Fish Farmer Magazine July 2017

Fish Farmer VOLUME 40

NUMBER 07

JULY 2017

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Serving worldwide aquaculture since 1977

CALL OF THE WILD

AQUA NOR PREVIEW

NEW HORIZONS

MUSSEL MOMENTS

Jon Gibb on resetting anglers’ attitudes to salmon farms

More of what’s in store in Trondheim this summer

Shetland boat builder embarks on first trip to Norway show

Nicki Holmyard records her journey in the shellfish sector

July Cover.indd 3

06/07/2017 14:10:23

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Contents 4-14 News

What’s happening in aquaculture in the UK and around the world

16 News Extra

JENNY HJUL – EDITOR

Peace process

Insect feed advances

T

he Scottish sector has made impressive progress so far in pursuing its ambitions for growth, according to the co-chair of the new Industry Leadership Group, Stewart Graham, who addressed the Aquaculture UK conference in Stirling last month. In particular, he welcomed the rapport between industry and government, the latter represented by rural economy minister Fergus Ewing, in helping to drive change.

How unfortunate in light of this ‘incredible openness’ that another government body, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), has taken what appears to be a confrontational approach in its dealings with salmon farmers over their use of a sea lice treatment. The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation says no business can operate in such ‘chaos’ and is calling for ‘proper balance’ to be maintained. We hope to see more of a spirit of cooperation informing Sepa’s next move in this dispute.

Another advocate of cooperation is the celebrated angling writer Jon Gibb, who has written for us this month. He calls for his own sector to work in harmony with fish farmers, with ‘a maturity and knowledge based on the actual facts and realities of life’. We applaud his efforts and look forward to the end of hostilities - on all fronts.

Contents – Editor’s Welcome

42-43 Aqua Nor - Awards Another Ace achievement

50-51 Aqua Nor - Denmark Best of high-tech

18 Comment Phil Thomas

19 BTA

52-53 Aqua Nor - Vaccines

20-21 ASSG

76 MSD

Doug McLeod

Nick Lake

Ronnie Soutar

Quality counts

79-80 Sturgeon success Saving a species

22 Comment Martin Jaffa

86-87 Vietnam

Thinking big

Fish Farmer is now on Facebook and Twitter

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Meet the team

Contact us

Editorial Advisory Board: Steve Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith and Jim Treasurer Editor: Jenny Hjul Designer: Andrew Balahura Advertising Manager: William Dowds wdowds@fishupdate.com Advertising Executives: Dave Edler dedler@fishupdate.com Scott Binnie sbinnie@fishupdate.com Publisher: Alister Bennett

Tel: +44(0) 131 551 1000 Fax: +44(0) 131 551 7901 email: jhjul@fishupdate.com

Cover: Wrasse deployed on a Scottish salmon farm. Picture courtesy of the SSPO

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Welcome - July.indd 3

24-27 Comment Jon Gibb

28-29 Organic

A new approach

30-36 Aquaculture UK Conference report

38-41 Shellfish Adventures Nicki Holmyard

88-89 Research

Catherine Collins

90 Processing/Retail News Young seafood chefs

91-93 Aqua Source Directory

Find all you need for the industry

94 Opinion

By Nick Joy

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United Kingdom News

NEWS...

SSPO battles Sepa over sea lice treatment

Above: Scott Landsburgh

THE Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) is to commission independent research to ‘properly inform’ the discussion about the potential impact of the sea lice treatment Slice. This

follows the decision of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to cut back on the use of emamectin benzoate (marketed as Slice) by 60 per cent.

Sepa based its ruling on a 2016 report

by WRc, formerly the Water Research Centre and now an independent company providing research and consultancy in water, waste and the environment.

Scott Landsburgh, SSPO chief executive said: ‘Having reviewed the WRc report on the Environmental Quality Standard for emamectin benzoate, published by Sepa, and having taken expert opinion on this, SSPO believes that the report’s recommendations are exceptionally

precautionary and that there is a need for further relevant data to ensure proper balance is maintained.

‘With this in mind, SSPO will set about gathering additional environmental information and will commission further independent research designed to fill existing gaps in information.

‘These things will proceed as a matter of urgency.’

Sepa is putting in place an interim regulatory position for new applications

that limits residues in sediment of emamectin benzoate.

Operators at existing sites are being asked to reduce their application of emamectin benzoate by 60 per cent.

Landsburgh said: ‘Sepa have published a report based on desk research on non-native species in freshwater, regardless of the fact that our salmon mature in marine water.

‘No business can operate successfully in this sort of chaos. If the Scottish government and its

agencies want to deter investment, put jobs and economic benefit in jeopardy, this is certainly the right way to go about it.

‘Sepa have introduced immediate regulatory changes with no consideration of the social and economic impact despite being legally required to do so.

‘Slice has been, and continues to be, a critically important tool within the industry’s strategy to protect the health and welfare of farmed salmon.’

Salmon sector could double says new report Young ‘champions’ promote the industry

THE Scottish salmon industry is forecast to produce up to 400,000 tonnes a year by 2030, according to a new report. This would be double current levels of production.

Fish and shellfish farming already contributes £620 million

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to the national economy every year, claims the research.

The industry now supports more than 12,000 jobs and Scottish aquaculture production has increased by a third in the 10 years to 2015, from 142,000 to 188,000 tonnes, the

Scottish government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) commissioned study reported.

Atlantic salmon production accounts for 90 per cent of all economic impact, supporting 10,340 full-time equivalent jobs and generating £540 million in gross value added (GVA).

Rural economy minister Fergus Ewing said: ‘These figures are good news for Scottish aquaculture and show the significant social contributions the industry makes to remote rural, island and coastal areas by supporting high-skilled jobs, diversifying and protecting communities.’

their employers for supporting the YOUNG industry ‘champions’ will initiative. act as ambassadors for their sector ‘They will also be given the in a new initiative aimed at inspiring chance to be involved with career the next generation of aquaculture events, consultations on standards entrants. and qualifications, case studies and Launched at last month’s Royal activities related to their industries.’

Highland Show in Edinburgh by Some 15 industry champions atFergus Ewing, Scotland’s rural econtended the event at the Royal Highomy minister, the scheme hopes to land Show, including Hayley Eccles, promote fish farming careers and the 2016 Aquaculture runner-up introduce more youngsters to the and a Scottish Sea Farms technician. opportunities available.

The ‘champions’ are former finalists from Lantra Scotland’s Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards, and they will represent their employers and the wider rural sector.

Kevin Patrick, director of Lantra Scotland, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with the champions to provide them with opportunities for Above: Fergus Ewing, third left, and some personal and professional develof the’champions’, including Scottish opment, and are very grateful to Sea Farms’ Hayley Eccles (second left)

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06/07/2017 14:14:45

All the latest industry news from the UK

Medicine costs drop in parasite fight SCOTTISH salmon farms farming of both species. have seen a dramatic ‘Wrasse and lumpfish are decrease in spending on becoming a key part of fish medicinal treatments to farming and the potential control sea lice, according to farm wrasse for the to a new report. salmon farming sector is Figures published by the an exciting opportunity Scottish Salmon Producers’ for further investment Organisation (SSPO) show and jobs in Scotland,’ said that over the past two Landsburgh. years such treatments have ‘Of course, as we are dropped from 71 per cent of dealing with livestock, total fish health managethere will always be a ment costs to 28 per cent. requirement for the use The change of strategy of medicinal treatments has produced positive and it is important that we results, with the SSPO ensure long term responreporting in its Fish Health Above: Salmon farmers in Scotland use cleaner fish such as wrasse to control sea lice sible access to medicines Management Annual Rewhich give the fish some like wrasse and lumpfish, as well as the new port that by the end of last protection. year sea lice management was the best it had machinery to remove lice, is proving success‘Maintaining a range of options like the ful and looks encouraging for the future. been for some years. in-feed Slice treatment is a key part of the ‘We will always need responsible access to Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of SSPO, industry’s fish health management strategy.’ medicines as part of a multi-faceted strategy, said: ‘Managing sea lice on the farms has Last year also saw £21 million invested but this has been a significant turnaround for in the use of mechanical methods, such as become more challenging in the past few the salmon farmers.’ years, with higher water temperatures and thermolicers and hydrolicers, to remove Wrasse and lumpf ish are now used an increase in the incidences of algal blooms lice. Although the technology is relatively throughout the industry in Scotland, with and jelly fish. new, results so far are encouraging, said the investment of around £14 million in the ‘However, the investment in cleaner fish SSPO.

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UK news.indd 5

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06/07/2017 14:15:09

United Kingdom News

Industry leader celebrates 40th anniversary

Above: Steve Bracken receives his long service award from Ben Hadfield

STEVE Bracken, Marine Harvest’s business support manager, celebrated a record 40 years in the company last month with colleagues in Fort William.

He is the only employee of Marine Harvest to reach this milestone.

His career has seen him rise from his

first job as a fish farm assistant at Lochailort to become the leading ambassador for the salmon farming industry in Scotland.

In between he has held many senior roles in Marine Harvest, including a three-year posting to Sri Lanka as general manager.

The company’s man-

aging director, Ben Hadfield, presented Bracken (who is also a member of Fish Farmer’s editorial board) with his long service award.

He thanked him for his enormous contribution and for everything he has done and continues to do for Marine Harvest.

Changes at the top as Aqualife grows

INTERNATIONAL fish vaccination company Aqualife has announced management changes as it expands and diversifies its health services.

The move sees a more hands-on role for Aqualife’s founder and chief executive, Gordon Jeffrey, with fellow director Phil Brown taking on a new role as head of innovation.

Former managing director Ronnie Soutar becomes head of fish health and welfare, reflecting the company’s ambitions for further expansion outside the vaccination sector.

Veterinarian Soutar said: ‘It has become very obvious that providing wider fish health and welfare services, and consultancy in that area, goes hand in hand with the development of Aqualife’s world leading vaccination service.

‘That’s particularly true as we

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enter new global markets; 2017 is proving to be a truly international year for the company.

‘My new role allows me to build on my roots as a fish vet. It’s a real growth sector and I aim to announce new developments in our services at Aqua Nor, if not before.’

Highlighting Aqualife’s ongoing investment in and commitment to R&D, Innovation head Phil Brown said: ‘My focus is now on the development of mobile automated vaccination technology to complement our traditional manual vaccination services.

‘With a move to a new workshop earlier this year and collaboration with local innovation partners, we’ve got some really exciting work coming to fruition.’

New era: Page 52

New route to aquaculture careers GRADUATES seeking a career in aquaculture now have a direct route into the sector, with the launch of a new collaboration between the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and the industry in Scotland.

Open to students of all disciplines, the SAIC graduate programme offers recent and soon-to-be graduates the opportunity of an 18-month paid internship within a Scottish aquaculture business.

There, they can learn about the full value chain from egg to plate, equip themselves with the commercial awareness that today’s employers are looking for and make potentially invaluable connections within the sector.

Running alongside the industry placements will be a bespoke development programme to help graduates cultivate the skills that can be so critical to a successful business career: from time management, organisational and communication skills, to leadership and networking.

SAIC CEO Heather Jones said: ‘This is another key initiative that has been created for industry, in partnership with industry,

to help ensure that the Scottish aquaculture sector has access to the skills it needs in order to deliver its 2030 growth ambitions.

‘It gives employers direct access to the best of the talent pool and, equally, gives graduates a direct route into a career in aquaculture.’

The programme was officially launched in June with an information workshop at the University of Stirling, where attendees were able to hear presentations from participating companies including BioMar, Gael Force, Loch Duart, Marine Harvest Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms.

Cori Critchlow-Watton, aquaculture innovation manager and skills ambassador at SAIC, said: ‘The level of enthusiasm for careers in aquaculture was tangible, both among the participating companies who presented on a diverse range of roles, and the graduates and students attending.

‘One attendee had flown in especially from Madrid, which just goes to show the ambition that exists among today’s graduates.’

Above: New scheme for graduate internships

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06/07/2017 14:16:01

All the latest industry news from the UK

Loch Duart shortlisted in Highlands awards LOCH Duart has been named as a finalist in the Export Award category for the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards.

In its entry for the award the business highlighted another strong year of export sales.

Only 34 businesses made the prestigious awards shortlist that spans 13 diverse categories, ranging from Restaurant of the Year to Young Shining Star.

Alban Denton, managing director of Loch Duart, said: ‘It’s a real honour for Loch Duart salmon to be named as a finalist in the Export Award for the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards.

‘It’s the unique environment, communities and culture across the Hebrides and Sutherland that make working there such a pleasure.

‘We’re especially thrilled that our hardwon reputation for extraordinary tasting salmon is bringing increased sales in exports to markets across the world.

‘We’re looking forward to joining the awards ceremony to celebrate the very best of the Highlands and Islands food and drink industry.’

Winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony, hosted by celebrated food critic, journalist and broadcaster Jay Rayner. It will take place in the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness, on October 20, 2017.

Left: Award finalist

Tasmanian expertise boosts mussel project

Above: Picture (courtesy of Michael Tait): Spring Bay Seafoods’ Bryce Daly (left) with project board member Lindsay Angus

A PROJECT to get Scottish mussels to spawn in a hatchery environment has

received an international boost with a visit from Tasmanian partners Spring Bay Seafoods – operators of one of the world’s few commercial scale mussel hatcheries.

The partners first met during a four-day fact finding mission to Spring Bay Seafoods in 2015.

Insights from this trip helped inform the £1.7 million 30-month project by the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group (SSMG) and University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI),

with co-funding from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Currently, Scotland produces more than 7,700 tonnes of farmed mussels – 74 per cent of which are produced in Shetland – generating an estimated £11.7 million for the economy.

If successful, the pilot hatchery project will lead to a commercial scale hatchery, resulting

in higher and more reliable yields of spat, additional jobs and wider distribution of sites – all of which combined will help towards the Scottish shellfish sector’s growth ambitions of 21,000 tonnes annually by 2030.

The project team, with the first year of operations well underway, hosted Spring Bay Seafoods’ hatchery manager Bryce Daly for a three-week visit to the NAFC Marine Centre UHI in Scalloway, Shetland.

Work under way at £93 million plant on Skye MARINE Harvest invited local council members to the site of its new feed plant on Skye in June as building work got under way, the Press and Journal reported.

The project, estimated to cost £93 million, is being built

by Robertson Construction and community representatives visited the former quarry at Kyleakin to see how work is progressing so far.

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A total of 55 full-time jobs will be created later this year as a result of the development.

The company has confirmed that the plant is due to be completed by next autumn.

Ben Hadfield, Marine Harvest Scotland managing director, said: ‘We were delighted to welcome members of the local community councils to the site to mark the start of construction.

‘Work is progressing well and we will be starting to recruit the new workforce of 55 full-time positions later this year.’

The project follows the successful development of a similar facility in Norway and, once up and running, the Skye plant will also export feed to the company’s operations in Ireland, Norway and the Faroe Islands.

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European News

NEWS...

Norwegian salmon exports hit first half record NORWEGIAN salmon exports during the first six months of this year hit a record 31.5 billion kroners (NOK), figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council show.

In value terms this is 13 per cent higher on the same period in 2016.

Norway Seafood Council analyst Paul Aandahl said: ‘The first half was characterised by record high prices for salmon.

‘A continuing increase in demand combined

Above: Salmon exports rose 13 per cent in value

with reduced supply of salmon globally is the cause of this inflation.’

Ireland welcomes sector growth IRELAND’S seafood industry, including fish farming, grew by 7.4 per cent, contributing €1.1 billion in GDP to the Irish economy, according to BIM’s (Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s) Above: Jim O’Toole annual Business of Seafood report. Titled ‘Winning in a Changing Environment’, the report says the biggest drivers are new investment and domestic sales, which were worth an estimated €380 million. Further significant growth is being predicted.

BIM’s chief executive Jim O’Toole said: ‘We have a valuable and sought after raw material that is in great demand on our key markets, contributing €376 million in fish landings alone, €167 million in farmed fish and shellfish, and employing 11,000 people in our coastal communities.’

The news comes as Ireland’s Independent Aquaculture Licence Review Committee is also looking at substantial growth in the sector.

The review committee was set up by fisheries minister Michael Creed who said: ‘Ireland’s National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development aims to sustainably grow our production across all species by 45,000 tonnes.’

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Last month the average price for whole fresh Norwegian salmon was NOK

68.80 per kilogram, while in June last year it was NOK 65.36 million.

In volume terms the country exported 451,000 tonnes, roughly the same amount during the first half of last year.

While sales to some countries such as the UK are on the rise, farmed trout remains a problem.

Exports fell sharply by 56 per cent to 16,600 tonnes in the first half, and the value has dropped by 31 per cent. Currently, the largest trout customers are Japan, the US and Belarus.

King crab exports during the same period were also down by 27 per cent to 706 tonnes. The value fell by 14 per cent while exports of shrimp (prawns) fell by 14 per cent to 4,000 tons, and the value fell by 19 per cent.

Exports of all Norwegian fish and seafood, including cod and haddock, was also at a record during the first six month, totalling 1.3 million tonnes and worth NOK 46.3 billion.

Fish farming offers second life for unwanted oil rigs NORWEGIAN offshore services company Roxel has come up with a plan to convert drilling platforms into ocean farms – and then back again if demand for oil and gas exploration picks up, reported the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

‘There are many rigs that aren’t being used,’ said Roxel’s managing director, Dag Meling. ‘The beauty of our system is that it doesn’t destroy the asset.’

The conversions will include the removal of the derrick from the rig, replacing it with a fish processing module that will be built on land. Such a modular system makes it easy to reverse the conversions, said Meling.

The company aims to farm North Atlantic salmon and trout off the coast of Norway by converting jack-up rigs, which can be towed between locations where they are fixed to the seabed.

These rigs are more stable than floating platforms, hence bet-

ter suited to aquaculture, said Meling.

The rigs will be used to store feed for the farmed fish. The feed will be pumped into the fish ponds from where fish will be lifted onto the rig for counting, washing and delousing.

By going offshore

it will be possible to build fish farms that produce 10,00015,000 tonnes per year, said Meling.

Fewer and fewer oil rigs are being used, The North Sea alone has more than 550 platforms, which will be decommissioned in the next 30 years.

Above: Oil rigs could be converted into fish farms

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All the latest industry news from Europe

Plenty to digest at bite sized seminars Jason Cleaversmith from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre reports

Above: Jason Cleaversmith

THE Lofoten Islands rise from the Norwegian Sea with sheer cliffs and dramatic scenery, akin to being at 2,500m plus in the Alps, albeit now at sea level.

The land of the midnight sun is not only home to a thriving cod fishery and spectacular wildlife, but Nusfjord on the southern peninsula was also the temporary home last month to 150 international delegates invited

by Europharma to participate in its annual seminar series.

Scottish delegates were well represented with attendees from Scottish Sea Farms, the Scottish Salmon Company, MSD and Zoetis,

Iceland wildlife fund fights Westfjords cages

A NEWLY founded Icelandic Wildlife Fund (IWF) intends to fight plans to increase the salmon farming industry in Iceland. A broad group of conservationists established the fund to fight for the protection of Icelandic nature, especially fjords and rivers, which they claim are threatened by industrial scale salmon farming in sea cages.

Conservationists are especially concerned that sea cages are being placed in narrow and sparsely inhabited fjords. Current plans envision a large number of new farms in the Westfjords.

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mingling with colleagues from as far afield as New Zealand, Chile and Iceland, who were of course joined by a strong ‘home’ contingent.

Twenty four seminars, packed into one and a half days, provided an excellent overview of the ambitions of several countries in this domain and, at a deeper level, the progress being made on key fronts in tackling some of the challenges currently faced by the sector.

These bite size seminars were interspersed with ‘cultural’ insights into Lofoten’s music scene, with young musicians impressing the delegates with their talents (genius scheduling a heavy metal band just after lunch to ensure that all delegates were awake and ready to digest both their food and a session on the ambitions for growth of the Scottish aquaculture sector).

Of particular note were sessions on ‘Could mackerel be the real problem behind declining wild salmon stocks?’, insights into nutrition and pigmentation, progress in smoltification and maturation, advances in vaccine technologies and novel immune stimulants, post smolt production and RAS design, along with a session on ‘the proof is in the poo’, thankfully some time before dinner!

The seminar closed with an upbeat outlook for the sector delivered by Solveig Van Nes, of Creuna, who restated what a fantastic product salmon is from several different perspectives; a healthy protein, sustainably produced and with significant upsides for local communities and regions.

Faroes a happy place to live THE Faroes, which depends heavily on fishing and fish farming for its economy, is one of the happiest places on earth to live - so says a study by the Faroese Institute for Public Health. Isolated, windy and wet it may be, but it measures highly for issues

such as work-life balance, housing and general satisfaction.

The study was based on the OECD Better Life Index, which measures 11 indicators. The Faroes scored higher than other Nordic fishing countries such as Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

Above: Tinganes in Tórshavn

Being proud of what we do, and what we’ve achieved was a great way to end a very informative and enjoyable couple of days.

The good folks at Europharma, led by Jim-Roger Nordly, and closer to home, Nikos Steiropoulos, did themselves proud with first class hospitality, outstanding organisation and some interesting takeaways (if you are a fan of dried cod as a delicacy).

A fantastic networking opportunity, highly informative and a wonderful opportunity to experience why the Lofoten Islands is the global HQ for Europharma. Sign me up for next year.

World’s largest land salmon farm planned TWO Norwegian entrepreneurs are planning the world’s largest land based salmon farming operation, with an eventual aim to produce up to 20,000 tonnes of fish a year.

The men behind the three billion kroner plan in the port of Floro, in the western part of the country, are Kjell Audun Aasen and Martin Ramsdal from a company called Nekst.

