and grow-out techniques for the indigenous giant red sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus).

“Californicus has similar characteristics to the highly prized Japanese spiky sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicas,” says Andy Suhrbier, senior biologist with the Pacific Shellfish Institute (PSI). “While populations have declined in certain areas along the West Coast, the market remains intact.”

Indeed, the one indicator of the decline was when Washington State initiated a license buy-back program in 1999. The depletion of resources became notable again in 2014, which saw the first-ever closure of the wild fishery in Puget Sound.

The strong demand and limited supply makes sea cucumber a good candidate for aquaculture. Suhrbier estimates an average of $4 per pound landed price for the dive fishery.

Juvenile sea cucumber photographed prior to deployment under black-cod rafts at NOAA Manchester. Sea cucumbers are referred to as “ocean ginseng” in China, where they are believed to have therapeutic properties

CHALLENGES

Suhrbier says PSI is coordinating work to develop hatchery and polyculture techniques in Alaska and Washington State.

“We are in the early stages of a long process to develop full-scale aquaculture in Alaska and Washington,” Suhrbier says. “We are working with both hatchery-raised and wildcaught juveniles, following research work that began in British Columbia.”

Divers collect wild broodstock near the hatchery at the Kenneth K Chew Center for Shellfish Research and Restoration in Manchester, Washington in late winter (February/March). The broodstock are kept in tanks with ambient flow-through seawater and fed almost exclusively on the algae growing on the tank walls.

“Once per week, the algae is scrubbed off the walls and allowed to settle out so the sea cucumbers can eat it,” explains Ryan Crim, project manager at the Chew Center. “To supplement the supply, algae is scrubbed from additional tanks and transferred to the broodstock tanks.”

“Beginning in late spring (May) we start efforts to induce spawns via a thermal shock (~5C above ambient) in a group of about 20 animals,” says Crim.

Juvenile sea cucumbers ready for deployment. Suhrbier estimates it would take 12-18 months to grow them to minimum market size

But getting consistent spawn is a problem, explains Crim. “Sea cucumbers are dioecious (sexes are separate) but are not sexually dimorphic and so there is no way to identify sex until the animals begin to spawn, aside from taking a biopsy of the gonad. Therefore when we select animals for spawning, we have no way of guaranteeing we are choosing an equal mix of males and females.”

He added: “In addition, sea cucumber gonadal development seems to be fairly asynchronized and assessing ripeness is not possible by visual examination. This makes it difficult to select the ripest of animals for spawning.”

The second challenge is having larvae survive through metamorphosis in large-scale cultivation tanks. “We have had success getting larvae through metamorphosis in small static research-scale containers mimicking standard techniques,” says Crim. “However, larval mortality has been high in our flow-through conical tanks. We believe we can overcome this hurdle by modifying our larval culture systems to rearing in static conditions this summer.”

“Producing juveniles is our bottleneck in Washington,” says Suhrbier, adding that work at Alutiiq Pride hatchery in Alaska has led to successful juvenile culture.

Credit: Mary Middelton/PSI

Andy Suhrbier, PSI senior biologist, prepares to deploy a cage of sea cucumbers under black-cod rafts. Black-cod feces coming off the net pens provide food for the sea cucumbers

Credit: Mary Middelton/PSI

Credit: Andy Suhrbier/PSI

GROW-OUT EFFORTS

Suhrbier says they are testing a variety of grow-out strategies. “In Alaska a nursery-scale experiment was conducted in 2016 with trays hanging off a dock and growth and mortality was tracked,” he says. Future studies are planned in Alaska with collaborators Dr Charlotte RegulaWhitefield and the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association.

In Washington State, grow-out efforts began early this year. One site is at a mussel farm in Quilcene Bay. Mussel harvesters collected sea cucumbers right before being brushed off in the cleaning gear. The animals were then measured/weighed/ photographed before placing them in cages custom-fitted with a mesh liner to allow for maximum food and minimum escape. The cages are then placed under the lines of growing mussels, a setup that allows mussel

waste to go directly to the sea cucumbers below.

“We are also growing them under black-cod (sablefish) pens at a test facility at Manchester,” says Suhrbier. The blackcod feces coming off the net pens settle into the cages and provide food for the sea cucumbers. “We will be tracking the growth at both sites on a quarterly basis, and measure water quality and sedimentation as well,” he adds.

