Eurofish Magazine 4 2016

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ISSN 1868-5943

August 4 / 2016 C 44346

August 4 / 2016 Eurofish Magazine

Croatia The future looks bright for ďŹ sheries and aquaculture EUROFISH International Organisation

Future Fish Eurasia: Showing off the sustainability of aquaculture Lithuania: New marine laboratory to promote Baltic scientiďŹ c cooperation Aquaculture: Evaluating offshore technology while farming cobia

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EuroďŹ sh Member Countries at the European Seafood Exposition EcoďŹ shman discusses draft of new ďŹ sheries management system EcoFishMan

Interview with Anne Christine Brusendorff, ICES General Secretary is a member of the FISH INFO network

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In this issue

Welcome developments in Croatian fisheries and aquaculture Catches in the Croatian fisheries sector are dominated by small pelagics. Anchovies and sardines, the most important species, are the raw materials that support a fishing sector as well as an exportoriented processing industry. The importance of these fish has encouraged all the stakeholders in the sector to support measures that will ensure the sustainability of stocks and thereby the viability of the fishing and processing trades. The long talked about renovation of harbours and landing sites is now taking place allowing Croatia to meet its obligations with regard to the handling of discards. Croatia is also one of eight EU countries that fatten wild-caught tuna for the Japanese market. As tuna stocks in the Mediterranean recover, thanks to the implementation of a long term management plan with stringent control measures, wild catch quotas have increased and Croatian output should also go up.

Production of seabass and seabream, the main products from the mariculture sector, are also growing and may even exceed production targets set for the end of the decade, while in the freshwater aquaculture sector clear rights to the land and support from the EMFF are expected to encourage investment.

Read more on page 27 Direct sales, a growing channel for Lithuanian fish farmers and processors In Lithuania a few producers and processors of farmed fish are experimenting with opening their own retail outlets where they sell their fresh and processed products directly to consumers. There are several advantages to this form of sales and distribution chief among them being the direct contact with customers, the greater flexibility with regard to products and prices, and the elimination of middlemen. Selling directly also gives the producer valuable information about consumers, such as their tastes and preferences, which can be used to make the product more appealing. By setting up these shops producers are catering to the growing interest in smaller establishments that can offer local specialities. While some producers have just a couple of outlets others have already set up chains of stores in different towns and cities. Ambitions are not restricted to shops. Some of these producers are also considering expanding into restaurants and cafes as a means of popularising the consumption of fish and seafood and no doubt also showing consumers the possibilities that exist with their products. Read more on page 43 Fish cuts explained Most fish traded today is processed in some form or the other. At the very least it is gutted, more often than not it is also cut in to convenient portions of which the fillet is probably the most common. But fish cuts come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some, like fillets, widely used, while others are more obscure.

The lack of international standards also means that the same cut may have one name in one country and another somewhere else. On the other hand, the same name in different countries may refer to two quite distinct products. Although fish is already one of the world’s most widely traded commodities, internationally recognised definitions of cuts might encourage the development of non-traditional channels of sales and marketing, such as the Internet. For a guide to some widely used cuts turn to page 47 Northern prawn catches decline steadily Pandalus borealis is not the only species of the genus Pandalus, but it is the most commercially important, responsible by some estimates for over 80 of all catches of species belonging to the genus. Called by various common names including northern shrimp or northern prawn, the crustacean is found all over the Arctic, but the main fisheries are in Canada and Greenland. Catches of this valuable product have been decreasing over the last ten years despite the fact that the fisheries are well managed and even certified to the MSC standard. The culprit is thought to be environmental factors, in particular the proliferation of cod in these waters, and global warming, which is pushing up water temperatures. Whatever the reason the immediate outlook for this fishery is bleak. Read Dr Manfred Klinkhardt’s article on page 53 www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Table of News

6 International News

Events 20 Future Fish Eurasia, 2-4 June 2016, Izmir Aquaculture in focus

Aquaculture

23 Open Blue now delivering cobia to Europe, too An aquaculture product in wild fish quality

Croatia

27 Fisheries and aquaculture in Croatia Pelagic fishers support measures promoting sustainability

36 Tajer salts and marinades anchovies for Spain and Italy New factory will expand product range 38 Croatian fishing company Mislov is still a family business Sardine and anchovy fishery has expanded into processing 40 Cromaris has one of the world’s biggest seabass and seabream hatcheries Complete self-sufficiency in seabass, seabream production planned

32 Lostura, Croatia’s first Fisheries Local Action Group Promoting sustainable development in fisheries areas 33 Pelagos Net Farma farms tuna for the Japanese market As tuna quotas increase, prices falter

Lithuania 43 Demand for fresh local fish encourages producers to open their own outlets Buying farmed fish directly from the source

(CC BY-SA 3.0) Map based on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Location_European_nation_states.svg

by Hayden120 and NuclearVacuum

45 Sea-fisheries and aquaculture laboratory opens in Lithuania An investment in developing Lithuanian maritime technology

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Contents Processing 47 From fillet to supreme: Fish processing cuts Lack of terminological standards complicate trade

Species 53 Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) suffering under climate change Catch has been declining for more than a decade

Trade And Markets 57 The UK’s “Brexit” vote and the European seafood industry The benefits (if any) are still unclear 58 Sellers’ market for salmon Algal bloom mortalities in Chile have salmon prices climbing even higher

60 Continuing high prices expected as supply set to tighten further in 2016 Turkey reaps the rewards of market diversification

Guest Pages: Dr Matthias Keller 62 Labels are of minor importance to the final buyer Consumers have greater faith in supermarkets than in labels

Worldwide Fish News

Fish Infonetwork News

Belgium

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Chile

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Denmark

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Italy

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Latvia

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Malta

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Norway

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Russia

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Spain

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Sweden

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UK

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64 News 64 Events

Service 65 Diary Dates 66 Imprint, List of Advertisers

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Scan the QR code to access the Eurofish Magazine website (www.eurofishmagazine. com), where you can also sign up to receive the Eurofish Magazine newsletter.

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] FAO: Vigo dialogue advocates for fair labour in seafood industry The Vigo dialogue on decent employment in fisheries and the aquaculture sector is to be held on 4 October 2016 in Vigo, Spain in parallel with the Conxemar International Frozen Seafood fair. Organised by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Resources Division of the FAO, interested parties are invited to discuss action plans for addressing labour issues and promoting safety initiatives. A number of concerns about unsafe working practices in the industry have been raised; for instance, there are reported cases of forced or child labour, human trafficking, as well as poor or dangerous working conditions. These issues, among other labour issues and problems affecting the seafood sector, were discussed during an earlier International Labour Organization conference as well. There is an increasing demand for due diligence in seafood supply chains, holding business accountable for ensuring acceptable conditions.

Accountability and sustainability

measures, like certification and labelling schemes, have already been implemented in some seafood supply chains.

The specific aims for the 2016 session are for participants to share experiences and suggestions for encouraging fair work in the seafood sector, as well as disseminate information about labour initiatives. Past Vigo dialogue sessions focused on promoting decent work in fisheries (2014) and providing benefits and incentives for such decent work (2015). Discussions noted how improving the welfare of workers is beneficial both for them and the businesses, as decent conditions improve the commitment of workers to their employers, and reduce the risk of negative publicity. The 2015 session also emphasised the role that governments can play in enforcing labour standards; it was suggested that a framework for good labour practices should be created.

Important stakeholders expected

The Vigo dialogue will discuss labour issues in the fisheries and aquaculture sector with a view to improve conditions for people working in the sector.

at the session are representatives from seafood firms, labour and civil society organisations, international organisations, and governments. Further topics on the agenda include combating discrimination, providing greater safety training, promoting social accountability, and creating better conditions, wages, benefits, and employment opportunities, especially for young, female, or migrant workers.

Participants will share the challenges and promising moments they face in working with labourfocused sustainability initiatives, and how these can be applied to businesses in the seafood industry. The sessions will analyse the progress already made toward improving labour practices, but also provide suggestions for the next steps to be taken toward a better future for workers in the seafood industry.

Chile: Antibiotics in farmed salmon reach new high The latest report of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) stated that the 2015 level of antibiotic use in the salmon farming industry was 557 tonnes. This is the highest volume of antibiotic usage per tonne of salmon, at 660 grams, in the past nine years. This number refers to 46 firms which operate in both fresh and ocean waters.

The highest quantity of antibiotic usage comes from Chile, whose farmers have been using antibiotics to combat bacteria that threaten their salmon. Norway, in comparison, uses less than 1 tonne of antibiotics each year. Such high use of antibiotics is of concern for 6

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many in the industry, as Christine Bornes, adviser to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (FSA), noted that salmon could transfer a resistance to antibiotics to humans.

These levels of antibiotics have caused retailers to turn away from Chilean salmon, and instead seek their supply from other nations.

For instance, US retailer Costco cut its salmon purchases sourced from Chile from 90 percent to 40 percent, with the remaining 60 percent now being purchased from antibiotic-free Norway.

Other food retailers have also reduced their quantities of Chilean salmon in response to the antibiotics, though for some it

is still cost-prohibitive to import from Norway. Chilean producers maintain that their salmon is safe for consumption, as salmon receive antibiotics many months before they are sold. In addition, SalmonChile president Felipe Sandoval urged analysts to not compare Chilean practices to those of Norway. “There, other diseases are present and they use chemicals that we do not deal with here, they are very different situations,� he said.

In the midst of this prevalence of antibiotics, Chilean salmon company Nova Austral announced that all their salmon production from 13 June onward would be free of

pesticides and antibiotics. They have not used antibiotics on their salmon since February, and will be the first Chilean fish farmer to have an entirely antibiotic-free harvest of salmon, according to CEO Nicos Nicolaides. The vast majority of Nova Austral’s production is sold abroad, with 85 percent going to Europe and the United States, and only 1 percent sold domestically.

Reducing the heavy antibiotic usage is by developing vaccines to protect salmon from harmful pathogens. In addition, SERNAPESCA plans to take measures to regulate antibiotic usage and survey any resistance to the drugs that may develop. www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 4:21 PM

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ]

The fortieth session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) concluded on 3 June in St Julian’s.

Over 120 participants contributed to the discussions, but what was perhaps most significant was that representatives from all 24 of the Mediterranean and Black Sea countries were present, in addition to the European Union and Japan. This is the first time in GFCM history that this complete participation has occurred. The meeting was quite fruitful in terms of decisions made and progress toward sustainable fishing: ten decisions were adopted toward the recovery of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and Black seas.

The GFCM adopted a new regional scheme on port state measures, as outlined by the “FAO Port State Measures Agreement” which will be entered on 5 July 2016. In conjunction with this was the commitment by the delegates to fight IUU fishing.

The suggestion by the FAO Committee of Fisheries was to declare the establishment of an International Day for the Fight against IUU Fishing, which will occur in July. Other significant decisions were centred on the management of the Adriatic sea, the Black sea and the Strait of Sicily, where 1,493 square kilometres between

Jeremy Wonnacott

Malta: GFCM meeting in Malta highlights historic cooperation in the Mediterranean

Arni Mathiesen, Assistant Director General, Fisheries and Aquaculture, FAO; José Herrera, Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, Malta; Stefano Cataudella, Chairperson, GFCM; Abdellah Srour, Executive Secretary, GFCM; Andreina Fenech Farrugia, Director General of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Malta, at the podium.

Italy, Malta and Tunisia will be protected from bottom trawling, and the Gulf of Gabes temporarily closed, to rebuild populations of hake and deep-water rose shrimp.

One goal that was kept in mind in the discussions was to “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development,” which is the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14. The GCFM has already taken significant measures toward the protection of marine habitats in the Mediterranean, committing to protecting ecosystems including deep-sea coral reefs and sponge gardens. In

addition, the commitment to creating sustainable development and aquaculture production promoted the use of more sustainable small-scale fisheries for livelihoods along the coast. The GFCM should be able to reach its targets laid out in its mid-term strategy by 2020.

Additional regional cooperation is expected in the near future; it was announced that a conference on the governance of Black Sea fisheries will take place in Romania in 2016. This conference will feature discussion regarding the launch of BlackSea4fish, a cooperative project for the region.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was also granted cooperating non-contracting party status by the GFCM at the meeting. The impacts of the GFCM’s decisions should be tangible: its actions should result in qualitative and quantitative impacts on fish products, as well as greater sustainability in the usage of marine resources, and legal protection for livelihoods and unfair competition.

The meeting highlighted the importance and extent of cooperation within the region, with the nations united with the GFCM in their common goal of promoting healthier aquaculture and marine environments.

Spain: Galician seafood imports continue to rise Galicia, home to the largest fishing industry in Spain, imported seafood worth EUR2 billion in 2015. This exceeds previous years’ tallies, as domestic purchases have grown faster than sales.

The growth in imports results partially from Galicia’s lack of a sufficient fleet. The number of Spanish fishing vessels has fallen 8

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by more than 30 percent from 2005 to 2015, reducing the number to only 9,409 vessels, Spanish newspaper La Opinión A Coruña reported.

Spain is one of the largest consumers of fish in Europe, and demand for fish continues to exceed what local suppliers are

able to catch. This necessitates the increase in imported seafood: three out of five fish consumed in Spain originate from abroad. The value of seafood imports to the area has increased by a similar percentage as the decrease in vessels, growing by 32 percent over the same ten year period. The trade deficit

for fisheries has risen to €342 million, since a greater value of seafood is being purchased from foreign sources than is being sold to foreign markets. The limited quotas, coupled with low profit margins, exacerbate the inability for Galician producers to sufficiently meet domestic demand. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] UK and Japanese ďŹ sh consumption continue to decline Consumption of seafood in the United Kingdom and Japan continues to see a decrease, particularly among the younger population.

While salmon sales have remained stable in the UK, there has been a significant decrease in the consumption of whitefish like pollock.

Nielsen reports show that total pollock sales fell 26 percent from last year, to ₏144.7 million. The fish is popular for use in fish fingers, so a reduction in frozen fish and fish fingers have contributed to the overall decline in sales. Prices for pollock have fallen 5.4, to an average price per kilo of ₏5.70.

Frozen fish items are not the only seafood products that have

Japan has similarly seen a decline in fish consumption. Japan, a nation with one of the historically highest levels of fish consumption, has reached its lowest

quantity of seafood consumption since the 1960s. The per capita consumption of seafood products fell to 27.3 kilos for 2014; this number has been declining since peaking in 2001 at 40 kg. This decline is due to the popularity of substituting other meats for fish. This particularly affects the under-40 generation as well.

Recommended action to raise consumption in both of these nations is to promote the benefits of fish. In the UK, since many of the issues with fish stem from lack of convenience, more innovative products must be brought to the market to make fish even simpler to prepare. Younger consumers today expect food

that can be prepared more quickly and easily. Fish should also be placed nearer to other meats in retailers to increase visibility. Price is also a significant issue to address, as data suggests that price is the top factor affecting fish purchasing decisions.

While consumption in both of these markets is declining, data suggests that the developing world is experiencing increased demand for seafood products.

Thus, analysts note that Japan could benefit from increasing its exports to these nations, and an expansion into these markets can help offset the slump in domestic demand.

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suffered. At Aquaculture UK 2016, Dr Martin Jaffa noted that fish consumption is declining overall in the UK. The decline is most evident in the under45 age group. Jaffa notes that unless measures are taken to increase youth consumption of fish, future fish sales could be drastically impacted. The most common deterrents for this age group are the relatively higher costs, the difficulty in preparation, and the lack of knowledge about fish.

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] Sweden: Study finds that fish prefer harmful plastic particles over plankton

The fish used in her laboratory experiments were European perch larvae. The larvae were exposed to levels of microplastics similar to those present in seas. Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic, which can make their way into the oceans and into the bodies of fish. These fragments of plastic measure less than 5 mm, and can arise either from larger plastic breaking up, or from microbeads present in many manufactured cosmetic products like toothpaste or body scrubs.

Lönnstedt and her fellow researches aimed to more comprehensively

examine the impact of ingesting plastic on aquatic organisms.

They found that the exposure to microplastic particles led to increased mortality rates for the fish, reduced the hatching of fertilized eggs, inhibited their growth in the larval stage, and increased vulnerability to predators.

Perhaps the most troubling result of their studies was that the fish actually preferred to consume the plastic particles, rather than their natural prey of zooplankton. Lönnstedt likened the eating habits of the fish to teenagers eating fast food. “They are basically fooled into thinking it’s a high-energy resource that they need to eat a lot of,” she said. The researchers believe that something in plastic triggers a feeding response for the fish. Beyond interfering with the

perch’s feeding, it seems that microplastics can disrupt other natural behaviors, such as predator avoidance and activity levels.

The researchers have seen similar results in other fish species beyond the European perch, including pike, flounder, and coral reef damselfish.

This is the first time that research has demonstrated this effect of the microplastics present in the ocean. In light of this new information regarding the profound impact of the plastic particles, Lönnstedt calls for measures to be taken to prevent devastating effects. “If microplastics are indeed affecting organisms both chemically and physically, then this really calls for a ban on microplastic beads in bodycare products and cosmetics around the world,” Lönnstedt said.

Current Biology, Wright et al.

According to a study by marine biologist Oona Lönnstedt of Uppsala University in Sweden, microplastics pose a significant threat to the marine organisms that ingest them.

Microplastics ingested by fish increase mortality rates, reduce the hatching of fertilised eggs, and inhibit growth. Unfortunately however, fish seem to prefer these particles to zooplankton.

Norway: Fishing industry group commits to Arctic cod sustainability agreement A number of brands involved in the food and fishing industries, including companies like McDonald’s, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Birdseye, and Sainsbury’s, have signed an agreement to help protect the marine life of the Barents and Norwegian Seas.

This announcement follows a report from Greenpeace, This Far, No Further, which described the potential harm to marine life that could result from allowing fishing in new waters around the Svalbard archipelago. At least 70 percent of Atlantic cod that is consumed originates from the Barents sea, a region that is also home to other vulnerable species, including polar bears and bowhead whales.

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The agreement means that cod fishermen cannot expand their activities with trawls gear into previously unfished areas until scientific research sufficiently proves that the activity will not be seriously harmful to the marine environment. Fishing organisations like Fiskebåt, the Norwegian Fishing Vessel Owners Association, Karat Fisheries, a large Russian firm, and Espersen, Europe’s largest frozen-fish processor, have also agreed to halt the further expansion of cod fishing. Cod and haddock fisheries in the Barents and Norwegian seas are already considered to be among the best-regulated in the world, and this agreement aims to further improve sustainability in the industry.

Melting ice in the Arctic Sea has allowed large trawlers to access waters that were previously inaccessible. By agreeing to not fish or purchase cod from these waters, these groups have taken action to limit their role in the destruction of the Arctic. Greenpeace campaigner Frida Bengtsson commented: “In the absence of significant legal protection of the icy waters of the northern Barents sea, this is an unprecedented step from the seafood industry.”

Greenpeace calls upon the Norwegian government to take further action in protecting the Norwegian Arctic waters. The Norwegian government has taken steps already toward sustainability. Along with the agreement comes the formation of a

roundtable, a group of Government agencies, scientists, and NGOs, which will develop more long-term sustainability plans.

This roundtable will work in conjunction with the Norwegian government, which is undertaking an ocean floor mapping programme, MAREANO, which aims to provide comprehensive information about marine habitats. The Norwegian industry has also voluntarily agreed to accelerate its creation of protected areas around the Svalbard archipelago. Bengtsson underscored the important role that the government can play in environmental protection.

“Now it’s up to the Norwegian government to catch up with the companies and protect the Arctic for the long term.” www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] Russia plans to extend food embargo to end of 2017 The Russian embargo on fish and food products from countries including the US and the EU, which had been set to end this August, is planned to be extended to the end of 2017.

This ban on importing food and agricultural products came in response to the sanctions imposed on Russia by many Western nations following the 2014 crisis in Ukraine.

The embargo covers products including fish, meat, poultry, and dairy, as well as salmon and trout fry. It had been expanded last August to include more nations: Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Montenegro. This

time, the prolonged embargo will not be broadened to include additional goods, nor will it be extended to more countries, according to minister of agriculture Alexander Tkachev. The extension must first be approved

by President Vladimir Putin, but is expected to go through barring major changes in the political environment. EU reports show that the closing of the Russian market has not had a major effect on European exports, as exports were shifted to other foreign markets. While larger countries may be minimally affected by the prolonged ban, it is still possible that smaller countries could face greater

consequences. For instance, analysts last fall reported that small countries like Estonia could face revenue losses of 15 percent due to export restrictions. Tkachev said that extending the embargo was “good news for domestic agricultural producers in Russia,” who have supported maintaining the ban on receiving goods from nations that imposed punitive measures on Russia.

The EU’s own sanctions against Russia are in place through the end of July, yet there has been discussion of the possibility of easing these restrictions, which could occur as soon as early

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2017. Russia has been suffering a long recession, and appears to be attempting to lead the EU toward a relaxation of the restrictive measures. Putin’s recent visit to Greece, a nation who supports easing the sanctions, has been seen as indicator of the split within the EU regarding this decision. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Minister for Foreign Affairs, stated that reducing these sanctions should be a consideration if positive change in Russia’s political behaviour occurs. On 1 July 2016, however, the EU Member States decided unanimously to extend the sanctions until 31 January 2017.

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] EU threatens ban on Thai seafood

The European Union has issued an additional warning to Thailand to improve their illegal fishing and labour abuse, or else the country runs the risk of a European ban on its seafood exports.

Thailand is the third largest exporter of seafood in the world, yet continues to be involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and maintains poor working conditions.

The EU gave Thailand a “yellow card” warning in April of last year. The Thai government has launched some initiatives to improve its practices, under the programme “Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing” (PSMA).

Yet the EU is not satisfied with the changes Thailand has since made, and maintains that more significant progress is necessary.

According to the EU’s committee on fisheries, Thailand must take “swift and determined action” by July in order to avoid receiving a “red card,” which would prevent Thailand’s fishery products from entering the EU market. The consequences of this could be devastating for Thailand’s fishing industry, as Thailand is estimated to export between €575 million and €730 million worth of fish to Europe annually.

In a letter to Prawit Wongsuwan, the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Fisheries 12

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Commissioner Karmenu Vella and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen explained the need for Thailand to present evidence of significantly improving its practices in the fishing sector. Many issues continue to plague the Thai fishing industry.

Thailand faces harsh criticism from human rights groups for its labour practices, which include child and slave labour, as well as the exploitation of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar. Among other issues that the EU identified was the Thai legal framework for fisheries, which in its current state is severely lacking in ability to impose penalties on IUU fishing. The EU also noted that monitoring systems to ensure compliance with regulations are quite poor.

Wongsuwan acknowledged that Thailand still has work to do, noting that up to 3,000 fishing boats in the country were still not registered. Labour issues in the fishing industry, including forced labour and human trafficking, will continue to be an important focus in EU interactions with Thailand. EU officials say that Thailand must present “robust measures” toward fighting illegal practices by their meeting in Bangkok in July. The junta government, led by General Prayut Chan-ocha, hopes to take the measures necessary to prevent restrictions on the prominent fishing sector.

Norway: Researchers discover gene determining salmon size

A study by researchers from Norway, Finland, and Scotland has identified a gene which plays a role in determining the size at which salmon return to spawn.

The researchers made this discovery using genetic material from the scales of salmon from 54 Norwegian and Finnish rivers. This gene, VGLL3, determines maturation by regulating levels of body fat, and has a similar effect in controlling puberty in humans. The salmon’s age of maturation, and the length of time it spends at sea before returning to rivers to spawn, directly affects how large it will be.

This single gene can explain nearly 40 percent of the variation in salmon’s age of maturity, and thus variations in size. Researchers say that this result is surprising, since in humans there are a large number of genes that collectively affect the onset of puberty. Understanding the factors that affect salmon size is critical, as larger sizes mean greater strength and capacities for reproduction. The scientists found that there were two main variants in the gene, the “large salmon variant” and the “small salmon variant,” which could result in a difference in the age of onset of maturation of up to one year.

In addition, researchers noted the difference between genders

of the expression of this size gene. Inheriting two large variants led to larger sizes, and two small variants led to smaller sizes. Yet if a salmon inherited one of each variant, it would be larger if it is female, as compared to smaller if it is male.

