Volume 16, Number 1 January/February 2020 MCI (P) 010/10/2019 ISBN 1793 -056

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 Volume 16 Number 1

Start-ups Galore in Singapore Bespoke Microbiota Management Marine Fish Hatchery Segment In Bali A Progressive Shrimp Industry In The Philippines MCI (P) 010/10/2019 PPS1699/08/2013(022974)

ISBN 1793 -0561

Shrimp: Supply Exceeds Demand

www.aquaasiapac.com

Contents

1

Volume 16, Number 1 January/February 2020 MCI (P) 010/10/2019 ISBN 1793 -056

From the editor 2 2020 – The wish list News 4 Shaping the future of responsible aquaculture production and sourcing

Shrimp farm in Quang Ninh, Vietnam.

Photo credit: Soraphat Panakorn.

Hatchery and Nursery 8 The road to hatchery success in north Bali

Fulfilling domestic and regional demand, mainly for hybrid groupers and milkfish.

By Zuridah Merican

Editor/Publisher

15 A fifth facility in Asia

Set to revolutionise hatchery operations in Vietnam with supplies of fresh Artemia

Editorial Coordination

Shrimp Culture 18 A practical experience at a shrimp nursery system in Vietnam

Zuridah Merican, PhD Tel: +60122053130 Email: zuridah@aquaasiapac.com Corporate Media Services P L Tel: +65 6327 8825/6327 8824 Fax: +65 6223 7314 Email: irene@corpmediapl.com Web: www.corpmediapl.com

Design and Layout

Words Worth Media Management Pte Ltd Email: sales@wordsworth.com.sg Web: www.wordsworth.com.sg

AQUA Culture Asia Pacific is published bimonthly by

As the nursery fever reigns in Vietnam, the three-phase BIOSIPEC system reduces risk of crop failures. By Marcell Boaventura, Georges Hetzel, Cuong Huynh Tran, Sjoerd Bakker and Marc Campet

Industry Review 21 Marine Shrimp in Asia in 2019: Supply exceeds demand 24 Spotlight on India’s shrimp farming industry 26 Philippines shrimp: working together for a progressive shrimp industry

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Aqua Culture Asia Pacific Online View E-magazine Download past issues

Feed Technology 29 Latest F3 challenge prize focuses on carnivores. By Kevin Fitzsimmons 30 Fishmeal substitution with a protein concentrate for the whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Best growth performance was obtained in shrimp fed with 50% fishmeal replacement.

By Nguyen Van Nguyen, Danny Van Mullem, Le Hoang, Tran Van Khanh, Nguyen Thanh Trung and Paula Sole-Jimenez.

33 Diseases and health management at TARS 2019

Different strategies towards quality feeding/Maximising benefits with feed additives/Bespoke microbiota management in fish and shrimp

39 Fish immunology for beginners: The five defense lines of the immune system in fish

Serge Corneillie explains what pathogens need to overcome before they can multiply in the fish organs and ultimately kill the fish.

41 Committing to sustainable and profitable aquaculture At DSM’s 2019 aquaculture conference Asia Pacific

Developments 47 Revisiting global shrimp production and trade at the INFOFISH World Shrimp Conference (Shrimp 2019)

50 An orbit view on shrimp farms 52 Mentoring aquaculture start-ups in Singapore 54 A PL counter starts off innovation to automate shrimp hatcheries Show Review 56 Our future: Growing from Water at AE2019 60 Company News and Events

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

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From the editor

2020 – The Wish List trap. Today, there is a clear winner with the Asian seabass or barramundi as genetic selection has developed faster growing strains.

Zuridah Merican Happy New Year! It’s time to plan for 2020 and here is The Wish List.

The shrimp sector is beset by diseases and yet supply is higher than demand, negatively impacting margins. If we stick to the intensive model, the industry must improve on survival rates.

1. When we look at the supply chain and apply the HACCP system, the weakest point seems to be vulnerable PL 10. Our current model advocates for moving SPF PL10 from a sterile hatchery environment into a pond habitat with fluctuating water quality parameters, containing perhaps every known pathogen. There is a need to focus on early healthcare and build stronger juveniles of PL 30-40 days with a developed nursery phase and corresponding nutrition.

2.

Today, with the emergence of new diseases, genetic selection should focus less on growth and more on robustness with the ultimate goal of a SPR trait with SPF status.

The marine fish sector has been slow to integrate, and is lost in the multispecies

OUR MISSION We strive to be the beacon for the regional aquaculture industry.

We will be the window to the world for Asia-Pacific aquaculture producers and a door to the market for international suppliers.

We strive to be the forum for the development of self-regulation in the Industry.

3. The problem continues as the species is protogynous when fish are female in early life and become males at 4 years old. For each generation, it takes at least 4 – 5 years for breeding and genetic selection. Could we induce a male population faster? Alain Henry Michel who has worked with several generations of barramundi has seen animals of both sexes at 2 years of age when kept in captivity, and at higher temperatures. He wonders why this is not taken up.

4. Most marine fish hatcheries today feed juveniles on formulated feed but when stocked in cages, farmers interchange between trash fish and formulated feeds.

Cost is the driver, but trash fish is both a pollutant and a vector of disease.

5. Integration still has a low barrier to entry today but the sector must look further than the live fish market.

Both our freshwater fish, tilapia and pangasius face image issues.

6. The pangasius is an export earner for Vietnam but the sector has not responded to negative publicity in social media.

The entire sector has to work together along the supply chain to initiate generic marketing for the species and impose self-regulation as we all know it only takes ‘one bad apple to spoil the whole cart’.

7. Tilapia has hit a saturation point in demand in the US but has a poor entry into the EU. British supermarkets will not touch tilapia due to the use of hormones to create an all-male fast-growing population. Is it not time to adopt an alternative route to all male populations such as RNA interference? Will this be better received by supermarket chains and the consumer?

In the segment of feeds: 8.

Alternative protein meals and oils capable of replacing fishmeal and fish oil are available today. But like all startups, the initial take-up will be low and prices

See updates at www.tarsaquaculture.com

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

will be high until there is economies of scale. Should farmers bear the burden of this cost alone? Perhaps the downstream segments of the supply chain could help by offering to pay a premium for seafood raised on sustainable products? Surveys show that consumers are willing to pay 6% premium price for traceable and sustainable seafood. This will lighten the cost burden shared between the feed companies, farmers and processing plants.

9.

Functional feeds still face heavy resistance in Asia from farmers who prefer top dressing. One reason given is that farmers want immediate therapy which feed companies are unable to supply such special feeds on an urgent basis. Prevention is still the best route to disease mitigation and perhaps feed companies could advise farmers on the right timing to introduce such functional feeds to minimise the feed cost per kg of shrimp or fish produced.

We accept that Asian aquaculture is a highrisk business. We can mitigate risks with data analysis and determining ‘cause and effect’.

10.

Asian aquaculture has accumulated data but there has been little analyses to link it to the causative factors and trigger points. In a disease outbreak, farmers look for therapy (rightly so) but survive the disaster without any learning on how to prevent this in future.

Fortunately, there are startups today with technological innovations to help, with real time monitoring, big data analytics and artificial intelligence but they need farmers help to test out their algorithms.

Since starting modern aquaculture in Asia in 1980s, the second generation of farmers are taking over from their parents. We cannot pass on the industry to the third generation with the same problems and zero learning process.

4

News

GOAL 2019 Shaping the future of responsible aquaculture production and sourcing

T

he trademark of the Global Outlook Aquaculture Leaders (GOAL) conference since its inception in 2001 is to discuss shared responsibilities and goals in a pre-competitive environment. Over 3 days in Chennai, India from October 22-24, GOAL 2019 organised by the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) drew 475 attendees, a 25% increase from 2018. There were 60 speakers from 16 countries providing insights on the trends shaping the future of responsible aquaculture production and sourcing.

Panel discussions covered current concerns such as antibiotic use in aquaculture and disease management. Breakout sessions were on several areas, such as accelerating aquaculture technology uptake, charting a future for monodon shrimp farming and casting spotlight on India’s shrimp production, among others. At the marketplace roundtables, influencers and representatives from leading seafood retailers and food service trade were handpicked for their opinions on selected issues.

Global farmed shrimp and finfish production and trade trends

Yearly, global aquaculture and seafood stakeholders wait in anticipation for the global farmed shrimp and farmed finfish production data as well as the challenges faced by the shrimp aquaculture industry. At GOAL 2019, these were presented during the session “Aquaculture Production Forecast and the Seafood Trade Landscape”. For the 13th consecutive year, GOAL stalwarts James L. Anderson, University of Florida and Ragnar Tveteras, University of Stavanger, respectively presented data and trends from shrimp and finfish production surveys, administered annually

by GAA’s Darryl Jory, with contributions from Ragnar Nystoyl of Kontali Analyse. Gorjan Nikolik, Rabobank then addressed factors potentially reshaping global seafood trade in the years ahead.

“The FAO statistics on total shrimp production in 2017 showed a steady increase of 8% since 2016 to 5.5 million tonnes. In contrast, in recent years, GOAL’s data have diverged greatly from FAO’s data, where data from the survey were only 4.5 million tonnes for 2017,” said Andersen. The high production data by FAO in 2017 was explained by the discrepancies in information emanating

Major Producing Regions: 2013 - 2021

Million Tons

For the first time in its history, there was a live telecast of the first day and opening session. The US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) partnered GOAL and gathered groups of industry stakeholders in the Philippines (30), Indonesia (37), Myanmar (35), Malaysia (40) and Thailand (30) to present this live telecast.

Similarly, the Society of Shrimp Aquaculture by Aquaculture Professionals 2.0 (SAP) with sponsor Avanti 1.8 Feeds Ltd organised a live 1.6 telecast of the “Farmers’ Day” 1.4 to around 200 farm managers, 1.2 technicians, hatchery and 1.0 processing plant operators, in 0.8 four locations ─ Vijayawada, 0.6 Balasore, Pondicherry and 0.4 Surat.

Santana Krishna, 0.2 Maritech moderated the 0.0 Southeast Asia China session (see p24).

K.S. Srinivas, Chairman MPEDA-Marine Products Export Development Authority opened the conference and highlighted some targets. The current seafood trade of USD7 billion with 1.4 million tonnes, is projected to rise to USD15 billion in the next 5 years through diversification of cultured species, including gift tilapia and pompano; revival of black tiger shrimp production; promotion of inland aquaculture activities; introduction of new culture technologies, including recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) and adoption of global standards. He encouraged investments in aquaculture, such as venturing into hatcheries for the GIFT tilapia. A 100% FDI will be given through an automatic route. MPEDA will also launch its own certification scheme.

2013

2015

2016

Americas

2017

2018

2019

Middle East / Northern Africa

2020

Other

2021

Sources: GOAL (2014-2018) for 2013-2017; GOAL (2019) for 2018-2021.

Southeast Asia includes Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Taiwan.

Species included are L. vannamei, P. monodon and Other. M. rosenbergii is excluded.

Issues and Challenges in Shrimp Aquaculture GOAL 2019 Survey – All Countries Diseases ***Production costs - Feed/Fishmeal ***International trade barriers Access to disease-free broodstock ***International market prices Production costs - Fuel Seed stock quality & availability Environmental management Production costs - Others Banned chemicals / antibiotic use Access to Credit Feed quality and availability Market coordination Product quality control Infrastructure Conflicts with other users Public Relations Management Not Important

Asterisks indicate a Top 3 issue in GOAL 2007 Survey

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

2014

India

Moderately Important

Extremely Important

News

5

from China. This year, the reporting was much better.

Highlights on production data are detailed below and in the top graph: • Global shrimp production from aquaculture totalled 3.47 million tonnes in 2019. From 2015-2021, the projected CAGR is 4.9%. Volume in 2021 is expected to rise 11% over that in 2018 to 5 million tonnes.

• In 2019, China and India were leading in shrimp aquaculture production with 1.4 million tonnes and 0.58 million tonnes, respectively. Southeast Asia increased production to 1.69 million tonnes, mainly in Vietnam which increased production by 4% since 2018 to 0.7 million tonnes. There was slow growth in Indonesia and Thailand.

• Ecuador led production from the Americas with more than 0.6 million tonnes in 2019. Ecuador has experienced strong growth in the last few years; expectations through 2021 are positive as well (CAGR = 13% during 2013-2021).

At the lighting the lamp ceremony, from left: K.S. Srinivas, Chairman MPEDA; Andrew Mallison, CEO, GAA and George Chamberlain, President, GAA.

• The vannamei shrimp accounted for 79% of global farmed shrimp production and 73% of Asia’s production.

With regards to the supply situation, in 2019, aquaculture accounted for 55% of the global shrimp supply and vannamei accounted for 44% of this supply.

US imports rose 39% between 2013-2019, and EU imports were down 6% in the 2015-2019 period.

Japan’s imports have decreased 23% from 2011 to 2019. However, China’s imports increased by 150% bringing the import volumes close to that of the US markets. China imports mainly shrimp from India and Ecuador. In terms of shrimp sizes, Andersen said that in the last 2 years, the proportion of small-sized shrimp has declined, an indication of decreasing issues with diseases. The product forms favoured in the Americas are raw shrimp, whereas in Asia, it is more towards value-added products.

Issues and challenges

Stakeholders also looked forward to the list of issues and challenges in shrimp aquaculture for all countries in 2019 as shown in the bottom graph. The top challenge for all countries was diseases, followed by prices and production costs, feeds and fishmeal, and international trade barriers. While producers in Asia considered the first two as critical for them, their third challenge was access to disease-free broodstock. For Latin American producers, the main issue in 2019 was international market prices followed by production costs (including fuel costs), and feeds and fishmeal. As a reference, in 2018, the survey gave disease as top in the list followed by banned chemicals and antibiotics, and international market prices.

Andersen concluded that real shrimp prices were at historic lows in 30 years; the increase in production volumes rose 1% in 2019 versus 2018. Over the period 2018 to 2021, production increase is expected at 3.5% per year and production in 2021 will be 11% above that in 2018. Uncertainties will continue because of disease and trade issues. “The global market should be able to absorb these modest increases without further price declines, but there are disease uncertainties, a serious trade war, and global economic expectations, especially for China, are difficult to assess”.

Finfish production outlook

Some highlights of the survey, presented by Tveteras were: • Tilapia production was estimated at 6.3 million tonnes, up 4% since 2018, despite some 300,000 tonnes of losses in Asia.

• Pangasius production was reported for Myanmar, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and Vietnam. In Vietnam, pangasius production increased 4% since 2018 to 1.5 million tonnes in 2019 and a 3% increase is expected in 2020. Prices were better in 2019; USD4.3 in the US but lower in the EU at USD3.3. The total production of the pangasius and other catfish reached more than 5.0 million tonnes in 2019.

At GOAL 2019, three Q&A marketplace round tables connected influential buyers and suppliers to address the major challenges and opportunities facing aquaculture. Steve Hart, GAA (left), moderated this Market Place Roundtable Asia with from left: Tommy Sekiguchi, Fishery Project Department and Food Business Unit, Mitsui & Co Ltd, Japan; Joe Qiao, Qingdao Meichu Food Co Ltd, China; Frank Huang, HemaFresh, Alibaba and Li Zhong, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co. Ltd., China.

• Salmon production increased 7% to 2.6 million tonnes and prices were high during the first half of 2019.

• In 2019, global cobia production reached 53,000 tonnes in 2019, and is expected to increase by 5% in 2020. Bluefin tuna production was 72,349 tonnes and is expected to increase by 8% in 2020. Various grouper production was 174,000 tonnes in 2019 and will go up by 6% in 2020.

Tveteras shared some trends and issues. These are technological or institutional innovations; land-based and closed production systems as well as exposed/offshore production systems. In plans/visions for land-based salmon farming, the expected production may reach 800,000 tonnes (kontali.com). Working on institutional innovations, Tveteras noted that problems include external biological/environmental effects, and there is a need for regional collaboration models. Certification schemes can play an important role.

Trade dynamics

In his discussion on trade dynamics in key aquaculture industries, covering that for the salmon, shrimp and tilapia and pangasius, Nikolik said that the salmon trade sector is maturing. Main buyers of salmon are in the EU. There is increasing demand but supply cannot respond to it. Some 700,000 tonnes are expected from RAS systems, in regions physically far from traditional producers, but maybe only 10% of this target will become a reality. Global trade can be impacted by RAS and by offshore supply, especially in the US, China and Japan. Together, Iceland and Russia, both can potentially supply 100,000 tonnes in the future. The weakness is the intercontinental delivery of fresh salmon.

While in 2012, the major exports were seen with Thai shrimp going to the US; in 2018, it was shrimp from Ecuador and India going to China. There is clear evidence of India emerging and substituting Thailand and driving growth. India has taken over

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

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News

The panel on antibiotic use and AMR on humans was moderated by Ian Shone, GAA (left) and panellists were (from right), Ramanan Laxminarayan, Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, USA; Ruth Hoban, New England Seafood International, USA; Will Rash, Big Prawn Co UK; Flavio Corsin, IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative and Ramraj Dhamodar, India Hatcheries Associations (AISHA).

Thailand’s position in the US market. In 2018, value was down but consumption was high in the US, indicating that focus needs to be placed on marketing rather than production.

Major markets for the shrimp have changed. In 2013, EU, Japan and US were the leading markets. In 2018, it was China overtaking the EU, with the volume 3 times that of the volume of Japan’s market.

Ecuador is doing extremely well with 38% of global markets at low prices which no other nation can match. China is the largest importer, taking up 28% of the global shrimp trade estimated at 2.7 million tonnes.

In the freshwater whitefish market (tilapia and pangasius), China and Vietnam lead with exports. US and EU lead with imports, a situation unchanged since the 1990s. China is becoming the second largest importer of whitefish; in the period July 2018-June 2019, Vietnamese pangasius production increased but exports declined 55% as compared to the same period in 2017-2018 due to tariffs in the US markets. “African swine fever (ASF) could be the best thing for freshwater whitefish,” said Nikolik. As prices of pork increase, there is a refocus on tilapia for domestic markets.

Together, the US-China trade war and ASF can convert China from being a leading exporter to that of a net tilapia importer.

Antibiotic use in aquaculture

Keynote speaker Ramanan Laxminarayan, Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, USA brought home the point on the global problem of antibiotic resistance. Aquaculture is central in the action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Some two thirds of the tonnage of antibiotics are used in livestock and aquaculture where antibiotics have been used as a substitute for hygiene and nutrition. Antibiotics for human use are also used for treatment of bacterial infections in salmon, catfish, trout and other commercially-raised fish. The USFDA has approved certain drugs for use in aquaculture as long as the seafood contains less than a mandated maximum residue limit.

Ramanan described some examples of how resistant bacteria have been transmitted to humans through handling of fish.

Streptococcus iniae was reported to cause invasive infections in persons handling farmed tilapia, and a new biotype of Vibrio

At the “Not so novel: Bridging the gap between innovation and market acceptance in the feed sector” panel, GAA’s Dan Lee (right) discussed the road to bring novel feed ingredient to market. Participants were, from right; Karim Kumaly, Veramaris; Darian McBain, Thai Union Group; Chris Haacke, Corbion; Allan LeBlanc, Calysta; and Chloé Phan Van Phi, Innovafeed.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

vulnificus was documented to cause serious infections in persons handling live tilapia in Israel. In Japan, Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections have been linked to consumption of farmed fish.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been isolated from the carcasses of catfish.

Global antimicrobial consumption by aquaculture in 2017 was estimated at 10,259 tonnes and from this baseline, the antimicrobial consumption is projected to rise 33% to 13,600 tonnes by 2030. His message was that it is important to recognise that aquaculture’s actions have global consequences for humans and animals.

A related panel discussed antibiotic use in aquaculture and implications at the retailer and consumer level. Legal requirements on antibiotic-free farming do not exist, but it is clear that producers should not use antibiotics as growth promoters nor as prophylactics. On control, it is all down to the supply base as processors can only advise. Antibiotic-free practices and thus labelling products are gaining traction as seen at the last Seafood Expo Global in Brussels. It may be difficult for the market to recognise “antibiotic-free” products, but in the case of shrimp with majority small scale farms, it is important for governments to educate these farmers on its use. Antibiotics are available for purchase in stores in Asia and a change in mindset is urgently needed. India was in the spotlight with 50% testing of products entering markets and alternatives to antibiotics, such as bacteriophages, probiotics are being tested for their effectiveness in disease prevention.

Innovations in shrimp farming, disease management and marketing

Dr Loc Tran, ShrimpVet Laboratory, Vietnam presented on lessons learnt from the emergence of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease–(AHPND), Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) and White Faeces Disease (WFD). To control outbreaks, the goal is to disrupt nutrients needed for Vibrio proliferation. One example given was the use of feeds with fermented soybean meal for Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) and WFD intervention. Shrimp haemocyte iridescent virus (SHIV), which has been isolated from polychaete worms and farmed shrimp, presents a challenge. Robins McIntosh, Charoen Pokphand Public Foods, Thailand presented on the amazing advances in sustainable intensification. Control is essential to produce more from less. His message was not to worry on prices which farmers have no control over, but they should worry on things that they can control such as the costs of production.

Sreeram Ravi, Eruvaka Technologies is developing intelligent solutions for shrimp farming. Aside from the importance of real time monitoring to give insights on pond conditions, Ravi said that the biomass of a particular pond should be assessed. For the processor, biomass data and images of shrimp size distribution help with sourcing operations. In marketing, Travis Larkin discussed the shrimp marketing initiative, launched at GOAL 2018 saying that new ideas and actions are needed to increase shrimp consumption in the US market. Social media is important.

GOAL 2020 conference will be held in Tokyo, Japan. Dates and venue will be announced soon.

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Hatchery and Nursery

The road to hatchery success in north Bali Large and medium size hatcheries in north Bali fulfill domestic and regional demand, mainly for hybrid groupers and milkfish

I

n 1998, the Gondol Research Institute for Mariculture (GRIM) was successful in the mass production of fry and fingerlings of the humpback grouper Cromileptes altivelis, and the tiger grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus in 2000. Researchers said that their basic research in breeding of the milkfish Chanos chanos helped them to achieve the above goals for the groupers. They then catalysed the setup in north Bali of hatcheries, mainly, backyard, close to the institute. In the beginning, GRIM helped the small hatcheries with the supply of eggs.

Today, many of these hatcheries have grown larger and are selfsustaining, with their own broodstock and fry and juvenile rearing facilities. The current interest is to produce the popular grouper (kerapu in the Indonesian language) hybrids. These hybrids include: kerapu cantik derived from hybridising the tiger (kerapu macan) and camouflage (kerapu batik) groupers (female E. fuscoguttatus X male Epinephelus polyphekadion), and the hybrid of the tiger and giant (kerapu kertang) groupers (female E. fuscoguttatus X male Epinephelus lanceolatus), called kerapu cantang. Meanwhile, since 2017, the functions at the institute, now called the Institute for Mariculture Research and Fisheries Extension have changed to research and extension in marine aquaculture and fisheries.

However, the location close to the hatcheries makes it the referral centre for hatchery production problems including diseases, breeding and larval growing, water quality as well as for any farming challenges.

Sustainable businesses

There are many multispecies hatcheries located in Desa Penyambangan, Kecamatan Gerokgak, Kabupaten Buleleng in north Bali. Most of the hatcheries produce fry and fingerlings of the Asian seabass or barramundi Lates calcarifer, milkfish and various groupers. Apri, owner of Apri Hatchery Buleleng, has been in this hatchery business for the past 15 years. His neighbours, are Lucas and Nyoman Suwitra who started CV Dewata Laut in 1998. Apri produces fingerlings of the hybrid groupers (cantik and cantang) and seabass, milkfish fry, and two ornamental fish, one of them being the clown fish Amphiprion ocellaris. He also produces fingerlings of the kerapu batik E. polyphekadion where the eggs come from the Gondol Institute and the coral trout Plectropomus leopardus or kerapu sunu using his own broodstock.

Although it could be said that the hatcheries are crowded in a small area, water quality is not an issue. For them, the major challenge is fluctuations in the water temperature, which is usually at 30°C but can go down by 2°C during the winter months such as during August. In general, guidance on the broodstock rearing, breeding and larval rearing protocols is provided by the researchers at the Gondol Institute, including the use of yellow painted tanks where research demonstrated that fry and fingerlings can see the rotifers better when feeding.

Domestic and regional demand

These hatcheries in Bali as well others in Lampung, Sumatra and on Java Island, supply grouper juveniles to local farmers for growout in cages and also in ponds. Usually larger fingerlings are sold to local farmers (10cm) and smaller (6-7cm) are exported to Vietnam and Thailand. “Exports to Malaysian farms require health certificates,” said Apri who sells 3cm grouper fingerlings locally at IDR600/cm (USD0.04/cm). Lucas exports 5-10cm fingerlings to Vietnam and Malaysia. Local demand for hybrid grouper depends on ex-farm prices of marketable fish. In August 2019, ex-farm prices were IDR110,000/kg (USD7.9/kg) for the cantang and IDR125,000/kg (USD 8.9/kg) for the cantik. The only downside for these hatcheries is the lower demand from local cage farms for grouper fingerlings after the government imposed a regulation banning the sale of live groupers direct from the cage farms to well-boats.

The production of the milkfish fry is to supply local farmers for growout in brackishwater ponds. This is a popular fish in the domestic market and demand is rising. In 2018, Indonesia produced 778,520 tonnes of milkfish (Rokhmin Dahuri, 2019). Indonesia is a leader in the production of milkfish fry. The largest milkfish hatchery in Bali, CV Dewata Laut produces 5-10 million fry annually. It has 15kg/ fish broodstocks. Daily, 1cm fry are packed into bags at a density of 1,500 fry/bag and exported to Bulacan in the Philippines.

Apri sells 3cm milkfish fry at IDR12/fingerling (USD0.85/1000).

Lucas does not have any milkfish broodstock in his hatchery. He buys the eggs, hatch and grows them to 1cm fry. While waiting for milkfish egg supplies, Lucas grows vannamei shrimp in his tanks.

Growth of the shrimp is much slower in his tanks as compared to culturing in ponds, but Lucas is convinced that the flesh is firmer and tastier. In 4 months, he gets size 30-40/kg shrimp.

Hatchery operators in North Bali, from the left; At Apri Hatchery Buleleng, Apri has been in this hatchery business for the past 15 years; Krishnan (left in middle picture) manages the multispecies PT Bali Barramundi hatchery and Lucas produces fingerlings of the hybrid groupers and milkfish

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

10 Hatchery and Nursery

At CV Dewata Laut, there are 15kg milkfish broodstocks, export of 1 cm milkfish fry.

Fulfilling demand for fingerlings of grouper hybrids

In the production of fry and fingerlings for cantik, Apri has 24 broodstocks of male E. polyphekadion and gets female E. fuscgottaus broodstock from the wild. “Suitable broodstocks are usually between 4-8kg and for both species, the first, 4 years they are female (protogynous) and after 8 years they change to males,� said Apri. The whole cycle from hatching to final fingerling size (3cm) for sale will be 45 days for the cantang and cantik. There is poor demand for tiger grouper fingerlings. Although the fish has an attractive price at IDR180,000/kg (USD12.9/kg) the demand for fingerlings is poor as the survival rate in grow-out net-cage farms can be rather low.