Because sea cucumbers do not need to be fed in a co-culture situation, farming them this way holds a lot of economic potential. “The economics look very promising as long we can keep labor costs and grow-out times low,” says Suhrbier. He estimates it would take 12-18 months to grow them to a minimum market size.

“Tracking the growth and density during this project is key.”

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- R-value insulation option to reduce energy costs.

Penn Cove staff deploy sea cucumbers collected on the raft lines at Penn Cove mussel raft in Quilcene Bay, where grow-out efforts began early this year

Credit: Andy Suhrbier/PSI

Katie Houle of PSI and Natalie Sahli, a Washington State Department of Health Marc Hershman Fellow, identify and measure juvenile sea cucumbers prior to deployment

Credit: Andy Suhrbier/PSI

Aquaculture as an investment frontier

BY RUBY GONZALEZ

he US aquaculture industry is teeming with investment and expansion opportunities, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) batting for aquaculture production of about 1 million metric tons by 2025 to meet demand, reduce pressure on wild stocks and create jobs.

Around 80 percent of US seafood consumption is imported, accounting for approximately $14 billion in deficit, second only to oil importation. Globally, a 70-percent increase in total food production is expected by 2050 as the population is expected to reach 9 billion.

Dr Chuck Weirich, a marine aquaculture specialist at North Carolina Sea Grant, believes the answer lies in offshore aquaculture. Growing demand for seafood and the availability of natural resources is favorable for offshore aquaculture, he said. “We have many zones to develop offshore aquaculture in Alaska, West Coast, East Coast and the Pacific Region,” Weirich told the audience at Aquaculture America early this year.

Production from freshwater aquaculture currently accounts for roughly 60 percent of production, leaving “significant room” to expand in the saltwater area.

Weirich noted the major marine species currently produced in the US include Atlantic salmon, oysters, mussels, clams, char, catfish and shrimp, but there are other candidate species that could be farmed, not only for food but also for pharmaceutical, bait and ornamental uses. (See side box: Marine species generating growing interest per region.)

Speakers at other sessions at Aquaculture America shared a similar message — that the potential for marine aquaculture is huge, not only in America but also around the world.

Jackie Zimmerman, a Skretting executive and board member of the California Aquaculture Association, said aquaculture produces cheap, sustainable and high-quality protein, giving it the potential to play a significant role in

Marine species generating growing interest per region *

New England and Paci c Northwest: Atlantic cod and sablefish

New England: Bay scallop

Paci c Northwest and Alaska: Geoduck

Hawaii: Amberjack

Puerto Rico: Cobia

Texas: Red drum

Gulf Region up to the Mid-Atlantic: Saltwater crabs

*Not a comprehensive list.

the very unique challenge of feeding the world’s growing population.

Zimmerman, however, said that regulations and permitting restrictions on farming create major choke points. “We are faced with some people, some companies and innovative thinkers not being able to progress forward in aquaculture because of regulations,” she said.

A game plan has to be developed with key players, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and government organizations, and all industry stakeholders; and guidelines should be set locally and globally, she suggested.

Overcoming these challenges “entails serious collaboration and cooperation among the aquaculture community on a global scale in terms of sharing scientific innovations, such as in RAS, offshore aquaculture systems and nutritional advances in feed formation,” she told the audience.

It was also clear from the presentation that consumers need some education about the true value of aquaculture.

Re-educating consumers will remove the unfair stigma of aquaculture products, suggest experts

Zimmerman said re-educating consumers will remove the unfair stigma of aquaculture products. “Educating consumers via marketing promotion/success stories of the positive gains, for instance, in feed ingredients and responsible use of medicines in aquaculture species, will help grow the market of aquaculture products,” she said.

Within the US, the negative perception about the aquaculture industry could be traced to a “demarketing campaign” in the 2000s targeting retailers and consumers, said Nancy Peterson, a senior consumer marketing leader, who talked about “Shaping Consumer Perception of Seafood.”

She said a challenge is to make the public aware that aquaculture is not a problem but a part of the solution. While the bad publicity and negative perception continue, she is frustrated that no one is talking about the other side of the story.

‘I believe now is the time for an industry-wide movement to address these issues and make seafood — particularly aquaculture — the protein of choice for the growing millennial demographic.’

WORKING ON INDUSTRY IMAGE

“I know and you know, too, that the Industry has changed,” she said. “There are a lot of things that have happened since the early days of aquaculture, when there were some problems.”