Researchers say that this gives a better idea as to which sizes and ages of maturation are optimal for each gender. Larger females have the ability to produce a greater number of eggs, while a larger size in males does not similarly enhance reproductive capacity. This difference explains why both variants of the gene continued to be present in the salmon population.

Maintaining a variation in age of maturity is beneficial, as it contributes to the resilience of the Atlantic salmon population, notes professor Jaakko Erkinaro of the Natural Resources Institute of Finland. These findings can be applied to issues stemming from size-selective fishing, or catching the salmon that are of larger sizes. With a greater understanding of this gene, scientists may be able to repopulate quantities of large salmon in certain rivers, and can lead to progress in the maintenance of sustainable wild salmon populations. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] Sweden: Fish adaptation to warmer waters offers climate change model While fish are able to adapt to warmer average water temperatures, they still have a limited temperature threshold that they can withstand, according to recent work by a team of researchers from Sweden, Norway, and Australia. These findings give researchers a better idea of what will happen to fish when ocean temperatures rise.

Fredrik Jutfelt, an associate professor in biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and his colleagues examined European perch. This group of fish was a unique case to study, as they live in a man-made basin of warmer water off the coast of Sweden. This basin, the Forsmark Biotest Enclosure, was created three decades ago, and has water that is between 5 and 10 ˚C warmer than the surrounding waters of the Baltic Sea. The perch living in the Biotest basin were compared to European perch from outside, which

were placed into tanks filled with warm water from the enclosure.

The researchers found that the Biotest fish had lower resting metabolism than the fish from the outside, suggesting that the Biotest fish had adjusted their metabolism over time to the enclosure’s higher temperatures.

Researchers call this adaptation a “plastic floor,” since there is some plasticity in the metabolism of these fish, which can be altered in relation to temperature changes.

Despite these metabolic adjustments, the Biotest fish were unable to tolerate much greater extremes in temperature. The fish from outside the enclosure were able to adjust to temperatures as great as 10 ˚C above the Baltic temperatures they had previously been used to living in during the summer, yet the fish within the enclosure could only withstand a temperature increase of 4.6 ˚C than the waters they were used to.

“There has been very little adjustment in their tolerance to lethal

Studies show that fish can adapt to gradual increases in temperature, but that sudden short periods of higher temperatures can be lethal.

temperatures,” Jutfelt said. This is referred to as a “concrete ceiling,” for neither group of fish could survive past a certain maximum temperature.

The implications of these findings are that strong heat waves could potentially cause even well-adapted fish to die. This is a potential “weak link” according

to Jutfelt in the ability of fish to respond to climate change, for even short spells of higher temperatures can be problematic.

First author Erik Sandblom, of the University of Gothenburg, underscored the potential impact of climate change on aquatic life. “In a future with a warmer climate and more extreme weather, it will be more difficult for fish to survive.”

Denmark: New fish feed containing fatty acids from microalgae leads to increased sustainability Danish fish feed producer BioMar has recently announced the launch of a fish feed containing high marine omega-3 content from algae. This is the result of a joint venture between TerraVia and Bunge, which will provide the whole algae ingredients.

The BioMar group is a leading supplier of feed to the global aquaculture industry, providing feed to over 80 different countries and over 45 different species of fish. BioMar is the provider of fish feed to approximately twenty percent of farmed fish produced in Europe, South America, and Central America. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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A whole algae ingredient rich in omega-3 was recently tested for use in fish feed. With the launch of a feed containing such an ingredient, this represents the first time that fatty acids are available in large quantities from a sustainable source that is not reliant on marine harvesting, according to the company.

The new algae ingredient is to be produced at a renewable oils manufacturing plant in Brazil.

Finding a sustainable source of essential marine fatty acids is an important development, as the expansion of the

aquaculture industry continues to drive demand for omega-3, while the global supply is not expected to increase to match that demand. The annual production of omega 3-rich fish oil is less than one million tonnes, and thus there is considerable pressure on marine resources to provide omega-3 to the fish farming industry. The aim is that this new algae ingredient will help reduce the need for omega-3 sourced from fisheries.

Thus, the company notes, the launch of this microalgae feed is an opportunity for sustainable development.

BioMar’s Vice President North Sea, Jan Sverre Røsstad, explained the limited marine resources for omega-3: “Current sustainable and certified sources of omega-3 are limited in terms of volume, be it fish meal and oil or krill meal.” The company regards their new feed as a potential game-changer for the aquaculture industry’s future growth and sustainability.

Røsstad noted that the hope is that by increasing the availability of omega-3 with the new feed, “this move on our part can contribute to the continued growth of our industry.”

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[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] EU: Predicted economic losses from discard ban In a recent meeting in European Parliament, EuropĂŞche, representing the fishing sector, and EAPO, representing producer organisations, discussed the economic repercussions of the landing obligations. Scientists from across Europe in attendance were unanimous in their findings that the EU discard ban and landing obligation could severely impact the fishing sector economically, particularly affecting choke species.

The landing obligation requires all catches to be kept on board instead of returning unwanted fish to the sea; all catches must be landed and counted against the fisheries’ quotas. Choke species, or species for which the quota has already been reached, can effectively bankrupt fisheries.

The vessels are prevented from returning to sea, thus “choking� the fishery. Choking can occur at all levels of the fishery, and even a generous analysis showed that a significant volume of quota could remain uncaught. This can have a severe impact on revenues and pricing, especially as buyers may turn to foreign markets. EAPO president Pim Visser stated: “Not only will choke species have a severe impact on fishermen and local communities but also on the markets that these vessels supply.

While the European fleet is lying idle, buyers will inevitably look to other markets, even international ones, which will have a severe knock-on effect on pricing.�

predictions show that the 2016 whitefish fleet of the United Kingdom could receive only 28 percent of their 2013 revenue. In addition, the United Kingdom’s nephrops fleet could receive as little as 5 percent of their 2013 revenue. The social and economic costs imposed by the discard ban are considerable, including additional labour on-board and unexpected expenses for weighing and processing.

The economic impact is potentially devastating. For instance,

“We have a situation where the quota allocation fails to deal

with the complexity of mixed fisheries. Fish will remain uncaught, reducing food supply and vessels will either be tied up or have already gone bankrupt,� said Kathryn Stack, Managing Director of Europêche.

Stack suggested that something should change to allow the fleets to continue fishing. Potential courses of action include raising quotas realistically, as well as carrying out choke analyses regularly; these can help moderate the effects in the longterm.

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11/07/16 4:21 PM

[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ]

The ICES Annual Science Conference 2016 is to be held in Riga, Latvia, from 19 to 23 September.

The conference brings together marine scientists, as well as students and policymakers, from around the world to discuss marine sustainability. The conference will include 18 varied theme sessions, which cover topics including fisheries management, spatial planning, ecosystem changes, new technologies, phytoplankton trends, and pelagic habitats. The theme sessions leave ample space for interactive discussion and engagement. “The ASC is known for its participatory approach by creating a conference where scientist, managers, and stakeholders get together,� said ICES Science Committee chair Yvonne Walther. “Through presentations and discussions of new knowledge, we continue to discover together.�

The conference also has a number of initiatives to encourage the participation of young and early-career scientists, offering career workshops and mentorship discussions for scientists who are under 35 years of age or completed their PhD within the last five years. Invited speakers include Fritz KĂśster of DTU Aqua, Denmark; Eva Plaganyi of CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere Flagship, Australia; and Chad Hewitt of the University of Waikato, New Zealand. They will discuss fish stock dynamics, ecosystem approaches, and marine biosecurity, respectively.

The conference is supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia, among others. Normunds Riekstins, Director of the Fisheries Department in the Latvian www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Hjalte Parner, ICES

Latvia: Scientists to debate marine sustainability at ICES conference

Riga will host the ICES Annual Science Conference this year from 19-23 September. Pictured is Dave Secor delivering his plenary lecture at the 2015 edition of the event in Copenhagen.

Ministry of Agriculture says the ministry depends on timely and accurate advice from scientists to formulate fisheries policy. BIOR, the Latvian research institute for Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment gives scientific advice to the Ministry of Agriculture and is also actively involved in ICES working groups, scientific meetings and conferences in order to improve necessary data exchange and joint scientific work.

For Latvian fisheries biologists ICES has always been significant platform to promote good cooperation with scientists from other countries, to ensure coordination of research surveys, to contribute to data collection efforts and the development of regional data bases, and not least it offers good opportunities for training new scientists from the Fisheries Resources Research Department, says Georgs Kornilovs, Director, BIOR. By supporting the forthcoming ICES conference, the Ministry of Agriculture wants to encourage the exchange of scientific information on the latest scientific achievements and to increase dialogue and understanding about fish stocks and marine environment

between the scientists, the fisheries managers and other stakeholders. We see this event as a good opportunity to promote the cooperation between all interested

parties to achieve long term stability of most important fish stocks actively exploited by European and other ICES member states’ fleets, says Mr Riekstins.

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11/07/16 4:21 PM

[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] UK: Aquaculture Europe 2016 forums encourage sustainable growth The Aquaculture Europe 2016 conference will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 20 to 23 September. The event will present the most current scientific information and industry analysis on aquaculture, and promoting sustainable development. Overall aquaculture output in Europe has remained at roughly the same volume since 2000, and thus identifying areas for growth is an important issue.

practices in percid fish aquaculture, broodstock management, quality control, as well as marketing and conservation. Further topics will include the need for high-quality research to achieve sustainability, the potential for raising salmon in recirculation systems, the use of cleaner-fish in salmon cages to control sea-lice, selective breeding in aquaculture, as well as challenges in creating sustainable fish feeds.

Industry forums, which aim to promote communication between industry members and researchers, will cover a number of subjects including best

The European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATiP) Day on 22 September will focus on the factors that are inhibiting the growth of the industry

and how they can be overcome.

The British Trout Association (BTA) will hold a forum on the future of trout farming, which will centre on potential prospects for the industry, and how scientific advancement might be used to increase rainbow trout production in the UK, which has flattened in recent years. An IUCN workshop will cover the relationship between aquaculture and various marine protected areas, including conservation zones, reserves, and national parks. Finally, a shellfish forum will explore the status of the shellfish industry in the UK and discuss topics of health and product safety.

The array of topics which will be covered at the conference all aim to approach issues affecting the aquaculture sector in novel ways.

AE2016 will be an opportunity for many different voices to join in discussing these topics, and work toward the common goal of advancing growth and sustainable development in the sector.

Belgium: EATiP explores international partnerships to boost domestic aquaculture The annual general meeting of EATiP, one of the seven European Technology Platforms, convened in Brussels on 6 and 7 June. Forty members of EATiP representing the aquaculture industry, research community, international and civil society organisations, met to identify EATiP’s priorities for the future and how to put these in practice. This meeting focused on reviewing EATiP’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda taking into account the rapidly changing environment for aquaculture in Europe.

European aquaculture does not act in isolation, and the international dimension of EATiP is being developed, through cooperation agreements with other international organisations, such as the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).

The partnership goals include reaching out to a larger number of aquaculture stakeholders to share experiences on areas of mutual interest, and to promote 16

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the development of sustainable aquaculture in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Agreements are also being considered with similar technology platforms and associations, such as the Farm Animal Breeding and Reproduction (FABRE) and the European Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Organisation (EFARO).

The EU is a net importer of fish and seafood products, including aquaculture products from South-East Asia. This region intends to increase its aquaculture production significantly and is looking for foreign assistance. In this context, Europe and South-East Asia can investigate jointly how to solve seafood security and safety issues, reinforce capacity building at academic and vocational level, and increase business interactions.

EATiP has made a proposal for an international multi-stakeholder platform, the European-Asian Technology and Innovation Platform, which aims at creating links

The EATiP annual general meeting was an opportunity to discuss future priorities, evaluate greater international cooperation.

between European and Asian aquaculture, identifying business opportunities, promoting partnerships between industry player, addressing topics relating to common standards for sustainable aquaculture, and reinforcing professional skills and competencies in the aquaculture industry and in research.

EU aquaculture has access to high quality research and outstanding

education; however, aquaculture production has stagnated in recent years and it is difficult to attract young talent to this sector. Can research become more aligned to the industry, and could the cooperation between EU technology-led SMEs, aquaculture companies, and countries outside the EU, lead to a win-win situation? See www.eatip.eu for more information and to share your thoughts. www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 5:52 PM

[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] Bluefin tuna recovery allows quota increases

Uncertainty over Brexit The UK’s exit from the European Union will not only affect the UK fisheries sector, see article on page 57. Other nations also stand to lose millions. As an example, Danish fishermen caught a third of their total catches in British waters in 2015, that brought in DKK3.4 billion (EUR450 million). “80  of our fish, primarily sandeel, is

caught in British waters. It will be a catastrophe if this will be closed off for us,” says René Schmidt, from Thyborøn harbor who fears that the British Minister for Farming, Food and Marine Environment, George Eustice, will ensure more favourable conditions for British fishermen by closing off access to foreigners.

The success of the bluefin tuna recovery programme may be a model for other threatened stocks to follow.

In 2016, the bluefin tuna season runs from 26 May to 24 June in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic. Large purse seiners are permitted to catch the fish during the short season, and in limited quantities, as part of an international agreement to prevent the overfishing of bluefin tuna.

The 2016 quota for European vessels is 11,203 tonnes. This quota is shared between eight EU nations, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain, with Spain and France having the largest portions. Regulation of the bluefin industry is controlled by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The ICCAT agreed in 2014 to raise the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) by sixty per cent over the years 2015, 2016, and 2017.

The EU has an inspection programme in place to ensure compliance with regulations, and has set specific benchmarks to prevent overfishing. The European Fisheries Control Agency and the Member States concerned coordinate vehicles for patrol. In addition, the EU is implementing new technology for the first time this www.eurofishmagazine.com

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year. This is the eBCD, an electronic catch document system, which can significantly improve the ability to trace bluefin products.

The recovery efforts led by the EU have been instrumental in the significant recovery from over-exploitation that the bluefin tuna has undergone in recent years. Bluefin tuna is now one of the most controlled fisheries in the world, providing reassurance that the species is being fished more sustainably. Karmenu Vella, the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, noted the particular success of the campaign for recovery of bluefin tuna.

At a meeting of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean in Malta, Vella spoke of the #MedFish4ever campaign.

This campaign was launched by the EU to prevent overexploitation of fish stock in the Mediterranean. Vella stated that as the season for bluefin tuna opened, it was important to note the success of joint efforts in creating a recovery plan and promoting longterm sustainability. He hopes that this success in improving sustainability can be extended to other Mediterranean species.

Following UK’s exit from the European Union, fishermen within and outside the EU are feeling uncertain about the future.

Steen

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11/07/16 4:22 PM

[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] FAO flagship report highlights growth in fish consumption, sustainability concerns The FAO released its annual SOFIA report, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture in July.

Among the notable findings were that yearly global fish consumption per capita exceeded 20 kilograms for the first time, yet over thirty percent of commercial fish stocks are being fished at unsustainable levels, a proportion which is nearly three times that of 1974.

The top species for capture fisheries was Alaska pollock, which overtook anchoveta as the largest species for the first time since 1998. The total production of capture fisheries was 93.4 million tonnes, which is an increase over production in the previous two years. The largest area for production was the Northwest Pacific; catches in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have shown

a disconcerting decrease since 2007 of about a third, due largely to reduced landings of small pelagic fish.

Rising demands and the development of the aquaculture sector have had a significant impact on consumption patterns. The report notes the shift in seafood production away from wild-caught species, and toward farmed production. The increased consumption has also been attributed to hauls of record size in 2014 for tuna, lobster, shrimp, and cephalopods, as well as a reduction in waste. 2014 aquaculture production totalled to 73.8 million tonnes, and an estimated value at first sale of USD 160.2 billion.

This rapid growth in consumption has negative implications for the sustainability of the industry.

Fish consumption has been growing at a faster rate than population over the last 50 years. The report urges the industry to work to prevent overfishing; global fish stocks have not improved, and nearly 90 percent of fish stocks are fully fished or overfished.

The proportion of global seafood production that is used for human consumption has risen to 87 percent, compared to 67 percent fifty years ago. Uncertainties surrounding IUU fishing and the overcapacity of global fishing fleets will affect the sustainability of marine resources. The level of overfished stock in the Mediterranean and Black Sea was particularly “alarming” according to the report; yet the FAO noted the opportunity for the fish processing sector to contribute to increased sustainability of the supply chain in the future.

2016

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE CONTRIBUTING TO FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION FOR ALL

Global fishery production is predicted to continue to grow in the next 10 years, reaching 196 million tonnes by 2025, though annual growth is expected to slow. In addition, the share of production made up by aquaculture should further increase, to eventually surpass that of capture fisheries by 2021.

UK: Ultrasound targeting sea lice could increase salmon harvest The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has launched an initiative to explore the use of ultrasound to remove naturally occurring sea lice from farmed salmon, which could ultimately increase the volume of salmon harvests.

The six-month project of researching the viability of ultrasound use is the first of the SAIC’s Rapid Response projects. With Rapid Response, the SAIC provides funding to small-scale research projects that have the potential for creating a significant impact on Scottish aquaculture. The project has been granted £39,467 by the SAIC to continue researching how ultrasound can be used to remove sea lice in a way that is neither invasive nor harmful.

The research is to be carried out 18

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with the academic resources of the University of Dundee and the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, as well as the industry partner Pulcea.

Sea lice are considered to be one of the most significant challenges facing aquaculture, particularly in terms of cost. Other studies have tried to identify novel ways to combat sea lice, including selective breeding techniques. This research aims to use ultrasound to target and dislodge the sea lice.

This project seeks to explore how salmon can be deloused without damage to them or to their environments. Dr Paul Campbell of the University of Dundee explained the logic behind utilizing the technique of ultrasound in this initiative: “We’re taking a technique that’s proven successful in human

medicine and we’re carefully reengineering it to explore its effectiveness in advancing fish health.”

The director of Pulcea say that in order to make further gains in the volume of farmed salmon, as well as in fish welfare, the industry’s responses must evolve in conjunction with developments in sea lice mitigation therapies. The new ultrasound treatment has the potential to be commercially viable, and complement existing treatments for sea lice that are currently available. A more effective strategy for removing sea lice can help minimise losses in the industry, thus providing economic benefits and expanding the potential for growth.

If preliminary research shows favourable results, then the

Sea lice are considered to be one of the largest problems facing aquaculture, particularly in terms of cost. Ultrasound to target and dislodge the sea lice shows good results.

project is intended to expand to become a potentially more global solution to problems of fish welfare. CEO of SAIC Heather Jones said, “It is smallscale at this stage but, if successful, could have a significant positive impact on the aquaculture industry not just in Scotland but around the world.” www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 4:22 PM

[ INTERNATIONAL NEWS ] Norway: Examining how farmed ďŹ sh respond to stress The COPEwell Project, funded by the EU, has explored the effects that stressors can have on the health and well-being of farmed fish. The study was coordinated by the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. The aim of the research was to examine the ways in which fish cope with stress in their environment, as well as understand their biological and behavioral processes.

Researchers began by using small zebrafish to test their methods, then implemented these methods to examine other species. The species that were targeted were the Atlantic

salmon, the European seabass, and the gilthead seabream. The fish were exposed to stressors in varying forms and intensities, and scientists examined the effects of the collective physical strain. Scientists chose to focus on several different species so that the variations in coping mechanisms and behaviors in different fish could be noted.

The scientists have identified the main aspects of stress response as well as the areas that stress activates in the fish brain. The focus has been on the underlying functions that lead to stress response in

fish, including individual cognitive appraisal of the environment. The expected impact of their continued research is to be able to understand the ways in which fish interact with their surroundings and understand their environments. Researchers have explored the theory of allostasis, or the process of maintaining stability through adaptive change.

They hope that the findings can be applied to issues of fish welfare.

Their new theory proposes that either too much or too little stress can be harmful to the well-being of farmed fish. An appropriate level of stress that the fish have an ability to

cope with allows them to experience rewards, thus improving welfare.

This study is one of the first to examine how stressors in early life can affect the later development of the fish and its quality, according to researchers.

A better understanding of the stress response of fish can be used to examine husbandry practices and rearing methods of such farmed fish. The new information regarding the handling of stress can be implemented in the aquaculture industry to understand and reduce stress-related mortality.

GFCM releases report on ďŹ sheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) recently published a comprehensive report on the fishing sector, The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries 2016. This is the first publication of its kind for the GFCM, reviewing trends affecting fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region.

The report, based on data analysis carried out by scientific bodies of the GFCM, was divided into two main sections. The first provided an overview of past and present

The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries

The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries

2016

FAO

The new FAO GFCM report emphasises the importance of management plans to prevent overfishing. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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ISSN 2413-6905

2016

'ÄžĹśÄžĆŒÄ‚ĹŻ &Ĺ?Ć?ĹšÄžĆŒĹ?ÄžĆ? ŽžžĹ?Ć?Ć?Ĺ?ŽŜ Ä¨Ĺ˝ĆŒ ƚŚĞ DĞĚĹ?ĆšÄžĆŒĆŒÄ‚ĹśÄžÄ‚Ĺś ŽžžĹ?Ć?Ć?Ĺ?ŽŜ Ĺ?Ä ĹśÄ ĆŒÄ‚ĹŻÄž ĚĞĆ? ƉĥÄ?ŚĞĆ? Ć‰Ĺ˝ĆľĆŒ ĹŻÄ‚ DÄ ÄšĹ?ĆšÄžĆŒĆŒÄ‚ĹśÄ Äž

fishery trends in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Five particular areas were analysed in this section: the status of fishing fleets, production in capture fisheries, socioeconomic data from the region, bycatch data, and the status of stocks. The report noted that the official vessel count in the Mediterranean and Black Sea is 92,700. This number is distributed unequally throughout sub-regions, with the largest proportion of the vessels (28 percent) in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey and Italy lead the nations by a considerable margin in landing tonnes, accounting for 30 and 15 percent, respectively, of total catches in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Anchovy and sardine continue to be the species with the greatest average landings. The fishing sector remains both culturally and economically important to the region, with the total value at first sale of fish landings equalling USD3.09 billion, and over 220,000 people employed on fishing vessels in the GFCM application area.

Fisheries comprise a more significant share of employment and the local economies in the eastern Mediterranean compared to in other sub-regions. Mediterranean

fisheries were estimated to have discarded approximately 18 percent of catches, or 230,000 tonnes.

The report highlighted the fact that a sizable proportion of stocks in the area — 85 percent — are currently being fished at levels which are unsustainable.

The second section of the report focused on the management of fisheries and the creation of plans for sustainable development. The presence of artisanal or smallscale fisheries is an important cultural component of the fisheries sector, and also represents an opportunity for economic growth.

The GFCM has several initiatives working toward sustainable usage of marine resources. They have set objectives regarding spatial management and limiting incidental catches of vulnerable species.

1,731,097 square kilometres are currently protected under 1,000 m depth in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and four fisheriesrestricted areas cover 17,678 square kilometres. The report emphasised that creating management plans was critical to prevent overfishing.

Sub-regional management plans are a priority, with plans for the management of red coral and eel expected in the near future.

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[ EVENTS ] Future Fish Eurasia, 2-4 June 2016, Izmir

Aquaculture in focus Surrounded by the Black Sea in the north, the Aegean Sea in the west, and the Mediterranean Sea in the south, with over 300 natural and 130 man-made lakes, Turkey is rich in its aquatic bio-diversity and traditionally has had a very strong fisheries sector.

Responding to the global stagnation of wild fish catches and to the growing demand for healthy proteins, in 1986 the Turkish fish farming sector started off with a production of 3,000 tonnes and has been showing steady growth since then. In 2015 the farmed fish volumes reached 240,000 tonnes representing 36% of the country’s total fish production volume.

From right, Selin Akdogan, Fair Manager, Eurasia Trade Fairs; Altug Atalay, Director General, General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock; Sinan Kiziltan, Chairman of the Aegean Aquaculture and Animal Products Exporters’ Association; Aziz Kocaoglu, Mayor of Izmir; Janis Bjørn Kanavin, Norwegian Ambassador and other officials open the Future Fish Eurasia trade fair.