A distance away in Sanggit village at the PT Bali Baramundi hatchery, Krishnan, a recent graduate and hatchery manager since a year ago, said that each hatchery cycle for the cantang grouper will

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Packing 1cm milkfish fry for export at CV Dewata Laut

12 Hatchery and Nursery take 45 days and his target is a production of 300,000/month of 1cm fingerlings.

“It is costly to produce grouper fingerlings,” said Apri. In a field report on trials to produce the cantik hybrid (Andrian, 2018) the hatching rate was 54%. “From around 3 million eggs to the production of 3cm fingerlings, the survival rate is 10% and then from 3cm to 6cm, survival is 80%. In contrast, for the milkfish, the hatching rate is 50% and the survival rate to 1cm is at 8090%,” added Apri.

Feeds will account for 30-40% of production cost at most for growing from 1.2cm to 10cm fingerlings. Fortunately there is a wide choice of feeds, both local and imported microfeeds. In the production of the grouper, Apri starts by feeding fry with Nannochloropsis throughout the rearing period from DAH2 (days after hatching) to the end of the rearing period (DAH45).

Rotifers are used from DAH2 to DAH38 and feeding with microfeeds start at DAH14 to DAH45. Artemia feed is used from DAH17 to DAH45. “We have a choice of feeds for the different stages of growth. For the early stages, we have Artemia pellets, INVE’s Ocean Star Artemia nauplii and for the larvae, Otohime feeds from Japan. At 5cm, we can feed them with the locally produced extruded feed (Megami brand).

With regards to disease, the issue is always with the grouper. Diseases are detected with a PCR and detection of 10% deformity is usual due to nutrition – presumably due to the lack of omega-3 fatty acids,” said Apri.

“In the case of the coral trout, the cycle is 45-50 days. At DAH20, fry will start eating Artemia. At DAH8-10, we start to feed them with microfeeds. They will continue to feed on Nannochloropsis and rotifers from DAH2 to DAH28 and at DAH3 we also feed them copepod nauplii.”

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Groupers and fingerlings of hybrids, clockwise from top; camouflage grouper Epinephelus polyphekadion broodstock, 100g cantik fingerling and 6cm cantang fingerlings at Apri Hatchery Buleleng

Cantang grouper fingerlings in cages and tanks at PT Bali Barramundi hatchery.

14 Hatchery and Nursery Current research at Gondol

At the institute, work on the breeding of the yellow-fin tuna initiated together with JICA back in 2003 is continuing. There are land based facilities and offshore large 20m diameter cages for the tuna broodstocks, an expensive venture as broodstocks are fed fresh fish daily. This is the second such facility for tuna research in the world. With regards to other species for aquaculture, as the local community commercialises their research output, researchers will move on to the next target species.

To date, the success has been in the breeding and grow-out of seven marine species from the milkfish to the lobster Panulirus sp. In the case of breeding application, it has covered 14 species which included 5 grouper species, cobia, 2 crab species and the yellow fin tuna. The current target species for research is the abalone.

Abalone farming

Feeding yellowfin tuna in large 48m diameter cages.

Integrated operations

At the 5,000m2 PT Bali Barramundi hatchery and nursery, Krishnan said that they produce fingerlings of cobia Rachycentron canadum, barramundi, hybrid grouper and pompano Trachinotus blotchii. Each cycle for the cantang grouper will take 45 days.

PL

PT Bali Barramundi is integrated with cages to farm mainly the barramundi and since 2016, started to farm groupers and other species. The production is to supply its restaurants in Denpasar and to meet the high demand for barramundi from Bali’s tourism industry. It has an ocean farm off Gerokgak, around 800m from the beach. Marketable sizes for the groupers range from 1.7kg to less than 2kg which will take more than a year to reach. It takes 1.5 years for the barramundi to reach 3kg-size. (www.iambeu.com) The process at the cage farm is to stock 10m2-12m2 floating net cages with juveniles of 12cm until 50cm. These are then transferred into 6m, 10m and 20m diameter cages. The farm has more than 30 of such cages to farm barramundi and groupers.

Fish are fed locally produced extruded feeds but at times, they are fed trash fish. The use of trash fish is a question of costs rather than growth of fish. Harvesting is done according to the demand from its restaurant in Denpasar.

All in all, the hatcheries will continue to produce fish fry; the species produced will depend on the demand by the growout farmers. Over the years of experience gained, there is no problem in the production of fry and fingerlings.

Perfection in micro nutrition PL is our high quality shrimp starter diet designed to offer advanced nutrition to shrimp hatcheries.

www.skretting.com

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Hatchery and Nursery

15

A fifth facility in Asia

In Phan Rang, Ninh Thuan province, daily supplies of Artemia are set to revolutionise hatchery operations

I

n 2013, Frank Indigne and Luk Van Nieuwenhove, co-founders of I&V BIO, established a pilot Artemia Nauplii Center in Thailand. Since then, they have expanded with operational centers in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ecuador. In October 2019, the group opened a brand-new state of the art facility in Phan Rang, in the province of Ninh Thuan, Vietnam. By the end of 2019, it will have five Nauplii Centers and the center in Bangladesh will be ready at the beginning of 2020.

Most of these facilities will have a production capacity of 700-800 trays of 800g pure instar1 Artemia per day. A tray is equivalent to one can of 70% hatchability Artemia. “I&V Bio's key to success is our guarantee to supply our customers with fresh, clean and disinfected (Vibrio-free) products, daily," said Indigne. "We further focus on Instar 1, as these animals contain the most and best nutrition. By cooling down the nauplii until 4°C development is halted and thus the energy level maintained. The nauplii are further de-watered before they are packed in trays and we set the standard at 75.000 nauplii per gram. By doing so we simplify the feeding calculations for hatcheries.

"When the team started this project to supply hatcheries daily with instar 1 Artemia, they worked on the premise that hatching Artemia is a challenging task for fish and shrimp hatcheries. Firstly, they will need to buy sufficient Artemia cyst stocks, which is a drain on cash for the hatchery. There are more than 100 different Artemia brands available and selecting the best in terms of value for money is a difficult choice. Quality in terms of hatching percentage as guaranteed on the packaging is seldom achieved,” said Indigne.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

16 Hatchery and Nursery I&V BIO opened its fifth Artemia Nauplii Center in October 2019, in Phan Rang, Ninh Thuan province, the hub of post larvae production in Vietnam.

He added that during the culture process itself, hatching conditions such as light, temperature and aeration are difficult to control. The result is often a daily oversupply or shortage of Artemia nauplii. A major challenge is the separation of swimming nauplii from the nonhatched cysts and empty shells. The worst situation is when there are bacteria blooms occurring very quickly during hatching. This is very difficult to control, often resulting in heavily contaminated Artemia which negatively affect the health of the shrimp and quality of the shrimp tank water.

Fulfilling a demand in Vietnam

Ninh Thuan Province is the hub of post larvae production in Vietnam and the region can contribute 60-70% of the total post larvae production. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam has planned to set up the National High-Quality Shrimp Seed Production and Testing Center in Ninh Thuan province.

The production capacity is 700-800 of trays of 800g pure instar1 Artemia per day.

Solutions for hatcheries

“With our separation technology, the process of disinfecting and packaging the Artemia is as equally important to produce a consistent quality and quantity of our product. In combination our customised programs and our trained staff ensure efficient timed deliveries 365 days per year. All our facilities are equipped with ozone water treatment and ultra-filtration (0.01 micron) system.

This guarantees zero possibility of EHP spore contamination. We also invested in a real time PCR which analyses all our produced batches daily for EHP and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease/early mortality syndrome (AHPND/EMS). Besides this we also perform daily Vibrio analysis, Artemia count per tray, Instar 1 check, and survival check etc.”

Today, I&V Bio offers several products. There is the pure instar1 Artemia nauplii (INSTART 1), with a guarantee of no impurities, no damaged animals, and no Vibrio. The product is offered in a consistent live-paste (800g per tray) setting a new standard in the shrimp industry. This product allows hatcheries to follow strict biosecurity protocols relieving them from the burden of hatching

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Artemia cysts in often sub-optimal conditions. To further strengthen the health of shrimp post larvae, the company also offers INSTART E (Enriched Artemia nauplii) to hatcheries, nurseries and grow-out facilities. This is produced in a 3-step enrichment: enrichment with high quality docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) emulsion followed by enrichment with algal extracts high in amino acids and carotenoids and finally enrichment with ELVAN a blend of herb extracts, proven for its powerful anti-Vibrio effect and its prebiotic properties.

There is also decapsulated cysts (M-BRYO) in a paste form similar to INSTART1 in trays of 800g and full-range of high-quality diets.

With the new production technology, I&V Bio also provides quality diets for its customers to feed to shrimp larvae.

A patented technology

While there are some companies trying to copy our concept, our INSTART 1 remains unique. Keeping the Artemia nauplii undamaged, Vibrio free and alive, requires more than just a few hatching tanks.

Timing the harvest to ensure that 90% of all harvested nauplii are instar1, requires skilled people and custom-made software. The patented separation and hatching technology was developed

by Luk Van Nieuwenhove. “Hatcheries have to depend on our daily deliveries, in which we provide a back-up system to ensure consistency and supply. In our opinion, our services are much more valuable than the product itself,” said Indigne.

The goal of I&V Bio is to be the preferred supplier of high-tech consistent products, which are both easy to use and with daily delivery directly to the end-user. Indigne said “We want to be present in all the main shrimp and fish markets world-wide through the establishment of local facilities with local partners.”

Asia’s premier aquaculture event returns for the 10th consecutive year!

Asia’s shrimp production continues to be plagued by diseases, bringing down survival rates and increasing costs of production. Conversely, market prices have dropped due to higher supply from new production areas in Asia and from Latin America, placing considerable pressure on margins.

TARS 2020 will look at how Asia’s shrimp aquaculture industry is preparing for the future, and how it can navigate through this perfect storm with market-led production and innovative technologies to increase efficiency.

TARS 2020 features a vibrant speaker program and networking opportunities with industry experts and key stakeholders! www.tarsaquaculture.com

PLENARY SESSIONS • Understanding demand and supply • Productivity and costs of production (Asian vs Latin American models) • Where is the weakest link?

• Data analyses, AI and innovations • Investing for the future

Organised by:

HARD TALK on building

alliances along the supply chain to improve productivity

Share and Learn at the

INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLE BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Sponsors:

For more information, email: conference@tarsaquaculture.com or visit www.tarsaquaculture.com Follow us on |

18 Shrimp Culture

A practical experience at a shrimp nursery system in Vietnam As the nursery fever reigns, in Vietnam, the three-phase BIOSIPEC system comprising highdensity nursery and pre grow- out phases isolates each phase with its own unique biosecurity protocol and reduces risk of crop failures.

By Marcell Boaventura, Georges Hetzel, Cuong Huynh Tran, Sjoerd Bakker and Marc Campet

W

orldwide, the effects of disease outbreaks remain the most serious restraint for the growth of the shrimp industry.

Disease-led crop failures have been prompting producers to investigate new sustainable technologies for increased consistency of output. The implementation of modular intensive farming systems is challenging, but highly rewarding in terms of infrastructure utilisation, shrimp growth and survival as well as feeding management along with higher and more consistent output. The nursery phase is an intermediate step between the hatchery and grow-out stages and is responsible for substantial improvements in performance and the efficient use of resources.

This article describes the main principles and advantages of the nursery system and displays the achievement of consistent results of BIOSIPEC, a three-phase modular system, which combines applied science and technology with the needs and realities of commercial production.

Incoming water is the main path for the introduction of pathogens in the rearing system. Operating systems under strict biosecurity control require the full disinfection of incoming water. Effective water disinfection systems are expensive, hence reducing water requirements with closed systems and semi-biofloc and biofloc, help to maintain the efficacy of filtration at a low operation cost for successful and sustainable intensification of production. In the past, intensive systems required high water exchange to maintain the water quality.

Figure 1 below shows the development of farming areas in India and reminds us that pristine water is no longer available in most farming areas given the growth of aquaculture in the last decade. A number of publications document the reduction in water requirements and discharge of nursery systems (Cohen et al., 2005; Khanjani et al., 2016) and this is a crucial factor for the sustainable development of the shrimp industry.

Management

In intensive semi-biofloc nursery systems, strict control must be given to the following: biosecurity, post larvae quality, stocking density, feed quality and feeding ration, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, free carbon dioxide, pH, alkalinity and light penetration. The biofloc system passes through a maturation process. In the early days while the system is still immature, heterotrophic bacteria are responsible for the recycling of all nutrients. At this stage, continuous addition of a carbon source is required. In the secondary stage, chemo-autotrophic bacteria communities are also established; the feed along with alkalinity management becomes the main sources of carbon.

In the early days, excess microalgae can delay the achievement of the optimum balance of microorganisms mainly to the fluctuations of pH and dissolved oxygen levels. These systems work well at low levels of microalgae. Shading the culture or maintaining it indoors represents a major advantage to achieve the consistent equilibrium of the microbiota communities.

Post larvae quality is fundamental to achieving good results. While specific pathogen tolerant (SPT) and specific pathogen resistant (SPR) animals are desirable, working with specific pathogen free (SPF) stock is usually sufficient, given that the system aims for the complete isolation of the animals from the external environment, throughout most of the cycle. Nevertheless, continuous application of commercial probiotics and health surveillance are required for the early detection of potential breaches in the biosecurity system. The continuous maintenance of an integrated farming system, which focuses on the optimum operation practices as demonstrated in Figure 2 is also important. Not to forget, record keeping and traceability are of the highest importance. Accurate information of each supplies including detailed information on post larvae must be available and diligently recorded.

Figure 1. Shrimp farming in the Dumas region, India; in 2009 (left) and 2018 (right, Manoj Sharma, 2019).

Picture credit to Dr Manoj Sharma and Google Earth

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Shrimp Culture Disease

Disease Disease

Quarantine

SPF animals People and equipment disinfection

Disease

Decrease viral load and prevent it from entering the farm BIOSECURITY

Disease

Sanitary dry-outs

Decrease Stress Control of water parameters, Temp, pH, salinity

Geo

Sanitary barriers: domes, green-houses

Geomembrane Organic matter treatment

Water filtration

Increasing Resistance Good Practices

Probiotics

19

SPR animals

Aeration and O2

Water disinfection

Nutrition

Immune-stimulants

Semi-biofloc as a tool to reduce water exchange

The effluents of intensive nursery systems are rich in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, along with suspended organics and high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, McIntosh et al., 2001). With adequate management and control of carbonaceous substrate, microorganisms can uptake these metabolites, maintaining the water quality, reducing nutrient release and recycling the waste into nutritious biofloc, which is a natural food for detritivores such as shrimp. In a study comparing efficiency of a biofloc system using low and high protein content, no detrimental effects to water quality could be linked to the use of a high protein diet (Brito, 2018)

“

Having the production cycle divided into three phases will allow for five cycles per year, adjustment of energy and feed consumption for each phase and a better control of the environment.

”

In an intensive biofloc system, up to 40% of shrimp biomass can be obtained from the biofloc produced and consumed in the system (Burford et al., 2004; Cardona et al., 2015). The direct benefits are a reduction in feed demand and feed conversion ratio (FCR) along with an increase in efficiency. These days, the availability of post larvae from strong family selection systems is a reality. Fast growth is one the main traits targeted by the global shrimp breeding centres, but only gives a “potential” of what the shrimp can achieve in terms of growth. To reach that potential, protein along with other

Closed Systems

Figure 2. The three levels in an integrated shrimp farming system.

nutrient requirements are required in adequate levels. The supply of highly digestible protein with the proper amino acid profile is key in reaching the potential of the new shrimp genetic lineage but also reduce pollution of the rearing water. A recent study conducted at the Institute of Marine Sciences - Labomar, in Brazil, demonstrated a 12% gain in survival, 8% reduction in FCR along with a reduction of size variability by half when using BernAqua’s MeM (a cold microextruded diet), in comparison to a regular crumble, during a 56day nursery process.

2.5 years of experience on nursery and biosecure intensive shrimp farming

Running since September 2017, BIOSIPEC is the Bio-Secure Intensive Shrimp Production pilot of ADM in Vietnam. The production cycle in this system is divided into three phases: a nursery, a pre grow-out and a grow-out phase. Having the production cycle divided into three phases will allow for five cycles per year, adjustment of energy consumption for each phase and a better control of the environment. (Table 1 and Figure 3)

Nursery

Pre grow-out

Grow-out

Duration (days)

28

42

42

Shrimp initial size (g)

0.003

0.3

6

Shrimp final size (g)

0.3

6

18

Final density (kg/m3)

2.8

3

3

Survival

80%

90%

90%

Table 1. Typical key performance indicators of the three-phase system.

Nursery 2 on BIOSIPEC

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

20 Shrimp Culture

Feeding rate (%)

NURSERY FEEDING AND GROWTH RATES

35.0%

Average weight (g) 0.45

Feeding Rate

0.40

Average Weigt

30.0%

0.35

25.0%

0.30

20.0%

0.25

15.0%

0.20 0.15

10.0%

0.10

5.0% 0.0%

0.05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

0.00

Days of Culture Initial shrimp number

251,000

Final shrimp number

214,000

Initial Average Weight (mg)

3.1

Final Average Weight (mg)

Initial Biomass (kg)

0.8

Harvested Biomass (kg)

83

Final Density (kg/m3)

2.8

Initial Density (PL/l)

8

388

Produced Biomass (kg)

82.3

Feed Consumption (kg)

77.2

Survival

85%

FCR

0.94

Nursery performance

In this nursery system, there is a 30m3 raceway located in a greenhouse and thus protected from the rain, light and external contamination. The cycle starts with post larvae (PL10) and runs for 4 weeks with a density ranging from 8 to 10 PL/L to reach a survival of over 80% and FCR around 0.95. From the beginning, the animals are fed with formulated feed to avoid any contamination.

The PL10 are fed with MeM 200-300 (BernAqua) at 30% of the biomass, before slowly decreasing the feeding rate to finish at 6% to 8% biomass with a specific extruded nursery feed, Vana Nano feed (Ocialis). At the end of 4 weeks, the shrimp reach 300mg on average, which may seem low when compared to the results in lower density cultures, such as at one PL/L, but higher density culture saves space and energy. Water consumption is around 300m3 for the nursery cycle, which represents around 3.6m3/kg of biomass produced. This represents a reduction in cost as well as a minimising risks with introduction of pathogens.

Figure 3. BIOSIPEC nursery raceway with specific design to improve aeration and water movement

Having a BIOSIPEC demo-farm has allowed ADM to develop its own expertise in innovative and intensive shrimp production.

Currently, the demo-farm serves as a training site for customers and technical teams to be acquainted with products and protocols adapted to the requirements of a high-density nursery.

References Cohen, J., Samocha, T.M., Fox, J.M., Gandy, R.L., Lawrence, A.L.,2005.

Characterization of water quality factors during intensive raceway production of juvenile L. vannamei using limited discharge and biosecure management tools.

Aquacult. Eng. 32 (3–4),425–442.

Manoj Sharma. 2019. The good, the bad and the ugly side of shrimp farming. Aqua Culture Asia Pacific, Volume 15, March/April 2019, pp 8-13.

McIntosh, D., Samocha, T.M., Jones, E.R., Lawrence, A.L., Horowitz, S., Horowitz, A 2001. Effects of two commercially available low-protein diets (21% and 31%) on water and sediment quality, and on the production of Litopenaeus vannamei in an outdoor tank system with limited water discharge. Aquaculture. Eng. 25, 69–82.

Low water consumption also allows the regulation of the mineral balance of the water. Indeed, during the nursery phase, shrimp can undergo 10 to 15 moulting during which it is crucial to have the perfect mineral balance. In cases of low salinity, successful artificial salinity and mineral balancing have been performed at BIOSIPEC.

A few steps ahead of the development of shrimp nursery

The last few years have seen the concept of nursery spreading across all shrimp production regions such as Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Farmers quickly calculated the advantage of a nursery phase compared to direct stocking. However, the current trend is to run low-density nurseries (1PL-2PL/L), which barely compensates for the investment costs. BIOSIPEC is two steps ahead of this trend and adopts the following features: • More cycles per year, higher density, with optimisation of the surface and energy consumption, • Partitioning the usual farming cycle into three phases and isolating each phase, which allows the implementation of a specific biosecurity protocol for each phase and reduce the risk of crop failures.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Cuong Huynh Tran is Regional Technical Manager Aquaculture, based in Vietnam. (cuonghuynh.tran@adm.com) Georges Hetzel is Aquaculture Engineer, based in Vietnam. (georges.hetzel.contractor@adm.com) Marcell Boaventura is Sales Manager APAC BernAqua based in Australia. (marcell.boaventura@adm.com) Sjoerd Bakker (sjoerd.bakker@adm.com) is Aquaculture Export and Project Manager and Marc Campet (marc.campet@adm. com) is Asia Aquaculture Commercial Developer, based in Vietnam.

All authors are with ADM Animal Nutrition.

Industry Review

21

Marine Shrimp in Asia in 2019: Supply exceeds demand Higher supply, lower prices and margins in 2019 despite the emerging market in China.

T

owards the end of 2019, there were several exchanges on what was happening with farmed shrimp production, some focussing at the global stage while one was specially on the Philippines. These are reported in this issue. In this review, it was decided not to repeat these discussions, but to focus on the market, sourcing and supply situations. Following up on the interest to bring back the production of the monodon shrimp reported in the last review in the January/ February 2019 issue, updates are given below.

Markets

During the Shrimp 2019 Conference in November 2019, Dr Darryl Jory, USA and Dr Cui He, China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA) indicated that the two major exporters in the farmed shrimp trade are India and Ecuador.

Cui He also said that slowly, China is reducing its production output of shrimp and in 2020, will import more shrimp, up to 750,000 tonnes and if consumption rises, up to one million tonnes.

In the recent 2 years, Ecuador’s and India’s combined growth in output and exports have tipped the balance.

Since 2018, supply has exceeded demand. Even though Ecuador exports mainly HOSO (head on shell on) while India’s exports are 80% HLSO (headless shell on), both countries have competed for the China market resulting in the easing of prices from the second quarter of

50g vannamei shrimp grown the monodon shrimp way at the Gujarat-based Mayank Aquaculture. Dr Manoj Sharma presented at Shrimp 2019 in November 2019.

Monodon shrimp farmed in Vietnam

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MY

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CMY

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January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

22 Industry Review 2018. India started the 2019 year poorly due to poor local prices which deterred farmers from stocking. However, production of the second crop was higher even though the average harvest sizes tend to be smaller, partly to avoid diseases and partly to cash-in with the existing ex farm prices.

Vietnam started strongly with its first crop but was not translated into exports due to the poor prices which means that processing plants were carrying larger inventory in their cold storage. It was reported in Shrimp Tails (7 Sept 2019, seafood-tip.com) that Bangladesh was seeing poor exports of the monodon shrimp due to poor post larvae quality and high temperatures leading to lower production, and the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSSF) has plans to overcome this situation (see page 48).

According to Dr Ho Quoc Luc, during Vietfish 2019, the US is a big market for Vietnam, but since Vietnamese shrimp are subjected to antidumping duties, exports to the US have been decreasing. In 2019, the US market was only 10%. Minh Phu, the largest shrimp exporter has 44% of this share and enjoys 0% duties whereas others have a tax rate of 4.58%. An opportunity for Vietnam’s exporters is the US-China trade war which may open markets. Vietnam’s main competitor in the US market is India; with lower prices, India has a 35% share of this market. Indonesia is also a competitor and it does not have antidumping duties to pay.

Ho said that the EU is the third largest importer of shrimp from Vietnam, which is looking forward to a thriving export trade into the EU, with the impending EVFTA (Europe Vietnam Free Trade Agreement). This means that gradually Vietnam’s producers will pay zero tax. Furthermore, Vietnam can supply IQF shrimp, as demanded by the EU markets. Ho emphasised that in the long term, Vietnam must develop a brand for Vietnamese shrimp.

“Thailand’s shrimp exports have diverted away from the EU as it lost the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP),” said Dr Somsak Paneetatyasai at Shrimp 2019 (see page 47). Shrimp imports from Thailand face 20% taxes on cooked shrimp (GSP was 7%) and 12% taxes on fresh shrimp (GSP 4%). Among the traditional markets, only Japan is importing 25% of total exports of Thai shrimp. Other markets take up 46% of its shrimp exports. Robins McIntosh, CPF, said during TARS 2018, “ Efficient vannamei farming favours large sized shrimp, which is Thailand’s new focus.”

Supply In this annual review, we looked at the production data. The annual GOAL survey presented at the conference in Chennai, India, gave a global marine shrimp production from aquaculture at 3.47 million tonnes for 2019. Southeast Asian production was 1.69 million tonnes. While the GOAL report gave 1.4 million tonnes for China, Dr Cui He, said it was 0.8 million tonnes for marine shrimp and another 0.5 million tonnes of vannamei shrimp production in freshwater aquaculture systems (Shrimp 2019).

Ravi Yellanki in his presentation at GOAL 2019, gave India’s production in 2019 at 600,000 tonnes, 18% below that reported for

Vannamei shrimp tonnes

Monodon shrimp tonnes

China

584,000

96,000

India

557,000-618,000*

49,000-54,000*

300,000-350,00

20,000

Vietnam

330,000

220,000

Thailand

285,000

14,250

Indonesia

Philippines Malaysia

65,000

7,000

40,000-42,000

8,000

Bangladesh

40,000 *MPEDA (Shrimp 2019)

Table 1. Estimates from industry on farmed shrimp production in 2019

2018 (see page 24). It is still difficult to assess the production from Vietnam and Indonesia. In the case of Indonesia, based on post larvae and feed sales, industry estimated a production at 300,000350,000 tonnes. Based on feed sales and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.5, the estimate for Vietnam was only 550,000 tonnes.

Malaysia’s production continued to be around the 40-50,000 tonnes range. There are reports that shrimp farms in East Malaysia are doing much better than those in Peninsula Malaysia.

A country to watch is the Philippines, which reportedly produced only between 60-70,000 tonnes of the vannamei shrimp in 2019 which is marginally higher than that reported officially by the government at 60,122 tonnes (Albaladejo and Usero, 2019) in 2018. However, industry active in the Philippines are convinced that production was much higher, with the rapid expansion of farms in Mindanao Island in the south. Most of them opting for intensive culture systems. The interest is with smaller ponds and increasing stocking density.

During the PhilShrimp 2019 congress, there was interest by the second generation to move away from traditional extensive systems to more intensive culture systems as well as utilise more of the available land for production. Such large proposals will require external sources of funding. PJJ farm which now stocks 70PL/m3 in two large 1 ha and 0.8ha ponds has plans to modify the ponds into smaller ponds and intensify culture in 2021. Currently, there are multiple harvests, starting with 16g shrimp to a final harvest with 23g shrimp. The next step is to increase production and harvest more often.

The situation up to the third quarter in 2019 was summarised by Shrimp Tails in its January update (seafood-tip.com). Overall the global supply growth was 5% vs that of 2018. There is a tighter supply of larger sizes as cycles are shortened due to weather and disease problems in Vietnam and Indonesia, respectively. This resulted in a major supply of smaller sized shrimp and increased price for larger ones. Ravi Yellanki (2019) reported that in March 2019, imports of broodstock were down 50% but went up again in the last quarter of 2019. This matches with the report that India is working on a third crop as the October import of broodstock was high. In India, growth was 4% but in terms of value it was only 0.5%, indicating lower prices.