Organizations, such as the GAA and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, are ensuring that good standards are being followed and changes are being made. “But consumer perceptions have not changed. It is really a problem,” she said.

No matter how good a product is, it wouldn’t sell if it is perceived negatively. “I believe now is the time for an industry-wide movement to address these issues and make seafood — particularly aquaculture — the protein of choice for the growing millennial demographic,” wrote Peterson in a handout at the session.

She noted that the American Forest Foundation and the National Chicken Council have faced the same obstacles but overcame them by coalescing around a common problem and growing with a common message and mission. The same could be applied to the aquaculture industry, but she urged the involvement of CEO-level industry executives to be successful.

“Alone, we will spend more, but be less effective influencing consumer perceptions,” she said.

Credit: Liza Mayer

— Nancy Peterson, Consumer marketing expert

Nearly one-quarter of the members of the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) are now Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified, according to GSI’s third annual sustainability report.

ASC certification is awarded to environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture companies that are committed to raising all-natural products in a clean, healthy and sustainable manner.

GSI is a leadership initiative established in 2013 by global farmed salmon producers focused on making significant progress on industry sustainability. Today, GSI comprises 12 companies representing approximately 50 percent of the global salmon production industry. The annual report features four years’ worth of data from GSI members and is, for the first time, verified by independent auditors, providing additional credibility and reassurance for stakeholders, said GSI.

The report noted the “overall preferential environmental performance of farmed salmon when compared to other livestock sectors on indicators such as carbon footprint, energy retention and protein retention.” It also said that there are continuing improvements in the responsible use of feed ingredients, with the average feed conversion ratio for farmed salmon now at 1.3:1.

Piers Hart, Global Head of Aquaculture at WWF commented, “We have closely followed the work of the GSI for a number of years now, and are pleased to see further significant progress towards the initiative’s goal of achieving 100-percent ASC certified farmed salmon by 2020.”

n aquaculture feed made with grape marc – skins, pulp, seeds, and stems left over after wine is made – has shown promising results in lab trials.

Called “Acti-Meal,” the feed ingredient was developed by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) in partnership with Tarac Technologies, a specialist in turning grape marc into a range of value-added products.

Greenlip abalone on an experimental diet containing 5-20 percent Acti-Meal showed improvement in growth performance and feed utilisation during the three-month lab trial in Adelaide, South Australia last year. The abalone on the grape marc diet showed a 6-percent improvement in biomass gain and a 2.9-percent increase in shell growth rate compared with abalone fed on a commercial diet.

“They all grew well – there was no impact on the health of the animals, survival was 100 percent,” SARDI Nutrition and Feed Technology Associate Professor David Stone told Foodingredientsfirst

“The other bonus here is that we are removing something that costs $500-$800 a ton and replacing it with what is effectively a waste product that costs $250-$400 a ton – it’s a price reduction with a growth benefit.”

A six-month trial of a test feed produced by Aquafeeds Australia containing 20-percent Acti-Meal is set to begin at an abalone farm in November this year.

GSI members represent roughly half of global salmon production industry

Joint venture enters insect-based feed market

EnviroFlight, LLC, a joint venture between biotech firm Intrexon Corp and Darling Ingredients Inc, a producer of specialty food ingredients, have started construction of what is touted as the largest commercial-scale black soldier fly (BSF) larvae production facility in the United States.

Initial production capacity is expected in the first quarter of 2018, and will be targeted toward supplying livestock, aquaculture, and pet food markets.

“EnviroFlight’s proprietary technologies for high quality insect protein production can help meet the growing demand for sustainable, eco-friendly, protein-rich ingredients; particularly in aquaculture where fishmeal is largely reliant on wild caught fish,” said John McLean, Chief Commercial Officer of Intrexon’s Food Sector.

Facilities that slaughter catfish and other Siluriformes will be inspected less frequently beginning September 1

US agency scales down catfish inspections

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) says it will conduct inspections of establishments that slaughter catfish and other fish of the order Siluriformes at least once per production shift beginning September 1, instead of conducting inspections at all hours of operation.

FSIS said the adjustment would mean more efficient use of its inspection resources and provide adequate inspection coverage to fulfill the mandate of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

The agency says its decision to adjust inspection schedule was based on its experience in inspecting fish slaughter establishments since implementing the inspection program on March 1, 2016. The September 1 target date for implementing the change marks the end of the 18-month transitional period from the FDA regulatory model to the FSIS inspection model.