I

zmir Province is the second biggest farming region in the country with 35 of the total production, so it is very natural that the 8th edition of the Future Fish Eurasia exhibition took place in Izmir. Since 2005 Eurasia Trade Fairs have been organising the show, which is the only event in the region dedicated to fish farming, fishing and processing. Future Fish Eurasia brings 20

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together exhibitors and visitors from Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. This year around 160 companies from 24 countries were exhibiting and around 6,000 visitors attended.

Co-operation helps growth It is difficult to imagine a seafood show without the presence of

the Turkish Seafood Promotion Committee (STG). Established in 2008 the committee has been an efficient promoter of Turkish fish both abroad and domestically, giving the sector enhanced visibility through various activities, one of which is participation in international exhibitions – on average fifteen per year. The country’s exports of farmed fish are expected to reach 660 million

euros in 2016, which is a more than two-fold increase compared to 2009, and this is, indeed, partly due to the STG’s activities.

While the EU remains the major destination for Turkish seabass, seabream and trout, the worldwide geography of the exports keeps expanding. “We cannot rely on a single geographical market. The population of European www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 10:41 AM

[ EVENTS ] Manager, “Fish protein is good for people, good for the brain. The sector can grow and production can double in the near future. We can farm fish in the right place and in the right waters. We believe in it because we can see every year that the sector is getting bigger and bigger.�

Out of the total seafood exports, fresh/chilled products constitute around 50. It is very important to handle fresh fish properly on its way to the customer. MERSU Ambalaj Plastik has been supplying the industry with styrofoam boxes and associated services since 2001.

Levent Kayi, General Manager of MERSU explains: “One thing is to produce the boxes, another thing is to provide the delivery services.

After the fish is harvested it shall be packed as soon as possible, loaded on the truck and driven off. The packing stations in most cases are not easily accessible - often out in nowhere, not in the city centers, not close to the main roads and it is difficult to serve them. In addition the industry is growing and you have to respond to that to be successful. Without the service you cannot sustain this business.� The company is also producing boxes for capture fishery which are in high demand between September and April, during the fishing season.

Future Fish Eurasia attracted some 160 companies from 24 countries and around 6,000 visitors.

Union is not rapidly increasing while the aquaculture production is growing, - says Melih Isiel, Chairman of STG, - “Soon northern African countries like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as Russia and some other countries will also become players. This will create a pressure in terms of prices if we constrain ourselves only to the EU market.� Thanks to the growth of Turkish Airlines and their cargo fleet which is currently over 300 aircraft on long distance trips, big carriers are shipping Turkish fish to 10 destinations in the US. Turkey has access to Middle East markets and new destinations there are being planned as well. Turkish fish is also exported to neighbouring countries, Iraq, Eastern Europe, Russia and other CIS countries, and Ukraine. Each new destination expands the portfolio of the markets which currently covers 80 countries.

Together with the new markets the sector needs to find new ways of consumption, new recipes, a www.eurofishmagazine.com

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wider range of value-added and ready-to-eat products besides fresh fish. “Our frozen products sector is growing. In addition to fresh fillets we also supply frozen ones, which have a longer shelf life and higher diversity in the markets. All together we are trying to reinforce our business with new markets, by promoting Mediterranean species worldwide, and by trying to keep our traditional markets,� adds Melih Isiel.

The success of the aquaculture sector would not be possible without the suppliers of high quality equipment, superior fish feed, providers of logistics services, new technologies as well as research and development.

with net cages, floating cages, antifouling treatment, net cage repair and maintenance, mooring system installation, turnkey projects and consulting. The company is doing turnkey projects outside Turkey: in Azerbaijan and Russia, Bulgaria and Romania, Malta, Saudi Arabia, UAE and North Iraq. “We believe that our products are very important for everybody,� says Cafer Gunduz, Foreign Trade

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11/07/16 10:41 AM

[ EVENTS ] The aim unites people Turkish aquaculture would not have been so successful if the sector had not been keeping its eyes open to innovative technologies worldwide, seeking advice outside the country and acquiring international experience.

The Turkish journey to fish farming success started with support from Norway because of the technology and knowhow transfer, and the two countries have been working towards increasing co-operation. Apart from machinery and equipment, Norway is also selling a lot of fish to Turkey – most of Turkey’s supply of salmon is imported from Norway and Norwegian mackerel is widely sold in the supermarkets, and the customs agreement between the two countries helps to keep the prices at a reasonable level.

The Norwegian Pavilion at Future Fish Eurasia was organized by the Embassy of Norway and Innovation Norway, a governmental agency devoted to help Norwegian businesses in Norway and abroad, and attracted a lot of attention during the days of the show. “We would like more Norwegian products to be present at Turkish farms, and we believe there is room for improvement. We observe Turkish and Norwegian farms and we see there is still some way to go,” says Caglar Erdogan, Innovation Norway’s Senior Market Advisor. “The Turkish industry is maturing rapidly, and needs better and better equipment and we think that our co-operation will increase.”

A little more than one year ago, Danish feed giant BioMar Group together with Turkish 22

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Sagun Group, which is involved in farming, fishing, processing and trading, started a jointventure with the aim of building a new factory to service the Turkish market with high quality fish feeds and with the hope of expanding into other markets east of Turkey. Describing the co-operation with Sagun Group, Panos Lagos, the General Manager of the joint venture says “As BioMar we decided that the best way to come to Turkey would be with a partner. Ideally with the partner who is a fish farmer for the rapid penetration of the Turkish market. It is currently very fragmented and almost each large fish farmer has his own feed factory. The cooperation has been very good although the two companies have significant cultural differences – one being a multinational and the other a local family-owned (farming) company.

But the common aim has united people.” On the 9th of June the new BioMar-Sagun fish feed factory successfully ran its first test of a full production cycle and will shortly start operating.

Towards sustainable aquaculture Sustainability was the keynote of the “Middle East & Central Asia Aquaculture 2016” conference which was held in conjunction with Future Fish Eurasia in cooperation with PrimeEvents and Marevent. Speakers from Greece, Israel, Netherlands, Pakistan, Turkey and USA in their presentations covered issues affecting aquaculture growth in the Middle East and Central Asia, regions where farmed fish has good potential.

Aquaculture production in the Middle East is the fastest

growing source of protein for the region’s consumers. During 2005-2014, production grew 111 to nearly 1,770 thousand tonnes.

The situation is rather different in the Central Asian countries.

The region is still recovering from dramatic declines in capture fisheries and aquaculture caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. However in the past few years positive trends have been observed. The region has no access to marine waters and farmed fish is represented mainly by freshwater species like carp, rainbow trout, pike perch and bream. It is estimated that by 2030 the production volumes will reach over 4,400 thousand tonnes in the Middle East region and 850 thousand tonnes in Central Asia. Such growth on the one hand will provide consumers with the necessary healthy proteins and positively influence employment in the areas, but on the other hand it will put added pressure on the ecosystem.

Modern consumers are more and more focused on environment protection and sustainability issues. Though aquaculture is criticised for negative impacts on the ecosystem, if fish farming is carried out sustainably, it can generate important positive environmental and social impacts. Aspects such as respect for the environment, sustainability of species, development of technologies and traceability systems among others can be considered as indicators of the sustainability of the aquaculture. To examine all this, the MECAA conference brought together aquaculture industry representatives and academic experts to discuss and debate issues related to recent industry and market trends and the

latest developments in scientific research.

For the trade or for the show It is hard for organisers of any exhibition to satisfy all the participants. The difficulty arises from two opposite perceptions of what a trade show should be. Some exhibitors are convinced that the event should serve only one purpose – to sell. Others insist that it is more for social activities, for a chance to shake hands with colleagues, suppliers and friends, or to just sit down and talk about business, argue about markets, or discuss the future.

It appears that Future Fish Eurasia has found the right balance between business and pleasure at an industry expo. “We have been participating in this show since its first edition, because we believe that it is first of all the showroom. You can have your new products and ideas – but if you stay home you can show it only to your neighbour. Here at the show we can show our products to many people,” says Cafer Gunduz from Cakir. “Eurasia Trade Fair are making a very good exhibition and we are very happy because we have a lot of visitors, and the other important thing for us is to have foreign visitors coming here - from Iran, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE among others. It is important for us to show who we are to everybody. We believe in our equipment, we believe in our company, we believe in our experience, and we would like to show it to everybody.”

Aleksandra Petersen, Eurofish aleksandra.petersen @eurofish.dk www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 10:41 AM

[ AQUACULTURE ] Open Blue now delivering cobia to Europe, too

An aquaculture product in wild fish quality Open Blue is a pioneer of fish farming in the open sea. Twelve kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Panama, the company has for several years operated the world’s largest offshore fish farm in which cobia grows in what is virtually its natural environment.

Although this type of mariculture is expensive, it pays off because the quality and taste of the resulting fish are excellent. Offshore the fish never swim twice in the same water...

T

he illusion of virtual reality is both fascinating and inspiring. When does anyone get the chance in “real” life to float weightless in a net enclosure among thousands of fishes? The five to six kilogram fishes seem amazingly calm as they swim their lengths but you jerk back involuntarily when an imposing fish suddenly floats into view just a few centimetres in front of your face.

When you look down into the azure depths you begin to realize the dimensions of the net pen.

The net is stretched around the central axis, a 26 metre long and about one metre thick steel pipe, which stands vertically in the water to maintain the structure’s buoyancy. It is the shape of two equal-sized cones whose circular bases are positioned against each other like a mirror image. The structure can be submerged completely below the ocean surface to protect it from violent storms and rough waves. This kind of aquaculture provides optimal living conditions for the deep-sea cobia which usually keeps close to the surface in its natural surroundings. The fishes have to swim constantly against the strong current, they get high-quality feed, are not bothered by predators, and the Caribbean sun that penetrates many metres deep into the crystal clear water ensures sufficiently warm water.

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The nearly five-minute “dive” into the virtual world, for which a 360° view and 3D display fuse together so that the computer fools our brains into thinking we are actually down there ourselves, gives a very vivid impression of the cobia’s life (Rachycentron canadum) in an offshore enclosure. To enjoy this rare experience you simply have to put on the special glasses and start the film. Open Blue uses this little gimmick as a better way than with words to show visitors, investors and customers what life is like in floating pens in the open sea, and what differentiates “offshore” fish farms from conventional aquaculture.

Company founder Brian O’Hanlon: “Open Blue is aware of its environmental and social responsibility and acts according to high sustainability standards.”

Offshore farming requires completely new technologies The history of Open Blue began already a decade before the official company launch in 2007, company founder Brian O’Hanlon informs us. He comes from a family that has been active in the seafood business for three generations and he dreamed early on of a new farming technology that would offer the fish optimal conditions for their natural growth in an environmentally friendly location. For years he experimented and planned in a small pilot plant and gradually

The Open Blue hatchery, which did not go into operation until 2012, is already too small and is currently in the process of being rebuilt and extended.

designed and developed the technology in cooperation with institutions and universities.

“Right from the beginning it was

our goal to carry out aquaculture in harmony with the sea and its natural resources. It was clear that we needed to move Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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The feed and material stores that are needed for supplies to the offshore farm are located at the technical base with the docks.

the farm to a place far away from the ecologically sensitive coastal ecosystems, and that meant into the open ocean”, Brian told us.

In the open sea, however, the conditions were much harder, the supply routes a lot longer than those of traditional farms that are located directly off the coast, often in sheltered bays.

“Anyone who wants to produce offshore therefore needs particularly robust technology and a lot of money, because the costs are much higher.”

The timing of the company’s founding could hardly have been less fortunate because only a few months later, in 2008, came the global economic and financial crisis during which many people had other things to think about than an aquaculture startup in the offshore sector. Nevertheless, at that time interest was growing in the idea of more environmentand animal-friendly fish production, with which O’Hanlon, as he himself says, hopes to “revolutionize” aquaculture. Apparently it caused him no major problems to gain financially strong investors for the ambitious project.

Brian O’Hanlon assured us that he was not under any constraint to generate an attractive return for the investors in the foreseeable 24

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future. What was important to all parties was that offshore technology should be further developed and become a model and benchmark for other aquaculture enterprises. The success of Open Blue and the excellent quality of the produced fish is already arousing growing interest, not only among caterers and fishmongers but also among investors and fish farmers.

To begin with it was not even certain which fish Open Blue would produce. “Originally we had red snapper in mind,” says O’Hanlon.

But cobia had proved much better in performance and market tests.

“After a year, when the snappers had reached a weight of just 400 grams, cobia already weighed a good 5 kilograms and when the tasting sessions in New York were consistently positive, the decision was made”.

advantage for production in aquaculture. Its thick white fillet can be cooked in many ways, from sushi and sashimi to ceviche, and from grilling and frying to roasting. Cobia flesh has a fine nutty, buttery flavour, a firm texture and does not fall apart when heated.

The taste is often described as a cross between swordfish and Chilean seabass. Fat content is about 18 which is at the level of Atlantic salmon, and the share of omega-3 fatty acids is even much higher.

About 200 people are currently employed at Open Blue. Although the company was founded only a few years ago it is fully vertically integrated and has all the sensitive process stages from hatching and rearing of fry to processing and marketing of the products under its own control.

Own hatchery guarantees fry supply to the offshore farm At the core of Open Blue’s cobia farming are the hatchery and the technical base not far from Viento Frio, where a small pier and the material and feed stores are to be found. The hatchery, only built in 2012, is already being rebuilt and extended because demand for cobia is growing so quickly that the farm’s original capacity is no

longer sufficient. The water for the farm’s tanks is pumped from the sea through two 1 km long pipes, then elaborately cleaned and disinfected. Recirculating systems are available for particularly sensitive tasks. The current spawning stock in Panama comprises about 100 parent fish from their own offspring that are at least 4 years old and will be used for reproduction for two years. There are also 40 other fishes that are kept in Miami for safety reasons. Open Blue has just launched a family breeding programme for cobia, and the first young generation is at present developing. Before maturation the parent fishes are given a special protein- and vitamin-rich diet. The fishes spawn naturally throughout the year. Mating is in a ratio of one to two males per female that then produces pelagic eggs over a period of several months (fertility is about 75,000 eggs / kg body weight).

Fertilized eggs float on the surface where they are collected using a rotating skimmer and transported to a separate tank. The eggs are thoroughly disinfected before being transferred to the facility’s breeding tank. (“Green Water Technology”). Already 24 to 36 hours after hatching the larvae have consumed their yolk sac and are then given enriched live food: first

Cobia is ideal for aquaculture Cobia, also known as black kingfish, black salmon, or lemon fish can be found almost worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas.

The species belongs to the order of Carangiformes. It grows to a length of up to two metres and a weight of 70 kg. And it grows extremely fast in its juvenile years, which is naturally of great

Cobia fillet has a lot of meat, even the belly flaps are quite thick. The fish produces a lot of muscle due to swimming in the strong currents. www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 10:42 AM

[ AQUACULTURE ] rotifers (Brachionus), which are replaced after one week by Artemia nauplii. Weaning begins approximately two weeks after hatching with the gradual supplementary feeding of dry feed until after a further week the live feed is stopped altogether. The fry are sorted for the first time after 30 days to limit any emergence of cannibalism, and after about 60 days they are vaccinated. Over the course of their lives the fishes are sorted three to four times by size. “The final sorting takes place immediately before the net pens are stocked. This is particularly important because it spares us the time-consuming sorting of fish stocks in the open sea.”

the seabed for laboratory analysis.

“So far we have found no significant impact of the farm on the environment, mainly thanks to the currents in the area which ensure rapid and large-scale distribution of sedimenting substances”. The farm enclosures are located in a relatively uninteresting “desert area of the sea” with little species variety.

Divers report that the underwater structures of the farm act as oases that attract numerous fish and seafood species. Snappers, suckerfish, jacks, tuna and various shark species, including giant whale sharks like to hang around the enclosures and they provide a source of stimulation.

The young cobia grow so rapidly that already 90 to 100 days after hatching they weigh 120 to 150 grams and can be transferred from the hatchery to the farm’s net pens in the open sea. They are taken to the technical base a few kilometres away in insulated, well-ventilated plastic tubs and there transferred to work boats which take them immediately to the offshore farm.

The bi-conical net enclosures are rather like icebergs in that the largest part of their structure is hidden beneath the water. Mostly only the tip of the central float projects from the water. When the nets have to be cleaned or during harvesting the structure can be raised up almost half way out of the water.

“This enables us to check and clean the mesh more easily. We simply dry the algae and other growths in the sun,” says Brian O’Hanlon. Such tasks are otherwise particularly troublesome in the offshore sector, as well as costly and dangerous.

Up to now Open Blue has not succeeded in developing a platform that can be anchored close to the enclosures as a permanent base.

That is why the company’s workboats travel 12 km daily to feed the fish, and check and maintain the net pens. Open Blue employs more than 20 professional divers who are trained for such work. Nevertheless, this work is not without risk, especially in the rainy season, when severe weather and violent storms hit the area. The design of the farm had proven itself, says Brian O’Hanlon, but the offshore technology was still far from perfected and more research and development work was needed in almost

Cobia reared offshore in harmony with nature Open Blue holds three production licences in Panama, of which currently only one is used – in the region of Costa Arriba. The farm is located 12 km off the coast about 70 m above the seabed. The water is extremely clean, constantly in motion and particularly rich in oxygen. Around the farm a “commercial no take zone” measuring ten square kilometers was established, a marine reserve as it were. Open Blue is very careful not to unduly impact the natural environment of the farm nor indeed to damage it in any way. The seabed beneath the pens is regularly inspected using an ROV camera (Remote Operated robotic Vehicle) and parallel to this samples were taken from www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Only 90 to 100 days after hatching the young cobia already weigh between 120 and 150 grams and can be transferred from the hatchery to the offshore enclosures.

For control, maintenance and cleaning purposes the upper halves of the net pens are hauled out of the water.

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Cobia take only 12 to 14 months from hatching to reach an impressive size of 5 to 6 kg, a process that takes about three years in salmon.

all areas, from the fishes’ diet, to their reproduction, transport and logistics.

Feeding is a priority area because feed, its correct portioning, and the daily boat trips to the enclosures constitute the largest cost item of the farm. “We use a feed that is as close as possible to cobia’s natural diet. It contains a lot of fish meal and fish oil and vegetable proteins, vitamins and minerals and is relatively expensive. In addition, the FCR is at 2.5 still very high, but we are working to improve this.

Research results have shown that an FCR of 1.5 is possible for cobia “.

O’Hanlon assured us that the feed contains no hormones, growth promoters or colourants. Like almost everything at Open Blue the farm and the farming technique are

Each fish is given an individual stamp with QR code that allows full traceability of the fish’s life history from the egg to the finished product.

constantly being further developed, optimized and improved.

The current net pens have a volume of 6,400 cubic metres, with fish density usually below 20 kg/m3.

Altogether there are 600,000 fish in the whole farming facility, allowing a monthly harvest of 250 t.

Because Open Blue expects a significant increase in demand for cobia the old net pens are now being replaced by new ones that are more than twice as big with 14,500 cubic metres.

Fresh cobia products now regularly available in Europe Harvesting takes place on the farm four to five times a week, always in the late afternoon.

The fish are killed at sea after

Open Blue’s R & D requirements are very high. At the hatchery there is a special department with 20 tanks for experiments.

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harvesting by inserting a spike into the brain (iki-jime), then the gill artery is cut to allow bleeding, and the fishes are layered in tubs with slurry ice. A truck is already waiting at the harbour to take the cargo overnight from the Caribbean side of Panama about a hundred kilometers overland to the processing plant in Juan Diaz on the outskirts of Panama City on the Pacific side. The company meets the highest international standards, and Production Director Fernando Oyarzun proudly points to HACCP, BRC, GlobalGAP, QCS and Friend of the Sea certificates. Processing – mainly by hand – starts early in the morning at around 5.30 a.m.

Because the fish species is still relatively new to the processing sector there is as yet no suitable machinery available. After its arrival each fish is weighed separately, headed, gutted and then sorted by weight. At this point each fish is given an individual stamp with QR code that allows full traceability of the life history of the fish from the egg to the finished product. Processing is normally complete with the “headed & gutted” fish because this product currently registers the highest demand. But Open Blue also offers fillets, loins and steaks, all in sashimi-grade quality. “Fillets

usually have trim grade C,” said Oyarzun, also pointing out that cobia trims are not comparable with those of salmon. “Trim C means that the shoulder bone has been removed together with the pectoral and ventral fins, the rib bones and pin bones.” But because the pin bones of cobia are very difficult to remove this is usually done using a V-cut.

Depending on orders, about 1,500 fishes with an average weight of 5 to 6 kg are processed every day and mostly delivered fresh. They can also be frozen on request.

Open Blue has large reserves in the processing sector. The processing depth is relatively low, a lot of products from the head and trimmings to the large liver of the fish and its roe are not yet marketed although they are of excellent quality and would certainly find buyers.

Around noon, the production batch is then packaged ready for shipment and taken to the airport which is just a few kilometers away, so that after completion of the customs and other formalities the fish can begin its flight on the evening machines to customers in the US and throughout the world.

One of the increasingly important destinations is Amsterdam, where on account of the time difference the cobia arrives at 13.00 after a flight of about eleven hours.

Plans exist to deliver soon to the Perishable Center Frankfurt. The company’s sophisticated logistics aim at getting the fresh fish to the customers no later than 72 hours after harvesting. “With an average shelf life of the fresh fish of 15 to 17 days we have reasonable commercial reserves,” promises Remco de Waard, who takes care of cobia marketing in Europe from his base in Holland. In many countries, including Germany, the first retail chains have already listed cobia products. mk www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 10:42 AM

CROATIA

Croatia has a large fishing fleet, but three fourths of the vessels are small scale with a length of less than 12 m.

Fisheries and aquaculture in Croatia

Pelagic fishers support measures promoting sustainability Croatia has been favoured with a long and attractive coastline made even longer by the over 1,200 Croatian islands in the Adriatic just across from the mainland. Pleasant weather and attractive beaches make coastal Croatia a highly sought after destination for tourists in the summer months. Another big draw is the excellent fresh fish and seafood from the neighbouring Adriatic Sea.

C

roatia has a diversified fisheries sector including wild caught fish and seafood, a farmed fish industry as well as a processing sector. Capture fisheries in Croatia are dominated by sardine and anchovy, but, as in many Mediterranean countries, wild catches include smaller volumes of a variety of fish, shellfish, and cephalopod species. To illustrate; in 2015 out of a total catch of just over 72,000 tonnes, less than 10,000 tonnes was divided over some 100 species, while the balance was made up of just two, sardines and anchovies. In addition to its wild catches, Croatia has a mariculture industry producing primarily

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seabass, seabream, and mussels as well as farming tuna. On land, the species farmed include mainly rainbow trout and varieties of carp.

The Croatian fishing fleet comprises some 7,800 vessels with an average age of 35 years. Of these three fourths are small scale vessels less than 12 m in length. In 2015 trawlers numbered another 425 vessels and dredgers 47. Almost all these vessels are less than 24 m in length. Purse seiners, long liners, and polyvalent vessels bigger than 12 m are the other significant fleet categories. Just under 6,000 people are estimated to be employed on fishing vessels in Croatia

amounting to 0.31 of the total working population. The GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) and the FAO in a 2016 publication on Mediterranean fisheries estimate that the average landing value per employee in Croatia was USD9,542 and per fishing vessel was USD17,323 placing Croatia around the middle of the list of GFCM members for both these measures.

Small pelagics are the basis of an important industry Croatia’s small pelagic fishery in the north Adriatic has an

ancient history and is the source of the raw materials for a processing industry that produces and exports conserves. Anchovy catches increased several fold (from 3,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes) between 1999 and 2011.

Since then they have fallen – hovering around 9,000 tonnes in the three years to 2014, but increasing to 12,500 in 2015. According to the 2015 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, small pelagics amount to over half the total value of the catch. In the last couple of years several measures have been taken to ensure the

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to decrease it by a further 25-30.

Our goal is to balance the fishing capacity with the availability of the resource so that fishermen can live from their activity. The fishermen also realise that they need to adapt if they want to keep this fishery into the future as well.