Indonesia showed about 1% growth in output but value fell by 6% when compared to 2018 figures. Compared to 2018 figures, Vietnam’s growth up to the third quarter was 6% but lower stocking was expected in the last quarter.

Robins McIntosh, CPF, Thailand and Jerry Shi, Kona Bay (right) with hatchery owners at GOAL 2019.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Industry Review

23

Breakout session on “Charting a future for the black tiger shrimp during GOAL 2019.

Demand

EU demand has been slow for the whole year and is expected to cross 600,000 tonnes which will be at the same volume for 2018.

However, prices are expected to ease by 10%. The US is expected to grow about 1% and import about 650,000 tonnes and prices will slump by 5%. The interesting growth market is China where for the first time, grey imports through Vietnam were at a minimum due to the fierce clampdown by the Chinese government. The result is a significant increase of direct imports which allows accurate data to be collected. Undercurrentnews.com reported that in May 2019, volumes imported showed an increase close to 285% on volume but only 210% increase in value. This equates to a drop in average prices of 20%.

A price war was predicted between Ecuador and India, but this did not happen. Inventory in China was estimated to be at 4-6 months before the Shanghai Seafood Exhibition in August, but China’s purchase levels exceeded expectations and prices increased by an average of USD0.15-0.20/kg. In September, an Ecuadorian shipment was tested positive for a virus and consequently all their shipments had to go through checks on arrival to China main ports.

This dampened exports from Ecuador and prices crept up by USD1/ kg by October. However, a diplomatic meeting reversed this in November, and it will be interesting to see prices in 2020. By this time, major buying by China had already been done for Chinese New Year 2020 which falls on 25 January 2020.

Conundrum with the monodon shrimp

In the last marine shrimp review, it was reported that lured by demand from processing plants and the availability of post larvae from SPF broodstock, in Malaysia, there was a surge to farm the black tiger shrimp in 2018. This trend did not last long as in mid2019, farmers in the south of Peninsular Malaysia could not find markets for the large sized 20/kg or even the smaller sized 30-40/ kg shrimp. One possible reason was that prices were too high when large sized vannamei shrimp were much cheaper. Offer prices went down to around MYR38 (USD10/kg) for size 20/kg. At the same time, the live monodon shrimp market has been competitive; farms in Southern Thailand and Malaysia vie for the live shrimp market in China. Meanwhile, the indoor farms in China are supplying live shrimp. Prices are very good and did not put any caps on costs of production, which are high. Astaxanthin is added to the feeds to produce the red colour demanded by consumers.

Reviving monodon shrimp production

With the exception of Bangladesh, there has been little focus on production of the monodon shrimp. According to industry, 220,000 tonnes of this shrimp were produced in Vietnam, where there is a preference for a dual species industry – vannamei shrimp in intensive culture and monodon shrimp in areas more suited to extensive and semi-intensive culture practices. The production of monodon shrimp increased from 3% to 5% of total production of farmed shrimp in Thailand in 2019.

In the Philippines, traditional farms focus on extensive culture of the monodon shrimp but with the success in farming of the vannamei shrimp with higher returns and also the fact that SPF post larvae are available, a younger generation taking over farms are now looking at converting to vannamei shrimp farming. Furthermore, the market in the Philippines still favours small sized shrimp, at 16g. According to an industry source, some farmers in Cebu and Negros produce monodon shrimp to large sizes (40g) to get the higher prices, above USD8-10/kg. The Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (AQD, SEAFDEC) started a “return to the monodon shrimp” program in 2017 and is in the midst of collecting wild shrimp as founder broodstock.

“Despite perennial calls for the vannamei shrimp to be farmed in Bangladesh, the country has opted to stay with the monodon shrimp,” said Syed Mahmudul Huq, chairman of the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF). There is a large World Bank project to expand monodon shrimp production.

During the recent GOAL conference held in Chennai in October, in the presence of representatives from shrimp farming countries, leading importers and retailers from Europe, USA, Japan and China, aquaculture scientists and disease specialists deliberated on how to revive the market and production of monodon shrimp.

Led by George Chamberlain, Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), a round table session discussed ideas and a small group was formed to continue the dialogue and come up with concrete strategies and action plans for this purpose.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

24 Industry Review

Spotlight on India’s shrimp farming industry

Santana Krishnan (fifth right) with speakers and SAP members at the Farmers’ Day session during GOAL 2019, Chennai, India.

Picture credit: S. Muthukaruppan, SAP.

T

he GOAL Conference in Chennai featured a breakout session: Spotlight on India’s bustling shrimp sector. This session was organised by the Society of Aquaculture Professionals (SAP) together with Avanti Feeds Ltd as part of a Farmers’ Day event with a live telecast beamed to around 200 farm managers, technicians, hatchery, processing plant operators and other stakeholders in four locations– Vijayawada, Balasore, Pondicherry and Surat. Santana Krishnan, CEO, SK Marine Technologies, was the moderator of this session, where several industry experts gave their views on shrimp farming developments in India.

In the past 8 years, the remarkable growth in farmed shrimp production was at an annual rate of 20-35% and reached 750,000 tonnes in 2018. Since 2015, India has been the leading shrimp exporter to the US and China. However, SAP’s President Ravi Yellanki in his presentation on India’s industry outlook, said that in 2019, SAP expected production to drop by 18% to around 600,000 tonnes. He attributed this change to lower average international prices which have declined from USD8.50 in 2017, to USD8.00 in 2018 and USD7.30 in 2019. The low prices resulted in 70% of farms experiencing losses. Only 10% of farms were profitable and 20% broke even in 2019.

Ravi noted that in 2019, imports of vannamei broodstock were 10% less than 2018. In the last 4 years, India imported 200,000 or more of the vannamei broodstock. In March 2019, 50% less broodstock were imported compared to March 2018, despite it being the high season for post larvae sales. This was because farmers were just not stocking. The situation only improved in late 2019. Vannamei post larvae production was 57 billion in 2019. Average harvest sizes have declined from 30g to 15-16g.

Diseases: Prevention and challenges

Disease affecting the vannamei shrimp include the white spot disease (WSD), white faeces syndrome (WFS), loose shell syndrome (LSS), slow growth, Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP), running mortality disease (RMS), vibriosis, and diseases in the hatchery. Dr D. Ramraj, President All India Shrimp Hatcheries Association (AISHA), said that WSD has been in the industry for the past 25 years. Peak WSD outbreaks occur during the cooler months (January to March) and monsoon months from June to August.

Outbreaks are less during the summer months. “Crop timing and improved biosecurity are the best options for WSD control and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) tolerant stocks hold promise for the future,” said Ramraj.

WFS is rated by farmers as the most serious threat to shrimp farming. Slow growth with WFS bring reduced survivals, resulting

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

in poor harvest and low returns to the farmer. Poor water and soil quality are causes of WSD and a reversal has been reported both in the field and in the laboratory, indicating the possible role of poor pond conditions.

SAP, together with the University of Arizona, conducted an online survey and field surveillance of WFS affected ponds. Out of 256 survey respondents and 155 field samples collected, it was found that all the samples have the classic symptoms of white faeces, with 143 samples tested positive for EHP while 12 were negative.

“Shrimp diseases are the primary cause for low productivity and reducing margins in shrimp farming, and WSD, WFS and slow growth are the causes for low productivity,” said Ramraj. He suggested crop planning by choosing the right season to prevent WSD as well as the use of functional feeds and probiotics. Ravi suggested a paradigm shift – moving from the use of specific pathogen free (SPF) to specific pathogen tolerant (SPT)/specific pathogen resistance (SPR) broodstock, and also use those SPT/ SPR for EHP.

Production challenges

Avanti Feeds is the leading shrimp feed producer and has conducted a survey of farms with WSD over three years (20172019). Srinibas Mohanty, Technical and Marketing said that classically WSD occurs at 30-35 days in ponds. Mortality at 20% would amount to a loss of 10-15 billion post larvae, costing USD140 million. It was estimated that WFD occurred in 40% of farms resulting in 8-10% production loss, valued at INR1,000 crores (USD150 million). With EHP, the farmer still has a crop to sell but instead of 25g shrimp, harvested shrimp size was only 6g.

The rate of infection of EHP was estimated at 30-40% of farms in India resulting in a loss of INR350 crores (USD 52.6 million).

Climate changes in India over the last few years have greatly affected the shrimp industry with long spells of drought over 7-8 months. Salinity can rise to 50-55ppt and this can be followed by short bursts of rainfall, suddenly reducing salinity to zero. Mohanty described some losses to drought by farms in Ongole, Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu. Losses are direct losses as well as that with a slow recovery.

Some actions by farmers have increased profitability and production efficiency. In Gujarat, farms have opted for low stocking density with higher profitability. In 2017-2018, the average stocking was 50-60 PL/m2 but in 2019, it was 25-30PL/m2 but margins were

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important areas but usually the focus is on the wholesomeness of the products. The farming segment needs to understand that the new generation of consumers, the millennials, want to know where and how the shrimp are produced. Antibiotic-free production is the responsibility of all parties in the supply chain. He encouraged farmers to participate in group third party certifications.

Feed management

Dr Victor Suresh, United Research, Singapore gave some insights into some feeding practices in farms, based on information from some shrimp farmers. One of his tips on feed management is that, a good start increases the chances of a successful culture. This is especially true when there are high risks due to diseases such as EHP. The provision of a high-quality balanced feed at day of culture 1 (DOC 1) should start from 1.5kg/100,000PL. Victor also listed some steps on feeding based on observations of shrimp in the feed trays. Overall, farmers deemed check trays as indispensable but commented that the value of check trays in feed management depends on the number and size of trays, shape of ponds etc. The use of automatic feeders is only at 1% (Sreeram, 2019) and Victor listed the advantages of using autofeeders as well as acoustic feeders where the ration is driven by the shrimp’s feeding activity.

Feeding information is transmitted to the feeder as sound signals.

Studies demonstrate vast improvements in feed efficiency with the use of acoustic feeders.

Sree Atluri, Devi Seafoods said that quality, food safety and sustainability are three important areas.

better. Mohanty also cited actions in some villages where farmers have opted for crop holidays to avoid disease and adverse weather conditions. Subsequently, survival rate increased to 80-90% from the previous 30-40%.

There are some paradigm shifts which the industry should consider adopting. Ravi said that global production is about 4 million tonnes and the export market ranges from 2.1-2.3 million tonnes. “This means that there is a lot of local consumption in some producing countries like China, Mexico Brazil and Malaysia. Therefore, India needs to focus on the domestic market since we have a huge population which is growing. Already, some 80% of Indian shrimp are exported headless; to be competitive, the strategy for India is to move to value adding with ready-to-eat products.”

Market forces

Linking the needs of seafood buyers with farming practices was the focus of the presentation by Sree Atluri, Devi Seafoods, a leading seafood processor and exporter with a strong presence in the US market. Quality, food safety and sustainability are three

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January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

26 Industry Review

Philippines shrimp: working together for a progressive shrimp industry The industry in the Philippines is showing a strong resurgence in production and the call at the 12th PhilShrimp was to collectively work together.

T

he 12th Philippines National Shrimp Congress (PhilShrimp) started with a high note as shrimp production showed an increase over that in 2018. This was a large gathering of almost 1,050 participants of farmers, industry suppliers, national and local governments, academia and researchers. It was jointly organised

by Philippine Shrimp Industry, Inc. (PhilShrimp), the Negros Prawn Producers Cooperative (NPPC), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Agriculture (DA-BFAR), Aquaculture Department Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC-AQD) and the Department of Science and Technology.

Constantine C. Tanchan, Chairman for this Congress, held from November 20-22, 2019 in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, said that there has been tremendous growth in the past years particularly in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon. Most of the growth is in the south, with new players in Davao and General Santos. “There has been consolidation of small and medium farms. We expect year 2020 to be very productive.” The production in 2019 was estimated to be between 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes. In 2018, the reported production was 60,122 tonnes (Albaladejo and Usero, 2019).

The theme for this Congress was “Strengthening synergies towards a progressive shrimp industry for global competitive advantage”.

There were 30 presentations over 2.5 days, which was a “caravan of knowledge with a focus on responsible competitiveness to empower players in a global landscape” said Roberto A Gatuslao, PhilShrimp President and NPPC Chairman. At the press conference, held prior to the opening, Gatuslao said, “Growth is with partnership. We cannot be successful if we are alone; we need to work together. It is timely that we leverage our performance with that of our Asian neighbours.”

Despite not facing massive challenges with disease, there are some concerns which Tanchan addressed. This is the need for the government to prevent farms from being too close with each other. “This means that if one farm gets an outbreak, others closeby will surely be affected. I think 2-3km away from each other will be good.”

More shrimp and partnerships

“We can expect production to reach 120,000 tonnes in the next 3 years. There are a lot of developments; farms are changing to use high density polyethylene (HPDE) liners which will allow them to do more crop cycles. We also have many new farms in Mindanao where the trend is towards intensive farming as compared to the semi-intensive farms around Pampanga and Bulacan on Luzon Island. In Negros and Cebu, it is a mixture of semi-intensive and intensive farms. My worry is that we need to be able to balance this expansion with the environment. How to live with the environment was one of the areas discussed during this Congress.” Tanchan added that it helps that BFAR conducts accreditation exercises and this includes checks on sludge treatments.

The public-private partnership is strong in the Philippines with BFAR and SEAFDEC-AQD supporting industry. Tanchan had a wish list for the future, “It is critical for the government to consult industry leaders when making or changing policies that affect us. We know the industry problems well. With these in place, the shrimp industry in the Philippines will be more competitive.” There are some regulations which industry would like to be consulted, such as the requirement on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which may impact new investments into the sector.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Hon. Cynthia A Villar, Senator of the Republic of the Philippines with Constantine C. Tanchan (left) and Roberto A Gatuslao (middle) with PhilShrimp directors at the opening ceremony.

The Biosolutions International and INVE Aquaculture teams with clients

At present, most of the shrimp produced is sold in local markets and additional production, may be channelled for export. The processing sector is ready with modern plants to take up the additional volume. However, Audie H. Lim, Mindanao Director, PhilShrimp said, “Today whatever is being produced is sold locally as prices are better than export markets. As the country’s economy is going well, I would expect that the local market can take this additional production.”

In November, the price for 15g shrimp was PHP220/kg (USD4.35/ kg) but it was expected to rise to PHP300/kg (USD5.9/kg) during the Christmas peak demand season. The lowest price in 2019 was PHP150/kg (USD2.96/kg)

Changing farming concepts

Tanchan who is the owner of the Aquatic Phoenix Aquaculture Group with five farms, is a modern and successful farmer and a role model for industry. He is cautious with the farming practices at his farms and recently is changing standard operating practices (SOP) to improve production. One recent investment is using ozone (instead of chlorine) at his newest farm in Cebu.

Neil Cabigon, CTO at Aquatic Hatchery described the stateof-the-art hatchery technologies at his two vannamei shrimp hatcheries in Cebu. Critical control points to avoid pathogens include the use of broodstock which comes only from BFAR accredited specific pathogen free (SPF) facilities. With live polychaetes, Neil will first disinfect them using microbubbleozone and iodine. Additionally, formulated broodstock feeds and imported irradiated frozen feeds are used. Secondly, the incoming water is treated with ozone followed by UV treatment. Neil said the

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Farming in Mindanao, Cyrus Regalado (right) and Petros Regalado.

Marc Campet, ADM Asia (fourth from the right) with the Philippines team

At the Uni President Vietnam booth, Wen Wei, Export Aquafeed Department, Uni President Vietnam (left) with Ramon and Ryan Alegre, Dobe Hatchery. In his presentation, Wen Wei introduced photosynthetic bacteria for pond remediation and inhibition of pond bacteria. Some effects were on black gill disease.

At the Bayer booth, Chris Mitchum Ganancial, Portfolio Manager – Aquaculture (second right) and Adrian Fok, Lanxess, Singapore (right).

preference for ozone is its high efficiency and lower concentration time (CT) value. Apart from that, oxidation reduction potential (ORP) is not affected by pH, and there is no residual dissolved oxygen, and calcium scaling is not needed; ozone in the gaseous form makes it easy to disinfect airtubes too. In the hatchery, they will continue to use innovations to enhance efficiency, such as internet connected multiparameter sonde and machine learning post larvae counter.

In another presentation, Marybeth V Irigo, owner of PJJ Farms in Davao described the farm’s progress to date since its setup in 2016.

The farm has 1.8ha of grow-out ponds and a 0.4ha settling pond.

Stocking density was at 70PL/m2. Currently the farm harvests 68 tonnes/year from multiple harvests, starting with 16g shrimp and ending with 23g shrimp. Each harvest is 12-15 tonnes. Marybeth plans to convert the ponds into smaller units and intensify culture.

A new entrant to shrimp farming , Allan Lopez from Dynamic Team Venture Inc, Sarangani Province in Mindanao gave his take on using the “Best Small Pond Project (BSP)” which he said, “is easy to adopt, gives higher productivity, easy to manage with predictable results and is environmentally friendly and sustainable.” The farm in Tuyan, Malapatan was started in 2017 and has smaller grow-out ponds at sizes 1,500-2,500m2. It has a series of settling ponds, reservoir ponds and ready to use (RTU) ponds. Subsequently, there is the effluent treatment ponds (ETP) for sludge removal.

The results from a harvest in June 2017 was 100% survival after 100 days. The total yield was 8.3 tonnes of 23g shrimp from a 1,700m2 pond (49.3 tonnes/ha), stocked with 294/m2 juveniles. Feed conversion ratio was 1.23.

There are established shrimp farming groups based in Mindanao with farms around Davao and General Santos, Alsons, Sanacor and RD. They also have farms on the other islands such as in Cebu and Bohol. A general opinion at the Congress is that Mindanao is where more intensive farming practices are happening, compared to the lower stocking density in Negros Occidental at 80-100 PL/m2. An established player noted that new entrants into shrimp farming are more aggressive in terms of stocking density. The presentation by Cary Andigan, BioSolutions’s International Corporation detailed approaches at the Sarangani Farm, which was challenged with high ammonia and nitrite in high density shrimp culture (100250 PL/m2). These problems were successfully addressed with a series of solutions. The end result was production of 30g shrimp after 111 days (grow-out at 81 days and nursery for 30 days). The total biomass was 22.5 tonnes/ha. In another farm in General Santos, the production was 30 tonnes/ha of 14g shrimp after 90 days using a stocking density of 200PL/m2.

Some interesting features presented were that the total grow-out area is 35,000m2 and the reservoir areas is 31,000m2; ponds and canals are all fully HDPE lined and water is treated by chlorination at 30ppm and settled over 3 days. There is a nursery with six round tanks of 10m diameter, two as nursery and four as reservoirs.

Lopez said the they follow Charoen Pokphand’s nursery protocol.

Recent harvest results in 2019 from a 1,800m2 pond using juveniles of 0.37g, stocked at 178/m2 was 41.8 tonnes/ha of 32g shrimp.

Survival was 89%. Another 1,800m2 pond, stocked with 184/m2 of larger 0.55g juveniles was harvested after 76 days. The crop yield was 40.4 tonnes of 29g shrimp and survival was 90%. This concept promotes smaller ponds, which are easier to manage and yield higher production per area, with a faster crop turnover. The yield also fits with market demand. Disease control is easy with biosecurity. The cost of production was reported at PHP165/kg (USD3.26/kg).

Expansion in Mindanao

There are more cautious farmers in Mindanao. Cyrus Regalado, formerly from the Blue Archipelago Farm in Malaysia has taken over some older ponds (30-years old) in Davao. In 24 ponds, he is stocking at 100-150PL/m2, a lower stocking density for the larger 0.8ha ponds compared to the smaller 800m2 ponds (150PL/m2).

He has harvested the smaller ponds at 1.8 tonnes/pond and the 0.3ha ponds yielded 5.2 to 5.3 tonnes/pond. The harvested size was 16g and these were sold in the local markets.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

28 Industry Review At the 20-year old, 30ha farm belonging to the RD group, the 39 ponds are stocked with 100-120 PL/m2. Ponds dykes are lined.

“This is a cautious stance as compared to others stocking at 150200 PL/m2,” said Petros Regalado, Farm Manager. “The younger farmers will also attempt stocking at 250-300PL/m2.” Similarly as with others, the harvest size is 16g, for the local markets, with smaller volumes for export. The company has seven farms, five around General Santos and Sarangani Province and two in Bohol Island.

Health management

Robins McIntosh, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), Thailand looked at disease, disruption and change with new systems being introduced in Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Malaysia where the focus is having more control on production with smaller ponds, efficient waste removal and better aeration. He discussed the move in Thailand to transform to controlled indoor recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). This is key to producing more from less. At the hatchery level, the emphasis is on automation, no ablation of broodstock, and reduction in the use of fresh feeds, among other protocol changes. Steve Arce, Kona Bay looked at the steps in biosecurity and disease management at the hatchery level, as well as how to address critical control points in the hatchery. He also showed how Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) was introduced though local broodstock in Vietnam, with infection from wild polychaetes; he also provided a protocol for treatment of EHP in the maturation of broodstock. At the pond side, Celia R Lavilla-Pitogo, Consultant, Feedmix Specialist Inc II, provided some insights on monitoring strategies, and explained thoroughly the shrimp defecation process for a better understanding of the white faeces disease. “Each disease has a different monitoring strategy and there is no single template for biosecurity,” said Celia.

Ramir Lee (second left) at the Zeigler/Feedmix booth.

Celia R Lavilla-Pitogo and the team from Dobe Hatchery

farming of the black tiger shrimp which is farmed at much lower stocking density as compared to this shrimp. With this well illustrated and farmer-friendly manual, the authors provide the management strategies to grow-out farmers and technicians which have been applied in successful farms. It also serves as a guide on how to operate shrimp farms based on actual experiences and applying good aquaculture practices (GAqP) to minimize negative impacts to the environment. The manual is part of the National Shrimp Production Program (NSSP).

Sustainable strategies in Managing Penaeus vannamei culture Authors: Maria Abegail Albaladejo and Roselyn C Usero Publisher: Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippines (BFAR)

Launch of manual for Philippines shrimp farmers Maria Abegail Albaladejo is the National Focal Person for Shrimp as well as the Chief Aquaculturist/OIC, Fisheries Planning and Economic Division (FPED) at BFAR and Roselyn C Usero is Operation Manager, Negros Prawn CooperativeBacolod City. Both work closely with the Philippines shrimp aquaculture industry.

Penaeus vannamei was introduced for commercial farming in 2007. Philippines shrimp farmers are well versed with the

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

In the preparation of this manual, the authors had the assistance of members of the Negros Prawn Cooperative-Bacolod City and GJ Sarrosa, to document their management practices. The goal of the authors is to lead the industry in the “new normal”; farming in the presence of

Maria Abegail Albaladejo (left) and Roselyn C Usero launched this manual at the 12th PhilShrimp Congress in November 2019 in Bacolod City.

disease and grow good quality shrimp to marketable sizes.

There are two parts covered in the manual. Part 1 deals with the biosecurity measures to prevent and manage infectious and non- infectious shrimp diseases during adverse environmental conditions. It informs readers on how a farm should maintain favourable water quality despite the mixed infection of two pathogens white spot syndrome virus and Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (WSSV+EHP) in 2017 with several indications of vibriosis. The manual also includes applications of several inputs during the culture period, including feed additives, immuno-stimulants and probiotics to maintain a consistently high growth performance and survival of shrimp. An interesting inclusion is the demarcation route for daily monitoring, from ponds with less days of culture (DOC) to ponds with longer DOC. Part 2 describes management practices and strategies in case of complex mixed infections as applied by successful shrimp farmers. The authors specially noted that these are mix infections of WSSV and EHP; WSSV and vibrosis; and white faeces disease (WFD) and WSSV. The interpretation of bacterial analyses in fry, juveniles and adults and specific case experiences are described in the manual, the latter with crop performance history and specific strategies applied.

Feed Technology

29

Latest F3 Challenge Prize focuses on carnivores

By Kevin Fitzsimmons

I

n just the last few years, great advances have been made in fishmeal and fish oil replacements for aquafeed. We have seen this first-hand through our series of F3 Challenge contests, designed to accelerate the development and adoption of competitive alternative ingredients—such as insects, algae and single-cell proteins—to decrease pressure on wild forage fish to feed farmed fish.

salmon supplies, uses over 20% of the fishmeal and 60% fish oil consumed by the aquaculture sector. Today, over half of the global shrimp supply is farmed. Global shrimp farming production, which reached nearly 4 million tonnes in 2018 according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, is also one of the dominant consumers of the global fishmeal supply.

The F3 or Future of Fish Feed, is a collaborative effort between NGOs, researchers, and private partnerships to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative, alternative aquaculture feed ingredients to replace wild-caught fish.

We invite feed companies to enter the contest by registering as an individual or as part of a team in one or more of the award categories.

There are no restrictions on teaming up if teams contribute relevant ingredients or participate in distribution. The lead entrant is a feed company that can report sales. In addition, ingredient or distribution companies can join multiple teams, but sales must be submitted by the lead entrant team and cannot be double counted.

In October 2019 at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL meeting, the F3 team awarded Veramaris a USD200,000 prize for selling the most “fish-free” oil replacement during the F3 Fish Oil Challenge.

The unique algae used by Veramaris is filled with an abundant amount of nutrients, including all three essential fatty acids DHA, EPA and ARA in the ratios that carnivorous fish obtain in the wild and which are needed to grow farm-raised seafood. The contest was able to save over two billion forage fish from being used in feed.

Other added benefits of the contest are the positive publicity all contestants receive globally and an invitation to a networking event with large feed companies, investors, seafood buyers and others interested in innovative ingredients for aquaculture.

We are now recruiting contestants to join our newest contest, the F3 Challenge - Carnivore Edition. Prizes will be awarded in each of three categories—salmonid, shrimp, and other carnivorous species—to the contestant that produces and sells the most feed made without using wild-caught fish or any other marine-animal ingredient. Entrants for the “other” carnivorous species category must receive approval in advance from the F3 judges.

Companies that make the switch to alternative ingredients will be better positioned for long-term growth because they will be able to continue to supply and sell feed for a wide variety of farmed carnivorous fish, even if wild-caught stocks of forage fish diminish, or become unavailable. These companies will have ‘futureproofed’ their supply chain in advance through leveraging the opportunity of the F3 Challenge. Contest registration is open until April 30, 2020.

We chose carnivores for this contest since they are large consumers of forage fish supplied meal and oil. In fact, salmon aquaculture, which currently provides roughly 70% or 2.5 million tonnes of all

Kevin Fitzsimmons is Chair and Judge, Future of Fish Feed (F3) Challenge and professor at the University of Arizona. (kevfitz@ag.arizona.edu)

Carnivore Edition opens

Challenge

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

30 Feed Technology

Fishmeal substitution with a protein concentrate for the whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Best growth performance was obtained in shrimp fed with 50% fishmeal replacement, while 100% had a neutral impact on shrimp.

By Nguyen Van Nguyen, Danny Van Mullem, Le Hoang, Tran Van Khanh, Nguyen Thanh Trung and Paula Sole-Jimenez

D

ue to its dwindling supply and high cost, fishmeal has been recommended to be reduced in aquafeeds (Bureau et al., 1999; Tacon et al., 2008). Today, the reduction of dietary fishmeal in the aquafeed industry has become a global trend. The substitution of fishmeal with sustainable alternatives in aquafeed plays an important role in improving the sustainability of aquaculture and reduces adverse environmental impacts (Hertrampf and Piedad-Pascual, 2000; NCR, 2011). This study described below investigated the effects of replacing fishmeal with a protein concentrate in diets for white leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei.