They received approval last year for 16 development licences that combine land and sea based aquaculture, according to the Norwegian technical journal Teknisk Ukeblad (TU).

Kjell Aasen said their plan was highly sustainable and would be based on the use of recirculated water designed to reduce the risk of lice and help prevent escapes.

He told TU: ‘We will use technology that already exists, and we believe that the re-use of water is an important environmental factor because it provides a completely different option on quality.’

Aasen has been connected with aquaculture since 1984 when he was involved in the farming of Pacific salmon in Canada. This, he admits, was not a success and gave way to Atlantic salmon which was better suited to farming.

He later went on to work for Marine Harvest.

Nekst says it can produce large smolts – or post-smolts – of about 2.7 kg, which typically take about 90 weeks from the hatching of the eggs, before transferring the fish to sea cages.

The local council in Floro, once an important herring port, is asking Nekst to build its plant near the town’s municipal industrial area, which it believes can accommodate such a large land based fish farm. It is also close to the harbour and a good supply of water and power.

Aasen told the journal: ‘If everything goes as we hope, we expect to be able to start production in the second half of 2019.’

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06/07/2017 14:17:59

European News

EU farmed fish output bounds back caused by ‘red tide’ or algae blooms.

Salmonid production also increased from 2013 to 2014, mainly attributable to increased farming of salmon (plus 16,500 tonnes) and trout (plus 7,700 tonnes).

Spain and the UK, the main EU proAbove: Gilthead seabream ducers of farmed FARMED fish producsalmon led the overall products in volume, tion in the European five per cent or 79 saw an overall upward Union bloc is boundmillion euro increase trend in 2014, with ing back at an impres- of salmonids between both reaching 10sive rate, figures from 2013 and 2014, but year value peaks for the European Market down on the previous farmed production. of Fisheries and Aqtwo years.

Spain’s 2014 volume uaculture (EUMOFA) The value of other of 285,000 tonnes show. marine fish also with a value of 472 The latest available grew by five per cent million euros repredata is for 2014 which during 2013-2014, sented an increase of discloses that output thanks to a 25 million 58,700 tonnes and that year increased by euro increase reg42 million euros over eight per cent, mark- istered for gilthead 2013, due to the ining a reversal of the seabream. The report crease in the value of trends in the previous says the production mussel production. five years. of bivalves in 2013The UK’s aquaculThe value of that 14 rose by 75,400 ture products totalled production also tonnes. This increase 214,000 tonnes worth increased by two per was mainly due to an 953 million euros, an cent over 2013 (75 increase in mussels increase of 11,300 million euros) to a farmed in Spain, tonnes or 56 million total of 3.96 billion which marked a euros over 2013, euros. recovery from a 2013 mostly driven by The value growth of production shrinkage farmed salmon.

DHL beefs up cold chain to US and Asia DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post group, says it is going to accelerate the supply chain for the north Norwegian seafood industry.

DHL has started shipping live crabs and seafood from the Lakselv Airport Banak in north Norway to Asia and Northern America.

On dedicated weekly flights, DHL transports the fresh seafood to the DHL terminal in Oslo, from where the freight is sent to South Korea and other destinations such as Japan or the United States.

From the origin, which is only 100km from the North Cape, to its destination in Asia the whole logistics is exactly timed, ensuring the shipments are delivered in perfect condition.

Koreans go wild for mackerel THE Norwegian Seafood Council has said the South Korean market is going from strength to strength for its exports, with mackerel top of the list. In fact, Norwegian mackerel was featured on a TV programme on Korea’s largest station, with the commentator saying it is larger and fatter than mackerel from elsewhere and has a higher omega-3 content. Koreans eat more seafood than most other nations in the world, with mackerel the favourite. Norway now has 82 per cent of the mackerel market in South Korea.

Record crowds at Brussels show THE world’s largest seafood exhibition, held in Brussels in April, attracted record crowds this year, with visitor numbers reaching more than 28,500, the show organisers

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revealed last month.

Seafood Expo Global featured the stands of 1,859 exhibiting companies from 79 countries, including 73 national and regional pavilions.

Among the first

time exhibitors were representations from Latvia, Myanmar, Poland, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cyprus and Romania. In total, exhibits covered 38,338sq m of space.

‘The continued growth of this event shows the value of face-to-face meetings for buyers and suppliers doing business in the global seafood industry,’ said Wynter Courmont, event director for the show’s organisers, Diversified Communications.

Buyers from restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, catering services, importers,

DHL said transporting the fresh seafood by plane allows it to cut the lead time by nearly 50 per cent. DHL is aiming to increase the frequency of deliveries from Oslo to Asia to three flights per week. From Oslo, almost 90 per cent of the fish is flown directly to Seoul in South Korea, while approximately 10 per cent is further directed to destinations in the US, Japan and China.

Sandberg sets sights on Japan distributors and seafood markets attended the exhibition in the Belgian capital. A record 455 high-volume buyers participated in this year’s ‘Key Buyer’ programme.

‘It’s an event 100 per cent dedicated to fish and seafood and it brings the whole sector together once a year,’ said a category manager from Ahold in the Netherlands.

Next year’s Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global will be held on April 24-26 at the Brussels Expo.

was due to meet representatives of both the Norwegian and Japanese seafood industries, along with conducting political talks to strengthen bilateral cooperation Above: Per Sandberg between the two NORWAY’S fisheries countries. minister Per Sandberg Sandberg said the was due to visit Tokyo visit is based on three in late June with decades of seafood mackerel and salmon cooperation with Jatopping the agenda. pan. Thirty years ago Japan is currentit was unthinkable ly Norway’s most for the Japanese to important seafood eat raw salmon, even market in Asia. In in sushi, but then a 2016, salmon, trout, Norwegian delegation mackerel and other travelled to Asia in seafood worth NOK 1985. Now the Norwe4.4 billion was exgian salmon is a part ported there. of Japanese sushi While in Japan he culture.

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:18:32

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Untitled-2 11

05/07/2017 15:16:02

World News

NEWS...

New chapter to promote growth

Above: Alpha Condé

THE World Aquaculture Society launched its Africa Chapter during World Aquaculture 2017 in Cape Town last month.

Guinea ambassador Mamady Camara addressed the launch, after the first full day of the conference and

exhibition, on behalf of Guinean president Professor Alpha Condé, who is chairman of the African Union and the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) agency’s champion for fisheries and aquaculture.

‘The African aquaculture community will make significant investment and commitment to their newly formed chapter and will do all in its power to sustain the momentum of the WAS African Chapter,’ said

Camara.

Earlier, at the opening ceremony of World Aquaculture 2017, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of NEPAD, told delegates that there was now a strong political will by many African states to work with agencies and the African Union to strengthen fisheries and aquaculture management.

‘There is great potential in the inland fishery and aquaculture sector to increase fish production and utilisation, thereby creating employment and economic opportunities for youth through aquaculture

activities.’

In recognition of the early developmental stage of African aquaculture, special sessions on developing value chains, financing African aquaculture, and policy implementation were presented by the African Union, NEPAD, the World Bank and WorldFish.

The trade show hosted more than 90 exhibitors, while the conference featured over 70 parallel sessions covering an array of aquaculture related topics and speakers.

The event was co-organised by WAS with the Aquacul-

ture Association of Southern Africa and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).

It attracted sponsorship and support from African development

institutions including DAFF, NEPAD, the African Union and the WorldFish Centre.

‘Africa is here and she is ready,’ said Siphokazi Ndundane from DAFF.

Above: Dr Ibrahim Mayaki

Insect feed firm boosts global team AGRIPROTEIN, the South African insect feed pioneer, has appointed two new members to its global leadership team to drive its international business expansion.

The waste-to-nutrient upcycler aims to build a network of 100 insect protein factories by 2024 and 200 by 2027, supplying the $100 billion aquafeed market.

The company moved its global HQ to London on July 1, when Mark Williams joined as group COO and Alan Corr as group CFO. Jason Drew, CEO of AgriProtein, said: ‘The appointment of Mark Williams and Alan Corr is a watershed for the business.

‘With their outstanding corporate track records, they’re joining at a time when we’re undergoing massive growth. Mark and Alan share our commitment to finding a better way to feed the world and we look forward to having them on board.’

New EU regulations, which came into effect this month, permit the use of insect based nutrients in aquafeed.

Drew said: ‘With the tide of European regulation starting to move in favour of insect protein for animal feed, we felt the time had come to set up our head office in Europe.

‘We opted for London because of its unrivalled position as a global financial centre and access to international markets. Brexit is no barrier for our technology.’

AgriProtein makes sustainable animal feed to replace fishmeal and soy used in aquaculture, agriculture and pet food.

By rearing fly larvae on organic waste which would otherwise go to land-

fill, its technology also helps tackle the world’s growing waste crisis.

The company has allocated licences in the US, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. In February it announced a partnership with Austrian engineers Christof Industries, enabling it to roll out its fly factory blueprint on a turnkey basis anywhere in the world at the rate of 25 per year – more than two per month.

Earlier this year AgriProtein entered the Cleantech Global Top 100 and won a CleanEquity award for its environmental technology research presented by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Last year the company won an AUD 450,000 award for its industrially scalable solution to the depletion of fish stocks in the Indian Ocean in the Australian government backed Blue Economy Challenge.

Right: Fly eggs

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World news.indd 12

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:19:36

World News

Fund launched for African aquaculture AQUA-Spark, the Dutch based aquaculture investors, announced a $15 million Africa fund on the first day of the World Aquaculture Society conference in Cape Town. In partnership with Msingi, an East African investor, the fund will focus on tilapia and catfish producers, and will invest in all aspects of farming.

Aqua-Spark’s Amy Novogratz, launching the fund during a seminar on financing African aquaculture, said she and her partner Mike Velings were looking for additional investors to come on board.

The aim is to build infrastructure ‘for a thriving sub-Saharan aquaculture sector’, and help provide farmers access to global markets and to Aqua Spark’s portfolio of companies, which includes feed manufacturers.

Aqua-Spark is the only investment fund in the world dedicated to aquaculture, said Novogratz, and it considers thousands of applications before deciding which companies to support.

It already backs a tilapia farm in Mozambique and has interests in Indonesia and in an Indian Ocean sea cucumber farm, among others.

Novogratz said they have a network of 50 experts around the world, including WorldFish, to advise them and they give funding to initiatives that are established and sustainable.

‘We’re looking for feed conversion rates below 2.5, minimum chemicals and antibiotics only when fish are ill…we don’t believe in high CEO salaries and think everyone should have fair pay.

‘We come in when you’ve proven your model and want to expand,’ she said, acknowledging that most fish farming companies in Africa were ‘at too early a stage for us…we don’t yet invest in early, early stage farms’.

However, when Aqua-Spark brings in more partners to the Africa fund there may be different thinking on what to invest in. The fund would be up and running in 12 to 18 months, said Novogratz.

World Aquaculture 2017 was opened by South Africa’s fisheries minister, Senzeni Zokwana, who said his government recognised the importance of aquaculture and the part it must play in food provision.

Above: Catfish farm

‘We without doubt want to highlight the role of this sector in economic development, eliminating poverty and reducing inequality.’

He said access to services, such as finance and veterinary help, was the main constraint to growth in the industry.

‘We hope that by hosting the conference, solutions will be brought forward in how we address these challenges,’ said Zokwana, insisting that in the right environment, aquaculture in Africa can achieve its potential.

The sector has come under the spotlight since South African President Jacob Zuma launched Operation Phakisa last year, a development programme that includes aquaculture.

World Aquaculture 2017, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from June 26-30, attracted around 2,000 delegates.

A full report from the conference will appear in the August issue of Fish Farmer.

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World news.indd 13

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06/07/2017 14:19:57

World News

Nebraska base for algal oil plant

Above: Downtown Blair, Nebraska

EVONIK and Royal DSM will locate the commercial scale production facility for their omega-3 fatty acids from natural marine algae in Blair, Nebraska.

DSM Nutritional Products and Evonik Nutrition & Care plan to invest around $200 million in the facility ($100 million by each party over two years).

The initial annual production capacity will meet roughly 15 per cent of the current total annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry.

The facility is expected to come on stream in 2019. Both companies announced in the spring the start of a joint venture for this purpose.

The establishment of the joint venture, to be named Veramaris and headquartered in the Netherlands, will be finalised, subject to regulatory approvals.

Blair, Nebraska, was chosen as it takes advantage of Evonik’s decades of operational experience for large-scale biotechnology operations.

The company has been operating a facility there for almost 20 years. The new plant will be located adjacent to Evonik’s current facility on Cargill’s site, with established access to the raw materials needed to produce the high value and pure EPA+DHA omega-3 fatty acid oil.

It will, for the first time, allow for the production of omega-3 fatty acids for animal nutrition without using any fish oil from wild caught fish, a finite resource. Initial applications will be in salmon aquaculture and pet food.

Evonik’s and DSM’s highly concentrated algal oil will enable the animal nutrition industry to keep up with the increasing demand for these two essential omega-3 fatty acids without endangering fish stocks.

Until the facility in Blair opens, DSM and Evonik will produce pilot-scale quantities of the algal oil at DSM’s production facility in Kingstree, South Carolina. Customers will be able to receive sizeable quantities of the product for market development while the construction of the new manufacturing plant gets underway.

New CEO for tilapia genetics firm GENOMAR Genetics, which specialises in the tilapia industry, has appointed Alejandro Tola Alvarez as its CEO. Alvarez, who took up his new role on June 1, will be responsible for innovation, operations and business development within the

Above: Tola Alvarez

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World news.indd 14

company, which is part of the EW Group.

He has been part of the Genomar group since 2006, based in South-East Asia as chief operational officer and in Norway as chief technical officer.

‘We were very pleased to find a highly qualified internal candidate for the CEO position,’ said chairman Odd Magne Rødseth.

‘Alejandro has played a major role in both R&D and commercial development of the most reputable and professional genetic brands in global tilapia aquaculture.

‘He comes with a deep understanding of the tilapia operating environments and the opportunities of modern breeding technologies, such as genomics, to improve economic and environmental performance of the industry.’

Alvarez is a qualified vet and has masters degrees in aquaculture and business administration.

GenoMar Genetics, based in Oslo with its main operation in Luzon, Philippines, has developed the Genomar Supreme Tilapia strain (GST) through more than 25 years of selective breeding.

Skretting opens Vietnam feed mill

A NEW feed plant has been constructed in the Mekong Delta by Skretting Vietnam to help the country’s fast growing shrimp farming sector reach its full potential.

The 23,000m2 facility, which has an initial annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes of feed, is

located within the Thuan Dao Industrial Zone, Long An. Marc Le Poul, general manager of Skretting South Asia, said: ‘Building on several years of experience operating in Vietnam, we feel that 2017 is the year for our ambition to reach new heights.’

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:20:22

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World news – Feed

Insect vision Alternative protein advance confronts technology hurdle

BY COLIN LEY

T

ECHNOLOGY has become the biggest hurdle facing the development of insect protein as a commercial food and feed source, rather than the regulatory barriers which have surrounded the sector in its progress to date.

This was the key message given to global feed business leaders by insect protein entrepreneur Katharina Unger, CEO and co-founder of Livin farms, based in Hong Kong.

Livin has devised a ‘desktop’ hive for use in the domestic production of edible insects and Unger was invited to explain how the system works during Nutreco’s massive AgriVision conference in the Netherlands last month.

She began by telling the event’s 400 delegates that with a green light for insect based fish feed now having been given in Europe, the sector’s regulatory hurdles were being overcome sooner and more rapidly than was previously thought possible.

‘The insect farming industry is now very much into high-speed development and it’s all very positive,’ she told the audience, drawn from major feed businesses, feed trade associations and the research community.

‘The potential of insect protein is also growing strongly as regards general public awareness and appreciation; much faster that you may think.

‘We already have some home consumers using our hive system alongside about 1,000 business and research clients. Attitudes are definitely changing as happened in the past with foods such as sushi and lobsters. These were workers’ foods not so long ago but are now high profile, largely due to rebranding activities.

‘Lobsters used to be viewed as the cockroaches of the ocean and look how the species is seen today. That change happened within a relatively short time frame and the same process is now taking place in relation to insect protein.’

The edible insect market, although still small, is growing at a rate of 40 per cent a year, added Unger, a fact which bodes well for the equivalent animal and fish feed markets in terms of the change in consumer attitudes towards the new protein source.

‘One day, of course, we’ll look back on this stage in the advance of insect protein and it will all seem so obvious.’

Livin’s hive system for edible insects, an approach obviously borrowed from bee keeping, is designed to sit in home kitchens where it can be used to grow protein-rich super food mealworms.

Fed with waste food from the kitchen, the hive enables mealworms to be grown at the closest possible point to consumption in an environment which Livin says is efficient and effective and doesn’t carry any risk of escaping mealworms. FF

Kofi Annan urges businesses to do good COMPANIES that do the right thing, without waiting for governments to put laws in place, will always come out on top, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told Nutreco’s AgriVision conference.

Addressing the challenge of feeding the world, with fish farming playing a major role in that process, Annan encouraged his feed industry listeners to acknowledge their responsibilities for the future of global food production.

Stating that the world’s food problems will worsen if cur-

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rent trends are allowed to continue, he urged delegates to make sure their own businesses focused on doing the right things.

‘Doing good is good for business,’ he said, pointing out that many US companies had displayed an ability to think for themselves following the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

‘President Trump has taken one position but many of the companies and corporations in the USA are going the other way,’ he said. ‘And the companies that do what is right will come out on top.’

He was also appreciative of the work already being done by many feed sector businesses to address the issues surrounding hunger, climate change, sustainability and technology.

‘The greatest success in relation to these issues will come when all stakeholders work closely in partnership,’ he said, repeatedly urging his listeners to do more to help meet the world’s huge food and health needs.

‘I am very glad, however, that Nutreco and other far-sighted companies are already implementing ambitious business practices to improve responsible water stewardship, reduce waste and use energy resources more efficiently.’

“

One day, of course, we’ll look back on this stage in the advance of insect protein and it will all seem so obvious

”

Above: Katharina Unger, insect feed entrepreneur

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:21:21

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Untitled-2 17

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05/07/2017 15:19:15

Trade Associations – SSPO

Comment

BY

BY PROFESSOR PROFESSOR PHIL PHIL THOMAS THOMAS

Letter from Underpinning provenance America

ADorestocking withabout Scottish parallels we think story enough what gives the

industry its edge in key markets?

SPENT most of June in the US, catching up

II

with family and taking some holidays. My trip started in Boston, went to Washington t may not be politi callyoncorrect to say soDC at and then,but via farmed the Shenandoah Valley and Blue present Atlantic salmon would Ridge to Richmond, notMountains, have become Scotland’sfinishing leadingwith fooda loop around the south eastEstate’s of Chesapeake export without theand Crown positive Bay and back to Washington. engagement with aquaculture development I sometimes jest that I keep returning to America back in the 1980s. inNow, the hope of eventually the of place. aquaculture is aunderstanding significant part the But the truth is I getleasing a buzz from visit,isand agency’s marine portfevery olio and reguthere are always interesting thingsEstate’s to discover. larly celebrated by the Crown Scottish Of course, it’s now impossible to visit Marine Aquaculture Awards event.America This year’s without struck by of the Trump event inbeing Edinburgh onthe theimpact 11 June was the presidency.

Nosuccessful previous holder of the for position usual highly showcase Scottihas sh so radically challenged America’s politicalfor culture aquaculture and a rare opportunity indusand conventions or so to totally upended the Washtry to join together mark its success. ington establishment as Donald Trump.

The Crown Estate is presently at the centre populist agenda has the ofAlthough further Republican, devolutionhis discussions between embraced Democratic Party shibboleths and found UK government and Scottish government.

The popular support in many blue collar and rural long-term future of key Scottish functions recommunities. mains unclear and professional expertise could some parts I visited, the signs of the economic beInsquandered in the process of organisational decline, much highlighted in the Trump campaign, change. were easy to spot - and old Trump election posters Both the Crown Estate’s core expertise and were still very much in evidence. the Marine Aquaculture Awards are imporMore significantly perhaps, Trump has introduced tant in maintaining the distinctive coherence a new approach to politics, dismissive of facts and of Scotland’s aquaculture and it would be a with ‘alternative facts’ to deploy, as necessary. tragedy if they became casualties of political Many American politicians, commentators and change. voters find this profoundly disconcerting. But others This year’s Awards event was hosted by seem content that a 140-character tweet from actress, writer and comedian Jo Caulfield, an the boss should be given similar regard as some inspired choice by whoever made the booking. substantial fact-based report. They argue that ‘it’s Sheawas very way funny and entertaining and kept just different of doing politics’. the proceedings going with a swing.

Only Having witnessed it first hand, I hope this newonce did she stray, when wondered ‘proveapproach does not takeshe hold in the UK,what although nance actually meant’. both the Brexit referendum and the June general In a room full ofshowed folk whose election campaigns somelivelihoods elements of that tendency.

12As to seafood, everywhere I visited had excellent offerings. However, the finest found were around

18

SSPO.indd 12

Phil Thomas.indd 18

should “beWeI cannot organising our “training recall and

anyone ever education raising the provisions interesting much history bett er of the Chesapeake shad

” ”

Chesapeake Bay, where the supplies of locally caught or farmed shellfish, crustaceans and finfish were outstanding.

Virtually all restaurants also had a signature dish of (farmed) salmon. However, consistent with a Chesapeake focused marketing strategy, the origin of the salmon on offer remained discreetly undisclosed!

Chesapeake Bay itself is a very interesting and complex water body in which the freshwater from its rivers floats down on top of the denser, saltier waters depend onits the provenance of their products quickly sensed coming from mouth.