They too come up with proposals to relieve pressure on the stocks.

However, the thing to keep in mind, says Mr Misura, is that the fishermen above all need a stable management regime and that before measures are made more stringent, their impact needs to be evaluated to know whether they actually work or not.

Ante Misura, Assistant Minister in the Directorate of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Croatia, says that measures to benefit stocks on their own will achieve little without effective control.

sustainability of the stock as part of a multiannual management plan for small pelagic fisheries in the Adriatic Sea adopted by the GFCM. The plan seeks to maximise the sustainable yield of small pelagic fisheries, reduce the risk of stock collapse, and maintain relatively stable catches. This will be achieved by limiting the exploitation rate, maintaining the mid-year spawning stock biomass (SSB) above a precautionary level,

ensuring that the SSB does not fall below a certain limit, and finally restricting fishing capacity and fishing effort to 2011 levels.

The GFCM plan is a regional one covering all the countries around the Adriatic basin, says Ante Misura, Assistant Minister in the Directorate of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, while the proposed EU plan will cover the three EU Member States, Croatia, Italy,

and Slovenia. A proposal from the Commission is expected in autumn. We expect regionalisation to ensure that the plan will take into account the specificities of the Adriatic and we want the measures that we have introduced already to continue as we do not think it is effective to change the measures every year or every second year. We have reduced the size of the fleet by almost 50 from 450 to 250 vessels and expect

Croatian capture fisheries production in tonnes 2014

2015

Sardine

2013 53,085

55,783

50,108

Anchovy

8,904

8,594

12,340

389

385

456

Other small fish

6,014

6,978

2,232

Demersal fish

4,314

3,951

3,958

Spiny lobster

13

10

9

Norway lobster and other crustaceans

672

754

866

Oysters, mussels and other shellfish

475

808

980

Squid

391

407

276

Cuttlefish

189

207

193

Octopus and other cephalopods

783

1,010

846

Bluefin tuna

Total

75,229

78,887

72,264 Directorate of Fisheries

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Series of measures protect small pelagics in the North Adriatic We (Croatia) were among the first to introduce measures to protect pelagic stocks in the north Adriatic, points out Krstina Mislov Jelavic, the representative of the Fishing Affiliation within the Croatian Chamber of Economy and the focal point for Croatia in MEDAC, the Mediterranean Advisory Council.

The first measure was a restriction of fishing to 180 days a year and 20 days a month. Fishing, not catching, she emphasises. The distinction is important as the rule applies irrespective as to whether there is any catch or not – all trips count towards the 180 days. The second measure concerned anchovies and specified that out of the 180 days anchovies could be targeted only 144 times. In 2015 a further restriction was introduced as a temporary measure; vessels had to stay in port for more than 70 days, in January, May, and half of December. December and January is the spawning season for sardines, while May is the spawning period for anchovies.

When the GFCM noticed a problem with anchovies it recommended a www.eurofishmagazine.com

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CROATIA

Krstina Mislov Jelavic, the representative of the Fishing Affiliation within the Croatian Chamber of Economy and the focal point for Croatia in MEDAC, the Mediterranean Advisory Council has argued for more stringent restrictions on fishing for small pelagics to protect the stock.

minimum period of 15 days during which vessels would stay in port.

In Croatia, however, the decision was to extend this period for the whole month. In addition, for the last two years Croatia has closed 30 of its fishing grounds in inner sea areas, not because it is illegal to fish there, but because even though the anchovies are of commercial size, that is above 9 cm, if they are allowed to grow bigger their value per kilo increases. We therefore introduced these spatial restrictions and elected to fish in other areas where the fish are bigger relying on the higher price we can achieve to compensate for any reduction in volumes, explains Dr Mislov. At the same time, the fish in the inner areas can spawn and they become more attractive to catch the following year when they are that much bigger. Each year the areas with these smaller fish can change and the spatial closures are varied accordingly.

Already now, two years after these voluntary restrictions were introduced, Krstina Mislov has seen the difference. This year (2016) in April www.eurofishmagazine.com

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we were catching big anchovies of 37-38 pieces per kilo, she notes.

The evidence that these measures work has persuaded Dr Mislov to support this type of plan within MEDAC and to urge the Commission to continue this type of measure in the belief that it will be sustainable for the stocks as well as for the fishermen. Ultimately these results will offer new insights that may help to shape the EU regional management plan for small pelagics in the Adriatic Sea, the consultations for which have been ongoing for the last two years.

Although there already exists a multiannual plan for small pelagics under the GFCM framework, the European Commission’s plan should be completely in accordance with the reformed CFP.

Measures mean little without effective control The efficacy of the new regulations is ultimately determined by the extent to which they are obeyed and how effectively compliance

is monitored. Ante Misura says that control is the most important.

Without effective policing measure upon measure can be adopted but will not achieve anything as long as what the fishermen are doing is unknown. In Croatia, part of the control effort is the installation of Vessel Monitoring Systems on vessels down to 8 m in length. Ante Misura says that equipping 90 of the vessels with VMS and electronic logbooks, but leaving the rest without is not optimal. At the same time installing the system on such small boats is hardly appropriate, as many of the fishers are unfamiliar with the technology and have to learn how to use it, which can be a challenge.

Within a few months all purse seiners, trawlers, and dredgers representing 95 of the catch will be equipped with these systems. The remaining vessels, those using gill nets and traps etc., which number some 2,500 vessels, are too small.

Placing this equipment on board all these vessels has been highly demanding as the directorate has been heavily involved and supported the physical installation, the training, developing the databases, etc. It is not made easier as the system has to respond to constantly changing requirements from the directorate, the EU, the GFCM, ICCAT, Eurostat. The important thing is that this will help us to achieve our goal of a sustainable fishery, says Mr Misura, an objective which is shared by the Commission and is in the interests of our fishermen. But this has to be achieved gradually with the support of all the stakeholders or the socioeconomic impact will be unacceptable. The directorate is also interested in Croatian fisheries being certified to a sustainability standard and sees the new VMS systems and the implementation of the regional plan currently being discussed as steps that will facilitate compliance with the certification requirements.

Improved port and landing site infrastructure by 2020 The Common Fisheries Policy introduced a landing obligation to reduce the levels of unwanted catches and to gradually eliminate discards. The landing obligation and the ban on discards are being phased in gradually depending on the fishery. In the case of small pelagics the cut-off date to introduce the landing obligation was the start of 2015. Discards may not be used for human consumption, so the alternatives are to use it for fishmeal and fish oil or for pet feed.

MEDAC’s joint recommendations on discard management plans issued in June 2016 note that Croatia currently has only one approved facility for processing by-products for non-direct human consumption and one plant for producing pet food. They are both located in the continental part of Croatia at a considerable distance from the landing ports. The recommendations point out that on landing sites there is no infrastructure for collection of discarded catch, therefore it has to be transported to a collection facility or to approved processing facilities. In Croatia there is no industry close to the main ports that can accept discarded catches and due to limited space at the landing sites there is no possibility to plan any additional facilities for the storage of discarded catch.

This, however, is likely to change over the next three to four years, says Mr Misura, as Croatia will reconstruct its landing sites so that there will be 8–10 fishing harbours extending from Pula in the north to Dubrovnik, and about 50 landing places down from over 200.

The work is expected to conclude in 2020 as some of the fishing harbours already have the documentation to start making investments, while the rest are half way there.

The reconstructed sites will have

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all the facilities necessary for the fishers to land the fish, something that has been an issue for the last couple of decades, and will also be able to collect discards.

Unwanted catches are in fact not a problem in the Croatian small pelagic fishery, where researchers have estimated that discards are almost non-existent. The rebuilt harbours will also solve the problem of what to do with the vessels when they are not fishing as there will now be enough space for them to berth during the closed seasons.

These positive developments are partly due to the support from the local port authorities and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport, and Infrastructure that can see the benefits of having proper landing facilities. These include shorter handling times and therefore higher prices for the catch.

Another development that the Directorate of Fisheries is supporting is the establishment of wholesale markets. Here however, Mr Misura would like the fishing cooperatives to take the lead as they stand to benefit the most from well-functioning wholesale markets that take care of the documentation, the marketing etc., which should also result in a better price.

Processing anchovies and sardines for markets in Spain and Italy Salting anchovies is one of the most popular ways of processing this species as it is highly demanded product on markets in Spain and Italy. However, the salting process is a long one taking four to six months and the trick is to time the availability of the product with the demand on the market. Fortunately, the maturing process can be slowed down or accelerated by the judicious adjustment of temperature, which enables some flexibility regarding when the product 30

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is ready. The issue is essentially that Croatian catches of anchovy, although not insignificant at somewhere between 9 and 15 thousand tonnes a year, are only a fraction of total catches of European anchovy (271 thousand tonnes in 2014) and are barely visible in comparison to global Peruvian anchovy catches (3.14m tonnes). As a result, Croatian catches have little or no influence on the market; on the contrary Mediterranean catches of anchovy in Spain, Morocco, and in the south of Italy near Sicily have a marked impact on Croatia.

Catches in Argentina, Chile, Peru or China, although very different from the fish found in the Mediterranean, can to some extent, also affect the price of anchovies in Croatia. Processors here acknowledge the fact that the final market is mainly in Spain and Italy and that they have to adapt to the situation.

Croatia does however have some advantages when it comes to the anchovy that the domestic fleet catches in the Adriatic. According to Dr Neven Bosnic, a consultant for the industry, the Adriatic has some unique characteristics including the ratio of salinity to temperature. It is possibly the only sea in the world with an average temperature of 19 ˚C and a salinity of 38 g/L. This gives a certain microclimatic situation in the Adriatic that is responsible for the special taste of the fish. A taste that is recognised on the Italian and Spanish markets and that has brought outside investors to Croatia.

Another important part of the Croatian fisheries sector is the tuna fattening industry. This relies on catching tuna from the wild and storing it in sea cages, where the fish are fed till they reach a certain weight at which point they are harvested, slaughtered, processed, and transported to Japan, the market for almost all the tuna that is fattened or farmed in the Mediterranean. So particular are the Japanese about the fish that they often supervise the harvesting and slaughtering operation and freeze and store the fish aboard their own vessels at minus 60 ˚C to completely preserve the quality of the fish till it reaches its destination. Within the EU seven nations are involved in tuna fattening, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus, while in Croatia a farming cycle is a minimum of 18 months.

Tuna has been highly overfished for many years resulting in warnings

Aquaculture production by species 2013

2014

Species Fish

Shellfish

Secondary processing offshored to Albania

2015

Weight (t) Sea bass

2,826.00

3,214.72

4,488.39

Sea bream

2,978.00

3,654.58

4,074.79

Bluefin tuna

2,603.36

2,616.00

2,223.76

Other

64.00

120.89

77.93

Total

8,484.00

9,213.94

11,244.47

Oyster

50.00

32.16

52.08

Mussel

1,950.00

713.84

746.38

Other shellfish Total

TOTAL The importance of manual labour in the processing of anchovies and sardines has pushed several companies to seek countries where labour costs are lower. The major beneficiary of this offshoring is Albania as it has not only attracted

Tuna farming earns valuable foreign exchange

activities from Croatia, but also from north Africa following all the political disturbances there.

This has meant that Albania has become a centre for the secondary processing of salted anchovies which are then exported to European countries. For Croatian companies too this is an advantage as Albania is only a few hours away by road and the lower labour costs more than compensate for the additional transport. Marinated anchovies on the other hand have a shorter shelf life and the processing will mainly remain in Croatia, says Dr Bosnic. Croatia has the advantage of being close to the fishing grounds giving a high quality raw material and century-long expertise in salting anchovies. So the distribution of labour – the catching and primary processing in Croatia and the secondary processing in Albania – caters to the strengths of both countries. Dr Bosnic estimates that about 50 of the anchovies salted in Croatia pass through Albania on their way to their final markets in Spain and Italy.

-

-

0.02

2,000.00

746.01

798.48

10,848.00

9,959.95

12,042.95

Quantity (individuals) Spawn

Sea bass

5,125,565.00

Sea bream

2,542,800.00

-

-

Bluefin tuna

472,128.00

-

-

969,000.00

1,070,000.00

Other

8,140,493.00

969,000.00

1,070,000.00

Directorate of Fisheries

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that the stock was on the verge of collapse. This prompted the body in charge of managing the fishery, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), to adopt in 2006 a 15-year recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The plan which has been reinforced subsequently goes hand in hand with a strict control system run by the EU. The complex of measures includes inspectors, control vessels, electronic catch documents, and cameras to monitor fish transfers.

The result has been that stocks of bluefin tuna have started to recover to the extent that in 2014 ICCAT endorsed a 20 increase in the bluefin TAC for each of the following three years, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

farming tuna are reportedly sending the eggs to research laboratories in different parts of the world for experimental purposes. Within Croatia hatcheries have mentioned the possibility of collaborating with tuna farmers for this purpose too. The value of tuna as a proportion of the value produced by the entire mariculture sector is immense, amounting to almost 50 in 2012 and the government is keen to increase this.

The national strategic plan for aquaculture 2014-2020 envisages increasing the production of tuna to 3,000 tonnes by 2020 subject to the availability of quotas.

Croatia has the fourth largest tuna quota in the EU after the big three, Spain, France and Italy, at 461 tonnes in 2015 and 553 tonnes in 2016. Although, the different measures implemented combined with the tightened control systems have been effective, there are practical issues that need to be overcome, says Mr Misura. The new electronic systems including the electronic bluefin tuna catch documents are maintained by a private company that is on call 24/7. But, as Mr Misura points out, tuna vessels are away at sea for one month in the year and if something on board breaks down then, it poses a challenge. Tuna production in 2015 at 2,600 tonnes has returned to the level of 2013 after falling to 2,200 tonnes in 2014. In 2016 the volume is likely to go up as a result of the higher catch quotas in 2015, which will contribute to higher farmed volumes. Croatia, like other countries with an interest in tuna, is also making efforts to close the tuna breeding cycle, that is growing tuna from eggs. So far this has been done in Japan and producers there are growing fish that has been hatched in a laboratory. In Croatia companies

Tuna however is only part of the mariculture industry in Croatia which also includes the production of seabass and seabream and the cultivation of mussels and a small volume of oysters. Croatia was one of the pioneers in the farming of seabass and seabream in the Mediterranean though a combination of circumstances saw Croatian production overtaken by other countries in the region. Over the last couple of years, production of both seabass and seabream has increased and stands at just under 8,600 tonnes in 2015 up from 5,200 tonnes in 2010.

This production is based on hatching eggs to raise larvae and growing them to fry in hatcheries after which they are placed in cages in the sea.

The biggest producer of seabass and seabream in Croatia has recently restructured and renovated its hatchery. When production capacity is reached this facility will be among the biggest producers of seabass and seabream fry in the world.

Other on-growing farms source the fry either from other local hatcheries or from producers outside Croatia usually in Italy or France. Feed for the fish is also imported as current production volumes are insufficient

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Seabass, seabream production set to exceed targets

Freshwater aquaculture production in tonnes Common carp

2013

2014

2015 3,401

2,100

2,284

Wels catfish

35

38

48

Grass carp

209

288

132

Silver and bighead carps

430

713

469

Trout

350

378

679

Other fish

111

106

104

3,235

3,808

4,835

Total

Directorate of Fisheries

to attract manufacturers to establish production facilities in Croatia.

Despite these constraints production is likely to exceed the target as laid out in the National Aquaculture Plan of 10,000 tonnes by 2020.

Mussel production was 750 tonnes in 2015, while oysters amounted to some 50 tonnes.

Clear land rights and EMFF support should boost freshwater farming The freshwater aquaculture industry in Croatia has traditionally been farming carps in earthen ponds. Responding to new opportunities and changes in tastes Croatian farmers have diversified into the production of rainbow trout in ponds, production of which has almost doubled to 680 tonnes in the two years to 2015. Of the other species produced common carp dominates amounting to between 55 and 70 of the total between 2013 and 2015. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) should increase production from aquaculture as producers have shown a keen interest in the opportunities it offers, says Ante Misura. Progress has also been made in other areas, for example, the rights to the land. Farmers often did not have concessions to the land, which made it difficult to use it as collateral when taking

a loan. Now, however, almost all farmers have a long term concession and can use this as security when they approach lenders, which should lead to a gradual increase in production. While most of the investment is expected in semi-intensive systems, there is scope also for producers interested in recirculation systems.

Access to the EMFF are among the benefits Croatia enjoys as a member of the EU, a status it has held since 2013, following a decade-long effort. Referring to the fisheries chapter of the acquis (body of EU legislation) Mr Misura says the country took its obligations very seriously making the actual accession somewhat easier. At the time the EU itself was going through significant changes, a new Commission was being appointed, the Common Fisheries Policy was being comprehensively reformed, the funding structure was changing as were information systems, none of which made accession any easier. Other countries looking to join the EU should find it easier, thinks Mr Misura, but my recommendation would be that they fulfill all their obligations to make sure they are completely ready for accession, when it happens. The pay-off is that as a member your voice carries weight, you can call on assistance, and challenges are addressed together.

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Lostura, Croatia’s first Fisheries Local Action Group

Promoting sustainable development in fisheries areas The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund supports community-led local development, a concept that takes into account the needs of different sectors within an area. This has contributed to the development of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in rural and other areas.

O

ne of the ways to achieve this development is by bringing together the different stakeholders – local authorities, the private sector, NGOs, and others – into a Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG). Taking into account the needs of its members a FLAG develops a strategy that seeks to increase employment, create new economic activity, and improve the quality of life within the community. FLAGs are a continuation from Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund (20072013), which saw the establishment of some 300 FLAGs across 21 EU countries and the funding of over 11,000 projects.

Members ideas contribute to overall strategy Croatia which joined the EU in 2013, has seven registered FLAGs of which the oldest, Lostura, was founded in 2014 and is currently preparing its fisheries local development strategy. The strategy is based on the needs of the FLAG members. However, these have to be brought together in way that results in a coherent strategy with clear objectives that complement each other. At Lostura, Natasa Lakic and Ivana Stulina are contributing to the development of the strategy by speaking with the FLAG members to explain how the FLAG works in practice and how members can benefit and to find out their priorities and 32

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interests. Although it was founded in 2014 it is only now that Lostura is expecting the contract and support from the EMFF that will allow it to establish the secretariat office with the necessary equipment.

Lostura covers an area encompassing five municipalities and has 18 members, the five municipalities as public stakeholders, 10 private companies, and three civil organisations, a membership constellation that is a prerequisite for support from the EMFF. The FLAG already has an idea of the amount of funding it can expect and will tailor its strategy accordingly, says Ms Lakic. Although FLAGs are a relatively new development in Croatia, they are modelled on Local Action Groups (LAG) which are a feature of European rural development policy and well established in Croatia.

The area covered by Lostura is also part of one of the best known LAGs in the country, one that has been working since 2009 and that has over 100 projects. Since the overall purpose of the FLAG is the sustainable development of an area, any environmental impacts of its activities have to be accounted for in the FLAG’s strategy and are the responsibility of the partner in charge of the environment. In Lostura’s case the LAG is one of the civil organisation members and is responsible for the environment. Lostura is at the very initial stages of developing its strategy, says Ivana Stulina, who

Natasa Lakic and Ivana Stulina from the FLAG Lostura are speaking with the members to feed their input into the strategy.

though employed by the LAG is also a volunteer at the FLAG. Once the information is collected from the members regarding their needs it will be processed and added to the strategy.

Developing skills rather than building structures The strategy provides the overall goals of the FLAG, which are then achieved by implementing projects. In a year or so Lostura will issue a call for project ideas.

These will be evaluated and the best ones to meet its aims will be approved for funding. The idea is to develop people’s skills rather than just to create infrastructure, says Ms Stulina. It is like following the Chinese proverb, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed

him for a lifetime. For example, we want to improve education in fisheries, find out what is missing from the syllabus and explore ways of introducing it into the programme. Lostura will also focus on promoting the consumption of seafood, the health benefits that it offers, and the importance of the marine environment. Regarding the latter Ms Lakic is keen to develop projects that will protect marine features, such as beds of marine flora that attract fish.

First international fisheries event a major success Lostura has already launched its activities. One of the biggest events it organised this year was a pilot project – the “International Fishing Expo”. Held at the end of www.eurofishmagazine.com

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May it included an exhibition of fishing and processing equipment as well as a conference for the fishing sector. The event was very well attended with senior officials including Ante Mišura, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, and his counterparts from two other ministries, the Mayors of Zadar County and of Biograd, representatives from the Prime Minister's office and the President of Parliament, and other leading figures from the fisheries sector.

The fishing conference included discussions on how modern technology could contribute to the productivity of the fishing industry while at the same time reducing pollution, as well as the importance of identifying suitable sites for the farming of fish and shellfish. Fishermen also used the occasion to protest at the costs of compliance with new legislation. A panel discussion was

attended by experts including Ante Mišura; Nedo Vrgocˇ, Director of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries; Lav Bavcˇevic', Senior Fisheries Coordinator, Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts; Krstina Mišlov, Croatian Chamber of Economics; Mato Obrean, Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts; and Branimir Baždaric', Advisor for Fisheries and Aquaculture. They answered questions about Croatia‘s operational programme for fisheries and aquaculture, its implementation, the costs involved, and the benefits.

The session on fishing was followed by one on FLAGs where the speaker from the Ministry of Agriculture spoke about the formation of a national network of FLAGs, which would support cooperation among Croatian FLAGs, fostering the sharing of knowledge and best

The first international fisheries conference to be held in Croatia was organised by Lostura. It was very well attended with senior representatives from the administration, research, and the fisheries sector.

practices. The main problems facing the FLAGs were also discussed including the funding procedure which demands that the FLAGs make all payments up front and are then reimbursed later, a condition which places a lot of pressure on the FLAGs.

The conference was a big success in terms of what it achieved and certainly served to profile the organisers, Lostura. The benefits of already having organised a big international event will become increasingly apparent as Lostura develops and starts implementing its strategy.

Pelagos Net Farma farms tuna for the Japanese market

As tuna quotas increase, prices falter The capture-based aquaculture of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a well-developed activity in the Mediterranean. While most EU countries involved in this activity only fatten the fish, in Croatia tuna are farmed. This means reared for a minimum of 18 and up to 30 months.

E

ncouraged by the seemingly insatiable demand for the fish in Japan companies in several countries around the Mediterranean, including Spain, Malta, Italy, Turkey, and Croatia capture wild tuna, fatten the fish in cages and harvest them when they reach a certain weight for export to Japan.

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fattening business. Pelagos Net Farma is based in Biograd some 30 km away from Zadar, where the company has just completed the construction of a storage facility for the frozen small pelagic fish used to feed the tuna it farms. Pelagos has also benefited from the increase in quotas, which went up from 86 tonnes in 2015 to 100 in 2016. Nenad Horvat, the director of Pelagos Net Farma explains that tuna fattening companies are limited not only by the quota but also the effort, as fishing this quota is restricted to a 30-day window

between 26 May and 24 June.

Tuna are typically caught using purse seines with minor quantities of fish caught with tuna traps. As tuna tend to school by size the purse seine is a very efficient method of catching the fish and, importantly, is the only way to transfer the captured fish to the transport cages that are used to move the fish to the final on-growing cages. ICCAT rules stipulate that the fish have to be over 8 kg in weight (or 75 cm) when they are captured, and have to be grown to a minimum of 30 kg before they can be sold.

Fish grown to a minimum of 50 kg At Pelagos Net Farma the fish are grown for a minimum of 18 months and sometimes even 30, says Mr Horvat. This means that the fish that are caught in the 2016 season will be sold at the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018 at which point the expected weight will be over 50 kg. Most of the fish we capture are around 10 kg in weight because the schools that we target usually comprise fish of around this weight, Mr Horvat explains. This

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Nenad Horvat, Director, Pelagos Net Farma, a tuna fishing and fattening company.