Chromium oxide (Cr2O3) was used as the digestibility marker.

Growth and feed utilisation assessment. At the end of the trial, shrimp were sampled and weighed to calculate growth (WG), feed efficiency (FCR and FI), survival rate (SR%) and for histology.

Histological assessment

A protein concentrate that replaces fishmeal in vannamei shrimp diets (LSAQUA, fishmeal replacer) containing 70% crude protein, 3% fat and 9% ash used in these trials, was provided by LambersSeghers NV Aqua (LSAQUA, Belgium). We obtained 1,500 white leg shrimp juveniles, initial body weight of 1.0 – 2.5g, from Long An province and transferred them to the Go Vap experimental station.

Shrimp were then reared in the fiberglass tanks (2,000L/tank) for acclimatisation before transferring to 21 units of 120L glass tanks, with salinity of 15‰ for the feeding trials.

The histological examination followed the method of Lightner (1996). Shrimp fed the five experimental diets during the growth trial were taken randomly with 3 shrimp/tank, and 9 shrimp/ treatment for histological assessment. Samples were fixed by Davidson’s solution and kept in 70% alcohol until they were processed. The shrimp body (containing midgut) was dissected into four sections and each section was processed in an automatic tissue processor (Sakura VIP5). These were embedded in paraffin and were then continuously sectioned and stained in the Shandon Varistain 24-4 slide stainer by the specified solutions. The stained slides were examined under the light microscope (40X) to determine the height of the enterocytes (intestinal epithelial cells). The results were converted into micrometer (µm) with the conversion coefficient of 2.525.

Experimental diets

Digestibility assessment

As shown in Table 1, the basal diet (D0) was formulated to contain 24% fishmeal and no protein concentrate, while the diets (D1, D2, D3, D4) contained 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% protein concentrate respectively, corresponding with 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% substitution of the fishmeal. In terms of the digestibility test, two formulated diets including a reference and a test diet were prepared (Table 2). Feed ingredients were ground to pass through 0.5 mm sieve. The finely ground ingredients were well mixed for 10 minutes and then mixed again for 5 minutes with 30% water added gradually. Experimental feeds were prepared using a laboratory pellet mill and dried at 60°C for 24h. The diets were stored at 4°C until use.

Digestibility assessment followed the method of Furukawa and Tsukahara (1996). The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of the test ingredient for dry matter, crude protein, crude lipid, and gross energy were calculated based on the method of Cho, Slinger

Experimental designs and husbandry

The experiments were completely randomised with five treatments for growth (Table 1) and two treatments for digestibility test; each treatment was replicated three times. Shrimp in the growth experiment were randomly stocked in 15 units of 120L glass tanks, with 15 shrimp in each tank (150 shrimp/m3). Similarly, shrimp were stocked randomly in six units of 120L glass tanks with 15 shrimp per tank (150 shrimp/m3) in the digestibility test.

The system of glass tanks used for the experiments is shown in Figure 1.

Growth performance

Shrimp were reared in seawater with a salinity of 15‰ and fed three times per day (8:00; 14:30 and 20:30h) at a feeding rate of 4-6% body weight for 60 days. Ninety minutes after feeding, uneaten feeds were removed and the amount recorded. Each tank was equipped with flow-through seawater and aeration to maintain optimal water quality. The dissolved oxygen level was always kept higher (4 -5 mg/L) during the experiment. At the end of the feeding trial, shrimp were sampled to determine growth performance.

Histological analysis was carried out on shrimp from the five treatments during the growth experiments.

Digestibility experiment

Faeces were collected twice a day for each tank at 11:00 and 16:00h by siphoning. The faecal collection was carried out for 8 weeks to gain a sufficient amount of sample for chemical analysis.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Shrimp juveniles of initial body weight of 1.0–2.5g were used for the growth trials

Experimental diets Description D0

0% (Basal)

Control diet with fishmeal *

D1

10%

Replacing 25% fishmeal

D2

20%

Replacing 50% fishmeal

D3

30%

Replacing 75% fishmeal

D4

40%

Replacing 100% fishmeal

*New Zealand fishmeal (65% crude protein) Table 1. Experimental diets for the growth trial Diets

Description

T1

Basal

Reference diet (RF)

T2

Test diet

70% RF + 30% (LSAQUA)

Table 2. Digestibility experiment

31

Feed Technology

Figure 1. Growth and feed utilisation

Measurement of apparent digestibility coefficients

Figure 2. Survival rate (%)

& Bayley (1982), with 30% of the reference diet substituted by the test ingredient. ADCs of nutrients and the test ingredient were described as the equations below: ADC of dry matter (%) = 100 x [1 – (dietary Cr2O3)/faecal Cr2O3] ADC of nutrients or energy (%) = 100 – [1 – (F/D x DCr / FCr )] ADC of the test ingredient (%) = 100/30 x [ADC in the test diet – (0.7 ADC in the reference diet)].

Growth performance

After the 60 -day feeding trial, shrimp were collected to calculate the growth performance and feed utilisation. Data in Figures1 and 2 shows that the highest growth and feed utilisation of shrimp was obtained with the 50% fishmeal- substituted diet (D2) while the lowest values were recorded at the basal diet (D0). Particularly, the highest survival rate (71.11%) was observed in shrimp fed the D4 diet where 100% dietary fishmeal was replaced. This may be explained by the balanced amino acid profile of the protein concentrate and the reduction of the inclusion rate of soybean meal in the diets. The protein concentrate may provide sufficient nutrients to meet all the nutritional requirements of white shrimp when dietary fishmeal was replaced. Additionally, the product contained functional micronutrients such as minerals, vitamins, pigments and chemo-

Shrimp in the growth experiments were randomly stocked in 15 units of 1,200L - glass tanks.

attractants. Thus, the fishmeal - replaced diets, were probably satisfactory in terms of nutrients and functional properties; containing essential micronutrients and nutritive compounds that were likely to make shrimp healthier and with higher survival rates. As a consequence, shrimp may possess harder new shells or recover faster after moulting which is translated as a reduction in mortality rate caused by cannibalism during the moulting period.

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32 Feed Technology Histological morphology and digestibility

The morphology results of shrimp enterocytes are described in Table 3 and Figure 3. Shrimp fed with the protein concentrate showed a notable difference in the enterocyte height. The highest value of enterocyte height (26.25 ± 5.09 µm) obtained in shrimp fed diet D3 with 75% fishmeal replaced while the lowest value (17.49 ± 0.87µm) was observed in those fed the control diet (D0).

In particular, shrimp fed with higher than 30% fishmeal substituted with the protein concentrate exhibited significantly higher enterocyte height (D2: 23.06 ± 3.72 µm; D3: 26.25 µm, and D4: 24.93 ± 3.20 µm). The higher enterocyte height in shrimp fed the fishmeal- substituted diets was possibly attributed to high digestibility coefficients of nutrients (Table 3) and the reduction of plant protein rate in the diets through reducing dietary soybean meal which may contain a number of anti-nutritional factors.

The high digestibility coefficients of nutrients obtained reflect the digestible properties of the nutritive substances contained in the protein concentrate (Table 4).

Parameters Enterocyte height (µm)

D0 (0%)

D0 (25%)

D0 (50%)

D0 (75%)

D0 (100%)

17.49a ± 0.87 20.44ab ± 4.38 23.06ab ± 3.72 26.25b ± 5.09 24.93b ± 3.20

Values are mean ± SD. Values in the same row with different superscripts are significantly different (p <0.05.

Table 3. Enterocyte height of midgut of shrimp fed the experimental diets.

ADCs Ingredient LSAQUA

Dry Matter (%)

Crude Protein (%)

Crude Lipid (%)

Phosphorus (%)

Gross Energy (%)

80.96 ± 1.58

90.38 ± 0.82

91.21 ± 1.40

76.34 ± 0.96

88.31 ± 1.57

Table 4. Apparent digestibility coefficients of test ingredient (LSAQUA) for dry matter, crude protein, crude lipid, phosphorus and gross energy (n = 3).

D0 (Control)

D3 (30% LSAQUA)

Figure 3. Enterocyte height of shrimp

Conclusion

The present study shows that the best growth performance of shrimp was obtained at the diet of 50% dietary fishmeal replaced with the protein concentrate. The ingredient had rather high apparent digestibility coefficients of nutrients and energy.

Shrimp fed fishmeal- substituted diets had a better growth, feed

References Bureau D.P., Harrisa, A.M. and Cho C.Y. 1999. Apparent digestibility of rendered animal protein ingredients for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykis) Aquaculture: 345-358, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0044-8486(99)00210-0.

Cho C.Y., Slinger S.J. and Bayley H.S. 1982. Bioenergetics of salmonid fishes: energy intake, expenditure and productivity. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 73: 25 – 41, https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-0491(82)90198-5.

Furukawa A and Tsukahara H.1966. On the acid digestion method for the determination of chromic oxide as the index substance in the study of fish feed.

Bulletin of the Japanese Society of Scientific Fisheries 32: 502–506.

Hertrampf J. and Piedad-Pascual F. (2000). Handbook on ingredients aquaculture feeds. Kluwer Academic Publishers. The Netherlands:27-29.

for

Lightner, D.V. (editor). 1996. A Handbook of shrimp pathology and diagnostic procedures for diseases of cultured penaeid shrimp.

National research Council, 2011. Nutrient requirement of Fish and shrimp.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/13039.

Tacon A.G.J. and Metian M. (2008) Global overview on the use of fishmeal and fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: Trends and future prospects. Aquaculture 285:146-158, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2008.08.015.

Nguyen Van Nguyen is Director of Research Center for Aquafeed Nutrition and Fishery Post-harvest Technology (APOTEC) at the Research Institute for Aquaculture 2 (RIA2), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (nguyenria2@gmail.com) Danny Van Mullem is CEO of Lambers-Seghers NV Aqua (LSAQUA, Belgium). (danny.van.mullem@lsaqua.be)

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Treatments

utilisation, survival rate, and histology than the control diet. The test ingredient, LSAQUA can be used to replace fishmeal in the diet without any adverse effects on growth and feed utilisation of white leg shrimp and this ingredient is a potential protein source to replace fishmeal in the diets for white shrimp.

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33

Diseases and health management T

ARS 2019, covering aquafeeds looked at how the sector can continue to support Asia’s fish and shrimp farming industry and be “Fit for Future”. There were 17 presentations, amongst them on state of industry and challenges in Indonesia, India and Vietnam, given by aquafeed producers and by feed users on their needs in terms of feed quality as well as the support they seek from the aquafeed sector. Reports on these presentations as well as those on nutritional challenges were published in issues September/ October and November/December 2019.

Diseases and health management continue to take centre stage in Asia’s aquaculture industry as it strives to improve productivity, predictability and determine some degree of consistency in production. A session was dedicated to ways to improve nutrition and health of fish and shrimp; from looking at gut microbiota to feeding strategies and maximising benefits of feed additives.

Improvement of production efficiency

This starts from genetics. Selected animals, with the potential for growth or robustness, need to express their potential. Therefore, it is critical when working with quality animals, throughout the production cycle, from broodstock maturation all the way to the hatchery, nursery and grow-out, to really exploit that potential.

"Obviously, there are a number of well documented protocols at the hatchery stage and cost-benefits are well understood. Good production comes from strong and healthy post larvae which will grow faster and handle challenges better,” said Olivier.

Different strategies towards quality feeding

In 2018, according to the annual GOAL survey, the concerns of the industry evolved by including international price and feed cost to the ever important disease management. “In Asia, the feeling was that it was not going to get better in 2019,” said Dr Olivier Decamp, INVE Aquaculture, Thailand, adding, “The worry is on production cost, market price and how to reduce costs. Unfortunately, this also means a reduction in investments covering biosecurity and production costs, by, for example, procuring cheaper post larvae and lowering feed cost. Feed producers try to meet customer demands for cheaper feed, but the increasing prices of raw materials put pressure on them to optimally formulate performing feeds.”

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34 Feed Technology

“ The focus should be on production efficiency and predictability. This has to be done at every step of the production process.

- Olivier Decamp

”

Bernard Jordan T Lim, Hoc Po Feeds Corporation, Philippines (right) with Fabio Soller, Diana Aqua, Thailand and Sawasporn Jaklerdchai, SPF Diana, Thailand.

growth and stronger animals. In Vietnam, post larvae fed a partial replacement with this health booster diet could cope in an early mortality syndrome (EMS) challenge test.

Higher quality feed within the nursery

Erwin Suwendi, PT Suri Tani Pemuka with Martha Aulia Mamora Application Manager Aquaculture, Indonesia (left) and Lintang Khrisna Mutti, PT Dian Natura Agrifarma, Indonesia.

Heat shock proteins to strengthen post larvae

To strengthen post larvae and onwards from the hatchery to the nursery or grow-out, Olivier introduced the mechanism of heatshock proteins (HSP), which animals use to cope with stress and repair. HSP can be produced by exposing the post larvae to a higher temperature (non-lethal heat shock). “We have been working with a natural plant extract that we know can really work on the robustness of the animals. More specifically, this plant extract can stimulate the production of HSP. In a disease challenge situation, studies at Ghent University show that animals treated by the HSP were able to handle a Vibrio challenge more efficiently.”

Nursery phase

A nursery phase reduces risks by extending the duration of the rearing that can be carried out under controlled conditions, i.e. with limited contact with pathogens. There are two main approaches in nursery management: focus on a larger biomass and the largest number of post larvae or focus on biosecurity and consistency.

The former is a gambling approach, risky with consequences on biosecurity and on cost, but is the fastest way to stock ponds. The latter is practised by integrators who are more focused on planning in the hatchery, nursery and farm, and are more concerned with managing risks.

Olivier presented some protocols conducted in Vietnam. “By reducing water exchange with stocking density of 2PL/L, over 24 days and with over 20 cycles, we were able to have consistent growth. We reduced the investments in water treatment, energy and labour and increased the investment in quality feed. The production cost improved by 15%. The outcome is not only better predictability, but a cost-benefit to the producer.”

In another example in Thailand, the protocol included a combination of high-quality nutrition and high-quality health booster, with the inclusion of immunostimulants and natural plant extract. This partially replaced bulk feed. A 15% replacement of the bulk feed by a health booster gave 38% more biomass, better

The use of high-quality feeds was demonstrated in Mexico where diets included higher grade ingredients, which were more typical of a hatchery feed and were micro-extruded. The feed cost was higher. Olivier explained, “Of course, we increased the feed cost, but we were able to have better growth, FCR and, more importantly, an improved cost benefit against both crumbled or extruded feed.

Obviously, the approach has to be adapted to the production conditions.”

Looking at seabream production in Europe, improved larval rearing protocols resulted in fewer opercular deformities. The stronger larvae, after being fed high-quality nursery diets, performed better in cages. This shows the value of integrating the different steps in the production.

Gut composition of healthy vs diseased shrimp

Xiong et al. (2018) analysed the gut composition of shrimp that were either healthy or diseased. They focused on micro-eukaryotes (protozoa and microalgae) and showed that, in diseased shrimp, there were more cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates, a direct consequence of poor pond soil management. This emphasizes the importance of the right pond management in disease control. Chen et al. (2017) looked at microbiome dynamics in a shrimp growout pond with possible acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) and showed that if there was diversity in the pond microflora, and therefore in the gut, there was a stronger chance of avoiding a Vibrio outbreak.

In Ghent University and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Barbara Hostins looked at ways to control the composition of the gut microflora. She compared the gut microflora in shrimp that were reared in clear water and biofloc systems. Under both culture methods, the addition of Bacillus led to a change in the composition of the gut microflora, with an increased abundance of Bacillus and a clearly reduced presence of Vibrio. “Under different rearing conditions, we can manipulate gut composition by applying probiotics and then see how the animals cope with the challenge.” said Olivier.

The application of probiotics in the feed is carried out at the farm by top dressing or by feed mills. The latter requires feed mills to invest in equipment and to add probiotics in their feed. In Australia, Olivier showed a different way of delivering the feed probiotics to shrimp by using a carrier and without involving feed mills. This led to improved FCR and yield.

Olivier concluded, “To cope with feed cost, the focus should be on production efficiency and predictability, at every step in the production process. At the same time, it is imperative to have the right biosecurity and feeding approaches.”

Prapatantio Pringgodigdoyo, DSM, Indonesia; Kadi Mey Ismail, De Heus Animal Nutrition, Indonesia; Henrik Aarestrup, BioMar Group A/S, Denmark and Tran Ngoc Thien Kim, Deheus Aqua Co, Vietnam.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

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35

Maximising benefits with feed additives A

t the World Nutrition Forum in 2018, it was reiterated that disease, whether bacterial, viral or parasitic have massive economic impacts on the industry. Dr Benedict Standen, BIOMIN Holding GmbH, Austria said that diseases such as the early mortality syndrome/acute hepatopancreatic disease (EMS/ AHPND) in shrimp resulted in USD 45 billion losses in the last decade. Managing diseases is a bottleneck to industry growth from diagnostics, treatment, time, labour, to loss in consumer confidence. Probiotics, organic acids, phytogenics, toxin binders and enzymes are some feed additives to improve performance and health of fish and shrimp.

With regards to probiotics, Benedict asked “How do you pick the best probiotics for gut health, bioremediation or improving the environment?” From a disease perspective, probiotics act in three main ways: exclude pathogens by competitive exclusion, produce inhibitory substances or interact with the immune system by attaching to the epithelia. “But not all probiotics are created equal.

Lactic acid bacteria, in general, are very effective at attaching to the gut for gut health and also for competitive exclusion. Not all Bacillus is created equal and to maximise the benefits, choosing the right strain is key, not the genera or the species.

A study demonstrated how adjusting the feeding regime can maximise the benefits of a multi-species probiotic. Vannamei shrimp were fed diets supplemented with the probiotic at four feeding regimes: over 12 weeks, continuous feeding, or combinations of pulse feeding (weeks supplemented with probiotic feed: control feed at 1:1 or 2:2 or 2:1). Growth was not affected by the feeding regimes but after the challenge with Vibrio parahaemolyticus, the best survival, was observed in the continuous supplementation.

“Again, the benefits depend on the objective; if it is performance, you can look at a pulse regime. For disease resistance and survival, a continuous supplementation may be best.”

In his discussion on organic acids which have antibacterial effect and can reduce gut pH, Benedict emphasised on the pKa valuethe pH at which 50% of the acid is in its undissociated form. The higher the pKa value, the stronger the microbial effect. He added that reducing the pH in the gut is very difficult to achieve because there is a huge buffering capacity in the gut. Therefore, it is better to choose organic acids with high antibacterial activity.

Phytogenics can modulate gut microbiota; improve feed conversion and digestibility; and improve flesh quality, taste and colour. The essential oils can have anti-inflammatory properties. Replacing

Dr Nguyen Duy Hoa, Cargill Vietnam (left) and Ong Si Mon, GS Biotech, Malaysia

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

36 Feed Technology Benedict emphasised the criterion that the binder should bind mycotoxins, endotoxins but not the vitamins and minerals.

Heat stability issues

The three main challenges in the industry today are heat stability of heat-sensitive components, the cost, and the confusion with many different products available in the market and their many different modes of action. Enzymes are also heat sensitive feed additives but with enzyme engineering, the amino acid sequence can be modified, such as in one example where the melting point was increased to 66°C. “With heat sensitive additives, encapsulation allows for slow release of the active component, such as in the tilapia, which has a long intestine. Encapsulation ensures that all of the heat-sensitive components of the additive is protected from high temperatures during pelleting and extrusion. It also allows for controlled and targeted release as well as to combine multiple products. Liquid additives can be encapsulated. Encapsulation masks unpleasant odours which is very important for some essential oils and acids.”

“We also need to manage

expectations of additives, there is no silver bullet in aquaculture. We just need to use different technologies together with synergistic effects.

- Benedict Standen

”

fishmeal is not just a nutritional challenge but a challenge from an immunological perspective. In a trial with the European seabass fed high fishmeal and low fishmeal diets with or without a phytogenic feed additive, it was shown that when seabass was fed the low fishmeal diet, the feed conversion goes up and protein efficiency ratio (PER) is reduced. “The phytogenic supplemented feed additive can bridge this performance gap, improve the feed conversion and PER. With low fishmeal diets, the microvilli become shorter and the fish is less able to absorb nutrients. A phytogenic feed additive can alleviate this negative effect. With an antiinflammatory effect, phytogenics improve the surface area of the gut for better nutrient uptake.”

There are four main factors when assessing the efficiency of toxin binders. Binding is also depended on the pH. Nearly every binder can bind aflatoxin at pH2, but according to the EFSA guidelines, you have to be able to bind a specific amount of aflatoxin at pH5.

At the feedmill, post pellet application of heat-sensitive components with a top or vacuum coater has the advantage of ready-to-use functional feeds. Post pellet application at the farm can provide a fast reaction to a disease outbreak. “But the disadvantages are costs of time/labour as well as leaching requiring higher doses to compensate for this.” A negative effect is that pellets may become quite sticky making it difficult to use with automatic feeders,” added Benedict.

The costs of adding a feed additive may be higher but this has to be considered in terms of improving survival, digestibility and performance, to achieve a more efficient production. An expensive protein such as fishmeal can be substituted with a cheaper protein and if the additive can improve digestibility, feed costs may be the same without compromising on growth performance.

Benedict said, “Cost and value are two completely different things; you increase your cost by using an additive, but you also create value in your feeds. We also need to manage expectations of additives; there is no silver bullet in aquaculture. We just need to use different technologies together with synergistic effects and additives are part of the solution.”

His message was, “In terms of cost, there is no running away from the fact that an additive will probably increase the feed cost. But a feed that can improve survival, will raise sales potential for the feed miller. Reducing costs is very different from improving costeffectiveness. For the farmer, even if there is a small increase in cost in the feed, cost per unit biomass can be reduced because production becomes more efficient and cost-effective. And in a competitive market, you must be able to differentiate and feed additives offer a good way of differentiating your product from your competitors.'

Mohd Zaidy Abdul Rahman, Zaiyadal Aquaculture Sdn Bhd, Malaysia; Lelia Lim, Lim-Loges & Masters, Singapore; Nobumitsu Sato, Nagase Sanbio Co., Ltd, Japan; Ian Carr,Veramaris, Netherlands.

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37

Bespoke microbiota management in fish and shrimp T

he microbial community in the gut is one factor determining the health status of fish and shrimp as well as its potential for growth.

In “Towards bespoke microbiota management along the life cycle to improve nutrition and health of fish and shrimp,” Stéphane Ralite, Lallemand Animal Nutrition, France, improved our understanding of the microbial community in the gut of fish and shrimp and how it is possible to manipulate and tailor-make the microbial community to suit a situation.

Aligning with the aquafeed focus at TARS 2019, the discussion was on the impact of the composition of the gut microbial on the animal's health, growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and overall performance. Gut microbial composition also changes along the lifecycle–between a young and older animal, and is also determined by the environment in which the animal is farmed. In recent years, in aquaculture, there has been Similar to knowledge in mammals and other vertebrates, the tremendous new scientific publications and awareness gut microbiota of aquatic animals is increasingly recognized on the importance of gut microbiota.

“

Impact of feed on gut microbiota

Butt et al. (2019) gave two main factors influencing gut microbial composition: intrinsic factors such as age of the animal, genetics, immunity and nutritional status, and external factors. In the latter, diet has a major impact on the microbial community. Stéphane elaborated on some links to nutrition. “The gut microbiota can have an impact on fish feed intake. The colonisation of gut microbiota can promote lipid absorption and metabolism. Modulation of microbiota impacts enzymatic activity inside the gut and on mineral absorption and metabolism.”

has a key determinant of animal health and performance. For example it can have an impact on fish and shrimp feed intake and conversion. Securing a positive gut microbiota can promote enzymatic activity and energy absorption and a healthy animal metabolism. Many example also show the link between gut microbial composition and health.

- Stéphane Ralite

”

In general, more is known on the shrimp gut microbial composition and management. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria are dominant in shrimp gut microbiota. The microbial diversity in the hepatopancreas is lower than that in the intestine. Gut microbial composition is closer to that in the sediment rather than that in the water, due to the influence of feed and feeding behaviour. Shrimp gut microbial community changes with shrimp age and pathogens, such as the vibrios dominating during the later growing stages, according to Huang (2014).

“There are publications showing some links between the larval gut microbiota composition and the broodstock or the egg bacterial colonisation. In shrimp, although the first colonisation happens at the opening of the anal pore at the fifth nauplius stage, the real gut microbial colonisation starts with the mouth opening at the zoea stage. This stage happens to be often a period with high levels of vibrios in the water, if you don’t control it. In Litopenaeus vannamei, gut microbiota is much more homogeneous at the early stage as compared to the later stages. Similarly, in fish, the bacterial community starts with the mouth opening and the diet has a major impact on shaping the gut microbial community.”

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

38 Feed Technology Referring to Gatesoupe (2012), Stéphane said, “It does seem that fish can maintain a core microbial community which is only partially influenced by the water microbial diversity. Feed is one of the major external factors. There are clear differences in microbial composition in the gut of seabass fed feeds with fishmeal compared with feed with plant meals or feed treated with an antibiotic.”

He stated that after 18 months post treatment, “This study is one example of the impact of an antibiotic treatment on microbial composition in the gut. You can have some efficacy, but the impact of the antibiotic treatment on the gut microbial community remains for a long time after stopping the treatment.”

Linking health and gut microbial composition

The link between animal health and microbiota composition was demonstrated in samples of pond water, healthy and diseased shrimp. “There are clear differences between the microbial composition of pond water and of the gut, and between the microbiota composition of the healthy shrimp and of the shrimp with symptoms of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND).

“In one example (Wei Yu Chen 2017), we have two groups, both positive for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, but some shrimp showed signs of disease, while some did not. This was explained by the specific event of heavy rain and appearance of AHPND symptoms.

This was an impact resulting from external factors, which stressed the shrimp, leading to microbial gut composition changes which induced the appearance of the pathology.”

A clear impact of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infestation on the microbiota composition compared to the control was also shown by Wang (2019). In WSSV infected shrimp, there was an increase of Proteobacterium and Fusobacteria but a decrease in Bacteroidetes and Tenericutes.

Modulation of gut microbial composition

One of the compounds specifically aiming at modulating gut microbial composition are probiotics– live beneficial microorganisms active in the gut. In terms of efficacy, there is a specific widely documented strain, Pediococcus acidilactici MA 18/5M (Bactocell, Lallemand). “To demonstrate the mode of action of a probiotic, first we have to demonstrate that it is present live in the digestive tract and that it is associated with the intestinal mucosa of the animal. This will have a direct impact on the animal as well as a major impact on the gut microflora composition. The probiotic, the associated changes in the gut microflora composition and in turn the cell-to-cell interaction between the animal’s mucosa and its microbiota, will impact on the immune and antioxidant status of the animal. As an example, the specific strain Pediococcus acidilactici MA 18/5M promotes higher enzymatic activity and supports energy uptake with increased amylase specific activity and higher carbohydrate utilisation. As the glycogen content of the hepatopancreas increases, growth of the shrimp increases for each ration size tested.