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Canada approves camelina oil for use as fish-feed ingredient

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved mechanically-extracted camelina oil for use as a feed ingredient for farmed salmon and trout.

David Johnson, acting national manager for CFIA’s Risk-Analysis and Toxicology section, says that the information they have indicates that the product is safe for consumption by juvenile salmon and trout.

“We have a specific regulatory guidance document associated with camelina products,” says Johnson. “We’ve had other camelina products approved for a little bit. It’s not new to us, but the oil is. We have some familiarity with the plant but understanding the manufacturing process is a key contributor to assessing the safety of the product. It gives us a good idea of the hazards we may be introducing into the feed and food chain.”

Jack Grushcow, CEO of Smart Earth Seeds and one of the primary names in camelina production, says camelina should be appealing because of its ability to replace fish oil, the potential to grow the crop in soil unsuitable for other crops, and camelina’s ideal Omega 3:Omega 6 (N3/N6) ratio in comparison to other substitutes such as canola oil or soybean oil.

Grushcow says that with fish oil prices having dropped, selling the substitute will require the right customers and the right framing.

“We don’t see this as a commodity product – we’re not going to be competing with soy bean and canola because this product has unique aspects to it,” says Grushcow. “Sustainability often has a price tag associated with it. If guys really want to support these new emerging feeds they have to have a strategic vision in order to do it. That’s a multi-year process, not just looking at the commodity prices every six months and making your decision based on that.”

— Matt Jones

Bee forages on camelina flowers at a nursery in Canada. Mechanically-extracted camelina oil has been found safe for consumption by juvenile salmon and trout

Credit: Smart Earth Seeds

A black soldier fly. A BSF larvae production facility under construction in the US will supply ingredients to the animal feed industry

Credit: Brett Hondow/Pixabay

TerraVia takes ‘time out’ in debt payments, seeks buyer

Algae nutrient producer TerraVia (NASDAQ: TVIA) said it has asked its lenders to allow it to delay debt payments while it seeks “strategic alternatives” that will chart the future course for TerraVia, including potentially the sale of the company or a portion of it.

The company, whose AlgaPrime DHA is getting noticed in the aquaculture market, said it has entered into a “forbearance agreement” — a temporary postponement of debt payments — with its lenders, while it continues to work on a plan to restructure its debt.

While not disclosing the timeframe of the forbearance period, TerraVia said it is “actively engaged in a process with strategic and financial parties that could result in a sale of all, substantially all, or a portion of the company prior to termination of the forbearance period.”

The San Francisco-based company reported that its revenue dropped to $4.5 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017 from $4.9 million in Q1 2016. However, it has narrowed its GAAP net loss to $22.6 million in Q1 2017, from a net loss of $26.5 million in the prior-year period, citing progress in its efforts to reduce its cash operating expenditures.

“We met all of our commercial and operational goals for the first quarter as we executed against our focused strategy. We remain on track to meet our 2017 guidance,” said Apu Mody, CEO of TerraVia. “In particular, we’re excited about the market traction we are seeing with AlgaPrime DHA, which is showing early signs of being a blockbuster new product that can become a vital feed ingredient for aquaculture and potentially other nutrition markets.”

Mixed fortunes for biotech company and its subsidiary

Biotech company Intrexon Corp posted total revenues of $53.7 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017, an increase of roughly 24 percent over Q1 2016. Adjusted earnings estimate before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $7.1 million, or $0.06 per basic share.

Meanwhile, losses for Intrexon subsidiary AquaBounty continued to mount in the Q1 of 2017. In a financial statement released in May, the biotech company known for its genetically modified AquaAdvantage salmon strain posted losses of $2.1 million in Q1, compared to losses of about $1.8 million in Q1 2016.

Growing demand for quality fish driving fishmeal, fish oil market

Increasing global demand for quality fish will drive the growth of the global fishmeal and fish oil market to $14.3 billion by 2022 from roughly $9.5 billion this year, said research firm MarketsandMarkets.

The report, “Fishmeal and Fish Oil,” breaks down the industry by source (Salmon & Trout, Marine Fish, Crustaceans, Tilapia, Carps); Livestock Application (Aquatic Animals, Swine, Poultry, Cattle, Pets); Industrial Application (Fertilizers, Aquaculture, Pharma); and by region.