A new cold store to hold the frozen small pelagic feed for the tuna was completed at the end of last year.

time of the year is the spawning season and most of the adult fish are leaving the Adriatic Sea to spawn in the Balearic Sea, the South Tyrrhenian Sea, and in the southern Mediterranean. The young fish that are targeted by the Croatian vessels tend to congregate in the waters around the island of Jabuka some 50 nautical miles from Zadar. The company was established in 2013 and Mr Horvat joined it from a demersal fish catching and processing company. Pelagos owns two fishing vessels the Pelagos 1 and the Pelagos 2, which fish for tuna during the season and over the rest of the year they target the small pelagic fish that is used to feed the tuna. In the season when anchovy prices are twice that of sardine’s, any anchovies caught by these vessels are sold to processors rather than used as bait for the tuna. However, in part of December and all of January there is blanket ban on fishing for sardines as this is the spawning period.

each year. Starting with 36 tonnes in 2013, which it bought from the market, it moved to 65, then 86 and this year will be 100 tonnes.

Production is growing no doubt, says Mr Horvat, but in the meanwhile prices are falling too as the market responds to the availability of larger volumes

of tuna. Pelagos has just completed the construction of a new cold store of 3,600 sq. m with a current capacity of a little over 1,600 tonnes. The freezing equipment, some of which comes from Denmark, has a capacity of 80 tonnes in a twelve-hour shift with temperatures reaching -45

Since its inception Pelagos has gradually increased its tuna quota

One of the two purse seining vessels owned by the company. The vessels fish for tuna in the one month season and for small pelagics during the rest of the year.

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degrees. The entire system was put together by a local company using equipment from around Europe. One of the engineers maintaining the system calls it one of the best he knows. The gas used for the freezing is carbon dioxide, a more environmentally friendly refrigerant than the

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A tuna fattening cage with an observation platform in the background from where the cages can be monitored.

currently used alternatives. However, carbon dioxide systems due to their greater complexity and the higher pressures at which they operate tend to be more expensive. The environmental benefit was one of the main reasons behind choosing this system and the project received support from the European funds, which was also helpful.

The company does not just rely on its own vessels for the small pelagic feed for the tuna, but also imports about a fifth of its requirement. This is mainly herring which is chosen because of its high fat content, and is imported from Sweden.

Results of environmental impact assessment awaited Pelagos Net Farma’s cage facilities are located some 12 nautical miles from Zadar. Today Pelagos has eight cages at the site and is waiting for the conclusion of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) being carried out by the state after which if there are no objections the number will increase to 12. The company has a license for 600 tonnes of tuna for its farm per year and if all goes well with the EIA, there is a theoretical possibility to increase this to 1,500 tonnes. But being able to produce

that volume depends primarily on how the tuna capture quotas evolve. For the moment, says Mr Horvat, we can produce some 500 tonnes and next year perhaps some 20 more. Companies catching tuna in order to fatten it are very closely monitored. During the fishing season independent observers on board the vessel monitor the capture and transfer of the fish. The fishing operation has to be approved by the authorities and cameras record the fish transferring and counting procedures. The Croatian quota is 551 tonnes and over 90 is distributed between four purse seining companies while the rest is

for hand lines and angling. These companies tend to collaborate to some extent as there are common interests, for example, in the sustainability of the stock. Pelagos cooperates particularly closely with Jadran Tuna as the two companies share owners.

The recovery plan for bluefin tuna seems to be working which is good news for the tuna stock and by extension also for the companies that are fattening the fish. The challenge now is to counter the fall in prices that the increased supply of tuna brings, perhaps with greater value addition, new markets, or improved service.

Pelagos Net Farma Vukovarska 86 23210 Biograd Croatia Tel.: +385 99 2731180 nenad.horvat@pelagos-net.hr

The nets being prepared for the fishing vessel.

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Quota: 100 tonnes Farm capacity: 600 tonnes Net cages: 8 Cold store capacity: 1,600 tonnes Purse seiners: 2 (40 m and 31 m) Employees: 43

Director: Nenad Horvat Activity: Tuna fattening

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Tajer salts and marinades anchovies for Spain and Italy

New factory will expand product range Small pelagics are an important component of the Croatian ďŹ shery and processing sector. Sardines and anchovies are the main small pelagic species that are caught and processed into a variety of products intended for the domestic market as well as for export.

A

number of Croatian companies are involved in the production and processing of sardines and anchovies from the Adriatic, fish which connoisseurs find quite different from similar species in other parts of the Mediterranean or the Atlantic. These are often caught and processed the same day, typically salted or marinated, to give a product that has all the benefits of being produced from fish that was caught a few hours before it is processed.

Raw material from three to four vessels Tajer is one of the companies on this market. Started by Zeljko Spralja, a serial entrepreneur in 1991 the company started in the local fish trading business before establishing a processing facility in 2008. Today the company has grown too big for its current premises and is now in the process of building a bigger facility to expand the production. Tajer owns one vessel that supplies the processing plant with raw material. This supply is augmented with catches from three or four other vessels with which the company has agreements. The catches are mostly of anchovies, and the volumes have been going up so that Tajer no longer has the space to store the product and is therefore planning to move its operations to an industrial estate, Policnik, some 15 km inland from Zadar.

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The proximity of the fishing grounds means that fish is landed very fresh and can be processed or frozen immediately.

The new facility will also allow the company to freeze and store the raw material that does not get processed when it is landed.

Currently, with the maximum capacity, we only work during the anchovy season, a period of three to four months, processing fresh fish, says Mr Ivos. Fishing for small pelagics is influenced by the moonlight. Vessels are equipped with lamps that aggregate the fish at night making them easier to catch. This however works only when there is little or no moonlight. This fact combined with the closed seasons when the fish are spawning substantially reduce the number days that fish can be caught to a relatively brief period.

Being able to store the fish is necessary for a processor to work independent of the fishing season. The new facility will enable us to freeze and store the larger amounts of the raw material so that we can process fish and supply our customers all year around.

The plan is ultimately to move all the activities from the old facility to the new one.

Salted anchovies can only be manually filleted Tajer is very much a family owned business. Mr Ivos has two sons, one of whom works on board the company’s vessel while the other is the production manager in the

processing facility and, he confides, when they are interested in something then I get interested too. The new processing facility is being built with the assistance of a consultant, Dr Neven Bosnic, who has many years of experience in the small pelagics processing business. One of the products being made at the factory is fillets of salted anchovies. The anchovies are placed in barrels with salt and allowed to mature for three to four months.

The fish are then removed from the barrels and filleted by hand as the salting and maturation process leaves the fish too delicate to be processed mechanically. Over nine tenths of the production www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Two of Tajer’s main products, salted anchovies (left) and marinated anchovies.

is based on anchovies with the balance produced from sardines.

Salting involves first grading the fish and then placing the largest fish between layers of salt, and is therefore a good way of rapidly treating large quantities of fish as the fish are salted whole round.

The bigger size of fish to be salted is partly because the process results in a greater loss of mass.

If the fish are small already at the outset, by the end of the process they would have shrunk to the point where filleting them would become difficult.

The company makes two kinds of marinated fish, one for export and one for the domestic market, the latter under its own brand. Fish that are marinated are generally smaller than those that are salted, and the marinating process is a shorter one than the salting. In general, the company salts the catches in the late spring and summer,

the smaller anchovies are frozen, and when there is no fresh fish the company makes marinated fish from the frozen anchovies.

Several factors influence market The length of time the fish stays in the salt depends on the temperature and the season. Normally when the fish is salted in the spring, it matures for four months. But if it is salted in late spring or early autumn it will only mature by May or June the following year. A rough calculation is that a one degree drop in temperature results in a 2-3 longer maturing period. In the winter the temperature is 6-8 degrees and the fish almost does not mature at all. This means that the maturation process can be prolonged or shortened by tweaking the temperature, which in turn allows the production to coincide

with market demand. There is of course a trade-off ; a longer maturing period at lower temperatures generally means a higher quality product. Market demand for this product tends to fluctuate with the catch, which varies from area to area. The fishing grounds off Zadar, says Dr Bosnic, are among the most productive in the whole of the northern Mediterranean, but developments in catches in Spain, southern Italy, Morocco and even to some extent in distant Argentina, Peru, Chile and China, also have an impact on the market in Croatia. In Croatia the annual production of salted anchovies is based on 9-15,000 tonnes of fresh fish, a volume, which though by no means small, corresponds to annual raw material requirements of the largest Mediterranean companies. It is therefore no surprise that what happens on these markets has an influence on Croatia.

Over the years Tajer’s product portfolio has been growing, says Jelena Dusevic, who is responsible for the production and is a biotechnologist by education, who has been with Tajer for eight years. The volume of salted anchovies has increased, marinated anchovies are being produced too – mainly for the Italian market, and the company has also started manufacturing salted anchovies in cans. In addition, the freezing

capacity has been increased so the company has gained a foothold in the market for frozen anchovies.

The additional capacity is for individually quick frozen (IQF) fish which can be sold as bait to the tuna farming industry but can also be sold to the canning industry in countries like Spain and Italy.

Tourists could provide a new market At Tajer, intitially the focus was on the local market, but as production started to increase the company began exploring other market avenues, starting with Spain and Italy. Once the new factory is up and running the company will look into the production of other fish such as sardines as the window for processing anchovies from fresh fish is very short. Sardines are also a typical Croatian product, the focus on anchovies has been driven by the demand from abroad, but the Croatian market for fish is small and concentrated on the coasts, says Mr Ivos. On the other hand, Croatia is a popular destination for tourists in the summer and Mr Ivos considers this a potential market for Tajer’s products. The new factory will also allow the company to experiment with new ideas and new products some of which will be based on sardines and will be marketed to the tourists.

Tajer Grgura Budislavica 82 23000 Zadar Croatia Tel.: +385 23 221 499 Fax: +385 23 220 424 tajer1@zd.t-com.hr

Mirko Ivos, a board member of Tajer, together with his son, Joso. The other son works on the company fishing vessel. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Members of Board: Mirko Ivos and Zeljko Spralja

Production manager: Joso Ivos Activities: Fishing, processing Fishing vessels: 1 Raw materials: Anchovies, sardines Products: Salted anchovies, marinated anchovies in jars Volumes: 500 tonnes Employees: 30

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Croatian fishing company Mislov is still a family business

Sardine and anchovy fishery has expanded into processing Mislov, a family-owned pelagic fishery, expanded its operations in 2015 beyond catching fish when it opened a new processing plant in Policnik, Croatia. The company has been in business since it was founded in 2001 in Kali, on Island Ugljan. It is run by the Mislov family, who have extensive experience in fishing tuna and small pelagic species. The fishery’s main activity is catching anchovy and sardines. With the addition of the factory, it is now involved in processing and wholesale as well, and plans for further expansion of available products are being discussed for the near future.

Building processing plant The company’s production is made was a long-held dream up of a range of products based The creation of the processing plant for pelagic fish comes after numerous years of planning for the company. The family had been involved in catching fish, but always had the desire of someday opening up their own processing plant. They began taking steps toward this goal in 2009, drawing up ideas for the factory and applying for loans. Construction began in 2014, and on 8 June 2016, Mislov celebrated its first year of processing and working at the factory. The business continues in its tradition of being family-run, with the Mislov family managing all aspects of the business, from the fishing boats to sales and quality control.

Mislov has three vessels used for pelagic fishing, measuring approximately 24, 28, and 32 meters long. A third vessel, M/V Molo, was added to the original two vessels M/V Roso and M/V Cicilo in order to ensure a proper quantity of small pelagic fish. The company aims at self-sufficiency; its own vessels are able to supply about 95 percent of its needs.

35 employees work at the facilities year-round, and an additional 15 staff members are brought on during the salting season.

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on anchovy and sardines. These include marinated anchovy, with marinated sardines being a new addition to their product line. In addition, their frozen line includes whole frozen sardines, and small quantities of butterfly sardines that are individually quick-frozen.

Mislov has machinery that it uses in this production process for cleaning sardines, removing the heads, and making filets, as well as marinating. Anchovy, due to their small size and sensitive nature, require human hands for these tasks. Frozen sardines make up the majority of the company’s exports.

Frozen anchovy are not sold to consumers, but are instead used in the production of marinated anchovy. Thus, Mislov can continue production even when the fishing season is over. In addition, this strategy enables the company to employ its workers continuously through the year.

Production emphasises quality control and freshness Mislov’s owners stated that their desire when opening their own operating facility was to add value to their catch. The family has been catching fish for generations, and

Mislov started off as a fishing company, an activity that today forms the basis for the supply of raw materials, sardines and anchovies, to the newly opened processing plant.

have a high-quality product that they now manage from vessel to customer. Cooling starts on board the vessels to guarantee freshness, and the business has its own refrigerated trucks to deliver its products to clients. While Mislov does not sell its fish in very large quantities, its aim is to focus instead on the quality of its products and ensure excellence from when the fish is caught at sea to when it is delivered to customers. It hopes that the market will recognize the quality of its products and better value relative to other producers in the sector, and that this may translate to higher prices in the future. Most other companies, Mislov notes, are partially or entirely dependent on other vessels to supply their catch.

Since the family has essentially two enterprises, their fishing vessels

and their processing plant, they are able to provide for nearly all of their needs, giving them more of a competitive advantage in the industry.

Most of the fish produced by Mislov goes to the markets of Western Europe, primarily Spain and Italy, though some production also goes to Portugal, Greece, Malta, and Albania. Albania mostly receives its salted products. Some production is also sold locally in Croatia during the summer tourist season, though in relatively smaller quantities.

The company has been doing research on the possibility of expansion into new markets. Representatives from Mislov attended the past Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, which enabled the company to promote itself and raise www.eurofishmagazine.com

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2500 tons of catches and up to 2000 tons of factory production.

The company says that it is satisfied with this level of output; it is not seeking greater capacity at the moment, but instead wishes to increase the types of products that it offers. Currently, Mislov only produces its frozen products in 15 kilo packages, and marinated in 21 kilo packages. Its customers at the moment are thus primarily importers. The business hopes to expand into producing smallersized packages, creating products that are consumer-sized and can be distributed at supermarkets. Mislov has desired to make such products available from the beginning, but in their infancy of the past year it was difficult to work on this smaller scale.

Individually frozen, whole sardines (left) as well as headed, gutted and tailed sardines (right) are among the main products processed by Mislov.

awareness about the products it offers. There are also negotiations on certification underway, which should hopefully be completed by the end of the summer, or at the most by the end of the year.

Traceability has also become a standard for the business, which keeps logbooks of its catch and recorded production. As a producer, it must report information on catches, such as which of its vessels caught what, and when.

It also keeps such information on vessel and date for its frozen products, utilizing its own program to

track production from the fresh catch to the end recipient.

Consumer-sized products lie in future Though Mislov does have ambitions for broadening the scope of its business, the processing plant is still very new (it was inaugurated in May, 2016), so there has been a period of adjustment and learning. The plant has only had one season of salting so far; much of the time since establishment was also spent working on

training employees and setting up the business. Mislov’s owners noted that most of their employees were new to the processing procedures when they arrived at the company, and thus it was necessary to provide training to these employees so that they could be prepared for food production.

Now, the employees are familiar with fish and the procedures used, and the company is ready to move forward into expansion.

Total quantities of anchovy and sardine amount to approximately

The next steps that will follow with this diversification will be for the company to create its own brand and distribution chain. Further branding will enable the processor to set itself apart from the competition, as some other companies, especially those that supply products in large packages, do not always sell to consumers under their own brand. A clear Mislov brand identity will allow the company to showcase their image as a family-run, high-quality producer, and reinforce its strengths that help it stand out in the industry.

Mislov d.o.o.

Grabi 44 23241 Policnik Croatia Tel.: +385 23 281186 Fax: +385 23 281454 info@mislov.hr www.mislov.hr

Kristina Mislov Jelavic and her brother Milivoj Mislov together with a third sibling jointly run the family company processing anchovies and sardines. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Director: Milivoj Mislov Assistant Manager: Kristina Mislov Jelavic

Activities: Fishing, processing Species: Sardines, anchovies Vessels: Three Products: IQF whole sardines, H and G sardines, HG and T sardines; marinated and salted anchovies Volumes: 2,500 tonnes of raw materials, 2,000 tonnes of products Markets: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Albania

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Cromaris has one of the world’s biggest seabass and seabream hatcheries

Complete self-sufficiency in seabass, seabream production planned Cromaris, the largest Croatian producer of seabass and seabream has completely renovated its hatchery to double the production of fry of these two species.

L

ocated in the town of Nin in the vicinity of Zadar the new hatchery, when it reaches full capacity, will produce at least twice as much as the old facility. The new hatchery will include two pre-growing units one at the hatchery site and the other at the company’s cage farm facility in Lamjana bay. The hatchery will ultimately result in the production of 30-35m fry weighing 5-7 g, half each of seabass and seabream. The new hatchery, in addition, will be working with some other species including common dentex (Dentex dentex), and meagre (Argyrosomus regius). Production of fry for these latter species is still at the experimental level and will not exceed some 300,000 individuals.

Production is doubled using the same site A two-fold expansion in the production volume is not just an issue of doubling everything within the hatchery. To start with the available area stayed more or less the same so the use of space had to be made much more efficient, says Gordana Šarušic', the hatchery manager.

One of the ways of doing this was to replace the circular tanks in the old hatchery with FosterLucas tanks that, like raceways, have a length to width ratio of more than 5, but unlike raceways 40

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An incubation tank used to hold the eggs that are collected from the broodstock. After 4-5 days the eggs hatch and the larvae are moved to larval tanks.

have rounded ends. As in circular tanks, the circular ends enable rapid interior currents driven by the renewal water entering the tank, but the ratio of water surface to floor space is higher than with circular tanks. Foster-Lucas tanks allow a greater volume of biomass per cubic m than with other designs. The renovated hatchery has been divided into separated units, a weaning unit, nursery I, and nursery II, depending on the size of the fish. Each unit has its own independent recirculation system, which makes for a

Regular samples of the fish are taken to monitor growth rates, check for deformities, or other issues. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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and seabream using organic fry sourced externally. If demand for organic fish increases the new hatchery has all the requirements in place to produce organic and conventional fry in parallel, such as separate storage and use of organic feed. Other requirements including physical separation of the different species and different generations are more or less standard practice in any intensive hatchery production and so are followed by default.

Part of the live feed unit where the production of phytoplankton is initiated.

more flexible, efficient, and less risky production.

The distributed recirculation systems benefit the health and reduce the mortality of the young fish, which is the primary purpose of the renovated hatchery. We have combined new procedures with improved technology and our own experience and knowledge to create this new hatchery, says

Ms Šarušic'. Although there are still issues that crop up now and then as with any new venture, these help to fine tune the system so that it functions optimally. In the initial stages external consultants were used in the design and some of the implementation of the ideas for the new hatchery.

More importantly, the people who manage the hatchery all agree that being open to other ideas,

While many of the processes in the hatchery are automated, human monitoring plays a critical role in keeping mortality rates manageable. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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cooperating with external experts, and drawing on outside sources of experience and knowledge, are very important prerequisites to have a well-functioning hatchery.

New facility can have parallel organic and conventional production Currently, part of the company’s production is organic seabass

Once the hatchery is performing at peak capacity it will have five staggered production cycles for each species. By manipulating water temperature and photoperiod groups of broodstock are conditioned to spawn at different times of the year to ensure a year round production. Starting in October the fish spawn to February so that the fry can go into the cages from February to the end of June or July. The period from when the eggs hatch to the time the fry are introduced to the sea cages is about 180 days. The hatchery is also currently running a genetics programme that seeks to improve the quality of the broodstock. This will be intensified in the future, says Lana Vidovic', the

Foster-Lucas tanks combine the advantages of a circular tank (better circulation of water) with those of a raceway (better surface area to floor space ratio).

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From left, Lana Vidovic' , Gordana Šarušic' , Adelko Mihovilovic' , Zdenka Vidov-Kraljic' and Nina Majnaric'

chief technologist, to produce fry which are more resistant to disease and which show faster growth rates. Recirculation systems have the advantage that since all the parameters can be controlled it is possible to reduce the risk of disease, but even so it is vital to monitor the system and step in immediately in case of an incident so as to prevent the problem from spreading and jeopardising the entire production. At the hatchery the inlet water temperature varies significantly depending on the season with the result that water has to be heated in winter and cooled in summer to reach the optimal temperature of 19 degrees. By recirculating most of the water the hatchery can not only control the system, but also save energy.

Seabream reared using green-water technology Looking after the larvae is like caring for a human baby. They are given a diet of live feed eight times a day, a process that is monitored by a technician, who makes sure that the larvae are actually feeding and that they are 42

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healthy. Seabass and seabream larvae are treated differently says Ms Vidovic'. For the seabream larvae green-water technology is used involving the production of phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis). This has a three-fold purpose: to feed the larvae directly; to provide a substrate for the growth of rotifers (microscopic aquatic zooplankton) which are then fed to the larvae; and to maintain a healthy environment in the larval tanks thanks to its bacteriostatic properties.

Seabass larvae on the other hand are reared on artemia (tiny crustaceans). Live feed units are heavy on manpower and many hatcheries dispense with them in favour of freeze dried feed which is far easier to manage. But others find that the results are better with live feed and so prefer to invest in this production.

The eggs are collected from the broodstock and placed in incubators for 4-5 days. After this the larvae are moved to a succession of units – larval units, weaning units, nursery I, and nursery II – each for about 35 days resulting in fry of 5-7 g,

which are then placed in sea cages. At regular intervals the fish are sorted by size. When they are very small this is done manually, but later when they are bigger and stronger it is done using machines – graders, pumps, counters, etc. Sorting is critical to keep mortality levels reasonable. Typical survival rates at a seabass/seabream hatchery are around 35-40 and one of the chief causes of mortality is cannibalism. This is exacerbated by size differences, so grading the fish regularly has a direct influence on mortality rates. The fish are graded also to ensure that the fry are as

uniform a size as possible when they enter the sea cages as this optimises growth on the farm.

Bigger fish also bite smaller fish, which may not kill but cause damage that is vulnerable to infections and is yet another reason to maintain as uniform a size of fish in a tank as possible. At every stage of growth samples are taken at regular intervals to check for illnesses and deformities, which could be brought on by nutritional deficiencies (operculum deformities), by unclean water surfaces (swim bladder problems), or by genetic illnesses or even too high water flow rates (spinal curvature). Closely monitoring the larvae particularly while feeding them is one way of keeping these potential problems at bay.

A hatchery encompasses a complex of physical, chemical and biological processes that need to be carefully monitored and adjusted to ensure the health and wellbeing of living creatures when they are at their most vulnerable. Managing this calls for a combination of human and technological resources among others that Cromaris has successfully deployed to create a facility of which both the company and the wider Croatian fish farming sector can be proud.

Cromaris Hatchery Nin Ilirska Cesta bb 23232 Nin Croatia Tel.: +385 23 265250 Fax: +285 23 265244 Hatchery Manager: Gordana Šarušic' , gordana.sarusic@ cromaris.hr

Chief Technologist: Lana Vidovic' , lana.vidovic@cromaris.hr Chief Technologist: Adelko Mihovilovic' Chief Technologist: Zdenka Vidov-Kraljic' Production: 30-35m 5-7 g fry, half each of seabass and seabream, Employees: 43 Investment: EUR17m www.eurofishmagazine.com

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Demand for fresh local fish encourages producers to open their own outlets

Buying farmed fish directly from the source In Lithuania, a new trend has emerged in the way that aquaculture production is sold to consumers: a few local fish farmers and processors have opened their own retail outlets to sell their products. These specialty shops enable the producers to sell fish directly to consumers, bypassing the typical distributors of supermarkets or fishmongers. Three such businesses who have practiced this retail strategy are JSCs Išlaužo žuvis, Kintai, and Vasaknos. These firms established their shops in response to the growing desire for fresh, local fish shown both in Lithuania and in other EU countries.

T

he Lithuanian aquaculture sector has continued to experience growth, with the vast majority of production coming from pond aquaculture. The predominant species continues to be the common carp, though sturgeon, rainbow trout, bighead carp, and grass carp are also farmed. Market observations have shown that consumers prefer fresh fish, as well as fish products that can be prepared more quickly and easily. These companies have found a niche market for their fresh fish. The new retail enterprises cater to those customers who are moving away from large stores, and back to smaller specialty shops that can provide a variety of local fish products.

The storefront of Išlaužo žuvis’s boutique-inspired fish shop.