In a recent publication, Ashouri et al. (2018) compared growth of barramundi Lates calcarifer fed three treatment diets: classical feed

“In carnivorous fish, you can often have some problems of mineralisation and it has been demonstrated that with the use of the specific strain Pediococcus acidilactici MA 18/5M at a very young stage, it is possible to improve the ossification in seabass, trout, salmon, eel and sturgeon (patented application). The mode of action is linked to mineral absorption and metabolism as well as to a decrease in inflammation at the very early stages which help ossification.

In Asia, there are different Vibrio spp from different origins – Vibrio harveyi, V. alginolyticus, V. splendidus, V. anguillarum and V. parahaemolyticus. A very specific heat stable mixture of yeast strain and fraction which can undergo the extrusion process for feeds has the ability to bind these vibrios compared to a standard yeast.

In a challenge test, shrimp with white faeces syndrome (WFS) were fed a multi-strain yeast fraction incorporated in a basal diet, which subsequently changed and reduced the impact of WFS in the affected shrimp. Analysing the microbiota composition, there was a clear impact 48 hours after the challenge on the microbiota composition in the hepatopancreas. The reduction was at the Vibrio family level. Looking at the score on hepatopancreatic health, strain and fraction which can undergo process has the ability to bind theseby 50% Stéphane said, “The loss the of extrusion growth duefortofeeds WFS was reduced vibrios compared to a standard yeast. In a challenge test, shrimp with white faeces syndrome (WFS) inwere thefedgroup fedyeast the multi-strain mixture.

Withchanged muchandbetter a multi-strain fraction incorporated in yeast a basal diet, which subsequently reduced the impact of WFS in the affected shrimp. Analysing the microbiota composition, there was conditions, we see better survival by 17%, better growth compared a clear impact 48 hours after the challenge on the microbiota composition in the tohepatopancreas. the challenge control, 14% better economical FCR. This is just The reduction was atand the Vibrio family level. Looking at the score on hepatopancreatic health, Stéphane said, “The loss of growth due to WFS was reduced by 50% in the one example of the study we did on microbiota composition and how group fed the multi-strain yeast mixture. With much better conditions, we see better survival by 17%,can betterchange growth compared the control, andto 14%enhance better economical This is just one you this tomicrobiota theFCR. overall performance example of the study we did on microbiota composition and how you can change this microbiota to ofenhance the shrimp.” the overall performance of the shrimp.”

Amplicon Ampliconsequencing sequencing Microbiota composition changesinin of Litopenaeus vannamei Microbiota composition changes thethe gutgut of Litopenaeus vannamei after a WFS challenge after a WFS challenge 15 abundant genera relative abundance after challenge (%) 15 most abundant genera relative abundance after challenge (%)

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

MsYF

TARS 2020

CONTROL

SHRIMP • MARKETS • MARGINS • PRODUCTIVITY 19-20 August 2020 l Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam For updates visit www.tarsaquaculture.com

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

D2_T3

AHPND, WSSV and microbial composition

with the probiotic, Bactocell, a prebiotic, and their combination as symbiotic. The researcher showed some significant improvement In terms of specific growth rate and immune parameters, with the probiotic treatment.

D2_T1

While gut microbial composition depends on age, at a particular age, the gut microbial structure differs between the healthy shrimp and shrimp with different diseases. But the question is, “Is it because the microbial composition is different that you have diseased shrimp or is it because you have diseased shrimp that you have microbial composition differences?”

Allen Wu, Adisseo, Taiwan (left) and Ezhil Subbian, String Bio Pvt Ltd, India

Tena Merid Spon Xanth Algor Vibrio Ocea Pseud Roseo Parac Naut Dong Rueg Mariv

Feed Technology

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Fish immunology for beginners: The five defense lines of the immune system in fish An explanation on what pathogens need to overcome before they can multiply in the fish organs and ultimately kill the fish and how feed additives can be used to stop them.

By Serge Corneillie

I

n our aquaculture industry, diseases are our number one problem and a better understanding on how the immune system works will help us decide on which feed additives to include in order to reduce the intrusions of pathogens. Most pathogens enter the fish through the epithelial barrier of the gut, gills and reproductive canals. The epithelial surface of these organs is very large, for example in humans, it is around 400m2.

There are five different levels of immune defenses which pathogens need to overcome before they can multiply in the fish organs and ultimately kill the fish. They are: • The microbiota of the gut • The excretions of the epithelial cells (mucus, enzymes, antimicrobial proteins, etc.)

• The complement system (classical, alternative and lectin pathway) • The phagocytic cells (macrophages, granulocytes especially the neutrophils, dendritic cells) and their excretions (cytokines, chemokines), which provoke an inflammation reaction • The T and B lymphocytes (adaptive immune system).

The first four defense mechanisms of the innate immune system happen within minutes or hours of a pathogen invasion. The fifth level (adaptive immune response) develops within 5-7 days which is often too late to prevent the entry of pathogens into the fish organs. When a pathogen successfully breaks through one layer of innate immune defense, then it will encounter the next layer of defense.

There are so many kinds of pathogens (gram positive and gram negative bacteria (intra and extra cellular), archaea, fungi, viruses, protozoa, micro and macro parasites (Helminths) and so many different entry pathways for the pathogens (for example through the epithelial cells, through the tight junctions). This explains why the immune system is so diverse and therefore complex. Moreover, over millions of years, pathogens have been diversifying their cell wall structures, and the immune system had to find a defense response for every new way the pathogens invented to enter the host.

1. Microbiota

The first line of defense is the microbiota. The microbiota in animals consists of bacteria, fungi, protoctista, yeast and archaea which live in the lumen and can be found on top of the mucus layer which covers the epithelial cells. The microbiota is much more concentrated in the distal part of the intestine. The intra species diversity of the microbiota is high. In fish, 90% of the bacteria belong to the Proteobacteria group (Vibrio, Photobacterium).

The microbiota produces all kinds of important substances (vitamin B and K, enzymes, immune function support, antibacterial and anti-fungal substances, etc.). An important group of the microbiota in the vertebrae group is the gram positive lactic acid producing bacteria group Lactobacillales (Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, etc.). Many bacteria produce lactic acid. Lactic acid in its non-dissociated form penetrates the cell wall of gram negative bacteria (many of the fish pathogenic bacteria are gram-negative bacteria, except Streptococcus) and destroy the bacteria. There are two ways we can use this to help us to protect the fish.

We can add organic acids to the feed which will reduce the pH in the intestine so that more lactic acid will be in the non-dissociated form, and therefore increasing the elimination of gram negative bacteria.

It is generally accepted that high amounts of organic acids are needed to have sufficient influence (1-2 %, Silva et al. 2013, 2016).

Or we can add these Lactobacillales directly to the diet of the fish (probiotics). Given that the microbiota contains many billions of bacteria (up to 109 CFU/g in fish intestine) and the turn-over is high, a daily sufficient amount of probiotics needs to be administered.

Therefore, this is most effective through the feed. So far there is no scientific proof yet that administering probiotics to large ponds has any beneficial effect. Particularly in shrimp ponds as the Vibrio reproduce 20 times faster than the probiotic bacteria. Both methods (certain organic acids such as propionic acid and butyrate and certain Lactobacillus species such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis) have clearly shown to be able to improve the survival of fish and shrimp. We can assume that this is a primordial response through the direct killing of these pathogens more than just competition for space and nutrient.

2. Epithelia

The epithelia and their secretions are the second line of innate immune defense. The epithelia act as a physical barrier separating the internal and external region of the animal body. Epithelia are protected by many kinds of chemical soluble defense molecules which include mucus, antimicrobial enzymes and antimicrobial peptides.

The epithelial cells and the specialised cells of the epithelia (Paneth cells, goblet cells) release a wide range of defense molecules that can kill or reduce the invading pathogens. The goblet cells secrete mucus which contains many glycoproteins called mucins. Mucus can coat pathogens and expel them in an outward flow of

Figure 1. The intestinal villi and the four innate immune defense lines (adapted from Murphy K. and Weaver C., 2017).

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40 Feed Technology (MOS) products (Agrimos, Technomos, Bio-Mos, etc.) including many yeast products have shown to increase the mucus production by the goblet cells.

The Paneth cells in the antimicrobial enzymes phospholipase A2 which Yeast cell wall products lysozyme secretion.

crypt bases of the villi produce various such as lysozyme, and secretory can destroy the cell wall of pathogens.

(MOS) have also shown to increase the

The epithelial cells also produce many antimicrobial peptides (AMP), which are one of most ancient forms of defense against infections (also found in invertebrates). There are several groups of AMPs so far identified: defensins, cathelicidins, hepcidins, piscidins (only in fish) and histatins. For example defensins act within minutes to disrupt the cell membranes of bacteria, fungi and certain virus groups. As there are many different pathogen groups, the epithelial cells produce many kinds of defensins (in the fruit fly Drosophilia 15; in humans 21).

Further, there are cathelicidins, histatins and lectins with different modes of action to destroy specific pathogens. In fish a very important AMP group, unique to fish, is the piscidin (so far nine different ones are identified). Piscidins can act intra and extracellularly and are highly effective against Saprolegnia sp.

They are also used in certain types of cancer treatment. These piscidins even work in very high salinity environments.

The actions of antimicrobial enzymes and peptides involve binding to unique glycan/carbohydrates structure of microbes, and therefore have a double function; they recognise and destroy. This is the most ancient and simplest form of innate immune defense.

The use of AMP is very promising and we will hear much more about the use of AMP’s in the near future.

3.Complement system

This is the third line of defense. It is one of the most important parts of the innate immune defense system but often the least understood. The immune defense response has basically two steps: a first step which is the recognition of the pathogen and a second step which is the destruction of the pathogen. The second step is very effective: once a pathogen is identified (through PAMP & TLRs) then the pathogen is bombarded with acids (for example nitrite oxide (NO) and peroxide). The peroxide can easily destroy any healthy or unhealthy tissue.

The recognition of the pathogens is crucial (for example cancer cells are often not recognised so they can elude the immune system).

Phagocytic cells have specific receptors (toll like receptors) that recognise specific parts of the cell membranes of pathogens (pathogen associated molecular patterns or PAMP). For examples macrophages have a TLR-4 which recognise the lipopolysaccharide outer part of the cell wall of gram negative bacteria.

However, over millions of years, pathogens have changed the outer structure of their cell membranes so that phagocytic cells no longer recognise them. Luckily there are the different proteins of the complement system that do recognise and tag (opsonise) the pathogens with C3. Phagocytic cells have a TLR for C3, and so when the pathogen is tagged with C3, they can be identified and destroyed (classic complement system). There is also a second (alternative complement) and a third pathway (lectin pathway).

The alternative complement can destroy pathogens directly.

After recognition/tagging by C3, they form a membrane-attack complex which disrupt the cell membrane of the pathogen.

Although the recognition of the pathogen is crucial, very few studies have looked at the influence of different feed additives on the complement activity. A recent study showed that fermented yeasts (XPC/DVAQUA) increased the gene expression of C3 sixfold in poultry (Chou et al., 2017) and increased the alternative complement four times in tilapia (Areechon et al., 2019). This same fermented yeast showed good protection in Penaeus vannamei against acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease or AHPND

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(Corneillie et al., 2019). Other feed additives such as β-glucans have little or short time influence on the complement expression (Amphan et al., 2019).

4. Phagocytic cells

The fourth line of the immune defense system is the phagocytic cells and the inflammation reaction. The most important part of the innate immune system is the phagocytic cells (macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells) which constitute 75% of the innate immune response. Once a pathogen is recognised by one of the receptors on one of the phagocytes (PRR) , the pathogen will be absorbed and destroyed (phagocytosis). Note there are pathogens that manage to be absorbed and then block the phagocytes from destroying them by blocking the fusion with lysosomes.

As this is the most important defense mechanisms of the innate immune system, many studies have looked at which feed additives can increase the phagocytic activity and/or the phagocytic index.

Many parts of the cell wall of yeasts, fungi and bacteria such as LPS, β-glucans, peptidoglycans etc. are recognised as PAMP’s and initiate the phagocytic response. Especially β-glucans are used to artificially increase the phagocytic activity so that animals are more ready to counter pathogens when they try to invade. However, a major problem is that these products can easily overstimulated/ overloaded the immune response and therefore are only effective for 1-2 weeks. Hence it is recommended to use them on and off.

MOS products are very weak immune stimulators (even though limited responses are seen probably due to the impurities with the other cell wall components). When phagocytes interact with invaders, they will release cytokines (Interleukins, TNF, interferons) that mobilise the phagocytes around them to help the invaders. The phagocytes will also release chemokines (CXCL, ELR, CCL) that will call for help from sources far away. Indeed, the chemokines will cause vasodilation in the close-by blood vessels in order to mobilise leukocytes to the site of the infection. This positive process is referred to as inflammation and helps a lot in fighting off invading pathogens. Unfortunately, many times the immune system overreacts, calls too many phagocytes, releases too many acids (NO, peroxide) which also damage healthy tissues (this is called over-inflammation). Often it is the over-inflammation that cause more harm (even lethal) than the pathogen. MOS, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), fermented yeast and even 30 minutes of exercise in humans have been proven to be a very good modulator of the inflammation and preventing over inflammation.

5. Adaptive immune system

The fifth line of defense is the adaptive immune system: B and T lymphocytes.

When the first four lines of the innate immune system fail, then the adaptive immune system will take over. This is the most efficient part of the immune system but it takes about 5-7 days to develop against a specific pathogen. In many cases the fish are already killed by the pathogen. If we have no means to vaccinate the fish (shrimp have no adaptive immune system) then we need to limit the amount of pathogens in the environment, feed well all fish, and strengthen the innate immune system.

References are available on request

Serge Corneillie, PhD is based in Tokyo and runs his private consultancy company (Cor-Aq consulting), providing advice and market studies for the feed and feed additive industry. He has worked in the last 35 years in the aquaculture industry, mainly in Asia. Previously, he was with Cargill, Nutreco and Alltech. (sergecorneillie@gmail.com)

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DSM 2019: Committing to sustainable and profitable aquaculture The DSM ANH APAC and global team with speakers. Dr Louise Buttle, Senior Manager, Global Technical Service - Aquaculture (3rd left), Achyuth Iyengar, Regional Marketing Director (4th left), Dr Daranee Seguin, Regional Technical Manager, Aquaculture (5th left). From the right, Nuanpa Ariyapinyo, Regional Marketing & Communications AP; Dr.Vijay Makhija, Regional Marketing & Communication Manager; Dr. David Nickell, Vice President, ANH Sustainability; Dr Rutchanee Chotikachinda, Research ScientistRegional Technical Service-Aqua and Chiow Yen Liew, Regional Business Development Aquaculture.

All pictures credit: DSM

T

he 2019 DSM Aquaculture Conference Asia Pacific was the 25th in the series.

Over the years, this annual conference has attracted stakeholders in Asia’s aquaculture industry, mainly from the aquafeed sectors, from CEOs to sales managers. This 2019 conference held in Bangkok on 21 November 2019, had 214 participants, an increase of 5% over that 2018.

Achyuth Iyengar, Regional Marketing Director, DSM Nutritional Products Asia Pacific, Singapore, since September 2019 welcomed speakers and guests and reiterated on DSM’s raison d’être with regards to sustainable aquaculture in Asia. The conference theme “Committing to sustainable and profitable aquaculture” enhanced this.

In his introduction, Achyuth said, “At DSM, we value sustainability and profitability just like you do; whether it is through sustainable omega-3s or through enzymes and its application in aquafeeds and immunity solutions. Annually, we have this conference to bring industry and academia together to share their knowledge with us.

Together, we are championing (not just supporting), we are committed to (not just involved in), the success and significance of the aquaculture industry.”

Sustainability today: Challenges and future benefits

Aquaculture has the potential to supply the additional 30 to 40 million tonnes of protein needed to meet global demand by 2030 (FAO, 2016). However, the growth of the aquaculture industry must be sustainable.

“The UN has 17 sustainability development goals (SDGs). These SDGs are really key elements to which companies should tie the sustainable growth of their business.

Dr Louise Buttle, Global Technical Manager for DSM Aquaculture began the conference with her presentation on “Sustainable Aquaculture today, the challenges and future benefits.”

In terms of animal protein supply, key issues highlighted were the reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) or carbon footprint, limiting land use change to grow food, and increasing the demand for proteins with a lower environmental impact.” In terms of carbon footprint aquaculture is leading compared to other forms of animal protein. However, freshwater use and the reliance on marine resources are high. Feed is the single most important contributor to overall impact in aquaculture, and this impact depends on the source of raw materials needed to ensure the nutrient requirement of the species being farmed are met.

DSM has six platforms for sustainable animal production. These include helping to tackle antimicrobial resistance; reducing the reliance on marine resources; reducing livestock emissions; efficient use of natural resources; safe, quality nutrition with less food loss and waste; and finally, lifetime performance and welfare. “We are working at species level and country-level to make tangible, measurable impacts, and also to work with our customers, in different parts of the value chain to produce solutions that really enable transformational changes to more sustainable food systems,” said Buttle.

Must win challenges

The three must win challenges in Aquaculture are health and welfare, omega-3 fatty acids, and preserving water use to reduce environmental pressure.

Disease and parasite issues such as white spot and sea lice limit the growth and productivity of the industry.

Helping tackle antimicrobial resistance is one of DSM’s sustainability pillars. “There are always factors attributed to the use of antibiotics and it is really important that we work as an industry to continue to reduce their use going forward. Good nutrition and farming practice are important precursors to fish and shrimp health and welfare in any aquaculture system. In feed, health premixes from DSM are an integral part of optimal farm management and help support disease resistance.”

“Sustainability is really a balance; on raw material choices and their social and environmental impacts. External factors often impact the sustainability of feed raw materials, how they are then viewed and their subsequent use, making the situation complex and dynamic,” said Buttle, as she highlighted complexities of sustainability in the aquaculture space.

Reporting on sustainability

Sustainability reports help to set targets and indicators on the business and inform stakeholders, customers and suppliers on improvements. They also help to give

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42 Feed Technology credibility, increase transparency and benchmark against competitors. In the salmon industry, many of the feed and farming companies have been reporting over the last decade.

In addition, sustainability is a licence to operate and sustainable practices are expected across the value chain. Industry initiatives and certification bodies support the industry in its drive for sustainable growth. Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) works on 137 indicators, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) works on 152 indicators and IFFO RS focuses on certification for responsible sourcing of fishmeal.

Retailers also have their own standards and different sectors of the aquaculture industry are working together to improve the sustainability of the industry – a good example is the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI).

In terms of benchmarking proteins, the FAIRR initiative report shows that seafood companies perform very well compared to other protein providers. The top three companies, or the lowest risk companies, are aquaculture farming companies MOWI (the largest salmon farmer in the world), Leroy Seafood and Bakkafrost, illustrating that aquaculture is leading the way in improved sustainability practices

Benefits of sustainable production

“There is value in sustainable seafood. The prediction is that this will be worth USD19 billion for 2025 which is about 8% of the current market value for seafood. Several surveys indicated that consumers are willing to pay extra for certified sustainable seafood. Market growth for products with a sustainability commitment grew by more than 4% globally, while those without grew <1%. A DSM survey in China in November indicated that over 50% of the Chinese shrimp consumers purchased products with a sustainability label.

Fishmeal and fish oil: Insights and projection

A review on the present market conditions helps aquafeed producers understand the current supply and price levels, and why both are so different from most other feed commodities, particularly those of the vegetable oilseeds complex (meal and oil).

Jean-François Mittaine, Fishmeal Expert, France was at the 15th DSM conference to provide his perspective for 2010 when fishmeal prices and supply were uncertain.

This year, he explains why fishmeal and fish oil still constitute the reference ingredients in modern aquafeed production, despite sustainability concerns by stakeholders.

• Trimmings from wild fisheries (tuna in Thailand) and aquaculture (mainly salmon in Norway) constituted one third of production. Vietnam could be a future contributor. Half of Europe’s fishmeal was from trimmings. White fishmeal is from pollack processing in Russia/Alaska and is used in eel farming in China. “As aquaculture rises, we can expect more production of fishmeal and fish oil from trimmings,” said Mittaine.

• Fishmeal and fish oil supplies have been quite stable since 2014 when the major producers established very strict fishing limitations under the form of fishing quotas, based on scientific knowledge of their resources.

• Fishmeal production technology has advanced with focus on quality. Peruvian producers are very sensitive to the ecological impact of fishmeal production on the environment.

• Over the last 28 years, fishmeal production declined 14.2%, soybean meal production increased 229% to 239 million tonnes in 2019. Other plant protein meals contributed 117 million tonnes in 2019.

• Asian markets are very large: China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia taking a total of 62% of world consumption.

• Like all commodities, prices are set by supply/demand and therefore are variable: from USD1,800/tonne at the end of 2017 to USD1,100/tonne in October 2019 (basis standard quality). It was very high at the beginning of 2018.

This evolution of the prices is temporary.

• The fishmeal/soybean meal price ratio rose to a record 5 in 2014 due to high fishmeal prices. The ratio has declined sharply recently to around 2.

Fish oil and alternatives

Annual world fish oil production is about 1 million tonnes. Some of the origins are high in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from South America, and high in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from capelin, herring and mackerel oil from Europe. The rise in rapeseed oil for aquaculture used in salmon feed in Chile and Norway has slowed down. “The new oils from algae are not substitutes but complementary and not market factors for the time being,” said Mittaine. “There is also the omega-3 oil market which is crude

A global activity

In terms of supply, Mittaine showed the following trends: • The average supply for 2014-2018 was 4.75 million tonnes. The traditional producers (Peru, Chile and Ecuador) contributed 27% of production whereas new producers from Asia (Thailand, China, Vietnam and India) contributed 23%. India’s production is rising.

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Jean-Francoise Mittaine

oil processed to omega-3, which I do not expect to increase much. Consumption is mostly in Europe and America and stable, but consumption in Asia is expected to rise.”

Trade in fish oil is 85% of total supply.

Peru, Denmark, Norway and Chile are key exporters and key importers are Norway, Denmark and Chile. The fish oil reference price has been stable at USD1,825/tonne for aquaculture grade oil and omega-3 grade oil has a USD200 to 400/tonne over aqua grade fish oil.

China: A key driver

“China alone took 34% (average 20142018) of the global supply of fishmeal where consumption rose from 1.5 million tonnes in 2016 to around 1.8 million tonnes in 2018. This included 400,000 tonnes of domestic production. Most of the consumption is for aquaculture but usage in piglet feed remains large. China imports 50% of global fishmeal production.,” said Mittaine. He added that when Peruvian fishmeal prices rose to USD1,400/tonne in 2006, China began massive imports of Peruvian fishmeal.

Insights and projection

Mittaine summarised his insights on the future. “The key driver for fishmeal and fish oil supplies is Peru’s annual fishing quota. “In November 2019, the government announced a new fishing quota, the highest in ten years.” (Note: Actually as per early January, the fishing season had to be suspended and it is now expected that Peru may not catch more than half the quota).

On the use of substitutes, from soybean meal and rapeseed oil to insect meal and algae oils, he said, “Since sustainability is a preoccupation of stakeholders, the effect on the fishmeal and fish oil market is a variability of supply which is difficult to manage and impossible to forecast the market. There is also the dominance of one market for fishmeal i.e. China, and Europe for fish oil.

“Researchers have the perception that this industry is depleting wild resources. But this vision from outside does not match the reality of an industry which, for a great majority, is modern, quality conscious, managed through strict measures to control landings through scientifically based quotas. In the end, substitutes are needed to meet the rising aquaculture demand, which, in my opinion will require more effort on nutritional research.”

On price variability and physical supply, Mittaine said that because the markets are small with a global spread of supply and demand and long periods without production, most prices that are quoted are reference prices, not trading prices.

“Forecasting prices of fish oil is clearly, for the time being, nearly impossible.

Furthermore, it is clear that fishmeal and fish oil cannot meet all the demand from the aquafeed market.”

Feed Technology Subsequent to the completion of this report, Mittaine added a note: "Produce, the Peruvian ministry in charge of fishing, confirmed on January 14 that the fishing season in the North/Center is closed. Therefore, this year's second fishing season will have landed only about 1 million tonnes fresh fish against a quota of 2.75 million tonnes. In China, prices are skyrocketing. Standard quality is now quoted at RMB 11,800/tonne and super-prime at RMB 13,000/tonne (up respectively RMB 1300/tonne and RMB 1600/tonne in a week. Fishmeal stocks as per 15 January were 138,450 tonnes, down from 162,200 tonnes on 2 January."

Fishmeal and fish oil free aquafeed: How to overcome challenges

According to Professor D. Allen Davis, Auburn University, USA, the only reason the aquaculture industry has grown to its present production level is that fishmeal and fish oil as finite resources, have been systematically reduced in aquafeed. Many years ago, fishmeal was taken out of production diets for numerus species such as tilapia and catfish, resulting in primarily plant-based diets with moderate levels of protein and high levels of carbohydrates.

Presently, aquafeed production is estimated at around 50 million tonnes a year and uses 4.5 million tonnes of fishmeal, making the overall average of fishmeal inclusion at 7.5% in diets. In contrast, aquafeeds use 15 million tonnes of soybean meal (at 25% inclusion rates). This reduction is achieved by systematically defining nutrient requirement of a given species and making appropriate substitutions of other ingredients and nutrient supplementation to balance the diets.

“The biggest issue with replacing marine proteins and oils is not linked to the nutritional requirements of the fish. It is actually the perception of the farmer and consumer that inhibit our move to reduce the use of these limited and costly ingredients.

Hence, unless the consumer (fish farmers, sea food purchaser) perception is changed the industry cannot advance,” said Davis.

D. Allen Davis

“Another perception that is born out of the salmon nutrition, is the need for high lipid diets for marine fish and that marine fish do not use carbohydrates. Clearly a few species such as salmon do not use high levels of carbohydrates well; however, this in my mind is the exception and not the rule. For example, we experimented with the California yellowtail, a species fed very high protein and high lipid diets. We found that fish fed the moderate level lipid diet gave the best performance and best protein retention. Therefore, it is important to find out whether perceptions are right.”

Replacement studies

“As a key ingredient, fishmeal should be used where it is needed. If aquaculture growth is to continue, we have to utilise plant protein sources. Allergies are often cited with the use of soybean meal, but the salmon industry still uses soybean meal at around 25% inclusion rates.

Options are fermented soy or soy protein concentrate (SPC) which works in a lot of different formulations. We need to work within the constraints of the animal. Key to replacement is the balance of nutrients, amino acids, proteins etc.,” said Davis.

This means going through all the different protein sources and possible choices, have the amino acid requirements correct and understand the tolerance of the animals.

This is followed by looking at attractants, enzymes, acidifying agents etc.

There are different issues specific to different marine fish. As an example, in the Florida pompano, yellowtail and white sea bass, taurine is found as the first limiting amino acid. “Taurine is in fishmeal, when the solubles are added back to it, as taurine is in the water-soluble portion. When fishmeal is taken out of formulated diets, you get taurine deficiency in some of these species because they have limited ability to convert cysteine into taurine. This means we need to add taurine back into the amino acid profile.”

The Florida pompano and California yellowtail have relatively low taurine requirements whereas levels for white sea bass were found to be considerably higher.

In studies with the Florida pompano, fishmeal was replaced with poultry byproduct meal combined with high levels of soybean meal in combination with corn protein concentrate (CPC, 79.9% protein) which is low in lysine (1.37%) but high in methionine (1.77%). It is blended with soybean meal (50% protein) which is low in methionine (0.82%) and high in lysine (2.81%) to normalise the amino acid profile.