Growing demand for seafood in export markets influences the supply of improved fishmeal and fish oil for animal production, the report said. As a result, many multinational players have entered into the production of various fishmeal and fish oil products that provide essential nutrients to livestock.

The aquatic animals segment dominated the fishmeal and fish oil sector because fishmeal and fish oil are rich in nutrients such as amino acids and essential fatty acids. Supplementing aquaculture feed with fishmeal and fish oil also effectively returns more sustainable non-food products back into the human food chain, the report said.

The company did not explain its losses. CEO Ronald Stotish said: “We are pleased by the progress we’ve made during the first quarter on our 2017 goals. We completed the listing of our common shares on the NASDAQ Capital Market, aided by the infusion of $25 million in new equity from Intrexon. This has allowed us to continue with, and expand upon, our plans to renovate the former Atlantic Sea Smolt plant in Rollo Bay on Prince Edward Island, Canada.”

Aquabounty added it has submitted an application to the Canadian government for the construction of a broodstock facility to house its non-transgenic Atlantic salmon stock and a 250-metric-ton recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility to grow out AquAdvantage Salmon.

“We see this as the first step in our commercialization plan. We are also continuing to search for sites to establish our first RAS grow-out facility in the United States, and we expect to complete this process this year,” Stotish said.

Mainstream media covers investor interest in aquaculture

Yet another indication mainstream media is changing their perceptions of the industry, Bloomberg reports the future of seafood production is sustainable aquaculture in a healthy, protein-driven consumer market,

Despite past and present views from critics, support from government, investors and some environmentalists are beginning to “coalesce around aquaculture as a longterm solution to the depletion of the oceans” and the world’s insatiable appetite for healthier proteins, wrote Bloomberg reporter Deena Shankar.

“We’re eating more seafood globally, which is a good thing because it’s healthy, but we’re taking more than the ocean can naturally replenish,” Amy Novogratz, managing partner of Aqua-Spark, a Dutch investment fund focused on sustainable aquaculture businesses, told Bloomberg. “Aquaculture is known a little bit for its bad reputation, and some of it is deserved,” she said, referring to issues like China’s use of antibiotics and fish feed made from wild-caught species. “But it’s a young enough industry that you can go in and rebuild it a little, so as it grows, it grows more sustainably.”

Over the last two years or so Bloomberg has had a number of articles portraying the aquaculture industry as a changing, morphing, and yes, growing global production powerhouse. Interests from investors from within the seafood industry have been obvious for sometime, but when Bloomberg, The Street, and other mainstream business and market news outlets cover the industry in a positive light, it opens a window to a whole new level of investors from outside the traditional seafood financial market.

Credit: Aquabounty

Credit: Liza Mayer

ASC expands presence, team in Americas

he Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is expanding its presence in the Americas to cater to the growing demand for ASC-certified products in the market.

An ASC certification verifies that the product was raised in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Chris Ninnes, CEO of ASC, noted the ASC has enjoyed rapid uptake around the globe, with retailers and farmers embracing the program. He added that the Americas is not only seeing a growth in fish farming operations but also has both the United States — the single most important market outside of China for farmed fish — and Brazil, which is one the fastest growing market for farmed fish in the world.

Shopper checking out ASC-certified frozen fish product. ASC certification verifies that the product was raised in an environmentally and socially responsible manner

“The time is right for us to provide more direct support for many of our certified farms that are supplying into these important markets,” said Ninnes.

The organization appointed Peter Redmond to the newly created position of Vice President of Market Development for ASC’s operations in North America.

Redmond will lead ASC’s retail and supply chain focused work in the United States and Canada, linking certified supply to demand for ASC-certified products in the market.

Redmond is a seafood industry veteran whose career spans more than two decades, beginning at Wal-Mart, where he was in charge of developing the retailer’s seafood strategy for environmental sustainability, ASC said.

Celebrating 46 years in the aquaculture industry and specializing in Pompano Farming

MTI AQUACULTURE CONSULTANTS

Background: http://www.FAO.Org/Fishery/culturedspecies/Trachinotus_spp/en

Authored by: Michael F. McMaster

Offerings for new and established farms: Project assistance from Concept to Strategy to Implementation with fully vertically integrated transfer of intellectual property giving rise to successful commercialization projects.

Marine Harvest’s expansion in Canada gains momentum

arine Harvest’s expansion in Canada has picked up momentum as the company tapped a Canadian salmon industry veteran to head its new east coast business unit.