The constant mixing by wind,she tides, river flows andan audience response and moved to safer comedic material: there are some other disturbances affects the salinity, temperature, oxygen levels and clarity of things just don’t joke about! the wateryou from place to place, so providing for a range of different habitats and However, her remark left me asking myself whether we think enough species. about the underpinning provenance ofAmerican Scottish shad, farmed fish – and My personal discovery was of thethe local history of the variously for metothat’s farmed referred as ‘poor man’ssalmon. salmon’ or ‘the fish that fed the Nation’s founders’.

There no doubt that Scottishspecies provenance important indusThe shad,iswhich is an anadromous of largeisherring, has ato lifeour cycle try – it spring gives us the edge all our of key markets. involving spawning andinhatching eggs in the Chesapeake rivers, with can be defined in various ways most people will agree theProvenance hatched juveniles schooling before migrating outbut to sea in the autumn.

Theyitthen livebeyond in the marine environmentand for sensory three years untiles mature, that goes the appearance qualiti of thebefore final returning natal rivers invisual springpresentati to repeat their life cycle, untilconsistency they are product:tofltheir avour, texture, on and product about six. are always key factors in consumer appeal but provenance is about Shad were highly prized by the Native Americans and the early settlers as much more. a delicious andaabundant Chesapeake species; and as theassurance, settler population It reflects wider concept of consumer quality including: increased sowhere did market the place the demand. fish is grown and processed; the professional By the 1800s shadproducti had become oneprocessing of the mostmethods; commercially fish integrity of the on and andvaluable the quality, incommitment Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and theinvolved District of–Columbia, and its supply and care of the people the professional skills, seemed expertiboundless. se, passion and dedication of the producers themselves.

However, before long, industrial development ledus to the construction of In Scotland our ‘place of producti on’ gives a huge natural advandams and hydroelectric schemes on several of the Chesapeake rivers, presenttage because we grow fish in the pristine coastal waters of some of ing barriers the shad reaching natal spawning the most to beauti ful and wild their scenic areas of thegrounds. world, and our brand is Combined with thePGI impacts of pollution and over fishing, this sent the shad protected by its status. population into steepon decline. ansh annual harvest 8 million kg in Likewise, adopti of theFrom Scotti Finfish Codeofofsome Good Practice 1900, catches declined to about 0.8 million kg in the early 1970s. allied with the industry’s deep commitment to a range of independent Eventually, in the 1980s and early 1990s, Maryland farm quality assurance programmes, includingand theVirginia RSPCAstopped fish welfare commercial fishingon forthe shad, and today there are statutory restrictions on any scheme, builds underlying strength of our statutory regulatory taking of the systems tospecies. assure our production systems.

But a major Bay se, restoration was in 2000, Finally, theChesapeake skills, experti passionprogramme and dedicati onintroduced of our farmers with man-made barriers to the shad spawning grounds being circumvented or can be demonstrated in abundance day in and day out – and they were removed, and hatchery reared fish used for restocking. showcased by the recent awards event.

Contemporary reports suggest thatve shad recovery is still quite patchy, However, being wholly objecti and forward looking, it is this third although spawning runs of fish have exceeded conservation targets inscope the for area of provenance where the Scottish industry has greatest Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, providing some optimism for the future. systematic development. That is not to say that our industry’s skills There is, though, still a long, long way to go before substantial self-sustaining and professional expertise are not of the highest calibre, but it is to shad populations seem likely to be restored. recognise that our vocational educational and training structures, and The curious thing is that, over the years, I have spent hours in meetings concerned with factors potentially affecting the declining international populations www.fishfarmer-magazine.com of wild Atlantic salmon. But I cannot recall anyone ever raising the interesting and parallel history of the Chesapeake shad!. FF

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com 03/07/2015

14:31:33

06/07/2017 14:22:03

Trade Associations – British Trout Association

After Brexit

How sector will survive with diminished UK influence

BY DOUG MCLEOD

O

NE of the positives of being a member state of the EU is that it enables industry representatives to sit on advisory councils - working groups that can inform and propose to the European Commission actions and developments within their sectors.

In light of the structure of the decision making process in Brussels, by which the Commission has the sole responsibility of introducing regulations and directives (essentially proposing policy), this gives the industry an opportunity to provide potentially major input to future legislative arrangements.

Sitting through a Brussels meeting of the Fish Working Group of the Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) recently, it was clear that to some extent this opportunity has already been grasped by some industry and NGO representatives.

An extensive report on the issue of the ‘level playing field’ (already identified as a major concern in the Commission’s ‘Strategic guidelines for the development of sustainable aquaculture’) for aquaculture products was presented.

This identified the number of areas where European production and processing operations faced strict conditions, regulatory controls that are absent or less stringent in third country suppliers of competing products.

Requests for action on these unsymmetrical operating conditions will likely form part of an early submission of advice from the AAC, once agreed through the Council’s process, and will reflect a subject close to the heart of most aquaculture operators in the EU. Although the UK (and its industries) will still enjoy a presence at post-Brexit advisory councils, inevitably our input will diminish in status and significance.

And, I believe, this is likely to be symptomatic of other changes to our industry in general and the trout farming sector in particular.

The trout sector will face challenges as a result of a weakened value of sterling on the international money market, with a higher cost

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

BTA.indd 19

structure due to reliance on imports for eggs and specialist kit such as hatchery equipment, and a possible boost in exports.

Both forex effects will require the typical SME to make possibly painful adjustments in their current production and marketing operations.

There are of course some further unknown unknowns, such as the extent of tariff barriers, creation of trading infrastructure (from national renumbering of EU site identification to national border crossing paperwork) and the need for substitute import/export agreements with individual third countries.

Meanwhile, there will be the requirement to satisfy EU regulatory standards in order to continue trading with European member states, in areas ranging from animal health and welfare standards, veterinary medicine constraints (named products, treatment regimens and residues) and feed ingredients. All in a situation where the UK input and influence will most probably be a shadow of its former self.

There is no doubt that the trout farming sector in the UK will survive into the post-Brexit world and possibly prosper.

However, it is equally clear, I believe, that a short to medium term future of significant and potentially painful commercial readjustment is probable. FF

A short “ to medium

term future of potentially painful commercial readjustment is probable

”

Left: Brown trout

19

06/07/2017 14:23:11

Trade Associations – ASSG

BY NICK LAKE

Call for an overhaul Planning legislation must provide basis to further develop industry

T

HE start of the cultivation year is all about spat collection if you are a mussel business and the weather conditions have been favourable so far.

Nothing can ever be taken for granted in the marine environment but a good spatfall (and retention) will provide the basis for a further boost to the industry’s outputs.

The 2016 Scottish Cultivated Shellfish Production figures, announced recently, recognised the hard work of the sector. Mussel production increased significantly and the quantity available in the system for on-growing also bodes well for the future.

Pacific oyster production is equally encouraging, with outputs up. This reflects the continued availability of good quality seed from our UK hatcheries.

While king and queen scallops, together with the native oyster, continue to be cultivated in Scotland, very limited outputs are available to the market.

Spat supply and length of grow-out are factors, and the scale of production has always made it difficult to argue a business case for a dedicated Scottish hatchery focusing outputs on these species alone.

However, the mussel hatchery stepping stone project continues apace in Shetland, so options for a multi-species hatchery may be a future development.

Native oyster Particular interest in the native oyster is typically seen in the specialist highend restaurant sector and equally among conservationists as it is a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species.

The potential for the native to be re-established in the Dornoch Firth and the link with the Tain whisky distillery created some amazing headlines – such as ‘Raising a glass to the return of oysters’.

Clearly, some commentators are unaware that there is a successful native oyster fishery in Loch Ryan – which is after all in Scotland!

Great that this work to try and establish a biogenic reef and Opposite page: Mussel reintroduce the species into the north is going ahead and attracting farming positive media attention, though. But while the volume sales of mussels and Pacific oysters are driven by an expanding market, it seems some way off before general consumers (or the multiple retailers) will be prepared to pay a premium for the additional work required to cultivate the native.

There is a need to ensure that water quality is maintained as pristine if we are to have a viable industry. The native oyster may well be the species to drive this message home within Scotland as we are still in the position of having over half of our designated Shellfish Waters Protected Areas rated by the Scottish government as degraded.

This has implications for both producers and consumers and we are increasingly seeing a clear lack of understanding from the Scottish agencies of the scope and implications of failing to proactively address this issue.

Aquaculture research There is a real need for applied research for the benefit of the wider indus-

20

ASSG.indd 20

try but this often seems to be overlooked in top down research proposals.

For example, the academic study of climate change will not be on the agenda for any individual producer but requiring rapid testing or monitoring technology to deal with possible associated everyday events will.

The Scottish shellfish sector has over the years benefited from the research interventions of the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum (SARF). Unfortunately, with diminishing budgets from the key public sector bodies involved, including the former Crown Estate, SARF is now entering the last round of research funding guided by the practical needs of industry.

The most recent shellfish related work undertaken by SARF was with respect to the planning regime under the Town and Country Planning Act which regulates at a local authority level the requirements to establish an aquaculture site.

The final shellfish related report available on the forum’s website (SARF 110) indicates the benefit to industry of having this sort of research approach which has dealt with issues fundamental to business start-up and success.

It is hoped that the legacy of SARF will in part be a better understanding of the general needs of our sector with respect to the requirement for applied research which may not directly relate to biology or environmental factors but nonetheless is extremely important to future industry development.

Permitted Development Rights The issue of planning consents and ability to expand production is currently to the fore with Marine Scotland undertaking a public consultation on the issue of Permitted Development Rights (PDRs).

The ability to expand within strict limits the quantity of equipment or to change the shellfish species cultivated at any site consented under the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) is fundamental to business development.

Equally, operators will be aware that with time and improved knowledge of their site conditions other opportunities may arise from those first envisaged. Hence this consultation is important in order to look at building a degree of flexibility into

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06/07/2017 14:26:55

Call for an overhaul

“

We should not be working under a system that has such uncertainty embedded within it

”

a system whose original purpose was to regulate for terrestrial developments of buildings and infrastructure.

I have advised all members of the opportunity to contribute to this consultation and I would welcome any thoughts to contribute to the ASSG response.

Planning issues The general Scottish planning legislation is being reviewed by Scottish government and this presents an opportunity for the definition of ‘development’ to be considered in the light of the fact that aquaculture control was an after-thought to the existing terrestrial intent of the TCPA. We are all aware that fixed land ownership and a very stable terra firma for terrestrial planning decisions does not, in most instances, directly equate to a largely publicly owned marine environment where the seabed we anchor into has a tendency to shift with tides and weather.

The recent legal opinion in one Scottish case of dispute over whether an existing fish farm site retained its planning permission on the basis that it had lifted its original anchors and then relayed them in the same position sometime later shows that simply not understanding detailed planning regulation could be disastrous.

(One of the substantive costs to industry is of course being placed in a position to need to seek legal advice in the first place to clarify and resolve such an issue - unfortunately good or bad legal advice tends never to be cheap!)

It would appear that we are at the stage where differing legal opinions as to the application of the TCPA in relation to detailed operational matters on aquaculture sites indicates that we have a planning control system which needs an overhaul.

Only if we have an appropriate planning system which takes note of local needs and also is flexible enough to allow shellfish cultivation businesses to manage their sites without fear of contravening obtuse planning detail will we have a basis upon which to further develop our industry.

I will just put this out there but how many oyster growers have sites where shifting sediments means that they routinely have to lift and reposition their oyster trestles in order for the oyster

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ASSG.indd 21

bags to not become smothered and lost?

Would you consider it necessary to seek planning permission for this if the trestles were subsequently still aligned with your original site plan? Answers on a postcard to me – but I am sure I could find you legal opinions that say that both ‘yes you do’ and ‘no you don’t’!

We should not be working under a planning system that has such uncertainty embedded within it.

ASSG conference We will have a full line-up of national and international speakers at the conference – in Oban from October 26-27- covering subjects from consumer demands to the latest research and innovation in production techniques.

And we will have presentations on oyster production in Europe and the US, both areas that will

have increasing resonance in terms of our future after Brexit.

Importantly, given our special relationship with the US (at a grower level at least), we are pleased to have a view of the likely US Food and Drugs Administration requirements for conducting trade in shellfish and how they may view our current food safety and disease risk controls for live shellfish.

Most importantly, for Scottish producers who are members of the ASSG or Seafood Shetland there will be the hotly contested ‘Best Scottish Shellfish Competition’.

Full details of the event and registration forms will appear on the ASSG website (www.assg.org. uk) in August and we look forward to welcoming members and non-members alike to what will be a sunny and warm Oban!

Dr Nick Lake is chief executive of the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers! FF

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06/07/2017 14:27:15

Comment

BY DR MARTIN JAFFA

Breaking China Optimism about this market’s potential may be misplaced

I

’VE NEVER been to mainland China but over the years I have built up an understanding of the Chinese approach to fish and seafood simply by working within the aquaculture industry in the UK. China is the ‘new’ market for salmon producers, with potential demand from more than 1.3 billion people possibly driving the market for years to come. However, I am not sure I share the same optimism.

Many years ago, I was involved in growing carp at one of the then major Yorkshire coal fired power stations. Cooling water from the generators was diverted into tanks and then back to the cooling towers.

Although there is a good market for restocking, the carp we produced were destined for a very specific market – the Chinese community in London. The unique selling point of these fish was that they were supplied live.

Diners at local Chinese restaurants might notice that menus are often light in fish compared to chicken, pork and beef.This is because Chinese culture demands that fish be served as fresh as possible and the only guarantee of freshness is that the fish are live.

Our fish were in great demand and were always sold out by the time the delivery truck had returned to Yorkshire.We could never supply enough.

Unfortunately, the venture failed but not because of the production or the market.

Later I became involved in a veterinary pharmaceutical company based in London, which because of its international connections had a constant stream of visitors from overseas.

All these visitors had to be entertained with dinner and a show and such entertainment soon became a chore for some of my colleagues, but I was a willing volunteer as it meant eating out at some of the best restaurants in London and seeing all the top shows.

A joint venture with China meant that we had more visitors from China than anywhere else. But with these visitors, the hospitality changed.They never wanted to try London restaurants.They were happiest when they got to go to a local Chinese restaurant and order off menu.

I remember once taking some Chinese visitors to Simpsons for a traditional roast and they hated it.They were very traditional when it came to food.

Of course, this was some years ago and the world has become increasingly internationalised, but I am not convinced that Chinese eating traditions have changed much.

For example, my home base of Manchester is a very cosmopolitan city. Yet, visit any restaurant and you are unlikely to see local Chinese eating there. But go to any of the well-known Chinese eateries in Chinatown and many diners will be of Chinese origin.

If my observations correctly reflect Chinese culture and traditions then translating them into demand from mainland China may prove to be extremely difficult.

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M Jaffa.indd 22

“European salmon

has mainly ended up in international hotels or in sushi

”

A lump of dead fish flesh may not stimulate a great deal of interest from the Chinese people.

Although there have been imports of European salmon into China for some time, these are just a drop in the ocean.This salmon has mainly ended up in international hotels or in sushi.

Sushi does offer one opportunity with some young Chinese, especially those with money, looking towards a more international cuisine. However, sushi is more than just salmon and the amount used in each dish is relatively tiny so this is unlikely to drive significant volume growth.

There is also another obstacle to expansion of the Chinese market and that is price.The representative in China from the Norwegian Seafood Council has suggested that not only is there huge market potential in China but Chinese consumers are prepared to pay a high price to buy it.

There is a suggestion that salmon can be imported into China at over £10/kg yet by the time the supply chain margin is added, this could make salmon very expensive for consumers.

It is possible that visitors to the international hotels might be willing to dig deep into their pockets during their short trip to China, but whether locals will do the same is less likely.

While I am not convinced, there have been suggestions that scares about local food production in China have prompted consumers to look for imported food, such as salmon, and to pay a premium price for it. But tighter controls mean that this may be less of a reason to seek out more expensive imported food in the future.

For those with greater faith in the Chinese market than me, there has been talk about building closed recirculating units in China to produce fresh salmon locally. Whether the fish could be kept live for distribution is unclear but I could see that whole small salmon sold live may have a place as a centre piece restaurant dish.

China may have a lot of people but breaking into the Chinese market offers just as many challenges. FF

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05/07/2017 15:20:03

Comment

TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK

Hard facts would also seem to bear this out.

Look, for instance, at the famous spring fishery on the Aberdeenshire Dee. For over ten years now there has been a local byelaw requiring virtually 100 per cent catch and release of all spring salmon. Yet the spring fishing on the Dee has continued its steep decline and is now a pale imitation of its former glory days.

Further south on the Tay – ironically, on the very river that Monteith works – the principle of catch and release has been much slower to take hold. Nevertheless, the spring fishing

BY JON GIBB there over the past two seasons has broken all recent records.

Don’t get me wrong – without doubt the management tool of catch and release has a A compulsory catch and release scheme would place. When catches are so low that there are not enough salmon to fill the headwater gravels not boost salmon numbers on our rivers with eggs then it makes sense to maximise the WORDS JON GIBB possible number of spawning fish. Indeed, this is exactly what happened on many West Coast rivers in the 1990s when the unchecked expansion of aquaculture near river mouths had a devastating effect on returning salmon f I’ve learnt one thing in a career managing ‘A and sea trout. Voluntary catch and release was fisheries for Atlantic salmon then it’s that brought in and slowly but surely the returns complex problems rarely have simple solu- knee-jerk OU’D have to have been living on the moon not to have noticed the on most rivers started a partial recovery (aided tions. I was reminded of this recently when I reaction to the ramping of tension thetofarmed and wild salmon sectors by in a more enlightened approach to fish-farm heard about a up petition that between is shortly be recent months. management in recent years). submitted to the Scottish Government. a week by without another onal media headline Somewhat surprisingly, the chairman of the River Hardly Tay ghillie Jockgoes Monteith has raised a sensati decline in claiming on the the industry’s environmental destructi North Atlantic Salmon Fund, Orri Vigfusson, petition website Change.org that asks on of Scotland’s western coastwild line – almost exclusively churned out by vocal Holyrood to introduce legislation to make catchand distant campaign groups has thrown his weight behind the petition. I whorelease have no responsibility wild fish stocks. wonder if he has read the small print, though. and of ulti all mate wild salmon caughtfor by managing anglers numbers wouldcompulsory. be wrong, however, to assume that this endless stream of The petition states that all salmon caught ‘by inYou Scotland Within days the story is negati ve media ectspages the views of river managers at a local level. For mostrod and line’ would be returned. I wonder if the had made it on refl to the of many national ’ of us, it is intensely ng toforums witnessalight. poorly researched evidence being famous Icelandic conservationist, best known broadsheets and setfrustrati the internet But isaround it actually or indeed desirable, and spin, and any chance offor his buyouts of salmon netting stations tossed in arealistic, public melee of propaganda to ask fishermen to release every fish that actual progress disappearing in asingle haze of stakeholder resentment and publicaround the North Atlantic, will be happy when he learns that Scottish netsmen would still they catch? There are 80,000-100,000 salmon confusion. caught onclear, Scottish rivers aquaculture every year, of which Let’s be however: (like all the other industries such as be allowed to kill their harvest of fish – especially as it has just been announced that netting 85 perforestry cent are already released unharmed, hydro, and terrestrial farming that share a common space) carries an with around 20,000 killed each year.

Monteith inevitable risk and impact on the environment. All of the major companies stations around the coast took over 25,000 salmon last season, an astronomical 50 per argues accept that that.the release of these extra fish ‘will increase stock levels due to geometric progresThe challenge is to control that risk where it can be managed and to work cent increase over the previous year. sion over the next five to 15 years’. together to find realistic alternative solutions for locations where open pen It is clear that a simplistic knee-jerk reaction I wish it were that simple. The truth is that it to the worrying decline in wild salmon numbers farming is probably not best suited. only takes so many spawning salmon to fill the is not the answer. Apart from playing directly It is not particularly helpful, however, that the loudest voices in the wild fish available habitat in a river with juvenile fish; the into the hands of the burgeoning anti-bloodsector seem to completely ignore the political reality that salmon farming is real bottleneck to survival of the species occurs sports lobby, a compulsory catch and release largest food export industry, employing in the marine phase due to oceanic warming. policy will not have the desired Scotland’s effect in the Studies have shown that the juvenile smolt recovery of the species. Anglers themselves, in in fragile Highland communities and 8,000 people output of many Scottish rivers has not declined spite of taking the occasional fish with ‘for the pot’, an economic value of £2 billion. significantly, but that the marine survival are the best conservationists of salmon.

I myselfThey live in a small west Highland community rate at which these smolts return as spawning are part of the solution, not the problem. where just a few years ago most school leavers adults has declined from over 35 per cent in the COMMENT ON In spite of widespread media coverage, whensouth to work in Glasgow and beyond. would head 1970s to less than 5 per cent in the past decade. THIS VIA OUR I last looked the petition only had 450 signaThanks in part to the expansion of aquaculture, Putting back more spawning adults into a river FACEBOOK PAGE tories. Scottish ministers will hopefully takefamilies are able to settle and thrive young local OR TWITTER will not change this fact one iota and, in most WWW. notice that this is hardly a resounding vote of once more in my village, adding to the cultural and circumstances, will not bring about the boost SCOTTISHFIELD. confidence in a well-intentioned but misguided economic regeneration of the community.

CO.UK to returns that the petition seeks. proposal.