Marine oil was included too.

As an example, in one shrimp study, fishmeal was replaced by CPC on a protein to protein basis. The amino acid profile was similar. In terms of production in ponds, there were no differences in weight, yield and survival but the feed cost/kg of shrimp for the fishmeal diet was USD1.6/kg whereas the CPC and soybean

43

meal diet the feed cost/kg shrimp went down to USD1.1/kg. “Therefore, moving towards these alternative protein sources, usually are very cost-effective in terms of performance,” said Davis. “We have demonstrated these feeds across a number of trials in the laboratory as well as semiintensive production systems.”

With feeds for high intensity culture systems, there is the perception that fishmeal is required. To demonstrate that fishmeal is not essential, in a 20% fishmeal diet, fishmeal was systematically replaced with a high soybean meal/CPC diet in a high density (120 shrimp/m2) biofloc system.

Feed conversion was lower, but growth and survival were found to be very good. Davis said that the bottom line was that even in high density culture, the performance was good on low or fishmeal free diets.

“Remember, replacements do not always work. This was shown in a trial where juvenile shrimp were fed graded levels of CPC and SPC (replacing fishmeal) over 42 days. The results demonstrated that for some reason high levels of SPC do not work well in shrimp feed.” The take home message was, “Not all ingredients will work, so you have to understand which ingredients and what levels work best for the species under investigation.”

Changing ingredients

There are lots of different ingredients where processing methods have changed, such as soybean meals, distillers dry grains and corn proteins. The traditional distiller dry grain solubles (DDGS) have been modified with some fermentation to produce another product with higher protein (49%) and lower lipid (3%) and a good source of lysine.

Davis called it "corn protein with yeast" or distiller's dry grain with yeast. It has been tested with the tilapia and shrimp as well as with other species with small differences in performance at a higher replacement level. ”We need to remember that both the source material as well as processing of an ingredient changes over time so we need to re-evaluate ingredients on a regular basis.”

Replacing fish oils

This is the biggest challenge. “Where are our essential fatty acids going to come from in the future? Palm oil and soybean oil are the two biggest oil sources out there, but they lack the essential fatty acids. There are other oil sources which can be used as an energy source or as a partial lipid supplement. One solution is to use about 10% of a marine oil in the feed formulation to meet the essential fatty acid requirements and dilute oils down as the salmon industry has done. Other options are spray-dried phytoplankton, heterotrophically grown algae and genetically modified terrestrial crops that are now coming or are presently in the market. These are the only ways to expand the production of essential fatty acids. Davis reminded that fish oil and fishmeal are great sources of cholesterol and removing them from shrimp diets may result in a deficiency of cholesterol.

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44 Feed Technology “Overall, with the use of appropriate blends of ingredient and nutritional supplements our industry can move toward more costeffective feeds to ensure its continued expansion. Please also remember, feeds must also be properly delivered and applied as feed conversion ratio drives the sustainability equations,” said Davis.

EPA and DHA in human and animal health

Dr Fabio Cervellione, Global Marketing Director AQUA, DSM Nutritional Products, Switzerland looked at the importance of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in human and animal health, and on how to prepare for the future demand for sustainably produced seafood high in EPA and DHA. He asked whether aquaculture can depend on fish oils as the source of EPA and DHA, as he introduced the algae EPA and DHA oils from Veramaris, a DSM/Evonik joint venture.

Human health benefits with omega-3, EPA and DHA

In human health, omega-3 fatty acids and in particular EPA and DHA perform essential functions. There is a lifetime of benefits with consuming enough EPA and DHA, from pregnancy to old age – for infant eye and brain development to reducing risks of cardiovascular diseases. Cervellione described the Global Omega-3 index where an average index of >8% means lower risks of cardiovascular disease and such a population resides in the northern most parts of the European and North American continents. He said that this reflected people consuming marine fish high in EPA and DHA. “In contrast, 98% of Americans are at risk and almost all would benefit from eating more fish and shrimp rich in omega-3,” said Cervellione.

The target consumption is 3.5g EPA and DHA per week (500mg/day) which means two portions of 120g of salmon fillet which has 1.19g/100g fillet. “We would need to eat 3kg of shrimp/week to reach this target as shrimp has only 0.1g EPA and DHA/100g.

In the case of seabass, four portions will meet the requirement level.

are around 20 to 27g/kg diet. A recent Nofima study noted that EPA and DHA in salmon resulted in significant reduction in mortality, inflammation and improvement in welfare.

A study by Tacon (2019) showed that by 2025, the demand for shrimp feeds will rise to 10.48 million tonnes, marine fish feeds to 5.89 million tonnes, and salmon feeds to 4.37 million tonnes.

In shrimp, there is a lack of information. The EPA and DHA inclusion in commercial diets are 5-15g/kg of diet for both monodon and vannamei shrimp. Over 2014-2016, there has been an overall reduction in omega-3 oils in diets by 15% with the shift from fish oils to plants oils. “We need to watch out and not repeat the situation with salmon in Norway, which lowered EPA and DHA levels from 2.1mg/100g fillet in 2006 to 1.1mg/100g in 2016 with replacement of fish oils with plant oils. Now the industry in Norway is reversing this and wants to bring back the high EPA and DHA levels in salmon fillet to meet consumer demand,” said Cervellione.

“Using a NASA-developed technology, Veramaris produces oils from natural algae and brings 50% concentrated EPA and DHA direct into the diet of the fish and shrimp,” said Cervellione. He stressed that this is a more sustainable and scalable option. The algal oil acts as a sustainable substitute to restore the levels and types of omega-3 in fish and shrimp. EPA and DHA claims are more powerful for consumers than total omega-3s.

Changing from fish oil to algal oils

There are many initiatives to push aquaculture into the next level. The essential omega-3 oils are important for fish and shrimp but Cervellione asked, “Can we rely on fish oil as a source of EPA and DHA? Limited fish oil is spread thinly across increasing volumes of aquafeed.”

He concluded that these are steps in value creation opportunities in seafood marketing-improving the EPA and DHA contents in farmed seafood with claims that they contain the healthy omega-3 oils and that they are sustainably farmed.”

Emerging challenges of feed formulation with phosphorus

“The concentration of inorganic phosphorus (P) in water is very low, so fish obtain very little of their daily needs from it. Consequently, dietary sources fulfil their needs,” said Dr Thomas Wilson, DSM consultant on Aqua Nutrition in his discussion on formulating with phosphorus. “The present trend is to replace fishmeal to support sustainability and alternatives such as by-products of fish, poultry and land animal processing, and terrestrial ingredients are commonly used. However, most animal by-product feed ingredients have high ash (bone P), while much of the P in terrestrial ingredients is in the form of indigestible phytate-P.”

Fabio Cervellione

This shows that seafood is an important source of the omega-3s. In recent surveys conducted by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), customers were willing to pay a premium of 11% for fish and shrimp sustainably produced and a Veramaris survey in China indicated that consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products with health claims.

Requirements of EPA and DHA in fish and shrimp

Under normal culture conditions, requirement levels can be low but when challenged by adverse farming conditions or disease outbreaks, the requirement levels will rise. In the salmon, the EPA and DHA requirements rise up to 35g/kg of diet In laboratory conditions requirements are 10 to 15g/kg diet. Commercial diets

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Participants, from left, Hathaiwan Kraisuwan, TRF Feedmill Co. Ltd; Dr Bundit Yuangsoi, Khon Kaen University; Bunluesak Sorajjakit, Thai Union Feedmill; Dr Wassana Prisingkorn, Khon Kaen University; Nattakul Yaemsooksawat, CPF and Narissara Suratip, Khon Kaen University.

Feed Technology In the environment, the amount of P emissions from aquaculture is unnecessarily high. On the basis of kg/ tonnes of protein produced, P emission from poultry production is 40, whereas fish averages 102. “P emission from salmon farming is only 71, over a cycle of 18-24 months whereas tilapia farming emits 172 over a short 6-month production cycle.

The salmon industry is ahead, and it has dropped marine protein meals from 65% in the formulation to 36.7% with replacement with plant meals. Of course, with plant meals, the worry is with phytic acid such as in cereals, grains and oilseed meals.”

A non-renewable resource

There is also the global picture on the use of phosphorus where 90% is for food production. Phosphorus is a non-renewable resource. Phosphorus demand is predicted to increase by 50–100% by 2050 with increased global usage for food production and changing diets. “Here in Asia, we need to consider how to reduce P emission into the environment. In fact, P availability in the water is very low. Sugiura (2018) estimated that rainbow trout obtained only 0.14% of their daily accumulation of P from water and herbivorous fish obtained P from consuming algae and plankton.

“However, Ca interferes with P availability and when formulating, we need to minimise ash and maintain a dietary Ca:P ratio of 1:1 to 2:1. In the stomach and duodenum, competition occurs for non-specific carriers between Ca and macro and micro minerals, often leaving P behind,” added Wilson.

“Under the radar is the role of inositol triphosphate from phosphatidyl inositol which among others is critical for the release of growth hormones, sperm motility, egg fertilisation, skin colour adaptation (melanophore pigmentation) and salinity adaptation.”

Managing dietary P

The message here was, “We just need to determine the digestible dietary P requirement and estimate the correct Ca:P balance for the particular species. It is to meet the digestible P requirement, but not more. The goal is to reduce total P levels in feeds.”

A list of requirement levels for various species of freshwater and marine fish and shrimp was presented. In terms of ingredients, these were grouped under marine meals such as whole-fish fish meals and by-product fish meals but with high ash.

Land animals’ group include meat meals (>55%CP with low ash), and meat and bone meals (<55%CP with high ash).

A comprehensive list of common ingredients and their P availability in rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, catfish, tilapia, carp, grass carp and cobia was presented. Wilson noted that in feeds for the pangasius, almost 40-50% of rice bran with 1.2% phytate P is included. “Phytic acid binds phosphorus

45

“My preference is to use meat meals with low ash. With regards to plant meals, the concern is low available P. In soybean meal, 70% of P is bound as phytate P. I recommend selection of feed ingredients with high P bioavailability and the use of phytase enzyme with plant-based feeds to improve its availability. The goal is to maximise utilisation of P in the diet without extra supplementation,” said Thomas Wilson.

and trace minerals Zn, Fe, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cu as well as carbohydrates and lipids. More important is that phytic acid also interferes with the activity of the digestive protease enzymes, and affects protein digestion to a degree.”

The recommended levels for digestible P in freshwater fish feeds is around 0.7 to 0.8% of total P and for shrimp, about 1% digestible P. Data collected in 2015 (see Figure 1) show that in general Thai fish feed millers follow these recommendations and meet the required levels. However, there is still phytate-P loading into the environment.

When adding supplementary P, the recommendation is to use only feed grade phosphates as industrial grades are not analysed for contaminants. Monocalcium phosphate (MCP) and dicalcium phosphate (DCP) are highly digestible but watersoluble sodium and potassium phosphate salts will leach into the water.

Maximising available P from ingredients

Organic acids used as acidifiers maximise P uptake from ingredients. In the red seabream, P retention was improved and excretion was reduced by 28.9% when using 1% citric acid, and by 20.8% when using 1% lactic acid.

The purpose of using phytase enzyme is to break down dietary phytic acid completely

to release myo-inositol and to increase available phosphorus. There is also an increase in protein digestion releasing 5% more of the protein. A DSM study showed how a microbial phytase supplemented into a diet at three levels improved release of P to 0.26% (P released per kg) diet at the supplementation rate of 2,000 units phytase/kg diet in the tilapia.

“Today, we have sufficient research results with phytase to allow us to estimate the phosphorus released from ingredients and calculate the equivalent amount of supplementary inorganic P it can replace. In terms of cost, in a tilapia feed, the P released by 2,000 units of phytase is equivalent to 2.6kg of pure inorganic P. Based on 88% digestibility for MCP, the 2.6kg of inorganic P from MCP would require 14kg of MCP costing USD8.40/tonne. In comparison, adding the microbial phytase would cost USD2.90/tonne,” noting that this cost was based on prices in Thailand, which may differ in each country after taking into consideration exchange rates, import and local taxes.

Wilson concluded, “The goal of feed formulators should be to make feeds that maximise utilisation of endogenous P in the feed ingredients while avoiding the need to use P supplements. Digestible P levels should be just high enough to meet the nutritional requirement of the species.”

Deleted: Emerging challeng phosphorus ¶ “The concentration of inorga very low, so fish obtain very l Consequently, dietary source Thomas Wilson, DSM consult discussion on formulating wit trend is to replace fishmeal t alternatives such as by-produ animal processing, by-produc are commonly used. Howeve ingredients have high ash (bo terrestrial ingredients is in th P.”¶ In the environment, the amo aquaculture is unnecessarily of protein produced, P emiss wasis 40, whereas fish averag salmon farming wasis only 71 whereas tilapia farming emit month production cycle. The has dropped marine protein formulation to 36.7% with re course, with plant meals, the as in cereals, grains and oilse A non-renewable resource ¶ Figure 1. Data collected in 2015 showing the amount of phosphorus added into feeds. Most meet There is also the global pictur where 90% is for food produc the maximum amount of phytate P at 0.7-0.8 (blue arrow). renewable resource. Phospho increase by 50–100% by 2050 food production and changin to consider how to reduce P In fact, P availability in the wa January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific estimated that rainbow trout daily accumulation of P from getobtained P from consumin

46 Feed Technology The colour of marine shrimp

There are several functional properties of carotenoids besides their role in the pigmentation of shrimp. Their other roles include growth, stress resistance, health and immunity. Special Research Professor Shunsuke Koshio, Kagoshima University, Japan discussed carotenoid nutrition in three species of shrimp: white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon and kuruma shrimp Penaeus japonicus.

“The market for synthetic and natural carotenoids is large at more than USD450 million. As such, today, many companies have invested in the carotenoid business.

As long as farming grows, this market will grow too. Shrimp cannot synthesise carotenoids and require dietary sources.

Determining the optimal requirement level is not an easy task as shrimp can also obtain carotenoids naturally from algae and zooplankton. We can provide a range of requirement or assess this from the shrimp tissue but then storage of carotenoids in various tissues of shrimp is affected by the dietary supply,” said Koshio.

Shrimp pigmentation is really important, for market acceptance and price levels.

Carotene is converted into astaxanthin via different pathways, such as metabolism of α-carotene via lutein, or metabolism of β-carotene via canthaxanthin or zeaxanthin.

The concentration of astaxanthin as a percentage of total carotenoid varies among crustaceans.

In kuruma shrimp, it is more that 90% astaxanthin, in spiny lobster and blue crab, 84%, and in red shrimp, 83% of the total carotenoids.

Optimum levels for pigmentation

Research has indicated a wide range of levels for pigmentation of the white shrimp, 75mg to 350mg, depending on the sources – algae, synthetic source, capsanthin from marigold or capsicum, and from marine sources. In black tiger shrimp, the optimum level is 100mg to 300mg using both the B-carotene, canthaxanthin or other algae and synthetic sources. “In the kuruma shrimp, we have a long history of research.

Astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, β-carotene at a range of 50ppm to 200ppm from a different variety of sources (algae and natural sources) can produce the same colour pigmentation. We can manipulate the colour with astaxanthin concentrationthe higher concentration results in a brighter shrimp after cooking,” explained Koshio.

Some basic studies with the kuruma shrimp showed that the requirement for colouration differs in different parts of the shrimp. Astaxanthin was supplemented at 0, 200, 400, 600, 1,000, 1,200mg and 1,600mg and the colour of the head and body of the kuruma shrimp after cooking was compared. The optimum requirement

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

was 429mg for the red score of the head portion. Results of experiments on the interactions of astaxanthin (0 and 600mg) at three levels of vitamin E (0, 200 and 1,000ppm of α-tocopherol) and of cholesterol (0, 0.6 and 2% of diet) were discussed.

Growth performance and survivals

In the white shrimp, it was determined that optimal levels for growth ranged from 80 and 400mg with astaxanthin as the source.

In the case of the black tiger shrimp, it was between 25 and 100mg with astaxanthin, and astaxanthin plus cholesterol as the sources, and 300mg with β-carotene.

Similarly, for the kuruma shrimp, the optimal level was between 50 and 100mg, depending on the source. Koshio discussed reasons for the faster growth, in terms of the role of digestive enzymes (protease, lipase and amylase). But since astaxanthin is lipid-soluble, lipase plays a crucial role.

Stress and resistance

Research on astaxanthin level and stress (low salinity and dissolved oxygen, transportation, sub-optimal level of antioxidants and metabolic enzymes) showed that 80-400mg astaxanthin is required to resist stressful conditions.

In the black tiger shrimp, it was interesting to see astaxanthin’s role in stress from ammonia, osmotic capacity, salinity and low DO. “We did some stress tests and found that as the astaxanthin concentration increased, mortality (LC50) increased too but then declined. We found that between 50 and 100ppm astaxanthin would be optimal to minimise stress against formalin for larvae and 100ppm for post larvae. At the end, astaxanthin is very effective to minimise stress in shrimp, “said Koshio.

Shunsuke Koshio

responses and white spot disease (WSD).

In black tiger shrimp, 200 to 300 ppm was optimal for astaxanthin from Dunaliella against WSD. “Since feeding astaxanthin can minimise the effect of WSD, we need to research further on this role of astaxanthin.

Results of another study with the kuruma shrimp, gave the optimal level of 530 mg/ kg diet for countering total haemocytes counts (THC).”

The 25th DSM Aquaculture Conference was a great success providing attendees with up to date and very relevant information on key topics of sustainable on aquaculture, while providing the ideal opportunity to meet and network with leading companies and individuals in the aquaculture space., DSM is very much looking forward to welcoming the Asia Pacifica Aquaculture industry again in 2020!

Health and immunity

The improvement of health and immunity of the white shrimp will require 80ppm of astaxanthin to counter haematological

"With the control of dietary astaxanthin concentrations, it is possible to manage shrimp colour after cooking” - Shunsuke Koshio.

Participants from Department of Fisheries, Thailand with Sopit Malaiwong, Darawan Yuttayong and Pisamai Somsueb, Aquatic Feed Research and Development Division.

Developments

47

Revisiting global shrimp production and trade

The plenary session was chaired by Dr Zuridah Merican, Editor, Aqua Culture Asia Pacific and had 5 speakers, from left, Robins McIntosh, CPF; Dr Somsak Paneetatyasai, Thai Shrimp Association; Dr Olivier Decamp, INVE Aquaculture and Dr Melony Sellars, Genics Pty Ltd. The fifth, speaker was Marcio Castro de Souza, FAO, who presented via skype.

A

fter a long hiatus, the INFOFISH World Shrimp Trade Conference and Exposition (Shrimp 2019) returned and to Bangkok, Thailand from 12-14 November. It was jointly hosted by the Department of Fisheries Thailand, Network of Aquaculture Centres (NACA) and the Thai Shrimp Association. Infofish is an intergovernmental organisation providing marketing, technical and consultancy services to the Asia-Pacific fishery industry. Currently, 13 countries are members of Infofish: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

“Shrimp 2019 brought together more than 250 delegates and 36 speakers,” said Shirlene Maria Anthonysamy, Director, Infofish.

The opening session began with a special address by H.E. Semi Koroilavessau. In his opening address, Thaworn Jirasoponrak, Deputy Director General, Department of Fisheries (DOF) Thailand said, “Thailand’s shrimp production was 300,000 tonnes in 2019 of which 95% was for export. Over the years, the industry has been facing a few challenges – diseases, markets and investments. The aim is an industry concerned with the environment and on food safety. DOF continues to give priority on aspects of sustainability, meeting international standards and building up consumer confidence.”

The two-day conference lined up a range of industry experts discussing production trends and supply; demand, markets and trade; technology and culture trends with a focus on diseases; and risk assessment and certification.

Modelling for sustainability

The plenary session revolved around the theme of the conference “modelling for sustainability”. It began with a keynote by Robins McIntosh, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) Thailand. His take was that the shrimp industry is a relatively young industry which is constantly trying to move towards a more sustainable model.

“Disease has always been the challenge and with each new challenge, there has been a positive change.” Dividing the years of shrimp farming since 1962 into generations, Robins said “ In 1988, during the gen 2, it was hit by yellowhead virus and later WSSV; in gen 3, came monodon slow growth and in gen 4, the devastating EMS. In gen5, will there be a recovery? What are the systems to adopt for a sustainable industry?” asked Mcintosh. There was some light at the end of the tunnel when he suggested: less area for more shrimp production using less resources; modern hatcheries with clean post larvae production using ablated broodstock; automation; reduction in the use of fresh feeds; selective genetics and controlled farming systems.

Shirlene Maria Anthonysamy, Director, Infofish and Dr Coco Kokarkin Soetrisno, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia

Dr Somsak Paneetatyasai, Thai Shrimp Association presented on some experiences in the Thai shrimp industry. Disease has always been a threat and early mortality syndrome (EMS) emerged in 2011 and now it is the Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP). The production range is 290-300,000 tonnes for 2019. Fortunately, the industry has benefited from investments in shrimp genetics, with improvement in average daily growth from 0.2g to possibly, 0.4g now. Government and public institutions provide support, with services and research, while farmers are united. Some recent advances in culture technology are biofloc and recirculation aquaculture systems, which are both complemented with good biosecurity measures.

The illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing issue was a strain on the industry as well as the withdrawal of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) status in the European Union (EU), previously a major market for Thailand. Despite these hurdles, Thailand will continue to be known as a producer of antibiotic-free shrimp, complying to international food safety standards with full traceability. Production is environmentally friendly, sustainable and with ethical business practices.

In his presentation on “Nutrition and Beyond: Challenges faced by global shrimp industry”, Dr Olivier Decamp, INVE Aquaculture Thailand, looked at the challenges with disease and low exfarm prices. “The worry is on production cost, market price and how to reduce costs. Unfortunately, this also means a reduction

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

48 Developments in investments covering biosecurity and costs – for example, by procuring cheaper post larvae and lowering feed cost. Such practices have consequences on the performance of animals and on the productivity. Feed with the correct physical and nutritional properties give a clear advantage in the hatchery and nursery phases, and the benefits will be borne out in the later stages.”

In her presentation on “Mitigate pathogen risk during shrimp culture”, Mellony Sellars, CEO, Genics Pty Ltd, Australia said that disease is a major constraint to the development of a sustainable industry. There are many approaches to mitigate the risks during shrimp farming. In Australia, the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) decimated the shrimp industry. Losses were not only direct at USD40 million but the loss to the economy was USD1.5 billion.

Some solutions include using specific pathogen resistant/tolerant (SPR/SPT) broodstock. She presented a cost effective solution which can diagnose 13 pathogens in a single assay.

Country focus: Production and trends This session covered the production and market status, and challenges, in India, China, Bangladesh, Ecuador, the Middle East and Africa. It also included some perspectives on shrimp marketing in Indonesia and on experiences in farming vannamei the monodon way, by Dr Manoj Sharma, Mayank Aquaculture, Gujarat, India.

India

Anil Kumar P, Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), said that India’s seafood exports were just under USD7 billion and farmed shrimp was the principal export product. In the 2018-2019 (India’s reporting system starts on Ist April to end of March of the following year), the total shrimp production was 682,142 tonnes, comprising 618,678 tonnes of vannamei shrimp (90.7%) and 54,901 tonnes of monodon shrimp (8%). A mere 7,222 tonnes of the scampi or the giant freshwater prawn was produced in the same period. Andhra Pradesh was the leading producer of shrimp at 450,797 tonnes and the average productivity for the whole country was 8.2 tonnes/ha/year. West Bengal was where most of the monodon shrimp was farmed (87%) and the productivity averaged 0.94 tonnes/ha/year.

“As a result of the increase in aquaculture production, India emerged as the leading producer of shrimp by overtaking Thailand, Vietnam and China,” said Anil Kumar. The concern is the increase in EHP outbreaks and Anil Kumar outlined some new initiatives for shrimp farms. One is the adoption of best management practices and the standard operation procedures (SOP) approved by MPEDA. This also includes keeping records, and testing at pre-harvest for antibiotics. EHP was reported as rampant in Indian farms and MPEDA has a pilot project on the production of antibiotic- free post larvae in three hatcheries. The treatments are bacteriophage, bacteriophage + probiotic and probiotics alone. This is expected

to be completed in early 2020. The next step is certification for antibiotic- free post larvae.

China

The president of China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), Dr Cui He gave a clear insight into the 2018 shrimp production in China. Total shrimp production in China was 4.07 million tonnes and this included shrimp from capture fisheries.

Freshwater farmed prawn and shrimp accounted for 65.8%, and the marine shrimp (captured and farmed) 34.2% (1.39 million tonnes) of the total production. Farmed marine shrimp production was 0.8 million tonnes in 2018, dominated by Penaeus vannamei at 73%, followed by Penaeus monodon at 12%.

Production in 2018 of the farmed freshwater crustacean group, which totalled 2.68 million tonnes included the crayfish Procambrus clarkii at 62%, P. vannamei accounting for 22%, and Macrobrachium rosenbergii and Macrobrachium nipponense at 14%. Cui He expects that in the future, the production of farmed shrimp in freshwater areas will decrease while that in the marine environments will remain.

There were some interesting developments in the shrimp supply situation. Imports totalled 0.65 million tonnes whereas exports were 0.16 million tonnes. Shrimp from aquaculture and capture fisheries totalled 1.5 million tonnes. In the past two years, shrimp consumption has slowed, especially when the preference switched to the crayfish in the inland provinces. The cost of production of farmed marine shrimp is rising in China. In the south, production is in open ponds as in Southeast Asia but in North China, there is the farming of Penaeus chinensis, Penaeus japonicus and P. monodon for the domestic market.

In terms of imports, data up to August 2019 showed that China’s imports increased 10 times more than the volume in 2017. Imports were from Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Argentina. In the first quarter of 2019, China imported 80% of its total imports for the whole of 2018. Cui He expects that China’s shrimp imports will reach 0.7 million tonnes in 2019 and when the per capita shrimp consumption in China reached 4.4 pounds (2kg) and equal that in the US, China will need to import more than 1 million tonnes of shrimp to meet the demand. This will make China the largest shrimp importer.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a major producer of farmed black tiger shrimp P. monodon and according to Syed Mahmudul Huq, the Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) wants to create a niche market in collaboration with other black tiger shrimp producing countries, importers and retailers. Farmed in the sundarbans, the production area is over 184,820ha, using traditional extensive (84.5%),

The session on production trends and supply was chaired by Robin McIntosh (second left). From left; Anil Kumar P, Cui He and Johan Suryadarma, Seafood Service Centre, Indonesia.

In the session on Demand, Markets and Trade, from left; Dr Darryl Jory, (US shrimp market); Mike Turenhout (European shrimp market); Helga Josupeit (Latin America and the Caribbean) and Fatima Ferdouse (Asia/Pacific markets). A report on this session will be in the next issue of AAP.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Developments

Haydar H Al Sahtout with Roy Palmer (left) who presented on risk assessment and certification

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Some of the presenters in the session covering technology and culture trends; from right, Chelsea Andrews, XpertSea, Thailand, Robins McIntosh, Oscar Henning, Benchmark Genetics; Hawaii; Dr Eduardo Leano, NACA; Dr Laurence Massaut, BioMar, Ecuador and Dr M A Kabir Chowdhury, Jefo Nutrition.