Creating a fresh fish on ice. Kintai is a process- smoked fish in its shops, and also direct-distribution model ing factory that processes as much fulfils special production requests for fresh fish as 500 tons of fish, both its own fish from clients.

In southern Lithuania, Išlaužo žuvis owns two shops that sell its own production, which includes various kinds of carp, sturgeon, catfish, pike, perch, trout and eel.

The shop design was inspired by the idea of a cosy and small fish “boutique,” and the shops offer over 200 culinary products, including fish rolls and fish steaks. The available assortment of fish covers the range of smoked fish (cold and hot), fish culinary products, and www.eurofishmagazine.com

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and that which is purchased from other producers. It grows species including common carp, grass carp, trout, and sturgeon, and sells fresh, smoked and salted fish. Kintai currently has five shops in small . towns in western Lithuania (Šilute, . .

Kintai, Šilale, Taurage and Telšiai), each town with approximately six to thirty thousand inhabitants.

Finally, the company Vasaknos has been processing its own sustainable aquaculture production since 2015. It provides fresh and

An emphasis on close customer relationships One advantage that these shops have is that they foster unique relationships between producer and consumer, which are missing if fish are purchased from large supermarkets. Many of the shops’ clients are local, though the regions do attract tourists and some of the production is exported. The shops emphasize the fresh taste

of their fish, and seek to provide customers with personal attention to create a warm atmosphere. Customer interaction is quite important to these businesses. Išlaužo žuvis, for example, further builds positive relationships through its participation in local fairs and public events, which also provide an opportunity to tell the public about its unique production process of preservative-free fish.

The strategy of these businesses relies upon their idea that if they offer quality products and welcoming service, customers Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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will return. Thus, a major way that the businesses promote their products is simply through wordof-mouth; they depend upon satisfied customers to spread the word and increase sales. Yet they also make use of other channels to raise awareness about their products. Vasaknos uses methods including distributing signs, stickers, promotional booklets, and stands in the local area. For Kintai, its small-town locations make positive customer feedback perhaps the most valuable marketing tool. Yet it also puts out advertisements in local newspapers, distributes leaflets, organizes tasting events, and orders commercials on local radio stations.

The company furthermore utilizes social networks like Facebook, as well as Google AdWords.

quality of available products. While Išlaužo žuvis, Kintai, and Vasaknos have only opened their shops somewhat recently, they consider their businesses to be expanding, and the demand for their products growing. The new shops are starting to comprise more significant shares of the businesses’ sales. Išlaužo žuvis, for instance, sells most of its production either in its shops or in production stands in the ecological markets. It has also reached its goal of processing one-third of its own grown fish in its processing factory.

Kintai’s shops are still new, and thus it is difficult to determine precisely their revenue; yet the business plans to increase its overall sales to 1,2 million euros per year, from the current sales of 600-700 thousand euros per year. It hopes to have its sales be made up equally of live and processed products. For Vasaknos, the sales from its shops and mobile shops make up the vast majority of their processed fish sales: approximately 90 percent. Processed items, in turn, amount to 10 to 15 percent of the company’s overall sales. While most firms could not comment on the pricing of their

Producers have observed increased sales and seafood consumption Over the last five years, sales of many fish species have increased due to growing demands from Lithuanian consumers and the high

products, as they consider them to be unique products that are unlike those which are marketed at large stores, Vasaknos stated that the shops’ price of production is lower than that in supermarkets.

In addition, the companies note that the existence of these kinds of shops will contribute to increasing the consumption of fish and seafood, especially locally. Local fish had declined in popularity due to the prominence of imported fish, but a shift in consumer tastes toward sustainability and freshness has increased demand for fish sourced from nearby. Some of the shops that were established in small towns were the first specialty fish sellers in the area, reaching more customers and opening up new markets for fish to be sold.

Shops provide firms greater flexibility in products and prices The shops are able to provide very fresh fish given the shortened supply chain, and the direct communication between producers and

Aquaculture production in Lithuania Volume (tonnes) 2012

Value (million euro)

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

3,256.88

3,751.09

3,306.22

6.54

7.57

6.78

Catfish

13.22

41.46

60.20

0.06

0.17

0.35

Crucian carp

40.87

29.30

32.81

0.04

0.03

0.03

Eel

3.45

3.47

7.15

0.08

0.09

0.06

Grass carp

0.00

0.00

8.64

0.00

0.00

0.02

23.86

36.58

46.74

0.09

0.17

0.22

Common carp

Pike Pikeperch

0.17

1.85

1.94

0.00

0.06

0.05

Silver carp

23.34

52.25

97.15

0.06

0.16

0.29

Sturgeon

55.36

115.76

72.80

0.28

0.67

0.37

4.50

11.12

12.95

0.02

0.08

0.08

114.56

115.12

109.48

0.36

0.37

0.44

40.84

52.69

87.62

0.12

0.14

0.26

4.84

0.25

0.98

0.02

0.00

0.01

4,210.92

3,844.67

7.66

9.51

8.96

Tench Trout White grass carp Others*

Total

3,581.89

*Bass, crabs, peled, loach, bream, European catfish, roach

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Ministry of Agriculture

final consumers has its advantages.

Customers can hear about the production process, as well as provide immediate feedback on the products’ taste and quality straight to the producers. This allows the shops to be more flexible and experimental in the products they offer, and more quickly responsive to consumer demand. There is also greater freedom in determining their prices, which could be difficult to do when negotiating with large, powerful retailers. The firms pride themselves on the knowledge they share with buyers regarding the production processes, and the network of loyal customers that they have been able to create.

There are still challenges to overcome in the expansion of these businesses, though. Due to the small, regional nature of the shops, they are not readily accessible for people who live outside their general vicinity. The shops have tried to compensate for this by selling their products in popular markets.

In addition, the responsibilities of shop management and administration are now left up to the companies; they must also pay for the promotion of their products, which can be costly and sometimes not even effective.

Expanding into eating places and greater product variety The future of these businesses is planned to include further sales growth, as well as the opportunity to diversify products by partnering with retailers of other goods.

In the shops of Išlaužo žuvis, customers can already buy beer or natural bread from its partner producers. Išlaužo žuvis has plans to open a fish restaurant with a professional chef, who will create meals showcasing the local fish.

After Kintai completes its first year in business, it hopes to work with www.eurofishmagazine.com

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other companies, and also has plans for a fish café or restaurant.

Kintai is currently involved with the tourism industry, and can potentially supply its fish to a restaurant and hotel along the river Minija.

Furthermore, a new fish shop is in development, which would open in Vilnius in August. Vasaknos currently only sells its own products, but it too is interested in expanding

to an eating establishment. It has discussed opening a fish bistro close to its shops, as well as perhaps a culinary manufacturer.

Reaching the online market is also a possibility that has been discussed. Kintai is working on selling its products online, perhaps for next year. Išlaužo žuvis prefers direct interaction with its

customers, though, and maintains that the personal interaction is what sets these businesses apart from their bigger competitors. The owners of Išlaužo žuvis believes that the variety and quality of shops such as their own will make them more popular in the future.

Consumers have demonstrated a desire for greater knowledge about the origins of their food, including

how a fish was bred and its special characteristics; smaller retailers are uniquely suited to providing such detail. A growing inclination for healthy eating in Lithuania, as well as increasing purchasing power, should benefit the continued growth of such shops.

Katie Duggan, Eurofish katie@eurofish.dk

Sea-fisheries and aquaculture laboratory opens in Lithuania

An investment in developing Lithuanian maritime technology The Fisheries Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania has established and opened a sea-fisheries and aquaculture laboratory, the construction and modernisation of which were funded by the European Fisheries Fund. The laboratory was created through the Programme of Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre for the Development of the Lithuanian Maritime Sector.

A

ccording to Virginija Bal. traitiene , the Minister of Agriculture, the aims of the programme include creating modern infrastructure for the general needs of Lithuania’s maritime research, academic studies and technological development; encouraging more active applications of scientific output in production and business; incubating start-ups that will develop practical applications of scientific output; opening possibilities for cooperation among knowledge-demanding maritime businesses, academic institutions and research teams; strengthening the competitiveness of Lithuanian maritime research and technologies in international markets; and creating conditions for attracting more foreign investment to business and research activities within Lithuania’s maritime sector.

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Self-contained system for breeding fish Building the laboratory entailed rearranging the premises of the Fishery Research and Science Division of the Fisheries Service; installing 3 modules of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for aquaculture experiments and scientific research; creating a mesocosm system and experimental flume for fundamental and applied experimental ecology research under controlled environmental conditions; and servicing the molecular biology laboratory. . .

According to Indre Šidlauskiene, the Fisheries Service Director, the installed RAS will enable various experiments related to the growth of fish and other aquatic organisms in small spaces by minimizing negative impacts on the natural environment. Recirculating aquaculture

The opening of the new sea-fisheries laboratory by the Fisheries Service in Lithuania.

is a growing aquaculture sector, as it has many advantages compared to traditional aquaculture. The controlled conditions create an optimal

environment for fish growth, and illnesses and parasites can be prevented more easily within such closed systems. In addition, the Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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facility will also serve to test the effects of new synthetic materials and technologies on aquatic organisms, as well as to contribute to the development of knowledge on cultivation of aquatic organisms,” she says.

The experimental flume installed in the laboratory will enable further research of suspended particle sedimentation capabilities, the resistance of various organisms to the experimental flume, as well as the ecology of aquatic life, plants and algae.

.

Viceminister of Agriculture Lina Kujalyte and Fisheries Service . .

Director Indre Šidlauskiene

system does not require large volumes of water or much space.

However, the use of these systems for obtaining large aquaculture production volumes is limited for various reasons: large initial investments are necessary, the pay-back period is long, and there are many risks related to the physiological and behavioural characteristics of the produced species.

A RAS consist of three modules.

The first module is designed for incubating fish eggs and larvae, which grow from the first feeding up to weight of 0.25 g. The second unit houses fry, while in the third unit fish are grown to maturity.

Each unit includes the equipment for rearing, feed dosing, and feeding appropriate to the development stage of the fish.

Today, there are a few companies trying to grow fish in RAS in Lithuania. The laboratory RAS system can be used to improve and adapt growing techniques for various fish species and other aquatic organisms (pikeperch, sturgeon, perch, freshwater shrimp, algae, etc.) to the 46

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Lithuanian situation, thereby benefiting the industry.

Mesocosms enable researchers to control conditions . .

Dr Ju–rate Lesutiene, associate professor of Marine Technology and .

Natural Sciences of Klaipeda University, has a lot of experience with mesocosms. Mesocosms (mesois medium and -cosm is world) are indoor experimental tanks designed to monitor natural aquatic environment under controlled conditions, she says. The mesocosm system includes 12 pieces of largevolume (height 4.3 m, 2.76 m3) integrated modules. Each module is equipped with heating and cooling systems capable of maintaining different temperature levels at three depth layers to simulate thermal water stratification phenomena. .

Dr Lesutiene also noted the potential applications of the research: “A fundamental research task related to the investigation of eutrophication process, biogeochemical cycling of materials and aquatic food webs could be solved using mesocosms. This experimental

.

According to Lina Kujalyte, Viceminister of Agriculture, all the experimental systems are adapted for operation in both freshwater and Baltic seawater environments.

This creates excellent conditions for applied research on maritime ecology, fisheries, and aquaculture in Lithuania; there is no similar complex infrastructure in the entire south-east region of the Baltic Sea. In the near future, the new research and development infrastructure will be developed in . close collaboration with the Klaipe da University Open Access Centre for Marine Research. This is aimed at ensuring the proper operation of the scientific infrastructure of Marine Valley, allowing open access to the research and development services for internal and external users, and facilitating science and business cooperation through high-level scientific and technological research. The new research and development capacities will include various project activities, such as consultation services for the private sector, research and development projects, and national and international projects.

the genetic diversity of salmonid fish using molecular biology and applying mesocosms for cultivation and reproduction of mysid (a small crustacean) cultures; to determine genetic differences between different populations and genetic structure; and to investigate the genetic structure formation peculiarities in restored and natural populations, according to Antanas Kontautas, chief specialist of The Fisheries Research and Science Division of the Fisheries Service and lecturer at the Faculty of Marine Technology . and Natural Sciences of Klaipe da University. Researchers also plan to apply DNA analysis to identify toxic and non-toxic cyanobacteria. The Baltic Sea Region Interreg project Baltic Blue Biotechnology Alliance will assess the impact of probiotic preparations, which have been developed for aquaculture, on the functioning of RAS and the fish grown in such systems. This year, an experiment protocol is to be designed for the use of pikeperch fry in pilot experiments.

This will allow the preliminary effects of probiotics on young fish, water quality, and water treatment efficiency in biofilters to be tested.

Analysis of fish DNA and genetic structure

Programme directors believe that in the near future, a wider circle of young scientists and researchers will become interested in new opportunities for scientific research in ecology, fisheries and aquaculture fields in the southeast Baltic region. They urge scientists, students and others to visit the new sea-fisheries and aquaculture laboratory and to start working together with the laboratory faculty developing and implementing projects.

The objectives of the currently planned projects are to assess

Antanas Kontautas, Fisheries Research and Science Division www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 5:01 PM

[ PROCESSING ] From fillet to supreme: Fish processing cuts

Lack of terminological standards complicate trade The majority of fish traded today has already undergone some form of processing. The best-known product is the largely boneless fillet which can be prepared – whole or in portions – without any further effort, both time-saving and waste-free. The range of fish cuts on the international markets is, however, much broader, even if some of them are hardly known and rarely used for value adding. ike all farm animals from poultry to cattle, fishes are available in various different cuts. The best-known and most common are probably fillets and loins but on the European and North American fish markets there are also numerous other products that are

L

less well-known and less frequently found on refrigerated shelves or at service counters in supermarkets. Consumers, and even some professionals, hardly know the names and terms used for some individual cuts.

What makes things even more difficult is that there are often

Fig. 1

rather confusing because this term is normally used for higher processing stages, particularly for whole headed or head-off fishes.

Various additional terms can be listed on the label depending on which processing stage a whole fish has undergone: % gutted % head-on % headed (head-off) % scaled – the scales have been removed from the body’s surface % gilled – the gills have been removed % finned – the fins have been removed (but often only the dorsal and anal fins) % tailed – the tail fin has been removed These terms are often abbreviated and only the first letters listed but sometimes written differently, e.g. H&G or h&g for headed und gutted. An additional T (tailed) in HGT means that the tail fin has also been removed. G&G stands for gilled and gutted, SGG for scaled, gilled and gutted, SGO for scaled and gutted, head-off.

The simplest product form and at the same time the basis of all processed products is the whole fish or round fish that has still not been gutted. It sometimes has the addition “as is” to underline that the fish is fully intact, i.e. exactly as it was when taken out of the water.

The first and simplest processing stage is usually the removal of the intestines, for which the term gutted is used. Whole fish gutted is a typical end product of species that are preferably eaten as whole portion-size fishes, for example trout, sea bream, sea bass, snapper, tilapia, plaice or sole. The term single portion sized whole fish refers to a whole fish complete with head and tail which with a weight of 300 to 600 grams is large enough to satisfy the appetite of one person. In contrast, a single serving portion is just a part or a cut of the whole fish which is usually sufficient for one person.

Sometimes the term dressed is also used for the product form whole fish gutted. This can be www.eurofishmagazine.com

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regional, national or international differences in the usage of such terms. Uniform terminology standards in this area would be very helpful and make life much easier, particularly since fish products are traded globally and increasingly via the internet. Importers, retailers

and final consumers have to know exactly which products they are actually buying, and whether the chosen cuts meet their requirements. The following explanation will hopefully bring clarity to the sometimes confusing variety of terms used for the different fish cuts.

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[ PROCESSING ]

Whole fish gutted.

Fig. 2 Since there are no consistent international terminological sta-ndards suppliers sometimes use different terms for the same processing status of their products. In Germany, a gutted, headed fish can be

Whole fish gutted & scaled.

abbreviated aoK (for the German “ausgenommen ohne Kopf”). But the terms h&g (headed & gutted) or GO (gutted, head-off) are equally common. Some suppliers use dressed for whole fishes that have only been gutted. For others

the term dressed stands for whole fishes from which not only the intestines but also the head and fins have been removed. Sometimes this processing form is also described as pan-dressed, bullets or rounds, implying that the

fish is kitchen-ready (in German “küchenfertig”). The term J-cut is sometimes also added to signify that the collar bones to which the pectoral fins (and in some species also the ventral fins) are attached have already been removed.

Removal of the collar bones, J-cut.

Headed & gutted, h&g, or gutted head-off. Also referred to as dressed.

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[ PROCESSING ] Fig. 3 If pan-dressed, bullets or rounds are divided further the terms center cuts (also roasts)

and tails cuts are used depending on the position of the individual cuts within the fish’s body.

Fig. 4 The terms center cut and tail cut are also often used for steaks, i.e. slices that are cut across the fish’s length, also called karbonade in German.

It is difficult to differentiate the two cut positions exactly. Some producers use the term center cut only for slices that are cut as far as the rear edge of the abdominal cavity. Tail cuts would them be all further cuts in the direction of the tail. Other producers differentiate the two cuts less exactly and use the term tail cuts only for slices whose size is much less that the average body cross-section of the fish.

Use of the terms steak and cutlet is similarly inconsistent. Originally

steak was only used for boneless cuts like those from the large loins of tuna and swordfishes. In the meantime, however, the term is also used for other cuts such as portion-size slices that are cut across the fish’s backbone. Because these “steaks” contain bones they are also sometimes called cutlets.

Steaks or cutlets are often cut from salmon, cod or hake.

A further distinction is made with regard to the thickness of the slices. Some suppliers have adopted the French term darne for this cut – thin slices that are at most 10 to 12 mm thick. In contrast, a real steak has to be considerably thicker, mostly 2 to 3 cm.

Steak, cutlet, center cut.

Fig. 5 What is referred to as steaks, cutlet, darne or karbonade in normal round fishes is called tranche or tronçon if the species concerned is a larger flatfish such as turbot or halibut. In the USA this cut is also referred to as portion cut or steak cut. For smaller flatfish such as plaice, flounder or sole which are usually served as portion-size whole fish only the head, intestines and the long fin edges are removed. This cut is called pan ready. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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By far the most frequent cut, however, is the fillet that in smaller flatfish is usually cut whole from the body so that two more or less equally sized fillets (eye and blind side) are produced per fish. If the two fillets are afterwards placed on top of one another the product is called a double-decker, married or pocketed. Pocketed refers to the possibility to put various fillings in between the two fillets prior to preparation. Flatfish fillets can

also however be cut into two halves along the center bone on the body sides, which leads to four instead of two fillet pieces, and so termed quarter-cut fillets.

In the case of larger flatfishes (e.g. white halibut) the term fletch is used instead of fillet.

If the fletches are very big they are cut again leading to half or quarter fletches etc. Another cut produced from the half fillets or fletches that have been cut along the flatfish’s center bone

is the pavé. Pavés are portionsize fillet pieces, mostly with the skin but always boneless. Sometimes the term pavé is unfortunately also used for fillet pieces of round fishes such as salmon or cod, but this is not correct.

Another typical cut from flatfish fillets is goujons, which are 10 cm long and about 1 cm thick strips that are reminiscent of fish fingers. Originally goujons were only cut from flatfishes but today other fish species ae used, too.

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[ PROCESSING ]

Cuts across the body of larger flatfish are called tranche or tronçon, or in the USA also portion cut or steak cut.

Portion-size flatfish, h&g, finned & tailed, also “pan ready”.

Fig. 6 Fillets of round fishes have become the standard cut in the fish trade because they save a lot of work in the kitchen, can be prepared in numerous different ways and – because they are mostly boneless – are also easy to eat.

The pinbones sometimes cause

problems, however. In some species, such as salmon, they can simply be pulled out. In other species this is not possible which is why they are cut out of the fillet using for example a V-shaped cut, the V-cut. Whether the pinbones are still within the fillet or have been removed is recognizable

from the terms pbi (pinbones in) or pbo (pinbones out).

A new, particularly convenient cut that has asserted itself is loins. This term was originally only used for large fish species such as tuna or swordfish but today it is used for all other species, too. Loin is the term used for the muscle strand of the

Fillet of a round fish, pbi (pinbones in).

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dorsal fillet above the backbone from the rear head end to the start of the tail fin. Real loins should not contain any bones or parts of the abdominal area. A particularly fine variant of loins is top back loins which only comprise the front, particularly meaty section of the loins, mostly in portion size.

Loins. Above: complete muscle strand of the loins above the spine, below: top back loins (the front, particularly meaty section of the loins).

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[ PROCESSING ] Probably the most successful product that is based on the fillet is the supreme, a broad portion strip that is cut across the fillet in the front, particularly thick and meaty region. A supreme is the

best cut of the fish. It is always completely boneless, with or without the skin, and the thinner fillet areas (e.g. the belly flaps) must be removed. Supremes are often traded under other names,

e.g. portion, fillet strip, fillet steak or even pavĂŠ which occasionally causes confusion. A special form of supremes are escalopes which are approximately portion-size pieces that arise from a diagonal

cut across the fillet. Because this diagonal cut is made at a very acute angle, if weight remains constant the area of the resulting pieces increases which improves product appearance.

V-cut of a fillet for removing the pinbones.

Supreme. Broad portion strips cut from the front meaty area of the fillet. Also incorrectly called pavĂŠ.

Fig. 7 An underestimated and much too seldom used cut is the fish’s cheeks.

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Calibrated supremes are popular in catering/restaurants because they save work and offer numerous opportunities for preparation.

They are found on both sides of the head usually in a backward-pointing diagonal beneath the eyes. A lot

of fish lovers judge them the best part of the fish and are willing to pay correspondingly higher prices. The

Medaillons, a smaller variant of the supreme. Mostly prepared without the skin.

cut is especially worthwhile with large fish species such as cod, hake, haddock, anglerfish or halibut.

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[ PROCESSING ] Fig. 8 A common cut in the fillet segment is the butterfly fillet which is mainly used for smaller species such as herring, sardines and mackerel to enlarge the surface area of the product. For some products the fish is better to use as a “double fillet�. This is also true for some very special cuts and product forms that although they are only seldom used offer certain benefits for further processing or upgrading the product:

3

% canoe fillets – the fish is cut directly behind the head, starting along the upper dorsal edge as for the butterfly cut. Intestines and center bone are removed leading to a canoe-like product that can be filled in various ways. % colÊre – smaller fishes are bent to form a ring and the caudal peduncle placed in the fish’s mouth. This unusual processing form is popular in some countries for smoking and deep-frying.

% en-lorgette – both fillets are cut from the tail end but remain connected to the head. The backbone is removed and the fillets are rolled up towards the head. % cravatte – the cut fillet is positioned in the shape of a bow, longer fillet strips can also be tied into a knot. % delice – a topping or seasoning is placed on the middle third of the fillet and the two outer thirds folded over so

that the topping becomes a filling. % en-tresse (plaited) – thin fillet strips are plaited which increases product thickness. It is particularly attractive if fillets of different colour are plaited, e.g. red salmon and white cod strips. % paupiette – fillets are wound to a ring on the belly or dorsal edge so that a filling can be added.

Paupiettes are frequently offered as frozen convenience products.

C 44346 August 4 / 2016

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[ SPECIES ] Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) suffering under climate change

Catch has been declining for more than a decade Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) which is found all around the Arctic is the most frequent and economically important species of the decapod genus Pandalus. The firm, tender flesh of this coldwater shrimp is deemed particularly tasty. Despite its relatively small size it has been targeted by the fishing industry since the early 20th century. However, the stocks have been declining for several years, probably as a result of global climate change.

N

orthern shrimp live in the icy waters of the northern hemisphere. In the Atlantic they are to be found from New England along the Canadian coast, off Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard as far as Norway and the deep sea regions of the North Sea. And in the Pacific, in the Okhotsk Sea, the Bering Strait and in the waters off Alaska. The subarctic shrimp Pandalus borealis is known by various names: pink or Northern shrimp, Northern prawn, deepwater or deep-sea prawn, great Northern prawn or crevette nordique. Regional names like Maine shrimp are also common. And scientists are not even sure whether the animals in the Atlantic and Pacific belong to the same species. Some consider the Pacific Northern shrimp only as a subspecies (Pandalus borealis eous) of the Atlantic form (Pandalus borealis), but others accord it real species status with its own name Pandalus eous. The similarity between the 20 or so species of the genus Pandalus is so great that fishermen rarely bother to sort their catches accurately, record the different species separately or make precise appropriate reports.