Taking stock

Knee-jerk reaction

Salmon farming and wild fisheries – is it time to press the reset button? simplistic

I

Y

worrying

salmon

not the answer

FIELD ONLINE

It is also not at all helpful that some of the evi-

Above right: Speycasting dence being WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 163used in this media war (particularly to on the River Lochy. describe impacts on wild salmon) is at best thin and Left: Local angler James at worst manipulated through statistical trickery.

Porter with a 15lb 12:22:04 On my28/05/2014 own river, the Lochy at the head of Loch fin clipped (hatchery Linnhe, if even half of the newspaper claims of origin) salmon .

163_sf07.indd 163

damage were true then we should have no salmon at all left in the river after 30 years of intensive fish farming in the estuary.

In fact, the very opposite is true: in spite of salmon smolts having to pass over a dozen fish farms

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Jon Gibb.indd 24

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06/07/2017 14:30:53

Taking stock

We “ enjoyed the best early season salmon fishing for more than three decades

”

on their way to sea (nowhere else in Scotland even compares remotely to this density) last season we enjoyed the best early season salmon fishing for more than three decades.

Back in 1998, only 32 salmon were caught on the entire river and it was supplying minimal local employment with severely depleted angler numbers.

These days the Lochy averages around 500 salmon per season and has three full-time members of staff and provides work for seven seasonal ghillies.

Unlike any other river in Scotland, we have won the prestigious Malloch Trophy (for the largest salmon caught on a fly) twice in the last 10 years.

Prime weeks on the Lochy are once again as rare as hen’s teeth and all this has been achieved against a highly disadvantageous national backdrop of the recent collapse in wild grilse, for which the Lochy was once famed.

There is no doubt that much of the recovery has been down to negotiation with the industry over the years to arrange synchronised farm manage-

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ment, as well as a comprehensive restocking policy underpinned (and only made possible) by generous assistance from Marine Harvest Scotland, MSD Animal Health, EWOS Feeds and Solway Transport.

The Lochy now runs the largest smolt stocking programme in the UK, with around one quarter of all fish spawning originating from hatchery releases, which contribute around two million extra eggs into the main stem gravels every autumn. We also very actively market and promote the fishing as some of the very best in Scotland.

What we have not done is talk ourselves out of a recovery.

This seems to be the case in so many other regions of the west, where academic scientists (with no direct involvement in the business of fishing) tend to drive fisheries management.

Their relationship with fish farmers consists of eying each other warily over meeting tables, while they invest most of their meagre funds on collecting yet more scientific data on sea lice. (Research has its place to underpin management of rivers but, in my experience, biologists should always be ‘on tap and not on top’.)

Nelson Mandela once famously said that ‘if you want to make peace with your enemy, first you have to work with your enemy - then he becomes your partner’. In the Lochaber region we realised this a very long time ago and it has shaped the ongoing recovery on rivers like the Lochy ever since.

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06/07/2017 14:31:50

Comment

Meanwhile, behind the scenes and far away from the Highlands something new and important is emerging. The Prince of Wales has held a series of private meetings in recent months with key national players such as the Atlantic Salmon Trust, Marine Harvest Scotland and Sainsbury’s to investigate, among other things, the adoption of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council standards within the industry.

This is being done under the banner of HRH’s International Sustainability Unit which was formed in 2010 to address how to sustain the health of the environment while advancing development goals.

It’s early days but it’s very encouraging to see that our experience of part-

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nership working is now being reflected at the very highest level. The ASC standards offer a framework we can all get behind and work together towards a genuinely sustainable future.

Because the alternative is polarisation, secrecy and misunderstanding. Take, for instance, the sharing of key data: some regions seem to have great difficulty in obtaining lice data from local fish farmers. Yet for many years I have been able to walk into the offices of Marine Harvest in Fort William and obtain detailed and up-to-date lice counts from any of their farms. Why? Because I am not going to take that commercially sensitive data and use it as a stick to beat them with.

I was particularly encouraged to see last month that Marine Harvest (in spite of recent attacks in the press following freely published lice data in their annual report) have started to publish site-specific lice figures on their website. This is a brave and commendable move that shows that this company is serious about having an open conversation about the relative impacts of their operations. I only hope that my own sector steps up to the plate in a mature and responsible fashion.

Some might argue, however, that small western rivers have no money to improve their fisheries anyway. Indeed, the recent (failed) Fisheries Reform process – where the Scottish government indicated a need to change the way national fisheries are

“

The Prince of Wales has held a series of private meetings in recent months with key national players

”

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06/07/2017 14:33:10

Taking stock

Clockwise from top right: An 18lb Lochy salmon released as a hatchery smolt; smolt stocking on the River Lochy; catch and release has become the norm in Scotland; stocking out the headwaters; research is a key component of collaboration.

managed and funded but then backed down at the last minute- has exposed a gaping hole in finances to fund any meaningful practical management or research initiatives on Scottish west coast rivers.

But consider this: currently, the Crown Estate takes £3.5 million per annum in seabed leases from the fish farm industry. And interestingly, this money is soon to be administered by local councils.

SEPA also nets £1.7 million in operating licences each year from these same companies. As far as I can see most of this money has historically been spent on bolstering the bureaucratic machines that power these quangos.

If the wild fish sector were to approach local councils and manage to secure even a fraction of these eye-watering sums to fund restoration projects then I am hearing very encouraging noises that companies such as Marine Harvest would provide matched funds for projects that had a clear objective to boost wild fish numbers.

Such projects might include removing barriers to migration; improving degraded riparian habitat; truly assessing the impact of freshwater predation (which is considerable); or promoting angling

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Jon Gibb.indd 27

to persuade young people back on to river banks and away from Xbox and Snapchat.

Others might look at boosting depleted smolt numbers by operating hatcheries such as those run successfully on the Lochy and Carron.

There is nothing new in industry and wild fisheries management working together- the hydro industry has for decades been contributing to the improvement of salmon rivers where they have a presence. For instance, Scottish and Southern Energy contribute £70,000 each year to the coffers of the Ness DSFB and the same company built a £750,000 hatchery on the River Conon last year.

Surely we need to press the reset button on this whole issue now. My own sector needs to come away from the tabloids and back to the negotiating table with a maturity and knowledge based on the actual facts and realities of life.

Yes, there are still some seriously thorny issues to thrash out together but one thing is for sure – fish farming is here to stay, it wants to talk… and it can help us. And as both a west Highlander and a wild fishery manager, I for one welcome that.

Jon Gibb is fishery manager on the River Lochy near Fort William and director of the Lochaber DSFB. He has written extensively on the wild/farmed issue for many years including regular columns in Scotland on Sunday, the Sunday Herald and Scottish Field magazine. FF

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06/07/2017 14:33:35

Organic – Report

Retailer reluctance Radical approach needed to overcome constraints in organic farmed sector

BY VINCE MCDONAGH

A

MORE radical approach must be adopted if sales of organic farmed fish are to make progress, says EUMOFA, the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products.

It says that despite increasing demand for organic aquaculture products in several EU countries, substantial constraints continue to limit market development, especially at the retail level.

EUMOFA has published a detailed study on organic farmed fish and says concerns have not yet emerged as a major issue for several large-scale EU retailers, who are more interested in finding a regular supply of aquaculture products in general than about offering an organic alternative.

In most European countries organic makes up only a small proportion of total farmed output. The one notable exception is Ireland whose production of both types is almost 40,000 tonnes, with 22,000 tonnes or 55 per cent of output organic. This is made up of 13,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon and 9,000 tonnes of mussels.

In the UK the organic contribution is a mere 1.6 per cent of total production of 206,000 tonnes and most of that is across the Irish Sea in Ulster.

In Hungary, which does not have a coastline, organic output- mostly carp- is 22 per cent of total production. In Denmark organic makes up eight per cent of farmed output- mainly trout and mussels.

The main points of the report are: • Organic fish is not necessarily a key priority for both large-scale retailers and specialised organic retailers, who may prefer sourcing wild fish from ‘responsible fisheries’ or aquaculture fish ‘farmed responsible’, both with recognised labels (MSC, ASC, and so on), rather than organically certified aquaculture products.

• Some large-scale retailers buying organic fish do not source it in the EU because availability is not guaranteed; they prefer to buy a limited number of products from extra-EU suppliers who are more likely to provide a regular supply (in both quantity and price; for example, organic salmon in Norway or shrimp in South America).

• Retailer reluctance towards organic fish is also based on the observation that, in the mind of the consumer, organic is not clearly differentiated from environmentally friendly. And the large number of eco-labels and organic logos can be confusing to the consumer.

EUMOFA says: ‘Market perspectives are positive with the sharp increase in organic fish and seafood production in recent years; this increase may continue but more slowly.

‘Price, however, is the factor most likely to limit the purchase of organic products in countries or regions where organic fish is known and already accepted.

But in many markets new to fresh fish, the demand for organic products is non-existent or extremely limited, because marine fish is still a new product (especially salmon).

‘To develop substantially, organic fish must be perceived not as a high-

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Organic.indd 28

Above: Organic options

end product (because quality and taste are not distinguishable to average customers) but as a new product.

‘As a result, it must be offered at competitive prices to raise volumes and consequently decrease risks and margins. The interviews highlight that, even if the trend for organic fish continues to increase, stakeholders worry that the premium price will restrict organic products to a niche market.

‘Moreover, because the term organic overlaps with several existing concepts, such as sustainable, biological, ecological, fair trade, and environmentally friendly, scepticism about the relevance of organic fish is an important issue for the future.

‘For example, in some major carp producing countries (in central Eastern Europe), producers are sceptical about consumer interest in organic carp farming because they consider their conventional carp an ecological product. They worry that their product could suffer from the development of certified organic carp.

‘They see a risk of depreciation of their conventional product, which is considered ecological, based on the farming methods used, and of subsequent confusion in the consumer’s mind.

‘In some cases, other factors may significantly affect the penetration of an organic product into a market (other logos, product origin, and so on).

‘For example, the success in France of organic sea bream and sea bass supplied by the Greek company Galaxidi (‘dorade royale bio du Golfe de Corinthe’) seems more linked to the reference to its origin (Gulf of Corinth), which is perceived positively by the consumer, than to the organic state of the product.’

The report concludes: ‘The national reputation of organic labels must also be considered, because some of them are still seen as indispensable (BIOSUISSE on the Swiss market) or important (AB on the French market, NATURLAND on the German market) to penetrate a market.

‘Operators would do well to present other characteristics, such as origin, and not rely exclusively on the organic label to market their product.’

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07/07/2017 14:25:55

Retailer reluctance

EUMOFA’s recommendations are: • Foster a significant increase in the production of organically farmed fish (which is the only way to achieve economies of scale and reduce production and distribution costs) and focus on a few major species, likely to meet the demands of large-scale retailers for regularity of supply and price stability; • Strengthen the credibility and readability of organic labels relative to eco-labels; do not base the promotion of organic aquaculture on negative terms such as absence and refusal (absence of chemicals, refusal of certain technologies) but describe it as a positive and dynamic move towards compliance with high-level principles of sustainability and animal welfare (in addition to food-quality objectives); clarify and disseminate the specificity of organic labels; • Ensure that organic fish farmers and regulatory authorities in member states have optimal access to information on EU regulations and

funding opportunities; • Inform fish farmers of the real costs of organic production, especially certification costs, which are perceived as being higher than they actually are; • Increase retailer and consumer knowledge of new aquaculture species with high potential.

• Strengthen the collection, processing, and dissemination of statistics on organic aquaculture production; extend and deepen the knowledge of the sector (through species profiles, supply chain analyses, and so on); • Develop cooperation between aquaculture stakeholder associations and organic bodies, and promote the exchange of information. FF

Scepticism “about the relevance of organic fish is an important issue for the future

Confusion over organic and wild fish, Nofima study finds THE Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Nofima) has conducted its own study into the state of organic salmon, concluding that it can be hard to find in many European shops.

It believes the time has come to update EU regulations to make people more aware of the organic product’s existence.

Nofima said people have long been well aware of organically produced fruit, vegetables and meat, whose sales were growing, but this was not the case with fish. Åsa Maria O. Espmark, senior researcher at Nofima, said: ‘There is relatively little knowledge about organic fish in the EU, which has a notably varied range of stock.

‘Few consumers are familiar with the EU’s own organic label – the Euro Leaf. There is a substantial need for regulations to be updated in order to make the organic fish products more competitive in the market.

‘The EU has a strong desire to see organic

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aquaculture grow. This will require regulations that are conducive to this growth.

‘And consumers must be made more aware of what organic farming entails. Many consumers think organic fish is the same thing as wild fish.’

Espmark is also involved in a project with the regulatory body OrAqua, where researchers from several European nations are working to formulate new scientific recommendations for updating current regulations for organic aquaculture in Europe.

As part of the project, the researchers had also conducted a survey on consumer perception and understanding of organic aquaculture.

‘If the consumption of organic fish and seafood is to increase, it is essential for consumers to feel confident that production adheres to regulations in line with organic values, as well as laws on animal welfare and health,’ said Espmark.

Norway also had significant potential for improvement. Despite its large aquaculture in-

”

dustry, there were only a few organic producers.

This is partly due to higher costs – organic fish production is around 30 per cent more expensive than conventional production.

And although the product fetches a higher price, the varied and complex regulations currently in place have discouraged investment.

‘We need to acknowledge that some things are just not possible. For example, it is important that organic production contains nothing artificial, while in fish farming the use of nutritional supplements – such as amino acids produced by fermentation – is absolutely necessary. The health and welfare of the fish must come first,’ Espmark said.

Water oxygenation is not permitted in organic aquaculture, which limits fish density and results in lower production. Water recycling is also not permitted, based on the regulations.

The report from Nofima was submitted to the EU earlier this year. The project is funded by the European Framework Programme 7 (FP7).

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06/07/2017 14:35:55

Aquaculture UK – Introduction

Focus on growth at Stirling event Progress so far has been ‘remarkable’ says industry leader

“

The strategy is accepted by all stakeholders as the reference source for aspirations

”

Above: Stewart Graham

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Aqua Uk - Intro.indd 30

T

HE progress made by the aquaculture industry towards its 2030 vision for growth has been ‘remarkable’ so far, according to Stewart Graham, one of the driving forces behind the strategy.

Addressing the opening of the Aquaculture UK conference held at Stirling University in June, Graham said that even as an ‘eternal optimist’ he was surprised by how far the new Industry Leadership Group had come in advancing the sector’s proposals, published last autumn.

With the aim of doubling aquaculture production in Scotland by 2030, the strategy had moved from ‘no forward visibility of where the industry is going and real fear of mentioning ambitious growth targets, to a position where the strategy is accepted by all stakeholders as the reference source for industry aspirations’.

The ILG (which he said would be getting a more imaginative name in the future) had been helped by the ‘incredible openness’ of the Scottish government.

With their continued support, Graham – who is also managing director of Gael Force Group - said he was ‘very confident’ the industry strategy would be implemented successfully.

He revealed that one of the catalysts for change had been an encounter between him and the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, during a reception

at the end of 2015. He expressed his frustration over stagnation in the industry and she invited ideas that would help grow the Scottish economy.

He then wrote to her, asking not for money but that the aquaculture portfolio be placed at ministerial level, with a suitable minister in the position. The industry’s wish was granted and, in Fergus Ewing, it now has a politician it can work with. Ewing’s contribution has been ‘pivotal’ in maintaining the rate of progress, said Graham.

‘We were proposing £1.8 billion to the economic benefit of the country and not asking the government to do anything – except step out of the way occasionally!’

But they lacked a leadership forum and so set up the ILG, to include the wider stakeholder group beyond the producers. Graham said everybody in the sector, not just the ILG, could be doing something to make sure the vision happens – ‘don’t be a passenger, be a driver!’

‘My vision is that farmed seafood will grow from one of the greatest economic success stories of the rural Highlands and islands in the last 50 years to be one of the most sustainably successful industries Scotland has ever produced.’

To enable that success, aquaculture will need constant innovation, and this was the main theme of the two-day conference, held at the Stirling Court Hotel.

Speakers from Marine Harvest, Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture and the Scottish Association for Marine Science discussed production innovation, and geneticists from the Roslin Institute and Xelect presented the latest fish breeding technologies.

Emerging finfish and shellfish diseases were the subject of the next session, with talks from the Fish Vet Group’s Hamish Rodger and Grant Stentiford of Cefas, while innovation in nutrition was tackled by Matthew Sprague from Stirling and Ian Carr of Cargill Aqua Nutrition.

Day one ended with insights from investors, with Rabobank’s Gorjan Nikolik suggesting the most ‘investable opportunities’ in the sector.

A thorough examination of training and education needs in aquaculture was introduced by Martyn Haines on day two, and featured views from both the supply and demand sides.

There seemed to be plenty of innovation here but as one of the few fish farmers present remarked, recruitment in rural areas remains a problem and the first task for the industry, perhaps, was to better promote itself.. FF

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:36:46

Skye’s the limit

Skye’s

the limit Marine Harvest plans post-smolt plant after feed mill development

M

ARINE Harvest Scotland has plans to construct a post-smolt plant, probably on Skye, once its feed factory has been built.

The facility, which is said to be in its scoping stage, would be supplied from the company’s state of the art hatcheries at Lochailort and Inchmore, the latter still under construction and due to be operational early next year.

Marine Harvest Scotland’s freshwater manager John Richmond described the practical considerations in creating large scale recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), having overseen the new Lochailort hatchery and now supervising the Inchmore development.

Lochailort has produced 2,500 tonnes of salmon parr and smolts to date and Inchmore will be on a similar scale.

Richmond said the design philosophy depends on local conditions but biosecurity is paramount, and all new water coming into the systems must be sterilised as once pathogens are introduced into such an environment they could quickly overwhelm the fish.

Marine Harvest’s principle is to use a low amount of new water and circulate this with ozone until sterilised and only then introduce it into the system.

Richmond said farming 12 million fish under one roof brought challenges and lessons learnt from Lochailort, completed in 2013, would be applied at Inchmore.

There are differences between the plants though, with Lochailort located on the coast in a mild climate. For 52 weeks in the year the water needs to be chilled, which is a big energy cost. Inchmore, however, is inland and colder in winter.

Richmond said these systems were a relatively new part of the industry but they are raising standard size smolts. Looking at the potential of the technology, he said the next phase will be even more cutting edge with a post-smolt plant producing bigger fish of between .5 and 1kg before they are put to sea.

The plan is to use more pre-fabrication, so they don’t have to spend months constructing the hatchery, which would also make it cheaper to build. It would be smaller than the other plants and more energy efficient.

The idea is to supply the bigger smolts directly to a wellboat and thus overcome some of the challenges of transportation.

Marine Harvest’s global director for research and development, Oyvind Oaland, told a conference earlier this year that the group intended to roll out the land based post-smolt system currently being trialled in the Faroes should it be successful.

The company planned to put post-smolt from the Faroes freshwater

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Aqua Uk - Intro.indd 31

Below: Marine Harvest’s John Richmond

recirculation facility to sea this summer. It is capable of growing out 2.8 million fish per year, from 100g to 650g.

The larger smolt will mean less time at sea, less exposure to health challenges, shorter cycles and greater productivity.

Richmond later told Fish Farmer that Skye was the preferred location for the Scottish post-smolt facility, making the island quite a Marine Harvest centre once the feed mill at Kyleakin is completed. Other possible plans for the locality include a small fishmeal and fish oil plant and a visitor centre to celebrate the Scottish salmon sector.

The company is in talks with engineers and will turn its attention to the post smolt plant once the sea lice challenge is under control.

This is going well now, said Richmond, but they want one good cycle. He said the post smolt plant could be operating within three to four years. FF

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06/07/2017 14:38:49

Aquaculture UK – Skills development

Supply and

demand

Who knows best what is needed regarding aquaculture training?

T

HE aquaculture industry in Scotland will need 8,000 more employees by 2030, Stewart Graham made clear in his opening talk. A later session in the conference addressed the challenges of equipping this workforce with the necessary skills.

There is no full-time vocational aquaculture education provision in Scotland, despite its sophisticated salmon farming industry. It used to have a system, similar to Norway’s, of training youngsters from 16, and the question now is, do we want to re-introduce something comparable?

Martyn Haines of Pisces Learning Innovations put this question to the conference and outlined current thinking on education and training in the sector.

A Scottish industry consultation two years ago proposed several measures, including national qualifications in aquaculture than can support staff movement and progression; expanding 14 to 16-year-old provision; re-establishing college based vocational education and training (VET) for the 16 to 18 age group; management qualifications; short courses; and flexible online learning.

Some of these are already on offer, as subsequent speakers explained, but Haines said Scotland still needs a national strategy for aquaculture education and training, something that is being taken up by the Industry Leadership Group (ILG).

Saro Saravanan of the NAFC Marine Centre in Shetland said the Modern Apprenticeships in aquaculture had been particularly successful, with all levels, from entry to management, catered for.

The latest, at level 4, filled a gap in training for senior staff, such as site managers, people who were unlikely to go to university to study for MBAs but still needed business skills.

Also popular at the NAFC are the range of short courses, of one or two days, which are often industry driven and tailored to demand. These include fish health and welfare and containment, both of which have a high take up rate.

Short courses in sea lice identification and recording have had fewer applicants, though, possibly because this is something more likely to be taught in-house.

The NAFC responds quickly to the ‘huge’ demand for courses, especially locally, to stay abreast of the ‘rapid changes in industry practices’.

It also runs engineering based programmes to keep farm staff up to date with technological developments in the industry.

More than 1,200 students have completed short courses since 2011-2012, and the college has trained 155 Modern Apprentices.

Saravan, who gets constant feedback from students, said challenges remain.

There has been a reduction in funding from Skills Development Scotland, and it is harder to get funding for older students, in the 20-plus group.