Jamie Gaskill has been named managing director of Marine Harvest Canada East Coast. Gaskill moves on to this new role in August. He is currently regional director at Marine Harvest Norway, a position he’s held since 2015.

Gaskill has worked in the salmon aquaculture industry for 24 years, 10 years of which have been with Marine Harvest Canada. His first responsibility as managing director will be to formulate a business plan for the region and set up a new staffing organization for freshwater, seawater and processing departments, said the company.

East Coast Canada is a new territory for Marine Harvest.

The establishment of the business unit follows the company’s acquisition of the assets of the Gray Aqua Group of Companies in February.

The assets purchased in that transaction include one hatchery and two farming licenses in New Brunswick, seven farming licenses in Newfoundland, and one processing plant in Newfoundland. In addition, the company has applied for 17 farming licenses in Newfoundland, which are yet to be approved.

RAS consultant signs up as filter distributor

ndiana-based Pranger Enterprises has entered into a deal with Veolia Water Technologies to be the US distributor of Veolia’s Hydrotech filters for the aquaculture industry.

Pranger is an Indiana-based consultant and construction manager specializing in the development of commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) projects in the US. It has now added the distribution of Veolia’s Hydrotech filters to its portfolio of services.

“We have been working in the aquaculture industry for 10 years, collaborating with clients who are running aquaculture systems every day. We’re excited to engage with the aquaculture industry in a new way, providing microscreen filters, which are critical to healthy aquaculture,” said Gabe Pranger, co-owner of Pranger Enterprises.

(L to R) Jacob Bartlett and Gabe Pranger of Pranger Enterprises at Hydrotech’s facility. Microscreen filters are critical to healthy aquaculture, says Pranger

New sales center for UV disinfection technology supplier

KNOWN AND TESTED SCIENCE ALONG WITH PROFIT MOTIVATION IS OUR CALLING CARD

Experienced in a wide range of marine species from phytoplankton to Artemia biomass to invertebrates to larval culture of finfish and more.

For further information see www.mariculturetechnology.com and www.pompanofarms.com

P.O. Box 1020 Oak Hill, Florida 32759 USA

Phone: (386) 345-3337, Email: Sales@MaricultureTechnology.com

Aquionics has opened a new sales and service center in Charlotte, NC to meet increasing demand for ultraviolet (UV) disinfection technology in industrial and aquatic applications.

The facility provides expanded warehouse capacity and in-house UV sensor calibration capability, which, the company says, will enable it to achieve faster delivery times for its advanced solutions.

Aquionics has expanded its presence in Charlotte, NC

The new center adds to Aquionics’ existing site in Erlanger, Kentucky, which will now focus on municipal water and wastewater applications.

Jamie Gaskill will lead Marine Harvest’s new east coast business unit

Credit: ASC

Calysta, Cargill starts construction of FeedKind’s US facility

ouriTech, a joint venture between biotech firm Calysta Inc and feed producer Cargill, has started construction of its Memphis feed production facility.

The facility will produce approximately 200,000 metric tons a year of FeedKind, a new fish feed ingredient touted to reduce aquaculture’s use of fishmeal.

NouriTech will occupy 37 acres of Cargill’s 69-acre property on President’s Island and employ approximately 160 full-time staff. The partners expect the first phase of construction to be completed in 2018, with the plant online in 2019. The second phase of construction will be completed in 2020.

An artist’s rendering of NouriTech’s facility upon its completion in 2020

Barcode systems supplier launches product for aquaculture

US-based company specializing in developing barcode traceability and labeling systems has developed a product for the aquaculture industry.

Dynamic Systems says its Specialized Inventory Management

Barcode Accuracy (Simba) has been used by the wild-caught fish industry for several years. It has now developed a Simba system that meets the needs of aquaculture companies that want to extend product and traceability data collection to the pond, tank, cage or raceway.

The system features a rugged tablet on which the user enters product information such as the source of the seafood, for instance a pond or cage, then enters the weight either manually or automatically through a scale connection, and prints a label for the container using the mobile printer that comes with the system.

Once the seafood arrives at the processing plant, the information can be uploaded from the tablet or entered

Barcode system automates data collection at fish farms

into a Simba touch-screen computer by scanning the 2D barcode on the label.