And so catch statistics by species reveal considerable inaccuracies which makes the interpretation of the data more difficult, and some evaluations even impossible.

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In addition to the main species Pandalus borealis, the FAO database FIGIS lists six other species (P. goniurus, hypsinotus, jordani, kessleri, montagui, platyceros) whose total catch was fairly constant at around 400,000 t in the period from 2000 to 2010.

Since then, however, the catch has declined to 327,000 t (2013).

According to this statistic P. borealis accounts for 80 to 85 of the catches. And with that, P. borealis is seen to be by far the most frequent and therefore the most economically important species of the genus Pandalus. This can be said with some certainty despite the fact that the statistical data, as already mentioned, are not very reliable due to the insufficient species allocation. In the Atlantic, P. borealis is the largest of the three recognized Pandalus species whose distribution areas overlap geographically as well as in terms of water depth.

Heavy environmental demands on the habitat The name “Pandalus borealis” already suggests that these animals prefer waters with low water temperatures (“boreal” = of the North or northern regions, adjacent to or including the Arctic). Their preferred temperature range is between minus 1 and

The Norwegian seafood industry offers Pandalus (“reker”) in numerous processing forms, packaging types and lot sizes.

plus 8°C. The upper tolerance limit of adult animals is around 14°C. Early larval stages tolerate temporarily higher temperatures up to 18°C, although mortality increases significantly then.

However, P. borealis does not only react sensitively to high temperatures but also to low or strongly fluctuating water salinity. As a stenohaline (able to tolerate only a narrow range of salinity) species this shrimp prefers purely marine conditions with salinities between 32 and 35 parts per thousand. The interaction of water temperature and depth, salinity and substrate quality affect the distribution of P. borealis, with temperature being a particularly important factor.

Some researchers believe that temperature has an impact on the

sex ratio but these inferences are controversial. Usually the animals are to be found over soft muddy bottoms at depths of 80-500 metres, but in some areas they can be caught at depths of 1,300 m. Pandalus generally stays close to the seabed during the daytime.

They are very active swimmers and with nightfall they rise to layers of water near the surface in search of food.

Northern shrimp is an important element in the marine food chain that connects several trophic levels. As opportunistic omnivores and scavengers they eat both invertebrates that live on the seabed, for example bristleworms, small molluscs and echinoderms, as well as plankton Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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[ SPECIES ] and other organisms in the open sea, for example copepods, mysid shrimps and arrow worms. At the same time, however, Northern shrimp is also an important source of food for seabirds, marine mammals and numerous species of fish such as cod, whiting, saithe, halibut or redfish.

With an average length of 10 to 12 cm P. borealis is one of the relatively small shrimp species.

Females reach a maximum length of 16 cm, sometimes even 18 cm; males remain slightly smaller.

They are often hardly more than three or four years old when they are caught in the fishermen’s nets.

The maximum age is said to be eight years. All Pandalus species look quite similar. They are most easily identified by their pale-red colour, with only the abdomen or pleon having a slightly stronger colouring. The long forehead projection (rostrum) which protrudes beyond the front edge of the carapace has 6 to 8 teeth on the belly side and 12 to 16 on the dorsal side which extend approximately to the centre of the carapace. The eyes are wider than the eyestalk behind which on both sides of the carapace there is a small, forward facing barb. The second pair of walking legs is clearly dissimilar, the left leg usually being longer and slimmer than the right.

Sex change as a successful reproduction strategy Pandalus is a “protandrous hermaphrodite”: the animals reproduce first as males and later change into “secondary females”.

The sex change occurs mostly at an age of between 2 and 4 years.

However, under certain conditions individual specimens can skip the male phase and develop directly into “primary females”.

As far as we know today, water 54

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Large sizes of Northern shrimp (counts of 90/120 or 100) reach the size of White shrimp (L. vannamei) from aquaculture. Note the differences in colour!

temperatures play a decisive role in this process – an ingenious reproduction strategy that improves the species’ reproductive record. When living conditions are particularly favourable more male animals change into females. The populations then produce more eggs, with the result that the number of young increases.

As in all crustaceans the release of sperm packets (spermatophores), the discharge of eggs, and their fertilization are separated in time in P. borealis. These processes, which can last up to 36 hours, mostly take place from July to October depending on the region and temperature. The colder the water, the sooner does reproduction begin and the longer it takes for the eggs to develop. As a rule the females carry the eggs under their abdomen for at least 5 to 6 months, but in cold northern waters even up to 11 months.

In such cases, the larvae do not hatch until the late spring of the following year, making it difficult

to re-fertilize the females in the same year. For this reason they can sometimes only reproduce every two years. As the embryos mature the females migrate gradually from deep water areas to the shallow shores where the larvae will find more food after hatching and have more favorable conditions for their development. Depending on their size, age and nutritional status females produce between 300 and 4500 eggs, on average about 2,000. The larvae usually hatch at night. With the aim of distributing the new generation over as wide an area as possible the females swim around restlessly at this time and support the hatching process through rigorous movements of their abdomen.

The larvae of P. borealis live a purely planktonic life in the first few months and during that time hardly resemble the adult animals. They hatch as so-called zoea which, although they have compound eyes, a carapace and walking legs, do not possess

swimming legs (pleopods). After several molts and other larval stages the zoea changes into a megalopa larva and develops functional swimming legs for the first time. From hatching to sexual maturity shrimp goes through about eight to eleven larval stages during which their typical crustacean shape emerges more and more. The larval phase can take between 45 and 120 days depending on the temperature. During this period, the animals drift with the currents and waves, and are spread over a wide area whilst at the same time their number is strongly decimated by planktoneating fish and other predators.

Although the tiny crustaceans have little with which they can oppose the currents they try to stay in the shallow water areas for as long as possible. Usually they only move to deeper areas after about a year as adult shrimp. This behaviour is also evident in the count of P. borealis in the catch.

While offshore catches are usually in the range of 100-300/ kg (pure meat, cooked & peeled) inshore www.eurofishmagazine.com

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[ SPECIES ]

The relatively small size and sheer volumes of Northern shrimp are hardly to be managed without industrial processing, weighing and packaging machines.

shrimp are usually much smaller at 250-400/ kg.

Targeted fishing only began a few decades ago Fishing specifically for P. borealis began around 1898 in Norway after Johan Hjort who is regarded as the practical inventor of the Northern shrimp fishery modified the design of the deep-sea demersal trawls used at that time and discovered huge swarms of shrimp in Norwegian fjords.

Because other fisherman showed no interest he went out with a boat himself and on his return simply dumped his catch on the quayside. This “argument” convinced the obstinate fishermen and in a relatively short time there emerged a profitable fishery whose products could be exported. In 1936 during a visit to the US Johan Hjort foresaw comparable occurrence of shrimp off the coast of New England where the prevailing conditions were similar to those in the Norwegian fjords. He was able to prove this www.eurofishmagazine.com

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hypothesis during a trip aboard the research vessel Atlantis and with that the foundation stone was laid for the shrimp industry on the Atlantic coast of North America. Technical progress in ship building and fishing gear made it gradually possible to go further and further north where there are especially large numbers of P. borealis. More and more nations joined in this profitable business with the small but tasty shrimp.

Norway began fishing for Northern shrimp in the Barents Sea and off Spitsbergen in 1970, and in 1974 Russian ships followed. Canada, the EU, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes are also entitled to fish shrimp in this area. In the mid1980s more than 125,000 t Pandalus were caught there but today stocks are significantly weaker: the quota recommendations of ICES are only half that amount.

In order to prevent overfishing the fishery is now closely regulated and monitored. Norwegian and Russian fishing vessels need

special shrimp fishing licenses for the area, and the number of vessels and fishing days for fleets from other countries are strictly limited. The minimum mesh size of the nets is 35 mm (stretched).

And because Northern shrimp are often found in the by-catch when fishing for other species the gear for many of these species has to be fitted with escape windows and sorting grids that allow shrimp and young fish escape.

The situation in the area off the east coast of North America and West Greenland is much more dramatic. This area provides approximately 85 of global catches of P. borealis. Canada’s shrimp fishery began in 1979 with 2,000 t, but the catch was then steadily increased to 182,868 t in the year 2007. To preserve resources, the fisheries authorities limited the total allowable catch to 164,000 t in 2008 but this quantity has since then never been fully exploited. Mostly the catches were just over 140,000 t.

In 2013, the Atlantic States Marine

Fisheries Commission decided that the P. borealis stocks were too weak and closed the fishery off New England completely. The first fishing ban in 35 years! And there was worse to come: in 2014 the Canadian fishing quota was reduced by a further 22 over the previous year and in 2015 there was even a moratorium in some fishing areas, so that fishing was not possible there at all. In Greenland the TAC, (total allowable catch) decreased by almost a third from 2010 to 2014. Biologists from Greenland’s Nature Institute recommended in 2015 that the catch be reduced by a further 25,000 t. These developments have shaken up the market for Northern shrimp in recent months. There are less raw materials available and the prices for several grades have increased by up to 50 per cent. Sometimes demand cannot be met at all. An end to this development is not yet in sight.

This is an unusual situation for the shrimp industry in the northern countries. From 1990 (226.033 t) to 2004 (446.909 t) the P. borealis catch rose steadily, with volume increasing annually by 6. Since then, however, it has decreased again just as steadily, with catches dropping by 4 every year for more than ten years. In 2014 only 267,500 t were landed worldwide and preliminary estimates for 2015 predict 235,000 t. And forecasts are bleak because it is to be expected that catches will continue to fall... in spite of the fact that the Northern shrimp fisheries in Canada and Greenland, which account for the bulk of global volume, are well managed, continuously monitored, strictly controlled and sustainably operated. The MSC certificates awarded to these fisheries are visible evidence of these efforts.

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[ SPECIES ]

Pandalus borealis is bought in large quantities for further processing to delicatessen salads, seafood cocktails and other seafood specialities.

Temperature rise threatens reproduction So if the stocks are evidently not overfished, why then are less and less Northern shrimp being caught? The proliferation of cod in the waters in question, particularly off Iceland and south of West Greenland, could be an important factor. Fisheries scientists point out that Northern shrimp belong to the preferred food of cod. As the cod stocks gain strength this can therefore decimate the Northern shrimp stocks. The second factor, which is discussed again and again in this context, is the ongoing climate change, which is already becoming apparent in the Arctic seas through rising water temperatures. With this, the southern parts of the original habitat of Northern shrimp is lost and the cold stenothermal species is pushed further and further north. That such habitat shifts are not mere speculation can be seen in the declining catches off Cape Cod and in parts of the Gulf of Maine, which are already affected 56

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by these developments. If the temperature increase of 2°C as calculated by climate models is right and its effects become more noticeable in the future the distribution patterns of P. borealis in the Northwest Atlantic, which provides the bulk of the catches, will likely undergo massive changes. The stocks would decline because if more animals are crowded together in a smaller area, food quickly becomes a limiting factor.

The temperature increase might even affect the shrimp’s reproduction, as studies carried out by a group of researchers from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth (Canada) show.

In the past, the larvae of P. borealis hatched almost simultaneously with the spring algal bloom in their habitat. This meant that the newborn shrimp mostly found a rich food supply, which then secured them high survival rates.

Whilst the time of algal blooms is primarily dependent on light supply, which does not change with

climate change, the egg-laying and hatching of shrimp depends on temperature. In the course of evolution the two processes, algal

blooms and hatching of larvae, have “synchronized” so strongly that their maxima are barely more than a week apart in many marine regions. This finely balanced interplay is now being disturbed by global climate change and temperature rise. And that increases the likelihood that at least some of the larvae will enter the world during phases with poor food supply which will weaken, and perhaps even endanger, the shrimp stocks.

It is difficult to say exactly what is responsible for the current decline in catches. Fisheries researchers avoid making clear statements because so far they cannot even be sure whether the shrimp stocks have actually already decreased or whether the animals have simply migrated from the traditional fishing areas.

Either way, the result is the same and provides little cause for optimism. It rather seems as if there are hard times ahead for the Northern shrimp industry. mk

Versatile uses for Northern shrimp

High-quality food and industrial raw material Northern shrimp are available frozen year-round, and in some areas also fresh or cooked and peeled as pure meat, usually in counts of 100 to 300. Frozen products are usually glazed – the industry average is between 5 and 10%. In many cases, the product is treated with tripolyphosphates to prevent the relatively small pieces from drying out.

Shrimp meat contains about 18% protein and 2% fat. It is rich in phosphorus, potassium and niacin, a vitamin of the B complex. It has a high cholesterol content of 125-150 mg / 100 g of shrimp meat.

Shrimp oil can be extracted from the cooking water of Northern shrimp. This occurs in large quantities in industry. The oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and is used for nutraceutical products and functional foods. In addition, shrimp oil contains natural astaxanthin, which is responsible for the bright red colour of the oil. The enzyme SAP (“Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase”), which is required for numerous laboratory tests is also obtained from Pandalus borealis. After peeling, the shells often serve as a raw material for the production of chitosan and glucosamine.

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[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] The UK’s “Brexit” vote and the European seafood industry

The benefits (if any) are still unclear On June 23, UK citizens in a national referendum voted to leave the European Union. Such a move, if implemented, has global implications economically, geopolitically, even militarily. The vote caused stock markets to churn worldwide, while Fortune 500 corporations set strategic plans into motion and politicians alternately cheered and blamed.

B

ut what about the seafood industry and markets? Here, the effects of “Brexit” are more long-term than simple plant closures and currency exchangerate worries, real as those are. UK fisheries interests regarding EU membership centered mainly on the effectiveness of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and therefore on the balance between fisheries sustainability and industry incomes.

The Common Fisheries Policy avoids conflicting national plans The Common Fisheries Policy aims to ensure that EU fisheries are “environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.”

The most important – and most controversial – CFP management tool is a set of annual limits on how much fish each member’s vessels can catch in EU waters.

Most EU fishery resources are transnational: they live in broad swathes of European waters that overlap national boundaries.

Therefore, fishery managers argue that such resources are better managed with a cohesive Europewide management plan rather than many, possibly conflicting national plans.

The problem is that many local fishermen resist being told by “Brussels” how much they can catch. There is considerable debate even among the “experts” about how effective the CFP has www.eurofishmagazine.com

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been in protecting long-term resource viability whilst ensuring adequate supplies of fish to the industry. Rules emanating from the European Commission on annual catch quotas, discards policy, and other issues have recently been reformed but a national view against a Europewide management programme still prevails in many regions.

Many, but not all, UK fishermen believe the CFP has gone too far in its efforts to protect stocks at the expense of fishermen. This view certainly is not limited to UK fisheries; it is near the heart of Europe-wide debate over the recently reformed CFP; “Brexit” is merely a symptom of a larger CFP challenge.

How will UK fisheries be managed?

Britain’s exit from the EU means its fisheries allocations (total allowable catches of each major species) lie in the hands of UK fish managers rather than CFP administrators. It also means UK fishermen cannot fish in other nations’

trade barriers in the short run (i.e., before new trade agreements are negotiated) and fishery resource sustainability and thus supplies of harvested fish, in the longer run. Fish stocks can take many years to rebuild, so any improvement to stock abundance that a UK-centered management plan might create will take the same number of years to show results.

waters, nor can other EU vessels fish in UK waters, until a future agreement on such access is negotiated. While both UK fishermen and the health of UK fish stocks could improve if UK fisheries were closed to outsiders, such a closure would make it difficult to negotiate access by UK fishermen in neighbouring nations’ waters, which until now have played an important part in UK harvesting activities. Perhaps an agreement such as that with the EU and Greenland – duty-free access for import from Greenland in exchange for EU fishers’ access to Greenland waters — could be achieved.

But this would approximate the pre-Brexit status quo, and it is not yet clear how UK fishery management could be a better alternative to the CFP.

At least in the short run the effects of Brexit on UK seafood trade are mostly negative. Trade barriers such as tariffs on imports of UK seafood will rise. To reduce those barriers to its exports, the UK will have to negotiate with both non-EU countries –and with the EU itself to regain the tariff-free access UK exporters used to enjoy in many European, Canadian, African, Asian and other foreign markets that currently have trade agreements with the EU. The UK no longer is part of those agreements, all of which took many years to negotiate and would have to be redone for the UK.

Possible effects on producers and consumers Brexit creates immediate uncertainty about UK fish supplies, which has some processors and distributors worried. Seafood industry concerns have already been raised in the media about possible

Trade barriers such as import duties raise the price of exporters’

Trade in fish and seafood in the UK by source, destination (£ ‘000) Imports 2013

Exports

2014

2013

2014

Total EU 28

848,817

847,794

972,093

1,008,309

Total EFTA

396,149

401,418

18,453

15,276

Total rest of world

1,512,034

1,487,101

469,772

536,763

GRAND TOTAL

2,757,000

2,736,313

1,460,318

1,560,348

H.M. Revenue and Customs

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[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] Trade in fish and seafood in the UK by category Exports

Imports Quantity (‘000 tonnes) Value (£ million)

Quantity (‘000 tonnes) Value (£ million)

2013

2014

2013

2013

2014

Total fish

621.9

601.9

2,080.7

1,976.2

363.8

417.4

Total shellfish

117.5

118.8

676.3

760.1

88.3

81.8

Total fish and shellfish

739.4

720.6

2,757.0

2,736.3

452.1

499.1

1,460.3

1,560.3

805.0

2,864.6

2,842.5

484.4

543.4

1,511.1

1,622.5

GRAND TOTAL (inc. fish products) 821.5

2014

2013

2014

1,009.8

1,101.0

450.5

459.3

H.M. Revenue and Customs

goods in foreign markets and lower the price received by those exporters (the difference being the import duty itself), making almost everybody worse off (except producers in the foreign country, who also see their prices go up).

The consumer impacts of the price changes are in reverse: consumers in the UK will tend to see more UK-produced seafood for sale as UK exports decline.

Meanwhile, consumers in the EU will see less seafood imported from the UK and prices there may rise, depending on how easily UK seafood can be replaced by other suppliers’ products.

A lose-lose situation There is no evidence that the forces leading to the failure of national fisheries management plans have disappeared or even diminished.

Even if fishery management in the UK is reformed with Brexit, it will be years before improvements in stock abundance will be noticed.

Coordination between UK fishery management and EU fishery management will be necessary to protect the long-term viability of fish stocks and, therefore, of the industry’s economic health. The CFP principle that transnational fish stocks are best managed jointly, remains relevant to UK

fisheries as well as the EU’s, after the UK’s exit from the EU. Likewise, the trade barriers to UK exports that Brexit will create will take a long time to dismantle.

It is not at all clear what benefits Brexit and a divided market bring to the UK and European seafood industries.

Roger Corey roger.corey.1000@gmail.com

Sellers’ market for salmon

Algal bloom mortalities in Chile have salmon prices climbing even higher News in the salmon sector for 2016 has so far been dominated by reports of a massive algal bloom in southern Chile that had killed some 27 million fish by 10 March. Compounded by an expected drop in production in Norway where growth is currently limited by sea lice issues, the supply shock has driven up previously depressed Chilean farmed salmon prices while already high Norwegian prices have been pushed even further upwards.

A

ccording to a recent Nordea market report, total Norwegian production of Atlantic salmon is forecast to fall by some 5 in 2016, to approximately 1.18 million tonnes. A major factor behind the drop is the difficulties of the industry in controlling sea lice at farms, for which standard treatments are becoming less effective. Although the number

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of lice per fish is lower than it was previously, the cost of keeping these numbers down is higher and the Norwegian government is restricting licensing of new farms based on strict sea lice limits.

Prices climb inexorably The recent events in Chile and the expected negative growth

in Norway has inevitably seen prices jump to exceptionally high levels in early 2016, following the end-of-year spike due to already tightening supply in the latter half of 2015. As of week 9 of 2016, the NASDAQ salmon index was at NOK61 per kg for fresh whole Atlantic salmon, around NOK24 higher compared with the same week of 2015. These near-record

prices are being maintained by a now very limited supply of fish and strong demand in the EU and the USA, with the EU forced to pay more to compete with the USA’s recent currency advantage.

This price hike has seen the value of Norwegian salmon exports in the first two months of 2016 rise by 17 year-on-year to NOK8.4 www.eurofishmagazine.com

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billion (144,860 tonnes of fish, -2 in volume), which follows an already strong year of export performance in 2015. The EU market continues to absorb large volumes of salmon despite spiking prices, buying a total of 110,000 tonnes of fish worth NOK6.2 billion in the first two months of the year, representing a 2 drop in volume and a 19 increase in value. The Norwegian krone has weakened versus the euro over the last two years, allowing exporters to more easily pass on higher prices to buyers, although in the USA this effect has been even more prominent.

A strong US dollar has driven the value of Norwegian salmon exports to the USA up by 25 to NOK473 million in the first two months of 2016, and volume up by 6 to 5,920 tonnes. Other markets in the Middle East as well as in East and Southeast Asia are also showing strong demand growth, with Eastern Europe the only region suffering a drop in imports.

Multiple factors contribute to high prices Three critical factors, including biomass levels being lower than they were during the last two years at Norwegian farms, currency trends continuing to favour Norwegian exporters and Chilean supply taking a heavy hit, mean that the industry can expect the current price level to be more than temporary. This forecast is reflected in an average forward price at FishPool of NOK57 per kg for the remainder of the first two quarters of 2016. Although producer bottom lines will certainly benefit, despite increasing biological costs, exporters and processors will be wary of the risks of increased volatility and margin squeezes due to resistance further down the supply chain. In contrast to the sharply reduced salmon supply, farmed Norwegian trout is www.eurofishmagazine.com

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much more plentiful, and export volumes have more than doubled year-on-year in January and February 2016. For February, the Norwegian Seafood Council reported exports of 6,081 tonnes worth NOK288 million, with prices for fresh whole picking up despite the volume increase. Poland, the USA, Belarus and Japan have all shown exceptional growth over the last three years or so, and the trout industry is also optimistic about demand prospects on Western European markets on the back of large marketing investments.

Algal bloom in Chile kills millions of fish The drop in salmon prices by almost USD2.20 per kg was the main trend in Chilean exports in 2015. According to figures from the Central Bank of Chile, salmon and trout shipments totalled USD3,507 million in 2015, 20 less than in 2014. This total export value for Chile is the lowest level since 2012, when it totalled USD2,874 million. A central factor that influenced the drop in salmon prices was the sharp depreciation of some currencies in major export markets, such as Russia and Brazil, the increase in Canadian production and the shift in exports from Norway to the USA due to the Russian import ban.

All of these factors caused an oversupply in the US market and as a result, a significant negative impact on prices for the Chilean industry. With overall significantly less revenue, increases in volume terms failed to compensate.

The big news for 2016 is the algal bloom crisis in southern Chile, which has killed millions of species including up to an estimated 20 of the country’s farmed salmon. On 18 March 2016, the Chilean government reported that the phenomenon had begun

Credit: Jan Rathke

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ]

The unprecedented algae blooms in Chile caused by abnormally warm weather and too little rain have driven the price of salmon up by 25% in the US.

to recede along with fish deaths.

It is estimated that salmon farmers have had production losses of around 100,000 tonnes, worth USD800,000 million. The abnormally warm weather and lack of rain were identified as the contributing factors that led to the algal bloom. As mentioned above, the decline in supply of Chilean salmon has led to a global increase in prices, which Reuters reports, is reflected in a price increase of 25 to USD10 per kg in early March in Miami. As the Norwegian krone weakened 28 and 7 against the US dollar and the euro respectively in 2015, the British pound weakened by 8 and strengthened by 10 for the same currencies. Particularly in times of high prices, these currency developments put British exporters at a distinct disadvantage in competing with the Norwegian industry in the US and EU markets after the Russian embargo. Affected also by biological challenges, the Scottish farmed salmon industry underperformed in 2015 compared with its Norwegian counterpart, but in 2016 is hoping to avail from further improvements in the price situation, stabilizing exchange rates and expected higher domestic production to boost revenues.