Dr Cui He (right) with Tianwei Yang, CAPPMA and Johan Suryadarma (middle) From right, Vinij Tansakul, consulant,Dr Daranee Seguin, DSM; Dr Jarin Sawanboonchun, Aquafeed consultant and Dr M A Kabir Chowdhury, Jefo Nutrition.

improved extensive and semi-intensive systems. With regards to production, the total production of the black tiger and the giant freshwater prawn was 122,500 tonnes. The export volume was 36,168 tonnes valued at USD423 million. Some of the challenges outlined in his presentation included low productivity, high risks and prevalence of diseases in the farming segment, and in marketing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; volatility in international prices.

There is a scarcity of raw materials for processing plants, which together have 400,000-tonnes annual capacity. There is a draft national action plan to increase production by converting existing traditional/extensive farms from the average yield of 330kg/ha to 1.2 tonnes/ha with improved extensive practices. Most hatcheries depend on wild black tiger shrimp broodstock, and under the road map for 2021, the plan is to expand to 20 specific pathogen free (SPF) hatcheries from the current 2. The projection is to supply 3 billion post larvae. The additional production will be 55,720 tonnes of black tiger shrimp, leading to the export value of USD1 billion.

Funding will be by the World Bank of which USD30 million will be incentives to set up hatcheries, brood stock multiplication centres and cluster farming units. At this meeting, Syed Mahmudul called upon investors to participate in this initiative.

Middle East and Africa

An extensive overview on what is happening in the leading shrimp producing countries in this region was presented by Haydar H Al Sahtout, Adviser to the Saudi Aquaculture Society. The combined production for the region was given as 100,000 tonnes in 2019, down from 120,000 tonnes in 2018. Saudi Arabia is the leading producer with the largest shrimp farm in the world. The national production estimate in 2019 was 50,000 tonnes, down from 64,000 tonnes in 2018. This was followed by Iran, with 40-45,000 tonnes, mainly from small family farms. Haydar expects production to continue on its upward trend because of government support. The only downside is problems with disease. Most of the production is targeted for export with the exception of Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production.

He cited some expansion plans. In Kuwait, the government will develop a fully integrated shrimp farming project, to produce 3,000 tonnes annually. Another project in Qatar is a shrimp farm with an initial 3,000 tonnes/year and expanding to 100,000 tonnes over the next five years. Egypt has a large integrated tilapia and shrimp farm with Chinese participation. Shrimp production is expected at 7,000 tonnes/year.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

50 Developments

An orbit view on shrimp farms Y

oung Norwegian graduates in microelectronics and space physics, Hogne Andersen and Mats F. Heigre founded their Bergen based startup Dynaspace in August 2018 to simplify space mission using nano satellites. In August 2019, they found a niche demand for real time global information on shrimp farming.

With the InsightSPHERE cloud-based platform, the team uses multispectral satellite image processing capabilities, computer vision, proprietary machine learning algorithms to detect shrimp farms and monitor their activity in real-time, year-round. The information on current productivity (tonnes/ha), pond activity, disease outbreaks, tracking of production cycles and production forecasts can be at the local to global scale.

Both Hogne and Mats were attending the Hatch Blue mentorship program in Singapore. As an example of the capabilities of their platform, they presented a InsightSPHERE Snapshot of ponds in Bilimora, India. The details include the hectarage, the number of ponds, active and inactive; number of extensive and intensive ponds and treatment ponds and via various steps, calculated the productivity of the area.

Dynaspace pitching at Hatch Blue’s Demo Day 2019 in Singapore.

“We have just started looking into the potential of using our technology in shrimp aquaculture after attending this Hatch Blue mentor program. Here we have learnt that the shrimp aquaculture industry requires more transparency and we hope that our innovation will bring key production data for this industry. The levels of information that we can provide will also depend on frequency and on the resolution of imaging data that we need and can get,” said Hogne.

“We are still on the learning curve with shrimp farming, but we know that there are areas where we can use our expertise and provide more detail information such as on the geographical carrying capacity, changes in water quality or disease outbreaks. Such information may be useful for governments to regulate industry or for industry itself to self-regulate. In addition, there may be the need to calibrate our findings with ground information,” added Mats.

With regards to monetisation, Hogne said, “We have a subscriptionbased model where clients get the snapshots on activity in specific areas of shrimp farming. Our capability is dynamic information from satellite imagery every 5 days or less if required. We have talked to many stakeholders and there is interest for such information on shrimp activity from shrimp traders, processors, feed mills, large integrators and even farmers,” said Hogne. https://dynaspace.no

Hogne Andersen and Mats F. Heigre were in Singapore attending Hatch Blue’s 2019 mentor program for new start-ups – here visiting shrimp farms in Indonesia during the program.

A Snapshot of Bilimora in India, 14th November 2019, demonstrating the power of the InsightSPHERE platform.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

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January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

52 Developments

Mentoring aquaculture start-ups in Singapore

Startup teams, Hatch Blue team and mentor for the day.

I

n this new world of aquaculture startups, a novel technology may have been developed brilliantly but pitching the idea to secure funding for the next steps of development may not be a cup of tea for many. Often, developers of novel technologies are not prepared for the world of skillful venture capitalists. Established to bridge this gap, HATCH, the world’s first sustainable aquaculture accelerator, offers a tailor-made accelerator programme to mentor seed or pre-seed startups with innovative and scalable solutions for relevant aquaculture problems. The requirement is simple: a team of two willing to focus 100% on the venture, armed with an initial proof-of-concept. The scheme offers a 15-week programme of professional mentoring, access to global aquaculture, investor connections, team and product development support, office space, fundraising expertise, as well as up to €100,000 in funding, to help young aquaculture companies grow and commercialise.

In 2019, HATCH had an impressive programme for 13 startups in Hawaii, Bergen, Norway and Singapore, for the Asian leg.

The group stationed themselves in Singapore from November 4 to December 5 while visiting aquaculture farms in Sumatra, Indonesia; cage culture farms in Lake Toba as well as hatchery, feed mill and processing operations of Regal Springs, the world's largest tilapia farming company and Global Gen’s shrimp farm and hatchery in Medan. In HATCH’s Asian centre in Singapore, Georg Baunach, Managing Partner and Co-founder explained the aim of the mentorship programme, “We started the first accelerator programme in April 2018 with a cohort of 8 startups and in September, we had 6 startups in the second cohort. 2019’s cohort was the largest group with 13 startups. Our objective is to ensure teams gain access to finance, a global network of market contacts and industry expertise while they develop their businesses during the programme.”

The cohort in 2019 Last years’ cohort had a diverse range of innovative technologies along the aquaculture supply chain: automation of shrimp hatchery operation; non-GMO optimisation of genetics; novel water quality monitoring; remotely determining farm activity and production; an oral vaccine platform, novel ingredients and integrated B2B online seafood marketplace. They are listed below:

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

1. Thailand-based Algaeba Company Limited wants a hassle-free shrimp hatchery business; a fully automated shrimp hatchery to reliably produce high quality shrimp post larvae as well as micro algae production technology. For a start, Dr Kunn Kangvansaichol, CEO/Founder, is using AI to develop a post larvae counter and devices to automate hatchery operations in the shrimp farming industry.

2. Singapore-based Stephen O’ Sullivan and his partner, Trevor Coyne, founded the startup Catchatrade for the integrated B2B online seafood marketplace. The product is a super app called “Hook” which will link buyers and suppliers for the moment, but in future will expand to the larger community. Stephen said the seafood industry is beset with issues of fraud etc and what is actually needed is one which is secure with quality “know your customer” participants.

3. The Dynaspace team of young Norwegians uses state-of-theart satellite remote sensing and a cloud-based platform to detect shrimp farms and monitor their activities in real-time, year-round. They will track production cycles, and production forecasts which will be of interest to several groups including governments, feed producers and processors, said Hogne Andersen, Co-founder and CEO. 4. Argentina-based startup, FeedVAX is developing a platform of oral vaccines which are feed-based and safe for the environment to protect farmed fish from disease and replace the use of antibiotics in aquaculture. The 4-member team lead

by CEO Luis Barletta, began developing oral vaccines for the tilapia 2 years ago.

5. The start-up Gaskiya Diagnostics, based in Maryland, USA has a platform technology which uses bioengineered capture proteins to bind target analytes with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. The capture proteins can bind peptides, small molecules and nucleic acids, facilitating the detection of a variety of disease types. Toxicologist cum nutritionist Dr Mary Larkin who is founder and CEO, has innovated this technology platform to become a rapid, low-cost and easy to use diagnostic tests for aquaculture.

Developments

53

6. US-based GenetiRate has a metabolic rate test to identify at the egg, embryo and larval stages the growth potential and feed efficiency of the particular egg. The technology was developed at the University of Arizona, USA, by Dr Benjamin Renquist. Knowing this means having the ability to select the top percentile and bring the fish to market, said Jason Cleaversmith, Business Development Director in Europe. The start-up, holds the exclusive license to the first patented pending technology that allows for quantitative high-throughput measurement of metabolic rate to select individual aquatic animals with improved feed efficiency and growth rate.

7. Singapore’s Kinnva is a biotechnology start-up which uses by-product materials such as methane, methanol and ligno cellulase to develop alternative proteins for the animal feed industry. For the aquafeed industry, it has KinnfeedTM, a 65-70% crude protein ingredient and KinnfeedTM Aqua Plus with 80% protein. Brian Reddy, founder and CEO said, “Kinnva started in Singapore in 2017 and has achieved series A funding. Next will be to scale up production.”

HATCH Accelerator Demo Day . From right; Wayne Murphy, Kunn Kangvansaichol, Bernice Tay, Dr Carsten Krome and Georg Baunach.

8. Of interest to aquaculture is the natural astaxanthin produced in dark fermenters by the Hawaii based biotechnology startup Kuehnle Agro Systems or KAS. NATUREKROME™ is a lowcost natural colourant for aquafeeds produced from whole cell algae. Dr Adelheid Keuhnle, Co-Founder and President said, “The market for colourants in fish and shrimp is dominated by the expensive synthetic astaxanthin.”

9. In Montana, barley is primarily grown as a rotation crop with wheat and has little value. There was a need to develop an alternative use for the grain crop. Clifford Bailey used his expertise in biochemistry and bio processing engineering at the start-up Montana Microbial Products, to develop barley protein concentrate (BPC) through an enzymatic process for use in aquafeed. This is a sustainable feed ingredient.

in the water. It can also cut back on aeration costs, liberating oxygen and reduce oxygen demand. UNIVIV has a nutrient pack which needs to regrow at the pond site. Trials have shown the Archaea to increase production effciencies, reduce feed conversion ratio (FCR) and reduce inputs.

12.

Hawaii based Symbrosia’s goals are to reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 90% through the addition of less than 2% of red seaweed to livestock feed. Alexia Akbay and her team are currently upscaling commercial production of Asparagopsis taxiformis in Kona, Hawaii.

13.

Offshore salmon farms have been limited to near shore sheltered coastal zones and obtaining licenses for these sites remains a challenge. As a solution, Impact9 from Dublin, Ireland has developed a new cage for farmers to move operations further offshore. Co-founder John Fitzgerald said his patented cage design instantly enables farming operations in deeper, rougher open ocean environments.

10. Professors Gabriela Almeida, Anjos L. Macedo and scientist Ana Viana founded their start-up Nitrogen Sensing Solutions in August 2019. Their technology NSS NOxAqua is a smart multi-parametric sensor for water analysis measuring simultaneously three nitrogen compounds - ammonium, nitrite and nitrate - accurately and in real-time. This is the application into aquaculture of a technology developed 20 years ago.

“Basically, today, we have this technology to modify test strips to measure nitrite and using IoT, link the data via bluetooth, to be immediately available,” said Macedo.

While in Singapore, the group also attended the 3-day Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Week and benefitted from the networking opportunities presented at the conference with the presence of several top executives in Asia Pacific. At the pre-summit Pitch Competition, which featured 14 nominated start-up companies, Algaeba, Kinnva and Dynaspace gave 5-minutes pitches.

11. Martin Tighe, CEO of the startup UNIVIV has developed the Anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) Archaea, which when added into pond water, will reduce the high ammonia

In February, HATCH will open the call for applicants to its 2020 accelerator programme beginning in August and plans on accepting 10 startups to this year’s cohort.

Appointment Director of Business Development, Shrimp Asia Hendrix Genetics is pleased to announce the appointment of Ton Hovers in the role of Business Development Manager for its shrimp genetics business (Kona Bay). In this position, Ton will focus on sales and technical services for the shrimp market in Asia. He will work closely with our sales team to capture opportunity for excellence in the market. Ton studied Animal Production and Agricultural Sciences at Wageningen University and has over 30 years of industry experience in shrimp nutrition and production throughout Asia. For the past two years, Ton was Managing Director for De Heus in Indonesia, a global leader in feed nutrition. Ton will utilise his expertise in technical management and market analysis to help our customers succeed in this industry of growing opportunity.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

54 Developments

A PL counter starts off innovation to automate shrimp hatcheries I

t is most appropriate that Thailand based startup, Algaeba wants to provide hassle-free hatchery operations. Thailand has a forward-looking shrimp farming industry. Algaeba is one of the 13 startups in Hatch Blue’s 2019 cohort in Singapore. CEO and founder, Dr Kunn Kangvansaichol explained the company’s vision, “In the US, there is Café-X for robotic coffee production. We want the same for shrimp, a hassle-free post larvae (PL) production in all hatcheries by just subscribing to our technology. We have a big vision on automation in shrimp hatcheries. ” Kunn started the company in 2016 with COO and co-founder Chetnuwat Danlaphon who has some 8 years’ experience in microalgae production and aquaculture, and later joined by CTO Bordyn Cheevatanakornkul, an artificial intelligence and embedded system expert. As they worked on their innovations, their inspiration came from hatcheries in Chacheongsao Province in the eastern part of Thailand.

“Firstly, we needed to start small by solving some of the simple tasks within the hatchery and slowly gain the trust of customers,” said Kunn. In hatcheries, the traditional way is to manually count 1,500-2,000 PL in plastic bowls. Three bowls are counted for each customer prior to sales. The innovation is the patent pending SeaThruTM counter. “We wanted an innovation which can integrate nicely into current operations. Here the PLs are still in the same bowl and placed in the counter; imaging technology counts 6 times within 30 seconds for each bowl full of PL. The customer can then exchange the information in the chat app, Line.” This counter is able to count the number of PL 30X faster than manual counting and has an accuracy rate of more than 95%. “We integrate into current operations and one extra benefit is that the customers do not need to change water before counting,” explained Kunn Kunn and his team took 6 months to develop this counter which is now utilised for counting Penaeus vannamei PL but work is ongoing to perfect the technology to count PL of the giant river prawn Macrobrachium as it is also a popular cultured species in Thailand.

Uniformity of PL is an important criterion for hatcheries. To determine PL size, the current practice is to physically measure the length of 20 PL each time and calculate the coefficient of variation.

Kunn said, “Using AI, we can measure a sample of 100 PL in 3 minutes, calculate the average size and the coefficient of variation.

PL need not be sacrificed for this process. All data are transferred to the computer digitally. This is the difference.” Adoption of this technology is progressing well. Algaeba has five customers in Thailand and will be distributing the counter in China through a distributor. There are enquiries from India, Indonesia, Singapore, US and Vietnam. Multinationals involved in the hatchery supply chain as well as research institutes have also shown interest. “Soon we will work with Aqua Connect, a start up in India.”

Next steps

The next step in this journey to automate the hatchery sector is the SeaThruTM BOLT-ON device placed on top of the larval rearing tank.

“In the hatchery, every 4 hours, staff observe the development stage and size visually and plan for feeding. They observe feed performance by looking at the faecal strands. “We have introduced science into this activity. With our SeaThruTM BOLT-ON, our AI will measure the metamorphological changes every 1-2 hours, plan for feeding at the right time interval, and the right feed amount to prevent over and under feeding,” said Kunn.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Dr Kunn Kangvansaichol said that he wants to provide hassle-free hatchery operations during the interview at the Hatch Blue office in Singapore.

Using the counter

The team is also promoting the use of instant algae mixture rather than one species live algae commonly used in hatcheries.

According to Kunn, the survival rate of nauplii to PL1 can be 80% with a combination of algae (eg Chaetoceros, Isochrysis and Nannochrolopsis sp.) versus 55% when only Chaetoceros is used.

“Continuous monitoring and the utilisation of instant algae mixture can improve the performance of hatcheries. In fact, actual results from a commercial hatchery showed that the calculated savings amount to USD36,000/year. The benefit is knowing the exact numbers which helps the sales team and avoids waste.”

With regards to innovating counters and monitoring system for other crustaceans, Algaeba is working on Thailand’s blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus and at the same time, will be collaborating with Singapore’s Aquaculture Innovation Centre on the mangrove crab Scylla serrata. www.algaeba.com

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56 Show Review

Our Future: Growing from Water T

his was the theme of Aquaculture Europe (AE) held in Berlin, Germany from 7-10 October 2019. AE2019, attended by around 2,700 participants from 85 countries had several new sessions. It is more aligned with industry and moved towards the new generation of aquaculture science with innovations and artificial intelligence (AI).

Recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) was a major focus at this AE which reflected on the enhanced demand for controlled aquaculture system and the expertise in RAS residing in northern Europe. A workshop on Nordic RAS preceded this conference; several exhibitors at the trade show presented systems and equipment, and BioMar held a special seminar on developing early stage feeds for RAS. At the Euroshrimp forum, the focus was on the development of European shrimp farming using RAS. AE2019 was organised by the European Aquaculture Society (EAS) and was supported by Gold Sponsor BioMar, Session Sponsor Sorgal and Industry Forum sponsor Rentenbank. The full conference participation totalled 1,400; student participation was 328 and trade exhibitors totalled 150. The abstract submission for AE2019 broke all EAS records, with 1,039 abstracts received, resulting in 798 oral (all sessions, including workshops and forums) and 443 poster presentations.

New to this AE2019 was the use of Eposters whereby 96 were presented in the sessions that were selected to pilot this presentation format. There was also the inaugural Student Spotlight Award held at the opening plenary session. Three finalists: Hanlin Xu, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Renata Goncalves, Technical University of Denmark (DTU); and Frank Thomas Mlingi, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) had 3 minutes each to present their work. The 750 participants in the presentations voted in (through menti.com) the winner, Frank Thomas Mlingi whose research was on “Gonad development and plasma levels of sex steroids in farmed lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus under different photoperiod and temperature regimes.”

Plenary speakers

The theme was the subject of the plenary speakers. On day 1, Professor Charles R. Tyler of Exeter Biosciences at the University of Exeter, UK presented on “Aquaculture (finfish) and the Environment”. His message was while aquaculture is already a key economic contributor to many countries, fish pathogens are the number one factor in limiting yield and preventing further investment to grow the sector. Understanding the adaptive physiological mechanisms of fish is important as we seek ways to better protect our fisheries to ensure their sustainability and also for aquaculture as we look to develop efficiencies in production, preservation of genetic integrity and ensuring good animal welfare.

The second plenary was followed by a panel discussion with representatives from production and certification. Alexander Wever, AWF Consulting, in his presentation on “Producer, Trade and Consumer” covered concerns and standpoints of key players in the aquaculture value chain – and covering the global seafood market, the rising importance of aquaculture product and consumption patterns that should put aquaculture in a great place. The take home message of this second plenary was that consumer expectations do indeed have a strong influence on the way we produce our fish and how we trade them. But it is a two-

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

From left, Dr Yeong Yik Sung, University Terengganu Malaysia; Ronnie Tan, Malaysia; Michael New, UK; and Nobumitsu Sato Nagase Sanbio Ltd, Japan.

way system, where the feedback from consumers to producers has an influence, but where “loudly voiced opinions” published in the media and sometimes without “scientific due-diligence” are indicators, but not necessarily drivers for our actions. (EAS,2019)

Women in aquaculture

A first in AE was a special session dedicated to the opportunities and challenges facing women in aquaculture. It was organised

by EAS and The Fish Site, online portal. A strong panel from both the aquaculture industry and academia, three men and three women, to demonstrate greater gender diversity, gave a range of insights into how women can overcome perceived gender-related obstacles and build thriving careers across the aquaculture sector.

The audience heard that while 70% of the aquaculture workforce is female, there is a chronic lack of women in executive roles, despite the fact that gender imbalance at a high level has been shown to be detrimental to the economic performance of companies. Below are extracts of some statements made by some panel members in the conference report (EAS 2019): In describing how she has reached to this level, Lara Barazi, CEO of Greek seabass and sea bream producer Kefalonia Fisheries, added that it is hard for women to reach high level management, let alone join the board of directors, and that women are often not even considered for board room positions.

Matthijs Metselaar, Senior Veterinary Specialist for Benchmark Animal Health pointed out that women often do not apply for jobs, unless they feel that they fit all the requirements, while men might do so even if they only fit 60% of the job specifications. He therefore encouraged women to do likewise and apply for jobs without necessarily ‘ticking all the boxes’ listed in the job adverts.

This was confirmed by a seafood recruitment specialist during the Q&A at the end of the session.

Ole Christiansen, Vice President and member of the executive committee of BioMar noted how women have enriched the work environment in BioMar. He added that women think differently from men when solving problems, and they approach tasks in a different way to men, which can be very valuable.

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57

Euroshrimp industry

This was a whole day session, first an Euroshrimp industry meeting where there was strong interaction between current and potential producers and investors in this forum led by Dr Matthew Slater, Head of Aquaculture Research Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany. A total of 116 participants attended. The pull to delve into shrimp farming (mainly RAS) in Europe is consumer demand for traceability and antibiotic free shrimp production and ex-farm prices ranging from €40 to €55/kg. Demand for fresh and live shrimp is strong, the latter depending on regulations in each country. In Germany, however, sale of live fish is not permitted. At the hatchery segment, the discussions included: the constraints imposed by the EU regulations on the use of SPF broodstock only from the US, and the dilemma on the development and sourcing of broodstock, as suppliers require minimum orders. Dr Stefan Bergleitner, Naturland gave an overview of the stakeholder survey “RAS – positions of the organic food sector”. He noted that currently, the EU organic regulations do not permit RAS, but the EU regulators indicated interest to revise this position according to future findings.

Other presenters at this forum and in the scientific shrimp session gave some experiences in shrimp farming in Europe. Some information on the current status of the industry was given by Nicola Scalise, EcoShrimp SIA, which operates the first shrimp hatchery in Europe. His presentation was on “Shrimp hatcheries in Europe: Personal experience and future perspectives.” In Italy, farming of the kuruma shrimp Penaeus japonicus began in the 1990s in extensive ponds. Since the 2000s, there are three hatcheries for this shrimp. His personal experience was farming the kuruma shrimp in 2010-2012 at 400 post larvae (PL)/m2 in biofloc systems. In Europe, vannamei shrimp has been actively farmed since 2015. In post larvae production in 2018, using SPF vannamei broodstock from Hawaii, Nicola was successful at 90% survival rate as compared with only 20%-50% in previous cycles.

At Jefo Nutrition, from left, Herve Lucien-Brun, Caroline Mahaud and Dr M A Kabir Chowdhury.

Nicola said that at present, all over Europe, there are four existing hatcheries and three more planned for the future with a production capacity of 10-20 million PL/month but current take up is only 3-5 million PL/month. There are possibly 16 farms in operation and 8 in the planning. The production target at 490 tonnes/year will require 30 million PL/month.

Eric de Muylder, Crevetec presented growth data at his zerowater-exchange RAS farm in Belgium. With a series of experiments, he showed a reduction in Vibrio counts in the intestine of shrimp and infections using commercial feed additives. Nerijus Nika described the first RAS for shrimp aquaculture in Lithuania, set up at the Marine Research Institute, Klaipėda University of Science and Technology. It uses artificial saltwater (15-16ppt), and solar energy to maintain water temperature at 28-50°C. In eight rearing tanks, the stocking density was 2.5-3 kg/m2. Growth was 0.18g/ day. The yield is 5kg/m3 after 5 months of grow-out to 24-40g shrimp. Electricity consumption was 5 kW/month. Mortality was 65% and the cost of production was €20/kg. Nerijus mentioned one issue – the high loss (50%) during transport of post larvae attributed to cannibalism.

Dr Ingrid Lupatsch, AB Agri and Sophie Lee, AB Vista, UK.

VGE International B.V. is expanding into aquaculture, said Rob van Esch (left) and Ruud Van De Ven. The Netherlands based company has UV disinfection solutions for industrial uses, mainly for swimming pools. For aquaculture, it has solutions for RAS, fish hatcheries, intake/discharge water, research, aquaria etc. At the AE2019 trade show, the team promoted the cost effective UV-C systems to inactivate many types of bacteria, viruses and parasites. The equipment has a 20-year life span and the lamp- 2years. It is already marketing in 60 countries and has many projects in Asia. www.vgepro.com

Dutch Aquaculture Experts is a cooperative consortium with unique expertise from different disciplines, from left, Hans Boon, Rene Remmerswaal, Martin Ooms and Geert Custers. The group aim is to combine expertise in the Netherlands and provide aquaculture knowledge and experience to small and large companies, especially when a multidiscipline approach is needed. The group provides feasibility studies to design, realisation and project management.

Hans Boon set up the Aquaculture Experience, a feed consultancy company in 2008. www. dutch-aquaculture-experts.com

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

58 Show Review Daniel Arana, BernAqua provided powerful insights and experience on post larvae production in Latin American hatcheries. This included standard protocols and most common problems during the development of nauplii to post larvae. Each broodstock can be used for 4-5 months, or up to 6 months but with declined fecundity.

Causes of non-uniformity of post larvae are attributed to poor water temperature control; genetics; bad feed management (such as using mysis feeds for PL1); and poor water quality management.

Control of cannibalism and synchronisation of moulting, temperature control and suitable feeds to maintain the standard survival at 50-55% are critical. In quality assessment, there is zero tolerance for presence of diseases (WSSV, EHP, IHHNV, NHP, TSV, YH, BP, AHPND) or when necrosis is detected, and the stock must be discarded. The stock is discarded when deformities >10%, any mortality in tank and >25% CV (coefficient of variation). PL12 should be at least 4mg.

“RAS requires intensive culture but substantial loss of shrimp along the culture period is a major bottleneck in developing this technology,” said Eran Hadas, Maof Hanegev Ltd. He discussed the moulting mortalities at his extremely high-density shrimp farming facility (1,000 PL/m2) in Israel. Histological and microbiome analysis of shrimp did not show any acute bacterial diseases and he attributed the mortality of shrimp to the moulting phase.

White faeces disease is responsible for losses of up to 50% in shrimp farms in Central Java, Indonesia. Yustian Rovi Alfiansah, Bremen University, Germany said that causative pathogens were

Vibrio and gregarines. He analysed the microbial populations in faecal strands before and after infection and identified the bacterial types. When disease level was high, so was the gramnegative heterotrophic bacteria Alteromonas populations.

In shrimp farming, there is an urgent need to understand the toxicity mechanism of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and VPAHPND toxins, and to develop anti-infective strategies to control AHPND. Vikash Kumar, Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Centre used the gnotobiotic brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) and freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) model. His study provided substantial evidence that the pro-oxidant activity of phloroglucinol induces Hsp70 production protecting brine shrimp and freshwater shrimp, M. rosenbergii against the VPAHPND strain.

While the discussion was lively, the consensus was that the shrimp sector is growing rapidly and enjoying strong investment and interest. There was great desire in learning from other nations, despite differences in shrimp production systems and methods.