“Key results from implementing the Simba software include increased production speed; the ability to get realtime, accurate production reports; full traceability, accurate real time inventory; improved yields, carton and pallet labels; and expedited van loading,” the company said in a press release.

The company plans to focus its marketing efforts in the Americas for now.

Pentair, Urban Organics open second aquaponics farm

Fish and produce production is underway at Urban Organics’ second urban farm that opened in June in an old Schmidt Brewery plant in St Paul, Minnesota.

The 87,000-square-foot facility — the size of 31 tennis courts combined — is growing a variety of fresh greens, including green and red kale, arugula, bok choy, green and red romaine, Swiss chard, and green and red leaf lettuce, alongside Atlantic salmon and arctic char. Annually, the farm is expected to produce 125 metric tons of fish and 200 metric tons of organic produce.

Touted as among the world’s largest commercial aquaponics facilities in the world, Urban Organics’ second farm in Minnesota is expected to be at full capacity in early 2018

The farm is the second such project between Pentair and aquaponics farming innovator Urban Organics. Pentair developed the advanced water filtration technology being used in the facility.

Urban Organics is distributing its fish and produce at regional supermarkets, co-ops and restaurants. And, in a first-ofits-kind partnership in Minnesota, Urban

Organics is working with HealthPartners hospitals and clinics to put its fresh greens in patient meals, cafeteria salad bars, and retail take-out locations.

Pentair and Urban Organics first started working together when Urban Organics opened its inaugural aquaponics farm in 2014 in the former Hamm’s brewery building in St Paul (ANA, Jan/Feb 2017, page 1).

NouriTech executives and Shelby County government officials at the groundbreaking ceremony

Credit: Urban Organics

Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association

Cold Harvest 2017 24th Annual Conference and Trade Show

EVENTS

JULY

Hotel Gander - Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada September 26-28

Aquaculture: An Ocean of Potential

Newfoundland and Labrador is regarded by many as Canada’s aquaculture growth centre. The world is watching. There is a global focus on our potential for the future. On behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry, we invite you to join us for our 24th Annual Cold Harvest Conference and Trade Show; full of exciting and informative discussions related to aquaculture and its potential in our province. With world class keynote speakers and guests, sessions and panel discussions related to aquaculture innovation, technology, human resources and consumer trends, this event should not be missed.

To register, exhibit, sponsor the event or for more information, please contact: Roberta Collier at 709-538-3454 or roberta@naia.ca

July 12-16, Annual Larval Fish Conference, Austin, Texas

July 16-20, World Recreational Fishing Conference, Victoria, BC, Canada, www.wrfc8.com

July 24-27, Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.was.org

AUGUST

August 15-18, AquaNor, Trondheim, Norway, www.aqua-nor.no

Aug 20-24, American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Tampa, Florida www.fisheries.org

SEPTEMBER

September 18-21, PCSGA Annual Conference and Tradeshow, Welches, OR, www.pcsga.org

September 26-28, Cold Harvest 2017 –NAIA 24th Annual Conference & Trade Show

Gander, Newfoundland, CA www.naia.ca

OCTOBER

October 3-6, GOAL 2017, Dublin, Ireland, www.gaalliance.org

October 17-21, Aquaculture Europe 2017, Dubrovnik, Croatia, www.easonline.org

NOVEMBER

November 14 – 17, Latin American & Caribbean Aquaculture 2017, Mazatlan, Mexico

November 29-30, Aquaculture Innovation Workshop, Vancouver, BC, www.conservationfund.org

DECEMBER

December 5-7, 68th Annual Northwest Fish Culture Concepts, Redding, CA, https://s01.123signup.com/ home?Org=NFCC

To list your event in Aquaculture North America contact liza.mayer@capamara.com

The SLICE® Sustainability Project is the latest global initiative from Merck Animal Health — the world’s leader in health management tools for farm-raised fish.

Based on four core actions — Protect, Conserve, Renew, and Succeed — the field-proven, science-driven program is helping the world’s salmon farmers develop long-term, sustainable control programs for sea lice.

To help ensure success, The SLICE Sustainability Project also involves a global network of analytical laboratories that conduct bioassays, feed and tissue analysis, and other tests needed to implement the program effectively.

Your Merck Animal Health representatives are ready to take an active role in your sea lice control program — training farm personnel and developing site-specific strategies that ensure product efficacy and longevity. Canada +1.866.683.7838

http://aqua.merck-animal-health.com