In the UK domestic market, market research firm Nielsen reports a 4.5 increase in smoked salmon sales in 2015 and a 12 increase in volume, to GBP 264 million and 11,837 tonnes respectively. This segment is expanding in both size and product range, and is increasingly controlled by discount retailers.

The USA will remain the most hotly contested market in the salmon sector in 2016, with the EU already dominated by Norway, the Russian embargo still in force and the Brazilian market beset by economic problems including high inflation and depressed consumer confidence. With the current shortage situation and the accompanying price level, the continuing strength of the US dollar will be an important factor in maintaining demand.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen to what extent import growth in emerging markets in South Africa, the Middle East and East Asia will be slowed by the prices that must now be paid to secure product.

French interest in salmon on the rebound Indications on the French market are for growing consumer confidence and strong underlying demand, despite the high prices Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] and the long-term impact of negative publicity relating to Norwegian farmed salmon in 2013. In volume terms, France imported some 3 more salmon products in 2015 compared with the previous year.

The increase in imports of fresh whole Atlantic salmon and fresh fillets from Norway after a period of significant decline suggests that the image of salmon has improved amongst French consumers, but the relative strength of the euro versus the krone was also likely an important factor. German imports of fresh salmon levelled off in 2015 after strong growth the previous year, while the smoked salmon segment returned to positive growth.

The German fresh salmon segment has seen strong growth recently on the back of a concerted effort by the industry to develop convenience products that are easy to prepare and sold increasingly through

large discount retail chains. As with all other markets this year, however, German buyers will have to come to terms with fewer fish and higher prices.

The algal bloom that has seen massive mortalities in Chilean farms has affected all species, including farmed coho, the vast majority of which is sold in frozen form to the Japanese market. According to SalmonEx, the reduction in coho supply will be 24, or around 37,000 tonnes. Although there was a strong recovery in import volumes in 2015, to around 200,000 tonnes, reports from the country point to poor domestic harvests and low inventories that will likely see importers turn to wild sockeye from Russia and Alaska to cover shortfalls. The USA imported 345,000 tonnes of salmon during 2015 worth USD2,714 million. Compared with

2014, these figures represent an increase of 9 and a decrease of 7, respectively. Chile was the main salmon supplier during this period, exporting a bit over 133,000 tonnes, which demonstrated a 1 increase compared with the 132,487 tonnes shipped the previous year.

In value terms, a decrease of 18 was registered (USD1,155 million).

Canada was the second top supplier, exporting 91,000 tonnes to the USA, worth USD595 million. Norway showed a significant increase in its share of the fresh segment to the USA.

Reduced market supply expected to drive up prices and profits The total financial loss for the Chilean salmon sector resulting from the algal bloom is estimated to be somewhere between USD500

million and USD1 billion. For an industry already struggling with debt and cash flow problems due to high costs and market challenges, this is expected to force through mergers and restructuring or disappearance of smaller players, although share prices for many large Chilean companies have been driven upwards recently by positive price expectation. For other producers, and particularly Norwegian producers, who are now well established in almost all major markets, the net 6.8 decrease in global salmon supply and the sharp upturn in prices will be a huge boost to revenues and margins. However, this same price trend, together with the rising costs of treating diseases in cage farming, is increasing the attractiveness of land-based ventures that could take advantage of the supply gap. ©FAO GLOBEFISH

Continuing high prices expected as supply set to tighten further in 2016

Turkey reaps the rewards of market diversification After a year of lower harvests, firming prices and relieved pressure on producer margins, 2016 has started off well with a sharp upturn in seabass and seabream prices on European markets.

F

urther reductions in supply from the major sources should see this situation continue, giving a further boost to the expanding Turkish industry and allowing Greek companies the opportunity to build on what are now more solid foundations.

Production falls expected due to fewer juveniles in Turkey, Greece Total supply of seabream fell by approximately 6 in 2015, according to figures from a recent 60

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Kontali report, with the expected impact of pushing prices strongly upwards. Multi-year highs were reached in the peak mid-summer season on the major Italian market, with 300-450 g sizes reaching EUR 5.80 per kg (CIF). Bass production, meanwhile, remained flat compared with the previous year, which kept prices for this species relatively lower. Forecasts are for a further 3 drop in production this year, with both Turkey and Greece seeing the results of reduced juvenile production over recent years.

With fewer fish to sell, Greek exporters reduced volumes to many major Mediterranean markets in 2015. Exports to Italy fell in particular, and Turkish exporters managed to further increase their share of this important market with cheaper product and more readily available volumes. Greek exports to Spain also fell significantly for the second year in a row as investment in the Spanish farmed bass and seabream industry is boosting domestic production. In contrast to Turkey, Greece remains

heavily dependent on the core EU markets, with Italy, France and Portugal taking more than three quarters of its total export volume. That said, the increase in Greek export revenue despite the drop in volumes, points to an improvement in margins and hence business stability for an industry that has been struggling for some years now. After refinancing, restructuring and efforts to reduce costs, investor confidence in the sector appears to be recovering slowly as profitability returns. The newly consolidated www.eurofishmagazine.com

11/07/16 5:56 PM

[ TRADE AND MARKETS ] and revitalized industry will now be looking to build steadily on the back of technological and product innovation, although there is still a distinct wait-and-see attitude amongst understandably cautious would be investors.

Turkish hatcheries change strategies to lessen risks In Turkey, the rise in prices for seabream in early 2016 was below expectations as domestic sales and exports for seabream were lower than expected resulting in a surplus stock for 400-600 g and 600800 g fish. Slightly rising prices remained flat in March. In contrast, there was a price boost for seabass and specifically large fish exceeded exceptions. According to industry sources, losses in stocks of seabass due to diseases and accidents (poor sea conditions) in 2014 and 2015 will continue to boost the prices of seabass in 2017.

According to some sources, the demand for Turkish juveniles in 2016 is expected to be around 400 million. The breakdown for production is likely to be 250 million seabass and 150 million for seabream. A new development in the Turkish industry is a shift in hatcheries’ sales strategies, which will have an impact on supply of fish in the near-term. Previously, Turkish growers usually stocked their cages with juveniles of around 5 g, which are more resistant to disease and marine conditions. To mitigate the risk associated with growing fry to 5 g juvenile size, however, hatchery operators have begun encouraging their farmers to start with smaller fish by lowering the price for 2 g juvenile. This also carries a risk though, as early stocking of cages with 2 g juveniles has increased the incidents of flexibacteriosis outbreaks, resulting in an estimated 5 loss of stocks.

Though slight, this 5 loss will www.eurofishmagazine.com

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have an impact on supply of marketable fish for 2017 and 2018.

Despite higher prices, Italy imported 5.5 more seabass and seabream in 2015, to total 51,000 tonnes. This reflects strong demand in this core EU market, which is being driven by a recovering economy and supplied increasingly by relatively cheaper and more plentiful Turkish fish. In fact, Turkeys share of Italy’s seabass and seabream import volume was at 20 in 2015 (up from 15 in 2014), while Greece’s has fallen to 61 in 2015 (down from 70 in 2014). The higher-end segment, meanwhile, is occupied primarily by imported French product, as well as domestically produced fish, which commands 20 higher prices than the Greek product. As of March 2016, prices are high and rising on Italian markets, with midsize fish prices already well above the EUR 5.00 per kg mark. Spain is another Mediterranean market that is being stimulated by an economic recovery, with demand remaining stable despite rising prices. In April 2016, average prices at wholesale markets are above EUR 6.00 per kg and higher than the same month last year. A shortage of smaller sizes is pushing up prices in this segment in particular.

On the supply side, imports have fallen as demand is increasingly being met by production growth in the Spanish domestic industry, which continues counter to the prevailing trend.

Although not affected by the food embargo Russian imports from Turkey fall radically Russian imports of fish continued on its declining trend in 2015 due to the combined effects of the food embargo, devaluation of RUB and decreased consumer demand. Although fish products

With decreased supply the prices for seabass and seabream are expected to rise in 2016.

from Turkey were not under the restrictions, Russian imports of seabass and seabream went down 30 in 2015 compared to the year before. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, in 2015 2,680 tonnes of fresh seabass were imported, a reduction of 30 compared with 2014. Imports of frozen seabass in the same year amounted to 294 tonnes, 6 less compared with 2014. Turkey supplied nearly all of the seabass to the country, responsible for 99 of the imports, while the remaining quantities were supplied from Morocco, Tunisia and through Belarus. In terms of seabream, Russian imports of fresh seabream went down to 2,650 tonnes in 2015, 34 less over 2014. Imports of frozen seabream were 333 tonnes, 1 less than in 2014. Turkey again had the dominant share of seabream supply with 99 of the total seabass imports to the Russian market. Tunisia, Morocco, Belarus and United Arab Emirates were other supplying countries.

As the previous supplying countries of seabass and seabream (Greece, Cyprus, etc.) cannot deliver their fish products to the Russian market, Turkey is currently the major supplier to Russia, though Iran could increasingly supply seabream and seabass to this market in the future.

According to the Federal Agency for Fisheries in Russia, the Russian

authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture of Iran met, in order to build cooperation of fisheries sectors between countries. Iran expressed an intention to export farmed seabass and seabream to Russia partly replacing Turkey.

Turkey benefits from a range of conditions The tight supply situation can be expected to continue for at least the next two years, which should keep prices up at a sustainable level and give the Greek industry time to recover further. Meanwhile, the Turkish industry finds itself in a very advantageous position, with a weaker currency favouring exporters, a much more diverse range of market options than their main competitors and limited sources of additional supply to affect the good prices. 2016 will also see more diversification in terms of products, with value-added forms and sustainable or organic ecolabelling becoming more widespread in the farmed seabass and seabream industry as a whole. On the supply side, continued investment in the sector, particularly in alternative Mediterranean producer countries, may bring some relief to prices at a later stage. In the shorter-term, however, prices have begun their annual climb to their peak in mid-summer, and should remain relatively high throughout the year. ©FAO GLOBEFISH Eurofish Magazine 4 / 2016

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GUEST PAGES

Labels are of minor importance to the final buyer

Consumers have greater faith in supermarkets than in labels Seafood in Europe comes from capture fishing, aquaculture, and imports. In terms of tonnage, according to the EU Fish Processors and Traders Association, an industry advocacy group, imports amount to just under two thirds of the total supply, but in certain species groups such as whitefish, import dependency is almost nine tenths. A vice-president of the association, Dr Matthias Keller, who also represents the German Federation of Fish Processors and Fish Wholesalers, holds some forthright views on the importance of imports for the European processing sector. Here he also proffers his opinion on some of the other issues affecting the seafood sector.

As secretary of the German Federation of Fish Processors and Wholesalers, you represent an organisation that seeks to free the trade in fish as far as possible. Although fish production in Europe is only a small part of the fish that is consumed and traded here, freeing up the trade completely could have serious consequences for the fishing and aquaculture industry and by extension for the communities it supports. What for you would be the ideal solution?

The ideal solution is, if both sources of fish and seafood supply complete the offer to the consumer so that he or she can choose from the widest possible range of fish and seafood every day. This is a win-win-situation for both! The large spectrum of fish species, which perfectly fit for human consumption, is one of our advantages with regard to other animal protein sources. For the processing industry imports are the backbone for their business and are not seen as a threat at all.

Across the EU the seafood processing industry represents some 120,000 jobs and EUR27bn in turnover. There has been a degree of offshoring in the industry with activities moving to countries where wages are lower.

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Do you see this continuing or has it now stabilised? As wages increase in eastern Europe do you see the sector moving its activities further away?

The decision of a fish processor where to locate his processing facilities can of course be related to the level of wages. But wages are not the only reason. Availability, education and skills of the employees, distance to the preferred market and stability of the overhead cost factors, including local taxes and fees for control by the administration in a specific country, are as well important, and have proven that profitable fish processing in countries with high wages is possible and successful.

The use for human consumption of smaller fish species as well as of smaller specimens of commonly consumed fish is increasing. This is partly in response to the realisation that these fish too offer nutritional benefits to consumers, and that they form a resource that should not be wasted. What opportunities and challenges does the use of these fish offer the processing industry?

Already today smaller fish species like herring, sprat and

Dr Matthias Keller, Secretary, German Federation of Fish Processors and Wholesalers and Vice-President, EU Fish Processors and Traders Association www.eurofishmagazine.com

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GUEST PAGES

sardines are of great interest for the processing industry. Any type of legally landed fish from sustainably managed fisheries is welcomed by processors and traders. If the species do not fit consumption patterns on the domestic market, export could be the solution. Before landing any volume of this species, fishermen should get in contact with the processors to elaborate together new ways of marketing this additional source of fish raw material.

Illegal fishing and illegal fish are a threat to the entire fishing sector of which the processing industry is a vital part.

Various measures against it have already been taken by the European Commission, but the entire sector needs to be involved to solve this challenge. How is the processing sector contributing to eliminate or at least limit this problem?

First, by respecting the wide range of regulations, like the EU-Control Regulation or the famous set of IUU and traceability regulations of the EU. Second, by following the guidance document on responsible sourcing of the EU-umbrella processors and traders association AIPCE-CEP. Following these advices will help to support sustainable sourcing.

Sustainability certification is becoming increasingly important both for capture fisheries and for farmed fish. In your view is demand for sustainably certified products being driven by consumers, by the retail chains, or by NGO’s?

By NGO´s mainly. Sustainability certification is one way, but should not be the only one. www.eurofishmagazine.com

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As a representative of the processing sector what is your opinion of the multitude of different labels that a producer can be expected to certify his products to (BRC, IFS, MSC, ASC, GLOBALG.A.P., ISO, FOS, BIO, KRAV, Naturland, etc.)? Do you see a way forward that will reduce costs for producers, not confuse consumers, and yet achieve the overall aims of these labels?

Sustainability certification is an add-on to a product beside safety and quality. It produces costs and will in the future be accompanied by even higher costs because the set of criteria will increase in the future and the surveillance has to cover a wider range of control points.

As long as we have different retailers, who like to differentiate themselves by using their own labels, we will have more instead of less labels in the future. For the consumer, these labels will be of minor importance, because no one will be able to compare the aims of these labels, not to mention explore the differences of these labels. At the end, consumers will have to trust their preferred buying channel.

Greater value addition increases the returns a fisherman or processor can expect from the fish and plays a role in reducing the pressure on stocks. As the EMFF supports measure that will result in the addition of value to products, what impact do you foresee this will have on the processing industry in terms of products, conservation techniques and processes, and handling and storage possibilities?

Greater value addition is very often used as a magic word. Why should it reduce the pressure on stocks? It is the fisherman´s

In Germany sales of chilled fish and seafood has increased by almost a third between 2013 and 2015 thanks partly to investments by retail chains in new and modern display counters.

decision, when and how he is presenting his catch to the market. Very often, landing smaller quantities at better quality is adding greater value to the landed product, than large quantities at a time when the markets are flooded with fish. Fresh fish processors need a constant supply of raw material at superb quality. In this case, less is more and if fresh fish is landed in an extraordinary fresh quality, this fish will find its market at good prices.

Consumption of fish and seafood in the EU averages about 24 kg per capita (2014), a figure that hides huge variations between as well as within countries. What is your prescription for nations at the bottom end of this scale? How can people in these areas be encouraged to eat more fish?

Germany is one of the markets in the EU which ranks at the bottom end of the fish consumption scale.

But there are signs of hope that fish consumption could speed up. One fundamental reason for this prospect are the huge investments of the owners of the discount chains in new and modern MAP sales counters. In the last 3 years, the sold quantity of chilled fish and aquaculture products has increased by 29  from 50.810 t

in 2013 to 65.763 t in 2015. The value of sales in this channel has increased by 26  to 880 million € in 2015. Although in other channels chilled fish has sped up as well, this channel needs more fresh fish supply in the future, which is a nice challenge for German and other EU-fishermen and the aquaculture producer.

Fish marketed by the discount channel brings fish into areas where the consumer so far had no possibility to buy fresh fish. Now he or she can!

More personally, as someone involved in the promotion of fish consumption for at least two decades you probably also eat fish regularly. Is this a taste you have acquired over the years or is it something you have grown up with? Do you have a favourite dish and do you cook it yourself?

As a child, my parents trusted in steamed fish fillet as a preferred dish every Friday. Moving to Hamburg to start my career 28 years ago, I took the chance to conquer the nice taste of seafood in its full variety. One of my favourites is white halibut, followed by roasted scallop sashimistyle and Patagonia squid. The roast is my area, cooking I leave up to the competent chefs!

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[

FISH INFONETWORK NEWS

News

]

Events

Eurofish has fruitful meeting with Polish Using trade to improve food security and reduce poverty in counterpart Sub-Saharan Africa As of January 2016 a new min- Polish aquaculture continues istry, the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, is responsible for the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Poland. Aina Afanasjeva, Director of Eurofish, and Behnan Thomas, editor of Eurofish Magazine, met Janusz Wrona, the newly appointed director of the Fisheries Department and his team to discuss the most recent developments and future plans for the Polish fisheries and aquaculture sector. Among the issues discussed were the role and importance of the Baltfish regional forum which Poland led from July 2015 to June 2016. The insufficient availability of cod in the Baltic sea was one of the issues that Poland prioritised during its presidency and will continue to focus on in the months to come.

The sustainability of fisheries in the Baltic is a priority for Poland, but the director noted that increasing costs for certification were making it difficult for fishing companies to invest in having fisheries assessed to sustainable standards.

to be dominated by carp and trout, however, Mr Wrona added that Poland was taking measures to diversify species and to add greater value to its production, dedicating resources to salmon farming, as well as to increasing caviar production.

Poland today is the fourth largest producer of caviar in Europe.

While acknowledging that there were a number of issues to address within the fisheries and aquaculture sector, the director said that innovation and diversification would be critical to ensuring the continued and sustainable development of the sector. The meeting also discussed the upcoming feature on Poland in Eurofish Magazine and collaboration opportunities, such as the organisation of workshops and conferences on trade and markets, as well as the translation of the guide to recirculation aquaculture technologies into Polish.

Piotr Słowik, Head of Unit, Dept. of Fisheries; Janusz Wrona, Director, Dept. of Fisheries; Aina Afanasjeva, Director, Eurofish; Lidia Kacalska-Bienkowska, Poland’s Representative to the Eurofish Governing Council.

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This topic of “Food security improvement and poverty reduction through trade of fishery products intra-regionally within Sub-Saharan Africa” was the salient matter addressed during the steering workshop for stakeholders in the certification procedure for fish, and the promotion of intra-regional trade in West and Central Africa. The workshop was held at Mensvic Grand Hotel in Accra, Ghana, from 7th to 9th March 2016. It was organized by UA-BIRA in collaboration with Worldfish and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (APCN), with the support of European Union.

The main objective of this workshop was to ensure that policies on certification procedure,

Dr Pagadi Soro, Quality Assurance Expert at Infopeche

standards, and regulations are well-integrated regarding national and regional fishery policy framework including agriculture, trade and food security in Africa. The stakeholders made interesting presentations, objectives discussions, and good working groups. The participants were classified into working groups, one for West Africa and the other for the Central Africa, to reach the main objective of the workshop.

The recommendations of the Central Africa working group were focused on improving food security and reducing poverty through tradeoff fishery products intra-regionally within Sub-Saharan Africa. The key recommendations were to rapidly upgrade national regulations and apply and harmonize them at a regional level; to strengthen the capacity of actors through the value chain in order to secure the quality and performances of the aquaculture industry; to construct or rehabilitate reference laboratories for CEEAC; to strengthen capacity of sanitary authorities to improve quality control of fishery products; and to improve resource management and sanitary quality through the value chain to secure fishery products to standards. These five major recommendations come from the difficulties encountered by the different actors of Central Africa regarding intra-regional trade of fishery products.

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DIARY DATES 3-5 August 2016 Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition (VIETFISH) Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam Tel.:+84-08-62 81 04 42 quocthanh@vasep.com.vn www.vasep.com.vn

19-23 September 2016 ICES Annual Science Conference Riga, Latvia Tel.: +45 33 38 67 00 Fax: +45 33 93 42 15 Anna.Davies@ices.dk www.ices.dk

4-6 August 2016 ASEAN Fisheries and Aquaculture Conference and Exposition Bangkok, Thailand Tel.: +662 579 79 41 info@enaca.org www.ASEANfishexpo2016.com

20-23 September 2016 Aquaculture Europe Edinburgh, Scotland mario@marevent.com www.marevent.com

23-25 September 2016 Polar Fish Sisimiut, Greenland Tel.: +299 355555 lhj@akkc.dk www.polarfish.net

8-10 August 2016 FishAdapt Bangkok, Thailand Tel.: +66 2 561 1728 climate@enaca.org www.fishadapt.com

16-19 August 2016 Nor-Fishing Trondheim, Norway Tel.: + 47 73 56 86 40 mailbox@nor-fishing.no www.nor-fishing.no

29 September -1 October 2016 Aquaculture & Fisheries London, United Kingdom aquaculture@conferenceseries.net www.aquaculture-fisheries.conferenceseries.com

3 October 2016 World Congress on Cephalopods Vigo, Spain Tel.: +34 986 433 351 Fax: +34 986 221 174 congresos@conxemar.com www.conxemar.com

6-8 September 2016 Seafood Expo Asia Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel.: +1 207 842 5504 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodexpo.com

15-22 September 2016 MEDCOAST International Training Workshop on IMP and MSP in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea Dalyan, Turkey Tel.: +90 252 284 44 50 Fax: + 90 252 284 44 05 medcoast@medcoast.net www.medcoast.net

4-6 October 2016 Conxemar Vigo, Spain Tel.: +34 986 433 351 Fax: +34 986 221 174 conxemar@conxemar.com www.conxemar.com

16-20 Ocotber 2016 Sial Paris Paris, France Tel.: +33 1 76 77 11 11 exhibit@sialparis.com www.sialparis.com

27-29 October 2016 Busan International Seafood & Fisheries EXPO (BISFE) Busan, Korea Tel.: +82 51 740 75 18 bisfe@bexco.co.kr www.bisfe.com

10 November 2016 Whitefish ShowHow Copenhagen, Denmark Tel.: +45 89 30 44 44 info.dk@marel.com www.marel.dk

15-18 November 2016 EuroTier Hanover, Germany Tel.: +49 69 2478 8307 b.schmidt-puckhaber@dlg.org www.eurotier.com/aquaculture.html

25-27 April 2017 Seafood Expo Global / Seafood Processing Global Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +1 207 842 55 04 customerservice@divcom.com www.seafoodexpo.com

7-9 June 2017 POLFISH Gdan´sk, Poland Tel.: +48 58 5549 362 monika.pain@mtgsa.com.pl www.polfishfair.pl

27-30 June 2017 WORLD AQUACULTURE 2017 Cape Town, South Africa www.was.org

A d d y o u r e v e n t t o w w w. E u r o f i s h M a g a z i n e . c o m

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LIST OF ADVERTISERS Imprint Publisher

Name of Company

EUROFISH International Organisation H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark

Page

AquaTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

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Aina Afanasjeva

Conxemar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back cover

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Translation

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3000 copies + 5000 online readers

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Price: EUR 100,– To subscribe visit www.eurofishmagazine.com or send an email to info@eurofish.dk Unless otherwise stated, the copyright for articles in this magazine is vested in the publisher. Articles may not be reproduced without written permission from the copyright holders.

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Croatia The future looks bright for ďŹ sheries and aquaculture

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Salmon slicers Latvia Processors grumble at high raw material prices Eurofish Member Countries at the European Seafood Exposition Ecofishman discusses draft of new fisheries management system EcoFishMan

Interview with Anne Christine Brusendorff, ICES General Secretary is a member of the FISH INFO network

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Please visit our web site for further info:

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Sirena Russia Sirena China Sirena Canada Whitecap CA & US

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August 4 / 2016 Eurofish Magazine

Croatia The future looks bright for ďŹ sheries and aquaculture EUROFISH International Organisation

Future Fish Eurasia: Showing off the sustainability of aquaculture Lithuania: New marine laboratory to promote Baltic scientiďŹ c cooperation Aquaculture: Cobia farmer shows potential and pitfalls of offshore technology

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