He also spelt out the problems of delivering e-courses. Although these suit people in remote locations, farmers work long hours and are not necessarily inclined to study when they get home. Broadband speeds and mobile reception can also present problems.

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“

The millennial generation don’t want to work in the industry in Chile – I hope that doesn’t happen in Scotland

”

Above: Panel discussion with Andrew Davie of Stirling, John Richmond of Marine Harvest, Nicki Holmyard, and Adam Hughes of SAMS.

‘The audience is diverse and so we have to be careful how the course is designed,’ he said.

Kevin Patrick of Lantra suggested that even primary school children could be introduced to the industry and it was important to build awareness from a young age.

Engagement at secondary level depended on highlighting the career opportunities. It is not just the hands on roles that should be flagged up, but for the most academic pupils there are opportunities as scientists and engineers.

‘Who knows best what the industry needs regarding aquaculture training?’ asked Heather Jones, CEO of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC). The answer, of course, is the industry.

We’ve heard about the supply side, she said, but this had to be matched with industry demand, and it was SAIC’s job to broker this relationship.

‘We need to help the industry articulate what it needs,’ said Jones, pointing out that in response to requests for more management training, SAIC had established a two-day course aimed at first-time managers.

Also, there were 25 postgraduate places on the SAIC Scholarship MSC programme.

To define what the industry needs, SAIC meets with companies’ HR departments to identify gaps and then takes these to training providers.

Ultimately, it is the industry that has the ‘burning need’ for training and education and the industry that mostly pays for this.

Speaking up for aquaculture in England and Wales, Simon Davies talked about the new course he is setting up at Harper Adams University (HAU) in the Midlands. Renowned for its agricultural training, the aquaculture programme will complement this provision.

The facility will be freshwater based, given the location of HAU, with courses in aquaculture nutri-

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:41:57

Aquaculture UK – Health

Staying alive

tion, fish health and welfare, among other things, with a focus on the masters degrees.

These are available over one year (full-time) or as a part-time two-year masters by research course, and have now been validated and are recruiting for the first cohort in September.

HAU will also offer PhD programmes, full-time and part-time, and professional doctorates, as well as distance learning options.

Davies talked of ‘synergies’ between his aquaculture training in the heart of England and the Scottish sector, and he has been in discussion with Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, his alma mater.

‘This must be a successful industry for the whole of the UK.’ Stewart Graham, Gael Force managing director and co-chair of the Industry Leadership Group, said, after listening to seven presentations from the training sector, that it sounded rather like ‘a scattergun approach’ to what the industry actually needed.

‘Provision should follow demand, not the other way round,’ he said, adding that the ILG had identified what was needed now and by 2030.

The industry had to get its act together – and, as SAIC’s Heather Jones suggested, mechanisms must be found for getting better industry engagement.

On a local level, there is engagement with the industry said NAFC’s Lesley McEvoy – ‘they tell us what they want and we do respond with courses,’ she said. These can change very swiftly; it’s ‘very fluid’.

A delegate from Chile spoke of recruitment problems in his sector – there is a lack of staff but young people don’t want to study aquaculture because of the image of the industry thanks to recent outbreaks of ISA and harmful algal blooms.

‘The millennial generation don’t want to work in the industry in Chile – I hope that doesn’t happen in Scotland.’

But this had already happened here. The once cherished Barony College, which provided a full-time college education in aquaculture, had stopped its courses when demand dropped.

Heather Jones said the industry had to present a positive profile and the ILG was trying to see how growth could happen in a planned way.

Jamie McAndrew from Kames said they had problems recruiting and he asked Jones what SAIC was doing to promote the industry.

The ILG is doing this, she said, bringing together a communications team from industry bodies, including the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, to articulate its progress. FF

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THE fish farming industry in Scotland tends to set up collaborative groups to address the big problems in times of crisis but in ‘times of peace’ they don’t, said Charles Allan, head of the Fish Health Inspectorate at Marine Scotland Science.

Allan, who has been at the government body for 10 years, said sharing knowledge was vital and the Scottish government and farmers had to work together.

As the industry has grown, farming practices have changed and Allan looked at how these had altered the potential risks.

We’re now seeing a decrease in the number of sites but an increase in the number of fish; sites are being maintained at peak biomass for far longer.

Showing a slide of survival rates between 1985 and 2013, he observed that the survival profile has in fact been very steady and demonstrates industry resilience. Immediately after a significant disease challenge, survival increases, which illustrates the ability of the industry to react.

‘If we keep fish alive, production will increase,’ he said, stressing the importance of sharing knowledge: ‘Genuine collaboration in the industry will help with lots of problems.’

One in five fish is lost and that is a challenge, but at some farms they are achieving 98 per cent survival rates without sea lice treatments. What do they do?

Historically, there has been little support for fish farmers but the number of fish health professionals has risen dramatically in the past 40 years.

More and more, companies have embedded biologists and veterinary staff, and there is increasing knowledge in the industry. We’re also now seeing the emergence of specialist diagnostic and monitoring services.

‘We’ve never had it so good in terms of knowledge but do we share best practice and knowledge?’ Allan asked delegates.

Tried and tested interventions include fallowing, management areas, single year classes, single year class areas, vaccination, and sea lice control.

The government’s role is to carry out a huge number of inspections, and demonstrate the healthy status of Scottish salmon, and also to carry out research, and control disease where warranted.

As for what’s next, Allan said Marine Scotland’s research department is always keen to work with industry, and he liked to think the Industry Leadership Group would produce a broader understanding of the industry’s requirements.

One problem in tackling challenges is the lack of funding, as Grant Steniford of Cefas admitted in an earlier talk on shellfish disease.

While it’s necessary to close the gap between farmers, scientists and policy makers, aquaculture is under resourced compared to other areas. Cefas, he said, gets money to do work in other countries but not in the UK. ‘We can do big global projects but science collaboration could be better, it’s very fragmented and piecemeal and the industry is not getting the scientific support it could.’

Above: Charles Allan

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Aquaculture UK

The Arch way New network aims to identify research priorities

A

NEW funding network that proposes to further the sustainable growth of aquaculture has been set up for four years, running from March this year.

Rosie Peacock, of BBSRC – the funding body, along with Nerc, of the Aquaculture Research Collaborative Hub (Arch-UK) – and Andrew Rowley of Swansea University explained its goals to the conference.

Arch-UK’s main aim is ‘to solve the shared and specific issues preventing the sustainable growth in all sectors of the UK aquaculture industry’, said Rowley, one of the new network’s managers.

With eight work groups, covering areas such as finfish nutrition, stock improvement, finfish health and welfare, shellfish health and disease, and career development and training, the network hopes to create a UK-wide aquaculture research community, ‘engaged and aware of the current and future issues of the industry’.

Managers of the work groups will be based at either Swansea or Stirling universities, and a key element of each group will be the role played by graduate students and young researchers.

Membership of the groups is open to all interested parties – including, among others, academics, government and NGO representatives, and industry bodies such as the SSPO and Seafish. Anyone can attend their meetings, and broad participation with relevant stakeholders will be encouraged.

Each work group will develop ‘a concise and focused set of research priorities which will reflect the view of the members of the work group and the wider community that they represent’ – as well as the industry’s priorities.

The work groups will then put together a list of their main research priorities and their relevance to the sustainable development of the industry.

They will also identify any barriers to this research, such as infrastructure, manpower, resources or background knowledge.

These reports will be combined as an aquaculture research agenda and submitted to the BBSRC and Nerc.

Rosie Peacock said the research councils needed a strong understanding of

Above: Andrew Rowley

“Wetry must to

the sector so they could spend taxpayers’ money in the most appropriate way. With an aim of advancing aquaculture, they had to be able to show that the research they fund has an impact.

She acknowledged some of the current challenges the research councils face – in particular, the political uncertainty following the general election and Brexit. The councils report directly to government, whose priorities can change.

The day to day challenge for the research councils is ‘to understand what the sector wants and to try to interact and engage with industry and academics’.

Between July and December this year the work groups will arrange meetings and evaluate research priorities, run workshops, consult with stakeholders, and then gather for the first Annual Science Event, likely to be held in Stirling in late 2017. FF

interact and engage with industry and academics

”

Something different DIVERSIFICATION has several potential benefits, including opening new markets, spreading risk and increasing productivity, but aquaculture in the UK is still almost entirely focused on two species.

Although there have been some 23 species farmed in the UK over the last 10 years, 98 per cent of finfish production was Atlantic salmon or rainbow trout, said Andrew Davie of the Institute of Aquaculture.

Diversification is driven by producers, retailers, investors, chefs, government and NGOs, but ultimately by consumers, said Davie who Left: Andrew Davie

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Aqua UK - Other Pages.indd 34

outlined some of the attempts at rearing different species.

Farmed Atlantic cod has been a boom and bust sector. It was marketed well but failed when wild catches rose around 2007 and prices dropped again.

But great effort was invested in cod and it’s not dead yet as a farmed species.

Norway’s national cod breeding programme, run

by Nofima in Tromso, was set up in 2003 and has attracted £60 million in investment. They see a future in farming the species so continue to work on it.

Last year, 200,000 juveniles were stocked, with two companies involved (Namdal Torsk and Statt Torsk); they are planning to harvest in late summer when wild catches are lower.

‘Once we have invented the wheel it is important to maintain it so we can come back to it later,’ said Davie.

Atlantic halibut has a nice niche status – the consumer wants the product and wants more of it but if farmers offer these new products ‘we mustn’t compete with what is already available’.

A new chapter in diversification has opened up

over the last four years with the development of cleaner fish farming.

This boom is different, it’s not a protein production story, said Davie, but it is a diversification story for the industry and in a short period it has exploded rapidly.

It has been built on the legacy of infrastructure from other new species, an unwavering consumer demand (with the consumer being salmon farmers), and has led to a ‘renaissance’ in English and Welsh finfish aquaculture.

For example, two hatcheries in Anglesey that once produced turbot and sea bass are now rearing lumpfish and wrasse.

The expansion of the cleaner fish sector shows that commercially successful ventures in new species are possible. But greater diversification depends on not moving into conflict with other producers, and working in parallel with research, as cleaner fish production has demonstrated.

In the UK, however, long-term investment in new species in lacking, said Davie, and the kind of help that Norwegians get is needed to offset the risks.

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06/07/2017 14:43:46

Untitled-1 35

06/07/2017 08:21:53

Aquaculture UK

Follow the smart money

T

HE rapid growth of aquaculture has produced some bottlenecks but the sector’s solutions to those are ‘investable opportunities’, Rabobank’s senior seafood analyst Gorjan Nikolik told the conference.

Among these were novel feed ingredients. Aquaculture uses 70 per cent of fish meal production and 73 per cent of fish oil production. But fish meal production has declined due to the impact of El Nino and the scarcity has created a response.

The salmon industry has introduced alternative ingredients, three of which were attracting the ‘smart money’: • Algae – this could be very low cost, though prices are currently double those of fish oil, plus companies of the stature of Cargill had invested and therefore there is potential. ‘We’ll keep an eye on it’.

• Bacterial proteins, such as Calysta’s Feekind – ‘we’re seeing many projects coming our way,’ said Nikolik. They are of scaleable structure, and although there is a huge capital cost up front, methane is fairly cheap now and the companies involved (including Calysta and Cargill) are impressive. If the smart money is interested so are the investors.

• Insect protein – this is very much the junior partner to the other two.

Companies tend to be small start-ups but they seem to achieve low cost and there’s been a proliferation of projects worldwide. ‘We were missing a major player but then the Swiss company Buhler entered the market.’

Rabobank itself also entered the market recently, investing €45 million along with Aqua-Spark and various private investors, in Netherlands based insect breeder Protix.

Nikolik warned though that credit analysts always look at the downside. All these alternative feed products were created in a time of scarcity and that is now over, with the marine ingredients sector picking up.

Learned friends WHY do academics collaborate with industry, asked Sam Martin of Aberdeen University in a session about what different aquaculture players want from partnerships.

A fish biologist all his working life, Professor Martin said he had spent the past 15 to 20 years in industry related projects.

From the industry’s point of view, academics can offer a valuable resource- the kind of facilities and expertise that would be too expensive for individual companies to develop alone. Therefore, collaboration presented good economic value for the industry.

On top of this, an academic’s track record in research, correct skill sets, and the reputation of his institution are all important to an industry partner.

But what’s in it for the academics, who are driven by their own research agenda? Martin

Above: Sam Martin

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“

Typically, three years of very bad El Nino is followed by maybe four years of good El Nino so current price levels were likely to remain.

Investors need a long term view and after this period Nikolik predicted there would be fewer but stronger players in the alternative ingredients sector.

He has been in the business since 2005 and in the past few years has seen a huge growth of interest from every side, including venture capital and private equity – which thought aquaculture was too risky but is now ‘knocking on our door Above: Gorjan Nikolik constantly’.

‘People want more aquaculture companies. The wind is at your back now.’

However, it remains a risky investment. In Asia aquaculture is performed largely by smallholders and it’s difficult to put biosecurity measures into place.

The shellfish industry is too fragmented with no economy of scale, and the disease risk and environmental risk is too high to attract large scale interest from investors.

And he was cautious about the prospects of growing salmon to harvest in land based farms. Not only was there a very big up front capital expense, but the risk doesn’t seem to be lower in practice than in open systems.

What particularly holds the sector back is the very poor recent history; too many investors have lost money, as have tax payers, on poor projects.

‘Too many dice are being thrown and you only need one thing to go wrong for it to go wrong. But never say never.’

We need to have a shared vision but it must be of mutual benefit

”

said his sector tends to do work well ahead of what the industry believes is relevant – sequencing the salmon genome, for example, which scientists had been involved in for 15 years and was only now being picked up by the industry.

‘We need to have a shared vision but it must be of mutual benefit and interest or it is a non-starter,’ said Martin. ‘The science must work for us too.’

From the outset of collaborative projects both sides must understand the expectations, something that becomes clearer the longer academia and industry work together.

For a university, research is about generating scientific knowledge. Scientists are judged on their scientific outputs and their published work in respected scientific journals.

Universities must also consider other factors, such as their impact on society, and their training of PhD students, not just for the industry but also for the next generation of academia.

The industry also wants to generate new knowledge but its principal driver is to improve production and gain economic advantage.

Aquaculture companies also gain from the training of PhD students as their skills could be of future use

in the industry.

Martin offered some advice to academics trying to establish a relationship with possible industry partners which, he admitted, could be ‘quite daunting to start with’ and takes time and effort: • Go to conferences (but choose the right ones) to present the results of your research; • Attend focus groups and meetings run by industry bodies, such as the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and funding providers such as BBSRC and Nerc; • Understanding the industry makes it easier to do proposals for funding calls for partnerships; • Blind emails – sometimes these are necessary to ‘beg’ for money.

The question of who owns the research is also crucial as scientists will want to publish their findings. While he said he had never been prevented from doing so, this is a potential concern, presumably if companies were to insist on confidentiality clauses.

While doing research worthy of publication was the big driver for academics, collaborating with industry brought other advantages, including funding. SAIC funding, for instance, is for industry led schemes.

And aquaculture companies also contribute to PhD funding, often as much as 50 per cent which is, said Martin, ‘a very cheap way of getting research done’.

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:44:40

FORMULA 1

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05/07/2017 15:22:35

Viewpoint

Adventures in shellfish Seafood journalist, shellfish farmer and industry pioneer Nicki Holmyard delivered the Drummond Lecture at the Shellfish Association of Great Britain annual conference in May. Here is an edited version of her talk

W

HEN I was young I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would work in the seafood industry. I grew up not liking seafood, and in fact I actively disliked it. Yet we had to eat seafood every Friday. It was mostly boiled cod or haddock and never shellfish.

That was ‘foreign’ stuff and, like garlic, it never featured on the table. Fish pie was about as adventurous as it got!

Then I met my husband John, who was very keen on seafood, and he tried to inveigle me into trying exotic things like prawns, mussels, oysters cockles and whelks.

My first real foray into the world of shellfish was moving to Scotland in 1988, when we decamped from London to the west coast to set up a mussel farm. I say ‘we’ but my role was essentially more of a support one, making the sandwiches, lending an ear when things went wrong- which they did all the time- and earning money to keep us going.

At that time, mussel farming was very much in its infancy, with no bespoke equipment. Our first boat was a wooden rowing boat, we used 25 litre plastic cans and bongos as floats, headlines were made from old bits of rope spliced together, and pegs to keep the growing mussels on the lines were chopped from blocks of greenheart, which were used on railway lines. A trusty wheelbarrow was the main method of transport.

The farmed shellfish industry has come a long, long way since then and an equipment and support industry has grown up alongside it, which makes it

38

Nicki.indd 38

Below: Learning about shellfish. Opposite page: Seafood demonstration with Wester Ross boss Gilpin Bradley.

easier for people to enter the business. However, all the equipment in the world cannot make a good farmer – it is husbandry techniques that count.

In the early days, it was a great time to be a pioneer, as we were among fellow souls, pitting their efforts against the elements to grow native and pacific oysters, mussels, king scallops and queenies. A few people started to sell even smaller scallops as princesses, but the market didn’t really take off. Clams were also farmed for a while, but without long term success.

Everyone had a great story to tell. Scallop Kings was one innovator, borrowing Japanese techniques to hang king scallops by their ears, but sadly the level of fouling on the shells proved impossible to control and the project failed.

Loch Fyne Oysters at the time was still struggling to perfect their oyster growing techniques, but theirs was a success story.

Our own first mussel crop provided a fine meal for eider ducks who swiftly moved in, but John forged on and started again. Over time, the farm grew, we kept the ducks away, and started to grow our customer base. But it was all very small scale.

Mussel farming also started to attract the crofting community, when the Highlands and Islands Development Board offered grants to help, and gradually the volume of mussels available to the market began to increase.

However, no one company could take on any large contracts, so the next move was to set up a cooperative, the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, and we were active members of this until we sold the farms in 2005.

SSMG, as everyone knows, has done a great deal to bring mussels to consumers’ plates. Today it also sells oysters, lobsters and crabs.

When SSMG was set up, the mussel market consisted entirely of fresh, live product into the wholesale market, whereas now around 42 per cent goes into retail markets and 32 per cent into wholesale, with the remainder into foodservice.

Increasing volumes are sold as a cook-in-sauce product, which tells us a lot about today’s consumer, who wants food ready prepared, with little input needed to get it on the table.

I believe that a lot more work needs to be undertaken to demonstrate to the public that mussels,

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 14:46:41

Adventures in shellfish

“

It is aquaculture, it is complex, and no one ever said it was going to be easy

”

in particular, are one of the simplest and quickest things to prepare and cook. But that is a task ahead of me.

When we moved to Scotland, I had been working as a writer and PR in London, but it was in the days before internet was widely available and I remember having the first mobile phone in the area. It was impossible to continue the work I had been doing, so I looked around to see what my next adventure could be.

The Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers (ASSG) was looking for a marketing coordinator to help grow awareness of farmed mussels, oysters and scallops, and I also sent off a few tentative letters to editors to see if I could contribute articles on fish and shellfish farming in Scotland.

Both of these enquiries turned up work, and so began a new career.

Working with Doug McLeod, who was then head of the ASSG, was great fun, and many laughs were had getting people to try shellfish. It seemed like a straightforward idea at the time, but there was a lot of work involved in breaking down barriers.

Things like – how do you open them, how do you cook them, and how do you eat them – and for oysters, do you chew or swallow?

We prepared a booklet with pictures and simple instructions, but each new generation needs the same reassurance, so the work continues today on the same theme.

In the beginning, we encouraged consumption because shellfish tastes good, but over time, health messaging crept in, along with provenance and reassurances of sustainability.

But before I could work on any of this, I realised that I needed to address my own barriers. How could I speak authoritatively and passionately about shellfish if I didn’t eat it?

I distinctly remember my first oyster. It was eaten leaning over a wall outside the SECC in Glasgow, where we had a stand at the fishing and aquaculture show, and a photographer wanted a promotional picture. After much persuasion, I downed the oyster for the photo, but it promptly came back up again and was deposited unceremoniously in the Clyde. What a waste!

Undeterred, I started to eat shellfish, uneasily at first, but soon I began to enjoy it and used my story to encourage others. Today my favourite food is a plat de fruit de mer although I still can’t do whelks. And I have to eat mussels at least once a week for quality control purposes.

I remember going to the very first London oyster festival with Dennis Gowland who was promoting shellfish from Orkney. This was held in docklands, and building work was going on all around us.

Other food festivals and shows such as BBC and Taste, as well as farmers markets, soon emerged, and these provided excellent opportunities to reach out to the public. And it was a public that was suddenly more eager to try new things. When supermarkets started to sell mussels and oysters

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Nicki.indd 39

that provided another opportunity to do tasting sessions.

I decided to try my hand at giving cookery demonstrations at some of these shows, and turned to Seafish for help. They had a great team of home economists working for them at the time, and a day in the kitchen learning new skills gave me the confidence to brazen it out on stage. This also led me to cook as a double act with some great chefs over the years.

I also got very good at opening oysters and have a claim to fame as a onetime Scottish oyster opening champion!

When ASSG ran out of funds to undertake promotional work, I was lucky enough to work for a few years with Andy Lane and Johnny Noble at Loch

Due to continuing growth Storvik Aqua Ltd are now recruiting for a Sales and Service Executive to join the team. The split would be 75% sales and 25% service.

Storvik Aqua Ltd are based in Lochgilphead, Argyll and are a supplier of solutions and service into the aquaculture and maritime industries. We provide our customers with solutions to their needs within their respective industries and maintain a high standard of service before, during and after sales.