Warnings to avoid a “gold rush” and investment bubble was heard and heeded. The importance of high-quality European hatchery production in the near future was well recognised although many hurdles, economic and otherwise, remain. (EAS, 2019).

Reference: EAS, 2019. Aquaculture Europe 2019. Summary Report Berlin, Germany, October 7-1. www.aquaeas.eu

RAS for African catfish in Germany I

n Germany, AquaKultur Abtshagen GmbH is the market leader for circulation systems for catfish rearing. Since 2005, it has been building its PAL technology of warm water aquaculture circulation systems, especially for farming the African catfish Clarias gariepinus. The first system went into operation in 2006. In total, it has the technology for commercial hatchery, production and feeding systems for the African catfish. One example is a farm 230 km north of Berlin close to the Baltic coast. In large systems, it is possible to harvest one tank per day which is 1.6 tonnes/fish/day.

“RAS farming of the catfish is very profitable. The fish is very robust and can be reared at high density without any effects of stress as they are airbreathers. They are also fast growers. Boneless, the meat is rather delicate in taste like the pangasius fish. In Germany the cost of production in our RAS is around €4-5/kg and market prices can reach €7-8/kg. Direct retail prices can go to €13-18/ kg. The fish is popular as there is already a European catfish which consumers are familiar with,” said Markus Schulz, as he introduced his PAL system at the trade show during AE 2019. He added that the cycle will be 5 months, growing from 16g to 1.5 kg fish.

In terms of systems, there is the “PAL-Spezial” 40- foot plug and play container which can produce 5 tonnes/year in 3+2 units within the container, complete with filtration and feeding systems.

This can be moved anywhere. More common are larger systems between 5 to 75 m3 production volumes. The largest system can produce 500 tonnes/year. Systems are often custom built in converted old farm houses and can include slaughter, processing and sales at the farm.

“The advantages of RAS is that it can be located anywhere. Germany is a cold country and often the heating system is excess heat from biogas. The species of fish must be accepted by the consumers.

There is a farm raising tilapia but it is not successful as demand

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Markus Schulz introduced the “PAL-Spezial” 40- foot plug and play container which can produce 5 tonnes/year of African catfish.

was low. Catfish farming has a future in Germany. But we are also looking at developing RAS for another popular freshwater fish and perhaps for the pangasius, which is an interesting imported fish.”

The support services offered by the company usually takes over a year to complete, from further investigations into the biology of the fish, setting up the systems to legal approval procedures.

AquaKultur Abtshagen also has dispenser feeding technology or fully automatic chain feeders for these systems. The company is also investigating into the ideal feeds for RAS. At the moment, the catfish are fed feeds produced by Coppens, based in the Netherlands and which also supplies the African catfish feed market. www.pal-aquakultur.de

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RAS in Germany G

errit Quantz is committed to providing RAS systems as well as consultations on RAS. “I believe in RAS especially for niche markets which needs steady supplies and also production complaint to local laws such as German and European standards on animal welfare and food safety. I am also involved in developing systems for commercial hatcheries and indoor farms as well as for universities for research purposes,” said Gerrit who will design intensive systems for marine and freshwater fish and then work with a construction company on the set-up from project development and feasibility to turn-key. He also re-engineers and optimizes technologies and farms and develops models for new species.

Working for several years in Singapore, Gerrit has participated in the lay-out of several systems, including the vertical farms at the Apollo Aquaculture Group, farming marine fish and shrimp and the recent research facility for Adisseo on St John's Island.

locally farmed shrimp. According to Gerrit, RAS technology has advanced tremendously and can be applied for many species, but the hurdle is the selling prices. For example, in Germany’s aquaculture industry, RAS has been rather quiet because prices for freshwater fish have been low -such as for the pike-perch and bass. www.futurefish.de

In 2000, Gerrit started to develop a revolutionary RAS for the vannamei shrimp. The first prototype was in Strande in 2004 and subsequently 5 farms were set up in Germany, Switzerland and Singapore. Some of his projects included a shrimp RAS in Switzerland. Swiss Shrimp is a 60 tonnes unit for the production of fresh shrimp for the Swiss market. It was started in 2018. RAS farming of shrimp in Europe are attractive for producers, exfarm prices are €40-50/kg in Germany and can go to as high as €100/kg in Switzerland where there is a niche market for

In front of Futurefish Aquaculture GmbH, Gerrit Quantz with daughter Friederike

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January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

60 Company News

From vitamin E in grape extracts for growth to saponins from plants to reduce gregarines in shrimp S

ince 2003, NOR-FEED in France has been looking for bioactive compounds from common plants. This requires looking at the extraction process, yield of bioactive molecules and the number of natural analogues. The focus is on understanding their functions and to exploit the nutritional and health potential and henceforth, document their benefits. The company works with several research institutes, universities and leading companies to drive innovations and discover potential bioactive compounds from these plants.

“In the process, we may have created some surprises on how bioactivity may be derived from simple plants to help the livestock and aquaculture industry grow. Being in France, it was natural for us to look at grape juice by-products, seeds and skin, and extract the bioactive components. Included in broodstock feed for the rainbow trout, the fish grew faster,” said Dr Paul Engler, R&D Manager during a visit to Aquaculture Europe 2019 held in Berlin in October 2019.

Nor-Feed is focused on R&D on a few plants and molecules including saponins, grape and citrus extracts.

“Grapes contain antioxidant compounds by nature and our extracts have been shown to reduce oxidative stress in fish.

Standardised citroflavonoids and pectic oligosaccharides from citrus fruits positively modulate the microbiota. Most interestingly we have saponins from plants. Characterisation of activity in joint laboratories have resulted in different combinations to address different parasites in fish and shrimp. Activity includes management of coccidial risks, reduction of ammonia emissions and enhancement of palatability and digestibility ,” said Engler.

Working with the National Taiwan Ocean University, Nor-Feed has demonstrated the replacement of vitamin E with their Nor-Grape 80 in an 8-week feed trial with 20mg shrimp. “At the starter stage, it would appear that the shrimp performed better with 150-200mg of the grape extract instead of vitamin E, but we will need more studies on requirements throughout the whole cycle,” said Engler in an article published in Feed Navigator. He added that the results indicate an option to diversify sources of vitamin E in aquaculture.

From left, Paul Engler, Olga Tarakanova, (Market manager and Guillaume Le Reste, Consultant at Halieutica, France.

“We are working not only on the shrimp but on multiple species to better understand the mode of action of the product. For us at NorFeed it is very important to know exactly how the extracts work and provide more concise data to our clients.” In the rainbow trout, the dry grape extract protected the fish from osmotic stress, according to a joint research with an agricultural school in France. Osmotic stress arises when fish is exposed to fluctuations in temperature, oxygen and salinity.

In Ecuador, Nor-Feed conducted a collaborative study to determine the effects of a standardised saponin-rich plant extract in reducing the infestation of the gregarines Nematopsis sp. and Cephalolobus sp., commonly found in the shrimp gut. These endoparasites reduce feed absorption. The saponin-rich plant extract was supplemented at 2g/kg of feed and fed to shrimp in two ponds over three days. Dietary inclusion reduced the gregarine population by 64% and 73%, respectively. www.norfeed.net

NEXT ISSUES March/April

May/June

Issue Focus: Health & Disease Management Industry Review: Marine Fish Feed/Production Technology: Feed Additives / Omega 3 oils Deadlines: Articles - January 13/Adverts January 24, 2020

Issue Focus: Hatchery Industry Review: Aquafeed Production Feed/Production Technology: Lipid Nutrition Deadlines: Articles - March 16/Adverts March 27, 2020

Email: zuridah@aquaasiapac.com; enquiries@aquaasiapac.com for details

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Company News

61

Digitalisation of data on hungry fish and more W

ith its Innovation Forum, AE2019 also attracted some startups and innovations at the trade show. Singapore/Japanbased deeptech start-up UMITRON Pte. Ltd., which aims to drive the growth of aquaculture with computerised technology; providing solutions to difficult problems and accelerating its sustainable development.

On display in Berlin was its UMITRON CELL, a portable smart automated feeder with an underwater camera. But there is more to the its technology than images, as the team showed in videos at their booth. The underwater camera takes videos of fish in cages and the cage operator sees these in real time on the smart phone; images of fish eating, swimming patterns and general behavior in the cage. Usually such underwater images are only possible using a remote operated vehicle or divers.

Umitron then uses its proprietary algorithms to analyse such images. Data is drawn up on histograms of fish lengths and weights, index on fish behavior, optimisation of feeding frequency etc. How hungry the fish are in a particular cage is detected and the farm operator monitors and determines the amount of feed dispensed from the smart feeder using a smart phone onsite or remotely. In cases where the water turbidity is high, the camera can be located further down.

This is a change from current practices and does not require onsite presence of workers especially during inclement weather. This is the aim of Umitron; using internet of things (IoT) to improve operational costs by optimising fish feeding and enabling work style reforms.

The first initial units have already been installed and tested in Ainan City in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Production of new devices is underway and deliveries to other clients in Japan and abroad will continue in the coming months. Recently, CELL was installed in Lake Titicaca, Peru for a project in cooperation with the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) to improve the sustainability of trout farming.

Since 2016, co-founders Ken Fujiwara, Masahiko Yamada and Takuma Okamoto have worked very closely with the farms in Ehime Prefecture in Japan in developing the technology and today, a major user of their technology are these farmers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we do is detect hungry fish and convert the data through our algorithms. IoT allows farms to automate feeding and artificial intelligence (AI) optimises feeding. We are reducing the environmental impact of aquaculture.

Today, our data analysis is specific for the seabream, trout, salmon, tuna, grouper and striped jack. By detecting activity levels and fish movements with our algorithms, we can develop an index of fish appetite which the farmer can use,â&#x20AC;? said Masahiko, who is also the managing director. Aside from this presence at the show in Berlin, Umitron has been making waves recently. In September 2019, it announced it has raised SGD 3.7 million in funding from Mirai Creation Fund operated by SPARX Group. Co., Ltd. as the additional closing fund of its first enterprise equity finance.

The total investment in this round became SGD 15.2 million and would be the largest amount of fundraising in an early stage start-up in aquatech.

Umitron has also announced that it has started demonstrating a new

service to provide reliable data for aquaculture insurance. Its patent-pending technology enables users to quantify the asset value of fish stocks and provides environmental data for risk assessment. Moving into assessment of data for shrimp farming, in October, Umitron started a joint project with Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) to install a future sustainable model for shrimp aquaculture business.

With an aim to expand its services, Umitron currently invites overseas business partners such as enterprising aquafarms and insurance providers in sustainable aquaculture. www.umitron.com

UMITRON App2

Masahiko Yamada (right) with Bjørn Myrseth, CEO Vitamar.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

62 Company News

Opening innovative solution centre in Soc Trang province I

n December, Skretting Vietnam held a grand opening event for its new AQUAmart Centre in Soc Trang province. Almost 200 guests attended the event, including government officers, wholesalers, partners and farm owners. The centre will provide farmers with solutions, knowledge and services to optimise their practices and ensure best performance and the sustainability of the local aquaculture industry.

The AQUAmart Centre is purpose-designed for farmers in the region, providing solutions that best support sustainable aquaculture, from feed to technical services. The aim is to support farmers to solve challenges throughout the farming process, optimise profit and improve sustainability.

Marc Le Poul, General Manager, Skretting South Asia (second left) cutting the ribbon for the opening of the new AQUAmart Centre with fro Rob Kiers, Managing Director Asia & Africa; Doan Van Be, Director of Soc Trang Agriculture Extension Center and Tu Van Thanh, Sales Director Skretting Vietnam

trusted address for farmers to choose the best products. We would like to coordinate with Skretting in setting up new models to apply high technology in shrimp and fish farming in order to help farmers with knowledge on farming to ensure high efficiency and sustainability.”

During the opening ceremony, Marc Le Poul, General Manager of Skretting South Asia said, “Soc Trang is a very important farming province of Vietnam. We set up AQUAmart with the aim of creating a hub where customers can come to share and learn. For Skretting, it has always been essential to provide the best feed and nutrition for fish and shrimp farming and now with AQUAmart Centre, we are extending this further, bringing better farming equipment and practices, together with more responsible farming knowledge to our customers.”

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

Services and products offered by AQUAmart include feed, analytical services, health management products and farm equipment. The local team will also support customers with consultations and protocols, as well as deliver feed and equipment to their farms.

At this grand opening, Doan Van Be, Director of Soc Trang Agriculture Extension Center, said “I am so happy that Skretting has opened AQUAmart in Soc Trang province. I believe this centre will be a

Tu Van Thanh, Sales Director of Skretting Vietnam, hopes that AQUAmart will become a connection point, and that the product offering will increase. “We have carefully selected the right partners to provide high quality products to the region, with a focus on service and correct protocol. We will continue to select more trusted partners that will bring even more values to farmers.”

In Vietnam, Skretting is well recognised for producing superior-quality shrimp and fish feeds for several species, with factories in Long An province. Skretting employs 400 collaborators in Vietnam. As well as being a leading feed supplier in Vietnam, Skretting Vietnam also supplies specialty feeds for major aquaculture operations around South Asia. www.skretting.com

Company News

63

Hawai’i Aquaculture: A Tradition of Navigating with Innovation, Technology and Culture

February February 9-12, 9-12, 2020 Hawaii Hawaii Convention Convention Center Center Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii, USA USA THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION OF

PREMIER SPONSORS

Associate Sponsors: AFIA, Aquaculture Committee • American Tilapia Association • American Veterinary Medical Association Aquacultural Engineering Society • Aquaculture Association of Canada • Catfish Farmers of America Global Aquaculture Alliance • International Association of Aquaculture Economics and Management Hosted By: Hawaii Aquaculture & Aquaponics Association

For More Information Contact:

Conference Manager P.O. Box 2302 | Valley Center, CA 92082 USA Tel: +1.760.751.5005 | Fax: +1.760.751.5003 Email: worldaqua@was.org | www.was.org

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

64 Company News

Joining forces to add value in aquaculture mechanisms of gut modulation and immunostimulation of SanacoreTMGM against franciselosis and streptococcosis in tilapia. Within digestive performance, emulsifiers have proved to be an effective solution to optimize growth performance of high lipid feeds in sea bream. Proteomics has been used to further understand mode of action of lysophospholipid-based emulsifiers, proving the enhanced functionality of highly metabolic tissues such as intestine and liver and their enhanced ability to deal with plant-based feeds. Finally, Nuez-Ortín discussed recent work on the use of hydroxymethionine (Rhodimet ADry+) and organic selenium based on hydroxyselenomethionine (Selisseo) in seabream feeds. At supplementation levels targeted by commercial feed mills, the former showed the same bioefficacy as DL-methionine, while the latter improved the sensory quality of the fillet.

Dr Waldo Nuez Ortin (right) with Adriana Casillas and Amin Mansouri.

D

uring AE2019, the Adisseo Aquaculture team held a customer seminar to update clients on some new developments. In his introduction to the session, Dr Peter Coutteau, Business Unit Director Aquaculture, Adisseo updated the audience on the business aspects of the transition from Nutriad to Adisseo Aquaculture while Dr Waldo Nuez Ortin gave an update on the running research projects to evaluate the impact of specialty additives to improve health, digestive performance and palatability in aquaculture. Coutteau said that as part of the larger Adisseo, a €1.46 billion company, the aquaculture group will continue to keep a strong focus on aspects of aquaculture health, nutrition and the environment. “Species-specific additives demand specialized support, strong innovation and research. The team of experts, global and regional, will continue to work with farmers and feed producers working with that ‘have been in your shoes’ perspective.

In 2020, the 20-member aqua business unit will integrate Adisseo’s amino acids, vitamins and enzymes into its feed additive portfolio.”

The strong emphasis on innovation was recently confirmed at the opening of the Aquaculture Station by Adisseo (ASA), an in-house R&D innovations facility in St Johns Island, Singapore (see next issue).

Lead Scientist at Adisseo’s BU Aquaculture, Dr Waldo Nuez-Ortin presented some research updates within the two major programs, health and digestive performance. Adisseo is using different screening platforms to optimize the efficacy of antiparasitic solutions. Among these, the guppy model, an ectoparasite-host model that allows to control and monitor infection rates and work with a high number of replicates, therefore overcoming the limitations of cohabitation studies. Recent results have further demonstrated the preventive action and the underlying

An alternative to fishmeal is insect proteins and Adriana Casillas, Vice President, International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) presented some information on the status and outlook on its production in Europe. Since 2013, Casillas is the CEO and Co-Founder of MealFood Europe, a Spanish company commercially producing insects and products for various industry applications, including feed, food and nonfood. IPIFF, an EU non-profit organisation represents the interests of the insect production sector within the European Union. Created in 2012, the association has 54 European small and mediumsized enterprises who produce insects for the European market as members. In her presentation, she said that every 15 days, there will be a new startup in insect meal production. Globally, European companies are leading because of innovations and technology advancements. In the EU, the investment has reached €500 million and is projected to reach €2 billion by 2025.

Status and trends of aquaculture and the aquafeed industry in Iran was presented by Amin Mansouri, Technical Marketing Manager, Arona P.J.S. Co., Iran, Adisseo’s exclusive distributor for Iran since 1985. According to Mansouri, aquaculture production in Iran amounted to 400,000 tonnes in 2016, including freshwater fish (mainly the carps at 201,000 tonnes, trout at 166,000 tonnes) and shrimp at 21,000 tonnes. Some 90% of aquafeed is produced in approximately 17 active domestic feedmills but there are many farms producing their own feed. Some shrimp feed is imported from Southeast Asia. The main bottlenecks for the industry are scarcity of freshwater and diseases (trout), lack of technical knowledge (carp) and white spot disease (shrimp).

400

400

Dr Panos Varvarigos from Vetcare, Greece closed the session with a review of the current health challenges exhibitors in marine fish farming in the Mediterranean region. www.adisseo.com exhibitors

100+ 100+ speakers speakers

Dhanunjaya Goud (right), Regional Manager Aquaculture-ISC, Adisseo and the team from Avanti Feeds,India

Seminar participants with Amin Mansouri and Eric de Muylder, Crevetec, Belgium.

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

17.8

17.8

m2 exhibitio

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TH SA E VE DA TE

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on space 800

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70+ 70+

untries ountries

JOIN US IN BANGKOK 400 400400 exhibitors exhibitors exhibitors

9.000+ 400 9.000+ 9.000+ 100+ visitors100+ visitors exhibitors

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Trends All the latest in the feed and 400 17.800 17.800 9.000+ 9.000+ 17.800 17.800 9.000+ animal health industries exhibitors 2 2 m2 exhibition space mm exhibition space exhibition

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17.800 9.000+ 100+ 100+ 70+ 100+ 70+ 70+ 100+ 100+ speakers The largest network in Asia in Network m2 exhibition space speakers countries

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Opportunities to grow your business Free access to the most complete event in Asia, with suppliers covering all animal species

VICTAM AND ANIMAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION ASIA 2020

OFFICIAL SHOW WEBSITES: VICTAMASIA.COM & VIVHEALTHANDNUTRITION.NL

66 Company News

China Aquafeed Summit 2020 9-10 March, Macau, China

C

hina, Southeast Asia and South Asia have encountered low prices for fish and shrimp amidst frequent outbreaks of diseases in recent years. Meanwhile, the competitive pressure brought by the price war and long-term credit is increasing. Many aquafeed enterprises have met with bottlenecks. At the same time, China’s economy keeps growing steadily and consumption continues to increase. Demand is not only increasing but is for higher quality products. In addition, the continued pressure from environmental policies and the unexpected African swine fever have greatly affected the supply and consumption pattern of animal protein in China and neighbouring countries. As a result, China’s aquafeed industry is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities.

The Nutriera Group is organising the “China Aquafeed Summit 2020”, to promote information exchange among stakeholders both in China and abroad and to push forward the progress of the global aquaculture industry. The theme is “Value Chain Enhancement: Reform Direction of Aquafeed Enterprises.” The list of invited speakers will include the following: - Professor Jianfang Gui, Academician, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Professor Shaojun Liu, Academician, Hunan Normal University - Professor Shouqi Xie, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Professor Margareth Øverland, Norwegian University of Life Sciences - Zhong Li, Chairman, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Group Co., Ltd

- Liuying Liu, China Regional Marketing Expert, Hema Fresh, Alibaba - Professor Qiang Hu, Microalgae Biotechnology Center of SDIC Biotechnology Investment Company - Stella Qi, Deputy Director, Center of CSR & PR Development, JOYY Inc. - Dr Victor Suresh, Managing Director, United Research (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. - Xiangrong Zhu, Chairman, Xiamen Yongwa Catering Co., Ltd - Dingwang Wang, Vice Chairman, Guangdong Heshi Aquatic Products Co., Ltd - Otavio Castro, Director of Global Aquaculture Division, PhileoLesaffre Animal Care - Dr Shude Xu, Key Account General Manager, Guangdong VTR Bio-Tech Co., Ltd - Dr Sergi Carne, Technical Director, ITPSA. - Guiyang Zhang, Head of Puffing System, Research Institute of FAMSUN Co., Ltd - Dr Yong Yang, Chairman, Guangdong Nutriera Group Co., Ltd - Dr. Song Zhang, Vice Chairman, Guangdong Nutriera Group Co., Ltd - Xin Wang, CEO, Guangzhou MVPro Biotechnology Co., Ltd The special guest at the opening ceremony will be Professor Wei Ge, Vice Chairman, University of Macau. The conference host will be Dr Gangfeng Yi, Chairman, DBN Fantastic Aquaculture Science & Technology Group. www.nutriera.com

AQUA CULTURE Asia Pacific in 2020 Volume 16 2020 Number & Month

1 - Jan/Feb

Aqua Business Feature articles and contributions from industry players

2 - Mar/Apr

3 - May/Jun

4 - Jul/Aug

5 - Sep/Oct

6 - Nov/Dec

Experiences from industry and opinion articles covering role models, benchmarking, health management, SOPs, social investments, CSR, ancillary services, self-regulation etc

Issue focus Recent developments/ spotlight on emerging challenges

Nursery Phase Developments

Health & Disease Management

Hatchery

Sustainable & Responsible Aquaculture

Demand & Supply Equilibrium

Aquaculture Education

Industry Review Developments, outlook, demand & supply

Marine Shrimp

Marine Fish

Aquafeed Production

Tilapia

Aquaculture Startups

Catfish & Freshwater Fish

Feeds & Processing Technology Technical contributions from industry

Fish meal Replacements/ Feed Enzymes

Feed Additives/ Omega 3 oils

Lipid Nutrition

Health Nutrition

Larval & Nursery Feeds

Processing Technology/Feed Safety

Production Technology Technical information along the value chain

Controlled Systems (hybrid/RAS)

Offshore and Industrialisation

Hatchery Technology

IOT/Innovations

Post-Harvest Technology/ Processing

Organic Aquaculture

Marketing activities

Market and product development, market access, certifications, branding, food safety etc

NEW Post Harvest Quality & Processing

Technical contributions from industry players on assuring quality at pond site to processing technology

Company/Product news

News on activities at international, regional and local conferences and trade shows Deadlines

Technical articles

16 Nov 2019

13 Jan

16 Mar

11 May

13 Jul

14 Sep

Advert booking

22 Nov 2019

24 Jan

27 Mar

22 May

24 Jul

25 Sep

VICTAM Asia and Animal Health & Nutrition Asia 2020 Bangkok, Thailand March 24-26

*World Aquaculture 2020 Singapore June 8-12

Show Issue & Distribution at these events as well as local and regional meetings *Show preview

AquaIndia 2020 Kochi, India Jan 31-February 1

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

TARS 2020: Shrimp Aquaculture TBA, August 19-20

Taiwan International Fisheries and Seafood Show (TIFSS 2020) Kaohsiung, September 24-26

WELCOME

Company News

67

Singapore - June 8 -12, 2020 Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre

WA

Next generation Aquaculture Innovation and sustainability will feed the world

Someformofhuman

Hosted by Singapore Food Agency Organized by World Aquaculture Society

For more info on the CONFERENCE: www.was.org - worldaqua@was.org For more info on the TRADESHOW: mario@marevent.com

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

68 Events

11th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA11) Kuching, Malaysia 29 September – 2 October 2020 T

he 11th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA11) will be held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia from 29 September - 2 October 2020. The triennial symposium is a hub that covers core aspects of aquatic animal health including current research developments, trends, the future of the aquatic animal health industry. DAA11 is a forum for interaction among professionals, academicians, and experts in the fields of aquatic animal health.

The Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA) series is held once in every three years by The Fish Health Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (AFS-FHS). Since then, DAA symposia have been held in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India Vietnam. DAA10 was held in Bali, Indonesia in 2017. After 30 years of AFS-FHS establishment, DAA11 will be held in Malaysia for the first time.

DAA11 anticipates the attendance of 400-500 delegates from 2030 countries which will be held over four days. With the chosen theme: “Land of Adventure: Exploring Aquatic Animal Health for

2020

Sustainable Aquaculture”, the main topics will cover biosecurity in aquaculture, epidemiology, detection method/diagnostic, prevention & control measures and cutting-edge research in fish and shrimp health management.

There will be ample time scheduled for networking, field trips, and social functions during the Symposium. Trade displays will be exhibited throughout the symposium.

The National Organizing Committee of DAA11 is proud to announce the introduction of the 3-Minute Pitch (3MP), at the end of each session. This session is an extended form of an elevator pitch that was introduced in DAA10 (2017). The 3MP session aims to encourage more oral presentations and serves as a platform for researchers to highlight the impact of their research to a wider audience. More information: www.daa11.org email: daa11@dof. gov.my Abstract deadline is June 15th, 2020

Details on the events below are available online at http://www.aquaasiapac.com/news.php To have your event included in this section, email details to zuridah@aquaasiapac.com

January 31- February 1

March 25-27

August 19-20

February 7- 9

April 7-9

August 26-28

April 21-23

September 24-26

AquaIndia 2020 Kochi, India www.aquaprofessional.org

22nd India International Seafood Show 2020 Kochi, India www.mpeda.gov.in

March 9-11

VIV MEA 2020 Abu Dhabi, U.A.E www.viv.net

March 24

Aquafeed Horizons Asia 2020 Bangkok, Thailand http://feedconferences.com/

March 24-26

VICTAM Asia and Animal Health & Nutrition Asia 2020 Bangkok, Thailand www.victamasia.com www.vivhealthandnutrition.nl

January/February 2020 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific

VietShrimp 2020 Cantho City, Vietnam www.vietshrimp.net

Livestock Malaysia 2020 Melaka, Malaysia www.livestockmalaysia.com/

Seafood Expo Global 2020 Brussels, Belgium www.seafoodexpo.com

May 28-30

Livestock Philippines 2020 Pasay City, Philippines www.livestockphilippines.com

June 8-12

World Aquaculture 2020 Singapore www.was.org

TARS 2020: Shrimp Aquaculture Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam www.tarsaquaculture.com

Vietfish 2020 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam www.vietfish.com.vn

Taiwan International Fisheries and Seafood Show (TIFSS 2020) Kaohsiung, Taiwan www.taiwanfishery.com

September 29-October 2 Aquaculture Europe 2020 Cork, Ireland September https://aquaeas.eu/

September 29-October 2

11th Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (DAA11 2020) Kuching, Malaysia www.daa11.org

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