An ideal candidate would have a background in the Aquaculture/ Fisheries industry and have an enthusiasm for sales whilst all the time supporting our customers needs. A network of contacts within these industries would be beneficial but not essential. They would be expected to assist in servicing work at busy times and this would require an ability to switch between roles. The job would take you all over Scotland including the islands and on occasion to other countries. You would need to be confident in your approach and have an exceptional manner with people. Attention to detail is paramount due to the nature of the products we sell.

The use of a vehicle would be provided (Clean drivers licence essential) Salary in the range of £28,000 - £35,000 per annum If you think you are the person for this job please apply with a covering letter which includes the reason why you are applying for this post together with a current detailed C.V. to: Lorraine Campbell (Director) Email: lc@storvik.co.uk Telephone: 01546 603989 Address: Unit 16, Kilmory Industrial Estate, Lochgilphead, Argyll PA31 8RR Experience in a sales environment is essential Experience in engineering is preferred but not essential as full training will be given.

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Viewpoint mussels are generally favourites here.

In particular, kids love handling seafood, which is something they rarely get to do. They go away from us having picked up crabs, langoustines and lobsters, learned how to tell whether they are male or female, examined the different shapes of fish, and learnt all about fish and shellfish farming.

Last year we worked with two schools to encourage pupils to learn about Scottish aquaculture. We took them to fish and shellfish farms and sent chefs in to help them devise recipes.

They were tasked with making a film to showcase the industry, which two of their class would present on stage, at the opening plenary of the European Aquaculture Society conference.

Two other pupils were chosen to practise a new dish that would be cooked live at the event.

Three judges were appointed to critically review their work and taste the dishes. It was nerve-racking for the kids, working on a large stage, with a substantial audience, in a very large conference Fyne Oysters, selling the story of the loch and glen and painting a romantic centre. picture of seafood which consumers were happy to buy into.

I had great fun compering this event, along with From here I moved to work as a consultant for the late Jon Harman, when John Joyce, and the pupils did a fantastic job, he set up Seafood Scotland, and I worked for them for 15 years. The new presenting, cooking and answering questions. The work opened my eyes to the wider shellfish world, to langoustines, crabs and only hiccup came when I asked one pupil where lobsters. My task was to write positive stories about the fishermen and the the mussels she was using for her dish came fishery, to help develop the market in the UK and overseas. And that market from. ‘Um, Tesco, I think!’ she replied. There was has changed over the past two decades, from initially being predominantly a ripple of amusement from the audience, and I European, to encompassing the US, Middle East and China today. saw her teacher in the front row put her head in I also devised and led an award winning marketing campaign called ‘Eat her hands.

More Fish’, which widened the appeal and knowledge of Scottish fish and I have visited oyster and mussel farms and shellfish throughout the UK. A post project analysis showed that working hatcheries on the west coast of the US and Canwith young people, the consumers of tomorrow, had been the most reward- ada, and also in New Zealand and Australia and ing in terms of getting people to taste and learn about seafood. have followed their progress over the past few And so was born a five-year Seafood in Schools project, which I set up and decades. There has been a welcome sharing of inmanaged until just a few months ago. Funding has now run out, but more is formation and technology across the oceans, and being applied for. knowledge transfer continues. The new mussel The project has been highly successful, connecting directly and indirectly hatchery in Shetland is a good example of global with well over 200,000 pupils in 550 primary and 90 high schools throughout collaboration.

Scotland. We put on one and two-day workshops for children and teachers, As far as failures are concerned, some have and made project work a condition of attendance. We also ran sessions for been man made and some due to environmental parents. factors. The farmed shellfish industry is highly In addition, around 50,000 children have benefited from seeing, handling dependent on good water quality and some kind and tasting seafood at the Royal Highland Show each year. Crab pate and weather, and these are not always in good supply.

I investigated the lobster industry on the east coast of Canada and remember the horror I experienced, watching thousands of lobsters being processed, tails ripped from their bodies which passed above me on a conveyor belt, legs still waving grotesquely in the air. I believe that today stunning procedures are in place.

I looked at Colombia’s vast shrimp industry, had to hide from a swarm of killer bees in the process, and refused a trip to one particular area because they sent an escort of eight soldiers, armed to the teeth. I figured that if it was that dangerous a place then I didn’t want to go!

In Eritrea, I felt great hope that this war-torn country could re-build itself with a seafood industry at the heart of development. Sadly this was not to be, but that trip was the most memorable of all my travels.

Wherever I went in the Far East, places like Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, I was always impressed with the cleanliness of the factories and facilities I visited. It is highly likely that I

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“I amIn Europe always impressed with the standard of seafood display in supermarkets

”

Above: Kids love handling seafood. Opposite page (top): The Holmyards’ boat, the Lola M, on Loch Etive. Left: The early days on Loch Etive.

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Adventures in shellfish only got to see the best ones, those approved for export, but at the time, and this is going back a decade or so, some of the Scottish facilities I was used to seeing compared rather unfavourably.

I have to say that taking a peek into facilities used to process food for local consumption was a whole different ball game. In Malaysia for instance, I saw seafood drying on racks or spread on the ground, with animals walking and messing among it. Inside one factory I visited, young children were operating machinery with no safeguards.

We are all sheltered from such sights in the West, but I am happy that a growing number of organisations are tackling the issue of child labour throughout the world, and that this and slave labour is being worked into sustainability standards.

Closer to home, I have watched the farmed shellfish industries in Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain and Italy expand and new ones take off in places like Croatia and Turkey.

And whenever I travel in Europe I am always impressed with the standard of seafood display in supermarkets. Why don’t or can’t we do that here? Unless you visit somewhere like Harrods, our displays are dull by comparison. It seems that in the UK we are still too ambivalent about the seafood we eat and we don’t buy with our eyes.

I am now heavily involved in our new business in England, where we are in the process of setting up the UK’s first fully offshore, rope grown mussel farm. Now this is not really my story to tell, for I do not get involved at the coal face, but I can report

that we are very pleased with the way the farm is working out.

We are using new technology and new methods, the mussels are growing faster and bigger than we ever thought possible, and everything is heading

in the right direction. However, it is aquaculture, it is complex, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. Instead, it is a new adventure in shellfish. FF Nicki and John Holmyard run Offshore Shellfish, the largest mussel farm of its kind in Europe.

Visit us at

Stand: D347

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www. aqualine.no • Telephone: 00 47 73 80 99

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Aqua Nor preview – Innovation award

Scottish Ace makes shortlist Dingwall based innovator to compete with Norwegians for top prize

A

SCOTTISH company has made the shortlist for Aqua Nor’s prestigious innovation award, which received a record number of entries this year.

Ace Aquatec of Dingwall has been nominated, along with two Norwegian companies, for its sophisticated pipeline in-water electric stunner, which is capable of stunning fish one metre from the holding pen prior to pumping.

The system comprises three to five electrodes and connected switching electronics capable of rendering the fish unconscious within one second, without damage to the flesh.

‘It is believed that the system has the potential to transform welfare and efficiencies in aquaculture and mariculture worldwide for fish and crustaceans,’ the jury of Aqua Nor announced.

Nathan Pyne-Carter, managing director of Ace Aquatec, won the inaugural Aquaculture Innovation Award, presented by SAIC (the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre) at last year’s Aquaculture UK exhibition in Aviemore.

The other Aqua Nor finalists are OptoScale of Trondheim, which has developed a system for biomass measuring with an accuracy of 99 per cent. It involves laser lighting, which gives a unique distance to each point on the fish.

This then creates a 3D model which gives a very accurate estimate of volume and consequently also the weight of the fish. The system can measure about 1,000 fish per day.

And Planktonic, also of Trondheim – where Aqua Nor is staged- has developed an innovative live feed for marine juveniles. This includes a method for harvesting large amounts of animal plankton in the ocean, which is then crypto-preserved.

The plankton is packed in sacks of 600g, corresponding to 30 million plankton individuals, and these are stored in thermos flasks with liquid hydrogen.

When this feed is to be used, it is thawed in seawater according to a special procedure, and the plankton then becomes live again and therefore constitutes a natural feed with the correct nutrition components for the fish juveniles.

The organisers of Aqua Nor, the Nor-Fishing Foundation, said they had received a total of 28 applications for this year’s award from companies in 14 countries, including Norway. This represents a 64 per cent increase compared to Aqua Nor 2015.

The jury included Kjell Maroni of the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund

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(chairman), Jan Henrik Sandberg of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association, and Oddvar Staulen of Innovation Norway.

Selecting the finalists has been a difficult task, they said, taking into account such parameters as degree of innovation, the project’s importance to the aquaculture industry, and the international market potential for the product/service. The jury has based its decision on information provided in the applications.

The Nor-Fishing Foundation board of directors will debate the shortlist at a meeting on August 14, and this year’s Innovation Award, consisting of a diploma and a cheque for NOK 100,000, will then be presented to the winner by Norwegian fisheries minister Per Sandberg and chairman of the board Liv Holmefjord during the official opening of Aqua Nor 2017 on Tuesday, August 15.

Aqua Nor runs from August 15-18, at the Trondheim Spektrum. FF

The “ system has

the potential to transform welfare and efficiencies worldwide

”

Right: Ace Aquatec’s Nathan Pyne-Carter

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ect the guaranteed that does not subj In this way a humane stun is good for the customer. and fish the for good is This stress.

fish to unnecessary

Aqua Nor preview – One second stunner

One second stunner Fish can be rendered unconscious prior to pumping with exciting new technology

C

urrent harvesting techniques require fish to be removed from the water after pumping and to be hit with a pneumatic hammer, or stunned in air with electricity.

Ace Aquatec has pioneered the first submerged saltwater electrical pipeline stunner that allows fish to be stunned within the transport pipe. No unnecessary and stressful handling of the fish is undertaken.

Using this method the fish can be stunned as fast as the specification of the pump sucking the fish from the cage. In other words, one stunning line can achieve stunning speeds of 75 tonnes per hour, and several stunning lines can be used – 100 per cent of the fish, regardless of size or species, are guaranteed to be stunned.

Higher cortisol, or stress, in fish leads to poor quality and shorter shelf life. As farmed salmon are often held in the holding pens for a period to reduce stress, the most stressful period prior to slaughter occurs in the transportation pipe, namely when the fish pass through the pumping system.

But what if the fish could be stunned before the pump? To date, no humane slaughter system has been capable of a pre-pump stun.

Now Ace Aquatec’s latest in-water pipeline stunner in combination with Euskan’s suction pump allows the fish to be stunned within one metre of the transport pipe and for the fish to be held in the electric field through the pump and up onto the bleeding table.

lled at Abick in Chile

Image. Pipeline system insta

Above: Pipeline system installed at Abick in Chile; Right: Pre Pump stunner layout courtesy of Euskan

Image: Pre Pump stunner layout courtesy of Euskan

• Continued on page 46

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Pre-pump stunning is achievable only by stunning in saltwater. Highly sophisticated electronics have been developed to cater for high power levels at up to 75 kw.

Touchscreen operation and remote data upload enables settings to be updated in real time.

Pre-pump stunning requires the development of appropriate pumping methods to carry unconscious fish. Ace Aquatec’s solution has been developed with pump expert Euskan to create a solution from cage side to bleeding table that works.

In water stunning requires novel approaches to reduce power loss through highly conductive sea water. Ace Aquatec has developed water reduction and reintroduction processes within its pipework to solve this problem.

High power oscillating electric fields can be very problematic for metal within such a system, and significant resources have been spent developing highly durable electrodes for this application.

Time and expense has gone into experimenting with different electric fields to create a system flexible enough to stun all commercial fish species, of any size and at production speeds. This electric stunning system has a large range of parameters

QUALITY FOR LAND AND SEA •

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www.storvikaqua.co.uk lc@storvik.co.uk Tel: 01546 603989

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•

•

The system can also be programmed with a stun to recover setting meaning the system could be used in replacement of anaesthetic treatment during vaccinations, saving farms on chemical costs.

This system can reduce costs by increasing capacity over other systems, reducing delays due to damage or repair, and requiring less manual supervision.

Aqua Nor preview – One second stunner

spent developing highly durable electrodes for this application.

• Time and expense has gone into experimenting with different electric fields to create a system flexible enough to stun all commercial fish species, of any size and at production speeds. This electric stunning system has a large range of parameters that can protect against spine damage and blood spotting, while guaranteeing that all fish that pass through it are Image.

Stunner at Swiss In this way a humane stunAlpine is guaranteed that does not subject the humanly slaughtered regardless fish to unnecessary stress. This is good for the fish and good for the of size. customer.

Ace Aquatec will be showcasing a 16in Norwegian system at its distributor’s stand • This pipeline system can also be incorpo• Pre-pump achievable (Sterner As, stunning D-324) atis Aqua Nor. only by stunning in saltwater. rated into any commercial farming conHighly sophisticated electronics have been developed to cater text with installations on wild fish boats, for high power levels at up to 75 kw. Touchscreen operation and on shore side or in recirculation factories.

In other developments, Ace Aquatec is engaged in developing its sea lice removal and remote data upload enables settings to be updated in real time. destruction year, the anddevelopment will be rolling its mark 2 electric predator net this The equipment requires very little main• Pre-pumpsystem stunningthis requires of out appropriate tenance as there are no moving parts. winter. pumping methods to carry unconscious fish. Ace Aquatec’s solu• The system can also be programmed with tion has been developed with pump expert Euskan to create a a stun to recover setting meaning the from cage to bleeding tablewill thatbeworks.

Thesolution new Biocam fish side estimation system deployed at trial farms in Scotland later thissystem could be used in replacement of Above: Stunner at Swiss • In with waterproduction stunning requires novel approachesfor tothe reduce year systems in operation newpower year, and aAlpine new barge concept is inanaesthetic treatment during vaccinaloss through highly conductive sea water. Ace Aquatec has detions, saving farms on chemical costs. development. veloped water reduction and re-introduction processes within its This system can reduce costs by increasing pipework to solve this problem. capacity over other systems, reducing delays • High power oscillating electric fields can be very problematic for due to damage or repair, and requiring less metal within such a system, and significant resources have been manual supervision. FF

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Aqua Nor preview – Scotland

Out in force Scottish companies across the supply chain look to increase international sales

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OME 19 Scottish companies are preparing to attend Aqua Nor, all looking for international sales for their products and services in various aspects of the aquaculture supply chain. The companies – representing, among other things, transport services, fish health and engineering solutions - will either attend as part of the first Scottish pavilion at Aqua Nor, with their own stands, through representation at other stand, or as visitors.

The Scottish pavilion will feature ‘pods’ where companies and organisations can present their products and services, and there will also be a communal meeting room for the use of all participants.

The Institute of Aquaculture’s Nutrition Analytical Service will be one of the organisations represented, and Ferguson Transport is the latest to sign up for the pavilion, taking the place of Bioemitters, which is no longer attending.

Other Scottish visitors, including from the main feed companies, have not taken stands but also plan to be out in force, sending delegations to Trondheim to network. As one said, there will be a lot of kilts in Norway this August.

Those attending, but not within the pavilion, include: • Inverlussa Marine Services – aquaculture service vessels; • Johnson Marine – well boats and service vessels; • Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre – innovation support for the aquaculture industry through academic collaboration; • Underwater Contracting – subsea services utilising divers and ROV services;

• Aurora Marine – site service works including net cleaning services; • Grading Systems – fish size-grading equipment; • Xelect – genetic breeding programmes; • Ace Aquateq – acoustic systems for marine and aquaculture application and electric stunning systems for fish farms; • Flugga Boats – rigid inflatable boat specialists.

The whole of Scotland’s aquaculture supply chain supported 12,022 full-time jobs and contributed £620 million annually in gross value added to the economy between 2014 and 2015.

The Scottish pavilion will host a networking reception on Wednesday, August 16, at 12.30pm in Hall A, stand 006. FF

GENETIC SOLUTIONS FOR AQUACULTURE Family selection Marker assisted selection Genomic selection Triploidy validation

There “ will be a lot

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”

Above: Visitors to Aqua Nor 2015

Visit us at AQUA-NOR, Trondheim 15-18th August 2017 Stand B-125

Sex determination Gene expression Pedigree calculation SNP discovery

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Aqua Nor preview – Offshore farming

Quite a site!

World’s first deep sea farm makes its way to Norway from China

BY VINCE MCDONAGH

O

NE of the more unusual sights on the high seas right now is that of a huge fish farm structure making the long journey from China to Norway.

China has just finished building the world’s first deep-sea fish farm off the coast of Qingdao City in the eastern Shandong Province, for a subsidiary of SalMar, one of Norway’s largest salmon farmers.

Described as the world’s largest offshore salmon farm, the NOK 740 million facility will be able to produce 10,000 tonnes of salmon using the same fundamental principles as the semi-submersible installations used by the offshore oil and gas sector.

It is said to incorporate the most advanced and sustainable technology in fish breeding.

Ocean Farm 1, as it is called, goes beyond the narrow definition of a farm, offering a fully automated platform for marine projects and preparing the ground for testing the biological and technological dimensions of open ocean aquaculture.

It was officially handed over at the beginning of June and has now embarked on a voyage of at least 10,000 miles. It is expected to arrive in Norway shortly, and fish could be on site as early as August, possibly during Aqua Nor. SalMar has described it as a ‘full-scale pilot facility for testing, learning, research and development. It will be equipped for R&D activities, with particular focus on biological conditions and fish welfare, aiming to reduce environmental footprints, improve fish welfare and answer acreage challenges’.

Developed in Norway, the structure was built by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group, a subsidiary of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. The semi-submersible facility exemplifies the progress and mastery of China’s naval engineering capabilities.

SalMar had provided an initial layout with its preferences, and the Chinese company conducted engineering design and construction. How-

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Below: Ocean Farm 1 will be based off the coast of Trondelag

ever, the construction process was not without hurdles.

According to Yan Jun, deputy chief engineer of Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group, the sheer size of the main body of the farm, up to 70m in height, posed a number of challenges for installation precision, especially given that deep-sea waters are involved.

The ‘unparalleled’ technology will allow the farm, which weighs 7,700 tonnes, to float in half-dive mode. It is intended for offshore installation in water depths of 100 to 300m.

The 110m wide structure can contain 250,000m3 in volume (equivalent to roughly 200 standard swimming pools), and withstand magnitude 12 earthquakes Some 20,000 sensors allow the marine site to achieve complete automation in monitoring and feeding the fish. The farm can mature up to 1.5 million salmon in 14 months.

All fish handling operations can be performed on board with a crew of three to four operating and monitoring the facility.

When it arrives in Norway, it will be positioned in Frohavet, off the coast of Trøndelag, which is about three hours’ drive from Trondheim.

As a full-scale pilot facility, Ocean Farm 1 is designed to test out both the biological as well as the technological aspects of offshore fish farming.

Salmar says: ‘By the year 2030 the world will need to produce 70 per cent more food, and we need to do so using less resources and with a minimal environmental footprint.

‘While oceans cover more than two thirds of the world’s surface, only two per cent of the food energy for human consumption comes from the sea.

‘Producing animal protein from aquaculture takes less resources and is friendlier to the climate compared to livestock.

‘Since traditional fisheries are almost fully exploited, increased aquaculture production needs to play a major part in efforts to feed future generations.’

SalMar was awarded a development licence for Ocean Farm 1 as part of Norway’s initiative to drive new technology concepts that can ensure sufficient growth and ensure environmental sustainability.

The company was the first seafood producer in Norway to be awarded this type of development licence, although others, including Marine Harvest, have now also been given the

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Quite a site!

know that as operation starts, we are “Weentering a new challenging phase ”

go-ahead for futuristic farm designs.

‘The project could represent a new era in sustainable seafood production – and is potentially adaptable worldwide,’ said SalMar. ‘We know that as operation starts, we are entering a new challenging phase.’

The company behind Ocean Farm 1 is Ocean Farming AS, a subsidiary of the SalMar Group. Ocean Farming was established specifically to develop an offshore fish farming capability.

Through the development and implementation of new technologies and the build-up of operational experience, Ocean Farming will acquire the specialist expertise needed for this next generation of fish farming facilities to achieve its full potential.

SalMar has reportedly ordered another five similar vessels. FF

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Aqua Nor preview – Denmark

Great Danes

Technology group maintains strong presence as market expands

S

OME 29 Danish suppliers to the aquaculture industry will be exhibiting at their country’s national pavilion at Aqua Nor. According to Martin Winkel, head of the Danish Fish Tech Group, which is organising the pavilion, the strong Danish presence at this year’s exhibition can be explained by the rising demand for farmed fish. ’Globally, the demand for fish and seafood products is growing. However, most countries do not wish to depend on imported fish and thus turn to farmed fish.

‘Accordingly, aquaculture has expanded remarkably in the past decades and will eventually exceed the traditional wild catch. ’With Norway holding its position as the world’s largest exporter of salmon, the market has great potential for the Danish aquaculture suppliers.’

The Danish Fish Tech Group, part of the Danish Export Association, is the largest Danish supplier group (with 92 member companies) to the global fishing, aquaculture and seafood processing industries.

One of the Danish suppliers exhibiting at Aqua Nor 2017 is Oxymat.The company manufactures on-site oxygen generators and agrees that there is great market potential within the aquaculture industry. ’The oxygen market has a growth potential that will increase fivefold within the next 10 years,’ said Jesper Sjögren CEO of Oxymat. ’Due to feed limits in sea cages, fish farmers grow the salmon to larger sizes in hatcheries. Bigger salmon use more oxygen and therefore oxygen demand increases through the supply chain. ’The use of oxygen is essential during the transportation of salmon by well

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Aqua Nor - Denmark.indd 50

Above: Danish suppliers.

Opposite page: Using the Oxymat On-site Oxygen Generator, fish farmers can produce oxygen directly at the sea cages, making them independent from external gas suppliers

“

boats as well as in various processes to avoid the growing problems with sea lice.’

To meet demand, Oxymat is launching a new version of its PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption Technology) generators that allow fish farmers to produce oxygen on-site, ensuring a higher growth ratio in the sea cages or land based tanks. ’Our generators enable an uninterrupted reliable source of oxygen produced directly at the fish farm, making the farmers independent from external gas suppliers,’ said Sjögren. ‘This reduces costs, and our new Oxymat On-site Oxygen Generator reduces energy consumption by 40 per cent.’

The Pavilion of Denmark is in Hall C, stand 222 and Hall D, stand 350. FF

The oxygen market will increase fivefold within the next 10 years

”

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Great Danes EXHIBITORS AT THE PAVILION OF DENMARK AT AQUA NOR Aliga ApS Aqua Culture Supply ApS Assentoft Silo A/S Blue-Unit ApS C.C. Jensen A/S DanFish International / DanAqua DESMI A/S DHI EXPO-NET Danmark A/S Gavatec A/S Hvalpsund Net A/S Inter Aqua Advance - IAA A/S IRAS A/S Jimco A/S JS Proputec A/S KROMA A/S KSK Aqua ApS Landia A/S Liqtech International A/S Liqtech Systems A/S Lykkegaard A/S Maritim Consult Oxymat A/S RK Plast A/S Salling Plast A/S ScanBelt A/S Veolia Hydrotech We-Tech ApS Øwre-Johnsen A/S

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Aqua Nor preview – Vaccines

BY RONNIE SOUTAR

Brink of a new era

Automated delivery systems likely to become standard for production units of all sizes

O

VER the last year and a bit, I’ve had the honour of being president of the Fish Veterinary Society. Among other things, that has led to me being involved, on behalf of the salmonid aquaculture sector, in discussions on antibiotic resistance in livestock, and its relationship to the use and availability of antibiotics in human medicine.

My involvement has been no hardship at all, as we have a good story to tell.The introduction of effective vaccines against the major bacterial diseases, particularly furunculosis, way back in the 1990s has meant that our antibiotic usage has remained minimal.

We already easily meet the goals being set for the reduction in antibiotic usage in other farmed species.

This, alongside the fact that the bacteria which infect salmon are quite different from those which affect humans, means that we can rightly claim to be well ahead with the One Health agenda, which aims to minimise the impact of disease in human and animal populations.

However, there is no room for complacency.

Emerging bacterial diseases in the freshwater phase could well mean us reaching for those antibiotics which are critically impor-

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Aqua Nor - Ronnie.indd 52

Above: Exciting developments

tant in human healthcare, while control of infection in cleaner fish has seen a requirement for antibacterial drugs there – perhaps less significant, as these fish don’t enter the food chain, but still important in our overall picture.

As aquaculturists and fish vets, we are well aware that vaccination is not without its problems. Intra-peritoneal oil-adjuvanted vaccines do cause side effects in the fish; we shouldn’t be content with reducing their impact on flesh quality or the (genuine) assurance that there is no risk to human health from fish vaccines – these side effects do impact on biological efficiency and it is highly likely that they impact on fish welfare.

The vaccination process, too, is logistically difficult and can have negative effects on the fish and the people involved.

And, of course, it’s not just bacteria which affect fish health.While a vaccine against sea lice has yet to appear, we have been vaccinating against viruses for a long time now.Yet although these vaccines do help significantly in the prevention of diseases for which there is no treatment, they have to date not produced the level of protection we’ve come to expect of the bacterial vaccines.

Small wonder, then, that a lot of development is going on in the field of vaccines and vaccination.The interest in this sector is evidenced by recent changes in ownership at two of the big three fish vaccine companies and the ongoing competition for market share between MSD, Elanco and Zoetis.

New players are also entering the frame – I’m aware of Benchmark Animal Health and Hipra in that context and I’m sure there are others.

There has also been a considerable increase in the production of autogenous vaccines by the likes of Ridgeway in the UK and Vaxxinova in Norway, representing the ‘rapid response’ end of the market.All of this is good news for fish vets – the more weapons in our armoury, the happier we are!

In terms of vaccine technology, exciting developments are on-going.As I write this in mid-June, the EU has just approved first use of a DNA vaccine.

Elanco’s pancreas disease vaccine appears to represent a true innovation, with intra-muscular vaccination introducing a whole new aspect to the process.

Other companies are working on RNA vaccines and it would appear to be only a matter of time before these new style vaccines become the norm.

Vaccine delivery will have to change to adapt – initially, at least, companies such as Aqualife will have to develop methods to inject two vaccines, into different parts of the fish, during one vaccination process.We have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure this can be done, so the challenge is largely already addressed.

Meanwhile, the whole vaccination sector has been in a state of flux. Manual vaccination by teams of skilled workers remains very important – it still forms the major part of the work for Aqualife.

However, machine vaccination continues to develop and fully automated vaccination became a reality with the introduction of Skala Maskon’s ground-breaking machine.

I think, though, that we’re on the brink of a whole new era of automated

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Brink of a new era

As the “ sector moves rapidly forward, we have to ensure it does so in a welfare friendly manner

”

vaccination, as robotic technology becomes established in our industry.This has been the central focus of R&D at Aqualife and I know that others are equally interested.

It seems inevitable that automated vaccine delivery systems will become standard for production units of all sizes within a very short time.

In all of these developments, we do have to remember what we’re trying to do: keep the fish healthy.There will always be the potential for the vaccination process, or the vaccines themselves, to have a negative impact.That is

where the fish vet’s role as advocate for welfare comes in.

The importance of quality control in the development of vaccines and vaccination technology, and in the management of the vaccination process, cannot be over emphasised.

As the sector moves rapidly forward, we have to ensure it does so in a welfare friendly manner and remember the old medical maxim, ‘first, do no harm’!

Ronnie Soutar is head of fish health and welfare at Aqualife Services. FF

ST US A V AN T ISI D AQ T NO UA . D NO -3 R 42

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move the textbox up to the righ 06/07/2017 14:59:25

Aqua Nor preview – Eurofusion – EFAS Advertorial

Pipe

dreams

Major breakthrough in lifecycle costs

I

t’s been just over a year since Knut Erik Walle, one of the founders of Eurofusion – EFAS, updated the readers of Fish Farmer about the rapid progress being made by the pipe systems company based in Vinterbro, Norway. This month, Dave Edler caught up with Walle to discuss the company’s plans ahead of this year’s Aqua Nor exhibition in Trondheim and found that the ebullient director was still in buoyant mood.

‘The future looks bright and there are no clouds on the horizon,’ he said. ‘I’m delighted to report that we are still seeing strong development here at EFAS. As well as myself and my co-founder, Torkel Erikstad, I also have to commend our manager Trygve Kjolseth who has been hugely influential in the development of the business.’

‘We have delivered substantial growth in both turnover and the

The “ future looks bright and there are no clouds on the horizon

”

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number of new employees. Our market share in the aqua farming sector has been one of the main reasons for our continuing success. We are expecting further developments in the form of an enlarged product range and better stock availability and we expect this to raise revenues even further. Some of these new products will be ready to demonstrate during Aqua Nor in August.’

EFAS was established in 2006 by its two founders with the main ambition of offering a complete range of products in plastics and preferably polyethylene pipe systems, fittings and valves. The inspiration behind the company came out of contacts made with one of the major European suppliers of Polyethylene Pipe, fittings, flanges, valves and electrofusion couplers. The aqua farming industry has always used a lot of plastic materials in their process

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Pipe dreams

systems both on land and in the sea. Eurofusion realised that this market would have to grow strongly, given the signals from the industry itself and national plans from the Norwegian government.

The founders already had 25 years of experience within the plastic and pipe fittings and flanges industries in Norway. During the late nineties the main development for stocking products in Norway was changing. The philosophy of moving the stock to ‘logistic –centres’ in Europe and supplying orders / deliveries by truck from the continent were the rule of ‘how to handle logistics’. The founders wanted to challenge this philosophy and their business strategy was to have as complete a stock range as possible available in Norway, facilitating fast deliveries whenever needed. Today EFAS can offer approximately 5,000 products from stock

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and can offer around 50,000 different products from all over the world to its customers.

Walle notes that in the past year there has been something of a sea change in the way the industry looks at their planning of new installations and plants.

‘Finally, we are seeing the industry moving away from the philosophy of chasing the lowest costs and the lowest bidder towards an approach based more on a cost/efficiency ratio when it comes to choosing new plant. We are delighted to find that we are now frequently being asked questions such as ‘what is the absolute best technical solution you can offer?’ in relation to life cycle costs. The focus is especially on corrosion resistant systems during every aspect of planning plant design.’

EFAS has enjoyed great success with its new plastic butterfly valves with PP-plastic composite gears from the Sekisui company. They benefit from being completely unaffected by use in aqua farming applications.

‘Compared to existing solutions,’ says Walle, ‘they represent a major breakthrough in obtaining a great life cycle cost performance.’

You can visit Eurofusion at Aqua Nor 2017 on stand A2-617, shared with Vink Norge.. FF

Above: Sekisui Mefco Composite butterfly valve gear DN150 installed in sea-water application. Opposite page: Typical severe corrosion attack on cast iron gear in a sea-water filtration unit.

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06/07/2017 15:02:02

Aqua Nor preview – Garware Advertorial

Shifting

environments

resistance to medications, thus increasing the frequency of medicated lice treatments and hence salmon production costs.

Net maker aiding a green revolution in aquaculture

G

arware Wall Ropes has been at the forefront in aiding a green revolution in aquaculture by providing innovative, application focused solutions to become a first choice of customers across the globe in cage nets, predator nets, bird nets and mooring ropes, as well as sea lice solutions.

CHEERS!!!!

Below: Sea lice are becoming more resistant to medication.

Opposite: Sea lice shield

This medication tastes better than the previous one!

Absolutely!

In recent times, sea lice have become one of the single largest problems in the salmon farming industry. Several research groups all over the world have been working on trying to understand the behavior of sea lice as well as looking to find a silver bullet to reduce sea lice numbers in a ‘green’ way.

A wide spectrum of products have been used to control sea lice numbers that include pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical methods.

Sea lice treatment methods in salmon farms include medicated feed and medicated bath treatments (pharmaceutical) while non-pharmaceutical methods include mechanical removal, mechanical blocking and natural predators.

Until now, medications have been the most effective in terms of removal efficacy and ease of operations during treatment. Medicated bath treatments such as hydrogen peroxide, azamethiphos and pyrethroids can be operationally overwhelming and need substantial manpower to administer in contained tarpaulins or wellboats. Sea lice are showing growing resistance to medications, thus increasing the frequency of medicated lice treatments and hence salmon production costs.

Sea lice survival depends majorly on salinity and other factors such as light, water temperature, currents and most importantly finding a

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Sea lice survival depends majorly on salinity and other factors such as light, water temperature, Garware - PED.indd 56

06/07/2017 15:03:09

throughout the production cycle.

Shifting environments

GWRL’s Blue Pearl lice shields with 6m depth, when installed around all t

farm, exhibit up to 60% reduction of lice numbers inside the cage. Research

lice shields around all cages in a farm is more effective in controlling lice n

to installation around only a couple of cages (which shows only 20-30 numbers inside the cage).

“

Sea lice are showing growing resistance to medications, thus increasing the frequency of medicated lice treatments

”

host. The planktonic stages of sea lice are more vulnerable to lower salinities than the parasitic stages. Based on the research, several products such as fresh water treatment, water jet and hot water treatments are being used regularly to control lice numbers.

Some researchers have observed sea lice larvae are attracted to light, meaning they are phototactic, and this is likely the reason larvae tend to be found swimming in the top portion of the water column (0-12m water depth). Water currents carry the lice larvae into the salmon farming cage.

Researchers have demonstrated that once the larvae ‘detect’ their host, they swim quickly and attach.

More recently a new ‘green’ method has been showing promise in controlling sea lice numbers in salmon farms. Mechanically blocking the lice from entering the cage by using shields around the cage is slowly becoming popular among salmon farmers. Lice shields are installed around the cage at depths ranging from 4-12m depending on the overall depth of the net cage. This method of controlling sea lice numbers has a major advantage that lice will not develop resistance to the treatment method and can be used to control all stages of the sea lice throughout the production cycle.

GWRL’s Blue Pearl lice shields with 6m depth, when installed around all the cages in a salmon farm, exhibit up to 60 per cent reduction of lice numbers inside the cage. Research has shown installing lice shields around all cages in a farm is more effective in controlling lice numbers compared to installation around only a couple of cages (which shows only 20-30 per cent The recent combination of lice shields and cleaner fish is not only proving very green and effective game changer. The shields restrict the entry of la reduction of lice numbers inside the cage). fish effectively keep the residual numbers inside the cage at an acceptable an The recent combination of lice shields and cleaner fish is not only Garware’s rangechanger. of products include lice shields, lice sanitisers and bath t proving popular, but is also a very green and effective game The wrasse and lump fish friendly artificial hides. GWRL riding on its strong R& shields restrict the entry of larvae and the cleaner fish effectively keep the its state-of-the art fabrication facility, workmanship capabilities and an exce delivery, aims to be a world leader in providing non-pharmacological solutio residual numbers inside the cage at an acceptable and balanced level.

Garware’s range of products include lice shields, lice sanitisers and bath tarpaulins, as well as wrasse and lump fish friendly artificial hides. GWRL riding on its strong R&D team, along with its state-of-the art fabrication facility, workmanship capabilities and an excellent track record on delivery, aims to be a world leader in providing non-pharmacological solutions against sea lice.

Superior Aqua Mooring Ropes are as important as high quality nets for aquaculture cages, as an anchor for the entire cage system, therefore it becomes very important to have the right kind of ropes which are light in weight, have high fatigue resistance, are less stretchaSuperior Aqua Mooring Ropes are as important as high-quality nets for aquaculture cages, ble and high in strength. anchor for the entire cage system, therefore it becomes very important to have the right k ropes which are light in weight, have high fatigue resistance, less stretchable and h Keeping this in mind GWRL developed technically advanced ropes spestrength.

Keeping this and in mind low GWRL developed technically advanced ropes specifically fo cifically for the aquaculture industry - the high strength stretch aquaculture industry- the high Strength and low stretch X2 aqua ropes. Made in 8 Stran aqua ropes offer multi fold advantages.

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Garware have developed two major variants in the X2 rope family i.e. X2 floating ropes a ultra sinking ropes for the aqua mooring grid systems to suit the environmental condition X2 floating ropes are also available in 3 strand variety.

57

While the X2 ropes are produced using special polyolefin yarns with high tenacity & low s property, the X2 Ultra is a composite rope with the additional high tenacity polyester enabling 15%-20% higher tensile strength than current ropes used today. The higher stren weight ratio means that customers can now choose the safer option of enjoying 15-20% tensile strength in X2 aqua ropes versus other polysteel ropes of the same diameter/ yie customers can choose to downsize with X2 aqua mooring ropes, thus enjoying the ben lower weight and easier handling. 06/07/2017 15:03:26

Aqua Nor preview – Garware Advertorial

X2 aqua ropes. Made in 8 Strand; X2 aqua ropes offer multi fold advantages.

Garware has developed two major variants in the X2 rope family - X2 floating ropes and X2 ultra sinking ropes for the aqua mooring grid systems to suit the environmental conditions. The X2 floating ropes are also available in three strand variety.

While the X2 ropes are produced using special polyolefin yarns with high tenacity and low stretch property, the X2 ultra is a composite rope with the additional high tenacity polyester fibre, enabling 15-20 per cent higher tensile strength than current ropes used today. The higher strength to weight ratio means that customers can now choose the safer option of enjoying 15-20 per cent higher tensile strength in X2 aqua ropes versus other polysteel ropes of the same diameter/yield or, customers can choose to downsize with X2 aqua mooring ropes, thus enjoying the benefit of lower weight and easier handling.

Since the aqua mooring ropes are subjected to the erratic tidal forces of the sea, along with the tension of the aqua grid structure, it is also critical for the rope to perform by

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Above: X2 Aqua Mooring Ropes offer better Fatigue Resistance as compared to other ropes.

absorbing these multiple loads all the time without breaking. The X2 aqua rope, due to its high fatigue resistance, has higher life expectancy. The cyclic loading test has shown that the X2 aqua ropes are able to sustain about 2,430 equivalent cycles at 80 per cent load, while the standard polysteel variety were only able to sustain about 1,250 cycles, which shows the X2 aqua ropes are able to deliver for a higher period under the same conditions.

The X2 aqua ropes are designed to have controlled elongation ensuring lower stress and excellent shock absorbance properties, thus delivering superior stability with a lower watch circle of the grid structure during the extreme weather conditions.

The ropes have recently been certified to meet the requirements of NS9415. One of the major aqua farms in Cyprus mentions that in the stormy conditions the X2 ultra ropes, due to the excellent shock absorbance properties, perform much better than the other ropes in its league in maintaining stability of the cages, thus enabling less loss of fish and also reducing fish stress levels. FF

The recent “combinati on

of lice shields and cleaner fish is not only proving popular, but is also a very green and effective game changer

”

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05/07/2017 15:40:08

Aqua Nor preview– Morenot Advertorial

Effective exposure Research project ensures optimal resource utilisation

A

two-year research project has resulted in a technical solution that ensures far more cost-effective operations of exposed farms. Maintenance operations on standby waiting for the right weather conditions constitute a significant cost. ‘By calculating wave data for the next seven to ten days, fish farmers will have a unique predictability in their operations,’ says Yngve Askeland, general manager of Aqua Knowledge (owned by Mørenot Aquaculture).

Aqua Knowledge initiated the research project, which is a collaboration with Uni Research Polytec and Bremnes Seashore. They have studied different challenges that occur on exposed sites. In order for the aquaculture industry to grow according to the authority`s stated objectives, more fish farms must be established at exposed sites. These sites are more prone to harsh weather conditions, which in turn limit and pose challenges related to efficient and safe operations.

Accurate calculations The project resulted in a technical solution named ‘Aquacom Planner’.

‘The solution provides fish farmers with the possibility of calculating real wave data. By comparing wave data against each operation’s limit values, fish farmers can easily calculate if a planned operation can be completed.

Fish farmers will know if the operation must be moved at a more conven-

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The “ solution

gives fish farmers the possibility to calculate real wave data

”

ient time or to a different location. The wave data has an accuracy of 100 x100m,’ Askeland says.

A much-needed solution Geir Magne Knutsen, development manager at Bremnes Seashore, is convinced that this solution will ensure far more cost effective operations of exposed fish farms.

‘Challenging weather conditions often result in maintenance operations being postponed. By executing necessary calculations at an early stage, we will be able to plan and operate our facilities in a far more predictable way. Fish farm sites will become even more weather challenging and the need for this solution will grow significantly,’ Knutsen says.

Major interest Boats and personnel on standby waiting for appropriate weather conditions constitute a considerable cost. ‘There is no doubt that this

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Effective exposure

has been a challenge for several fish farmers and we experienced a major interest in this solution even before its launch,’ Askeland says.

Aquacom Planner will be launched at this year’s Aqua Nor. It is an additional feature in the existing Aquacom solution (previously MMCD), which has more than 300 marine and land facilities in Norway and Scotland as active users.

The Morenot Group is a leading manufacturer of fishing gear, equipment to the aquaculture industry and the seismic fleet.

Mørenot is a modern, fully integrated industrial group, which takes care of the production process from raw material to the final product, in addition to providing net services.

Aqua Knowledge provides technical services to the aquaculture industry worldwide. The employees have various backgrounds with both theoretical engineering and practical experience in the aquaculture industry. This provides the best

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insight into industry challenges and the ability and farming and exiting new technical concepts for fish willingness to find the best solutions for customers. farming.

Aqua Knowledge contributes to a wide range of You can visit Morenot Aquaculture on Stand technical projects involving traditional marine fish D-339 at Aqua Nor 2017. FF

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3D-ILLUSTRASJON: GLOBAL MARITIME

3D-ILLUSTRASJON: GLOBAL MARITIME

HAVNEVIK

HAVNEVIK

«Supplier of of groundbreaking «Supplier groundbreaking net nettechnology technologyin inOF1» OF1» VISIT US AT AQUA NOR - STAND NO. D339 VISIT US AT AQUA NOR - STAND NO. D339

DELIVERING THE DIFFERENCE ® DELIVERING THE DIFFERENCE ® Untitled-3 62

wwww.morenot.com wwww.morenot.com 05/07/2017 16:18:36

Aqua Nor preview– I2S Advertorial

Managing aqua

An integrated system for efficient production management

BY DAVE EDLER

“

We use advanced data mining to help companies explore their data in ways they’ve never done before

”

Above: The aquaManager team at Athens HQ. Below: A friendly environment always promotes efficiency.

A

n Athens based company is leading the way in the development of high-tech information technology for aquaculture. I2S provides software, data analytics and data logger solutions and its mission is to develop and deliver innovative technology that can help companies to lower their production costs, increase profitability and improve operational efficiency.

I2S also wants to see business carried out in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way: ‘We want to have a positive impact on the sector and contribute to the transformation of aquaculture from being experienced based to knowledge based,’ says I2S business development manager Kostas Seferis. ‘Our company is the developer of the aquaManager system, an integrated system for efficient production management and continuous improvement.’

The development of aquaManager started in 1998 as a project for a group of companies.

After two years the results from this project turned into a product and aquaManager was born, with the first version released in September 2000. I2S now has customers in Europe, the US, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East and Africa.

Right from the outset the system has been designed as a multi-species application. It works with bass, bream, meagre, trout, tilapia, salmon, perch, catfish, carp and many other species with customers comprising both sea and land based farms. But what really makes I2S different is the people behind aquaManager. There is a skilled team of professionals with over 20 years’ experience working in information systems for

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aquaculture. They invest time in understanding their customers’ needs and objectives and then offer tailored solutions that meet and exceed them.

Seferis says: ‘We don’t offer a ‘one size fits all’ philosophy. We’re not a mere vendor, we are a strategic partner for growth and we offer five star support services and proactive support.’

The aquaManager platform supports all the stages of fish production, from egg to harvest, and it is much more than a record keeping software.

It is a tool for continuous improvement that helps companies to effectively analyse performance and to take decisions at any level. It encapsulates state-of-the-art data mining technologies as well as best practices gained from year of experience working with industry-leading companies. It provides unprecedented visibility and control over the full range of variables driving the success of the production process: cost, quality, volume, scheduling and profitability, as they occur. Companies can understand what is happening and why it’s happening.

In addition, the product can help lower production costs, identify problems and improve operational efficiency. AquaManager is simple to operate, process oriented and user friendly and incorporates many time saving features. Users can use mobile devices to capture production information in real-time, reducing administration effort and increasing productivity.

Most recently I2S has launched a new data mining and machine learning platform that is integrated into aquaManager. It is something that can help a company move its management to a completely new level. Seferis describes the new development: ‘We use advanced data mining and analytics to help companies explore their data in ways they’ve never done before. They can convert data into knowledge and then use this knowledge to improve production. They are able to understand and quantify the interaction between all the parameters influencing the production, respond to a wide range of production challenges in real-time, and then understand not only what has just happened but, more significantly, what is most likely to happen next.’

You can find full details about the aquaManager system at www.aqua-manager.com FF

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Aqua Nor preview – Pharmaq Advertorial

Pancreas disease – a SAVy response

Pharmaq acquires cutting edge developer of vaccination machines

T

he discovery in 1995 that salmon pancreas disease is caused by salmon alphavirus (SAV) and not, as many believed, a nutritional deficiency, represented a major breakthrough in understanding an economically crippling condition affecting the, then fledgling, salmon farming industry. Credit for this discovery belongs to Marian McLoughlin and her colleagues at the Veterinary Sciences Division in Stormont, Belfast, coupled with support from both the Irish and Scottish salmon farming industries at the time.

Like any disease with an infectious aetiology it wasn’t long before the development of a vaccine became a priority. In 1995 Intervet Schering Plough acquired the patent rights and secured a monopoly for the commercial exploitation of SAV. This protection stood for over 20 years, limiting the alternatives for farmers eager to prevent PD. In 2013 Pharmaq entered into legal proceedings with the patent holder to challenge its request to extend the 20-year patent period by five years. In spring 2017 the courts finally denied the extension. This motion allowed other fish vaccine producers using the SAV antigen to compete in the Norwegian marketplace.

Throughout the 20-year duration of the patent period Pharmaq worked to research and develop an alternative vaccine that would deliver superior protection to the existing products. This was successful and at the time of writing the new product, Alpha Ject micro 1 PD, has already been administered to more than seven million fish.

Alpha Ject micro 1 PD is an injectable monovalent (single antigen) product, and is the latest viral antigen vaccine from Pharmaq. So what is the rationale behind this departure from the more usual multivalent vaccines which have previously been the hallmark of Pharmaq’s portfolio of injectable vaccines for salmon?

The process through which vaccines, and other animal medicines, are licensed is long, complex and rigid, and rightly so. It is important that medicines deliver clear benefits in a way that is safe to both the animal being treated as well as the consumer. This rigidity means that a single new antigen cannot simply be inserted into a pre-existing vaccine with other antigens without the new combination being scrutinised under the full licensing procedure. And yet in reality, particularly in the case of fish which are reared in open systems, the combination of antigens required for their protection can change rapidly in both time as well as location.

One change that has been observed in Scotland over the past couple of years is the increasingly ubiquitous nature of PD necessitating a variety of mitigation responses from farmers seeking to reduce the impact of infection; one such response is vaccination. Pharmaq’s contribution here is Alpha Ject micro 1 PD which can be safely and readily administered alongside other Pharmaq vaccines containing the following antigens: Aeromonas salmonicida, Listonella anguillarum O1 and O2a, Vibrio salmonicida, Moritella viscosa and Infectious Pancreas Necrosis Virus (IPNV). Clearly this requires the co-injection of two vaccines simultaneously - either by machine or by hand.

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Opposite: Alpha Ject micro 1 PD makes its debut at Cooke Aquaculture’s Furnace hatchery in Argyll. Right: Twinjecting Alpha Ject micro 1 PD

Twinjection To ensure that this procedure is both consistent and reliable, Pharmaq has been closely involved with the development of the equipment required to achieve this and in so doing has introduced a number of initiatives which, it is hoped, will raise the standard of all hand vaccination going forward. Central to this process has been a close collaboration with Henke Sass Wolf (HSW) a German company specialising in the design and production of high quality vaccine and drench delivery instruments. For the purpose of Twinjection, HSW has produced the Micro-matic injector which has two fixed volume chambers, each delivering a constant dose simultaneously from the vaccine container to which it is attached. In this way it is possible to Twinject a 100 µml dose alongside a 50 µml dose or two 50 µml doses. Optimal results are achieved when vaccines with a similar viscosity are administered together.

In parallel with this, Pharmaq has recently acquired Nordland Sett Vaks (NSV), a cutting edge developer of vaccination machines. Like HSW, this highly innovative company will be at the vanguard of Twinjection with existing and new machines being fully configured to deliver two products simultaneously.

Efficacy Salmonid alphaviruses are represented in six phylogenetically and, in most cases, geographically distinct groups which are numbered

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Pancreas disease – a SAVy response

“

This highly innovative company will be at the vanguard of Twinjection

accordingly. In Scotland SAVs 1, 2, 4 and 5 are widespread but largely discrete from one another. In Norway only SAV 2 and 3 have been detected and are also geographically discrete.

In Ireland, the only other country where PD has presented, SAV 1, 2 and 4 have all been identified.

Alpha Ject micro 1 PD has been developed using a virulent SAV 3 and is the first vaccine to be developed from this sub type, with all PD vaccines having previously been constructed using a benign SAV 1. Of course, while farmers can choose their vaccines, they cannot choose their challenge, so it is vital that the vaccine, regardless of antigen, can provide protection across all the possible SAV types which the vaccinates may encounter.

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Pharmaq - PED.indd 65

”

As part of the development of Alpha Ject micro 1 PD, Pharmaq tested the vaccine for its efficacy against SAVs 1,2,3,4 and 5 and found it to be protective in all cases. Clearly for a SAV 3 vaccine facing a SAV 3 (homologous) challenge, protection should be a given.

However, where the vaccine and challenge antigen differ (heterologous) and protection is still achieved, then the vaccine is said to be cross-protective. Alpha Ject micro 1 PD gives optimal protection against SAV3 challenge, but also a good cross-protection against other subtypes of SAV. PD Dialogue To monitor this, as well as gain a more detailed understanding of the PD situation

in Scotland, Pharmaq intends to roll out a programme of information exchange with customers who are using Alpha Ject micro 1 PD. The nature of this programme, PD Dialogue, will be determined customer by customer, based upon individual requirements.

In the wider context and because the world of PD and, for that matter, all viral myopathies in salmon, is a complex and evolving one, Pharmaq remains enthusiastic participants of the PD TriNation forum. This assembly of industry and academic representatives gathers every 16 months to present R&D and management updates to assist in advancing the effective control of these diseases. The next meeting has been tentatively planned for early 2018 in Norway – see http://trination. org You can visit Pharmaq on Stand D-330 at Aqua Nor 2017. FF

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ALPHA JECT micro 1 PD ® ®

An efficacious and safe monovalent vaccine against Pancreas Disease (PD) proven to be suitable for coinjection with other PHARMAQ VACCINES NOW YOU YOU NOW HAVE A A HAVE CHOICE! CHOICE! ALPHA JECT JECT micro® micro® ALPHA 1 PD plus your 1 PD plus your standard PHARMAQ PHARMAQ standard vaccine injected injected vaccine simultaneously! simultaneously!

For active immunization of Atlantic salmon to reduce mortality, lesions in the heart and pancreas and impaired growth caused by infection with Salmon Alpha Virus (Pancreas Disease).

ALPHA JECT micro® 1 PD contains Salmon Pancreas Disease Virus (SPDV) and is POM-V medicine available through prescription from your veterinary surgeon from whom more information is available, as well as from PHARMAQ directly.

Safety and efficacy data are available which demonstrate that this vaccine can be administered simultaneously with PHARMAQ’s oil adjuvanted multivalent vaccines containing the following antigens: Aeromonas salmonicida, Listonella anguillarum O1 and O2a, Vibrio salmonicida, Moritella viscosa and Infectious Pancreas Necrosis Virus (IPNV). The vaccines are administered intraperitoneally either simultaneously (one injection) or in immediate succession (two injections) while fish are anaesthetised.

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05/07/2017 15:43:31

Aqua Nor preview – Vonin Advertorial

Tough cages Bakkafrost orders the first new Vonin designs

“

The neck of the bracket tends to be the weak point...so it was important to get these right

”

T

he Faroe Islands are a fantastic place to rear salmon, with perfect water temperatures and fast flowing currents of crystal clear water - but it’s still one of the toughest environments in the world to anchor cages. The advantages come as part of the North Atlantic weather that brings a string of storms that batter the islands every winter. In fact, producing its own cages is a relatively new venture for Vónin. Adding its own cages to its product range means that Vónin is now able to supply complete salmon cage packages.

The plastic brackets The brackets that hold the tubes of the cage rings together presented a few challenges and Vónin used computer aided design to identify weak points and achieve the optimum strength in the HDPE100 injection moulded brackets.

‘These had to be as strong as possible, with no compromises,’ Vónin’s Signar Poulsen said. ‘The neck of the bracket tends to be the weak point, where failures can occur, so it was important to get these right.’

Cages for Iceland Since then Icelandic company Dýrfiskur, based in the Westfjords of Iceland, has also come to Vónin for cages. The four cages and six sinker tubes supplied to Dýrfiskur for its rainbow trout farming operation have performed very well, with no complaints from the users. The cages are anchored in a location on the southern side of Dýrafjörður in the north west of Iceland, where they are required to cope with heavy swells and strong currents.

Sinker tubes The design includes steel wire filled sinker tubes weighing up to 70kg/m that help maintain the shape of the net in the water, even in heavy weather or with a strong current flowing. This holds the meshes open, allowing Above: Vónin supplies a complete solution. Below: a better water flow through the cage, with the At Bakkafrost’s site in result of producing fish in better health and Fuglafjørður. with less stress.

You can visit Vonin on Stand D-320 at Aqua Nor 2017. FF

Bakkafrost orders the first cages The first of the new Vónin cages, which were supplied to Faroese salmon producer Bakkafrost, have had a full year in the firing line of those winter storms and passed that particular test with flying colours after a process of making some minor adjustments to ensure optimum performance.

‘There were some problems to overcome and Bakkafrost got its cages in two deliveries,’ said Poulsen. ‘There were a few challenges to start with to get the details right, but these were all dealt with and there were no problems at all with the second part of the delivery.

‘Those cages have now been out for a whole year, with a full Faroese winter’s use behind them.’

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06/07/2017 14:05:18

Aqua Nor preview – Skretting Advertorial

The 25-year diet

Building on a quarter century’s experience to support global aquaculture

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n 1992, Skretting became the first fish feed company in the world to launch a health diet for fish. Twenty five years on, its health feeds team, with a portfolio of ground-breaking products, is making a crucial contribution to the economic viability and sustainability of fish and shrimp farming.

Skretting first set off on the unchartered journey to explore health enhancing aquaculture feeds at the start of the 1990s as the company investigated whether solutions that prevent challenges in salmonid farming systems could provide viable alternatives to traditional medicine based treatments. Crucially, it was at that time that Skretting first began to learn that the use of specific natural substances could result in stronger, more robust animals that were better equipped to deal with diseases.

Highly refined beta-glucans were the novel ingredient to be made available to the market and discussions were held with leading scientists in the field regarding their application.

‘We saw that salmon were being exposed to a number of challenges, and we felt that if we could stimulate the immune defences before the main risk period, then we could provide much needed support to those fish,’ said Viggo Halseth, chief innovation officer at Nutreco, who held the role of marketing manager at Skretting 25 years ago.

‘The trials gave some good results, good enough that we decided to introduce a new anti-stress product, Response.

Soon afterwards, the diet accounted for around 13 per cent of Skretting Norway’s sales, where it was first introduced, and that was the case for the next few years, which was very high since the recommended use was for just two out of eight weeks. Indeed, Response had caught the industry’s attention and by 1996/97 Skretting was receiving many enquiries from beyond Norwegian shores. Overseas implementation began with Ireland and the UK, before a much broader geographical roll-out.

Evolution For some years, beta-glucans were the core focus of Skretting’s health feeds, but in 2004 the decision was taken within the Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC) to establish a health department to see what could be achieved in terms of strengthening preventative health through feeding and diets. The recruitment of additional researchers enabled a number of projects to get underway.

Three years later, the industry leading health diet Protec was launched to help support against challenges in the four key areas – skin, gills, gut and immune system. In 2013, Protec was comprehensively upgraded to deliver support for viral challenges, providing the building blocks for stronger skin and optimising the balance between fish, microbes and environment.

Thanks in part to the knowledge gained in developing new generation Protec, in 2016 Skretting launched Lorica – a shrimp health diet that supports the functioning of the immune system and helps protect the animals against hostile threats, including Vibrio bacteria, which are widely present in many aquaculture environments and have been directly responsible for a number of major mortality events.

Synergies Today, Skretting’s portfolio of health diets contains a wide range of functional ingredients that work in synergy to enhance the animals’ ability to cope

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ensure “theTobest outcomes, we find the best combination of ingredients

”

with stressful situations such as disease, handling, transport and vaccinations. Individually, these ingredients have some benefits, but crucially what Skretting continues to evidence is that specific combinations provide synergistic benefits where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, thereby providing greater holistic protection for the animals.

‘That is the science behind these products,’ said Truls Dahl, global product group manager health at Skretting. ‘To ensure the best outcomes, we find the best combination of ingredients as well as the ideal dosage. In these diets, we have established, with full documentation of the processes, the optimal mixture formulation and created a form in which it can be delivered directly to the species for which it has been developed. And because we are a feed company, we produce complete feeds that are tried, tested and ready for use.’

For example, the first generation of Protec gave very positive support with regards to viruses through enhancing the immune system. The improved immune defence was particularly demonstrated in its contribution to helping control pancreas disease (PD), but benefits were also observed with the support given against other viral diseases, such as infectious salmon anaemia (ISA).

Latest generation Protec, meanwhile, contains new functional ingredients that directly target viruses at the same time as the diet strengthens the fish’s immune system to help it cope better with challenges. It also strengthens the skin’s natural defences and enhances its healing capacity.

Network Multiple innovative methodologies including quantitative histology and plasma biotechnology have been developed and optimised by Skretting ARC. These have advanced Skretting’s understanding of the way different ingredients interact, thereby providing the platform for current and future innovations. The progression of its health feeds have also greatly benefited from the expertise and R&D work undertaken by colleagues in parent company Nutreco’s animal nutrition business, Trouw Nutrition, which has five major research centres, as well as through some very important external collaborations with key universities and scientific partners. There are presently more than 50 active collaborations with external partners at present.

‘It’s a very valuable pipeline for us and so it is an area that we are building up,’ said Charles McGurk,

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06/07/2017 14:01:48

A Quarter Century of Health Diets

manager of fish health at Skretting ARC. ‘We are an innovative company so being engaged with R&D partners is crucial, not just for us but also to improve the value proposition for our customers. We take our research priorities from the business. All of the projects we have are within the framework of our project portfolio and the issues facing the industry – a strategy that closely steers the directions that we take. We really thrive from those stakeholder interactions.’

Protec Gill, a diet expressly developed to support salmonids’ gill health and recovery during disease, environmental and treatment challenges, is among the most recent innovations to come out of this strategy. And Skretting’s recommendation for all proven functional feed solutions is the same: that they should be included proactively – before there is a challenge that will affect the condition of the stocks – as part of a structured approach to best management practices and an integrated health programme, because they work Above: 25 years of pioneering health best alongside strategies such as vaccination, disease monitoring and the control of environmental parameters.

Integrated approach While current challenges are being met head-on, the industry is constantly moving and encountering new obstacles, which is certain to lead to shifts in Skretting’s R&D focus. A growing cause for concern, for instance, is the amount of handling that farmed fish undergo, whether for vaccination or treatment for parasites. These are all potential sources of stress that can affect the feeding

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days and in turn impact the production cycle and even cause mortality.

At the same time, the scale and impact of shrimp diseases is a growing key focus for Skretting and an area in which its first shrimp health diet, Lorica, is already having a positive effect. Similarly, the Protec diet launched for tilapia last year has come from considerable ongoing R&D looking at the key diseases impacting the species’ production.

‘We are making specific feeds for more than 60 different aquaculture species,’ said McGurk. ‘We have a strong core experience with those 25 years with salmon and marine fish species and in recent years we have been using that knowledge, competence and technologies to make some really exciting breakthroughs in other areas, most recently shrimp.

‘There is still a lot of work to validate and be really confident in every solution, but we have established crucial starting points that give us direction.’

Skretting’s future research work will, however, continue to follow the preventative path and what can be done to help fish or shrimp not get sick in the first place, and if these animals’ health is compromised then how can the severity of the challenge be reduced. Aligned with this is an increased focus on clinical nutrition and what fish and shrimp should be fed when suffering from stressful situations.

Furthermore, because timing is critical when it comes to health related issues, Skretting wants to explore the development of rapid diagnostic tools that can give immediate diagnoses relating to the health status at farm sites.

‘One of our biggest strengths at Skretting is our unparalleled investment in R&D and our efficient innovation process that has been designed to deliver effective solutions that meet both specific customer and wider market needs,’ said Alan Bourhill, marketing manager at Skretting UK. ‘We have seen products such as Protec evolve over time in line with evolving production challenges and the growth of our knowledge of the synergistic effects of existing and novel functional ingredients. People in key decision making roles in industry have developed a deep appreciation of the role these diets play in supporting their health and welfare management objectives. I have no doubt that future innovations will come to further strengthen what is now an extremely comprehensive and well thought out portfolio of products.’

You can find Skretting on Stand F-544 at Aqua Nor 2017. FF

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06/07/2017 14:04:23

Photo: visualsunlimited.com

The fine art of protection

Photo: visualsunlimited.com

Photo: visualsunlimited.com

Photo: visualsunlimited.com

The The fine fine artart of of protection protection The fine art of protection

BALANCE: BALANCE: Fish live Fish in live a potentially in a potentially threatening threatening environment environment and are and vulnerable are vulnerable to critical to critical changes changes BALANCE: Fish live in a potentially threatening in thein surroundings. the surroundings.

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in the surroundings. Protec contributes positively to maintain the complex balance between fish, hostile microbes and environment.

Stylised Stylised scanning scanning electron electron micrograph micrograph of an enveloped of an enveloped virus. virus.

Stylised scanning electron micrograph of an enveloped virus.

Protec Protec is Skretting’s is Skretting’s primeprime functional functional feed for feed farmed for farmed fish. Protec fish. Protec helps helps to shield to shield skin, skin, gut and gutgills; anditgills; supports it supports the immune the immune system, system, provides provides building building blocks blocks for new for cells new cells Protec is Skretting’s prime functional feed for farmed Stylised scanning electron micrograph of an enveloped virus. fish. Protec helps to shield skin, and optimises and optimises the balance the balance between between fish, microbes fish, microbes and environment. and environment. gut and gills; it supports the immune system, provides building blocks for new cells www.skretting.co.uk www.skretting.co.uk and optimises the balance between fish, microbes and environment.

Protec is Skretting’s prime functional feed for farmed fish. Protec helps to shield skin, www.skretting.co.uk gut and gills; it supports the immune system, provides building blocks for new cells and optimises the balance between fish, microbes and environment. www.skretting.co.uk

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05/07/2017 15:44:20

Aqua Nor preview – Flugga Boats Advertorial

Built to last Small company gains big reputation for quality vessels

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ACK Barclay has been building boats from his base in Unst since 2000 and prides himself on their ruggedness.

‘We always build them to last,’ said Barclay, who was born in Shetland, raised in New Zealand and returned home as a young man in the 1970s.

He runs Flugga Boats with his son Brydon, and the deceptively small company has earned a big reputation for the durability of its vessels.

‘Wherever we go people are really gobsmacked that a little company like us can produce stuff like this,’ Barclay told Fish Farmer. ‘It’s top quality but it has to be. You can’t be in this industry and not put out good quality product.

‘The salmon industry is really hard on boats and if they can survive in that then they can survive anywhere.’

After starting off as a fish farm cage manufacturer in the 90s, Barclay turned his attention primarily to boats, and aquaculture still accounts for at least 50 per cent of the market.

They build to order, with farmers specifying what they want, and could build boats as big as 12m, with the only limitation being the size of the workshop.

‘The requirement seems to be mainly for personnel transport at the moment, they are basically mini buses. They are comfortable, can travel at speed and are suitable in all weathers. All boats are supplied coded to relevant MCA category,’ he said.

‘We like to over engineer the boats. We know boats are hard worked on farms and get knocked about a bit. We use 6mm plate in all hulls up to 8.5m and 8mm plate up to 12m, and they have built in buoyancy, and the polyethylene collars have polystyrene inside.

‘While we don’t want to claim they are unsinkable, they must be pretty close. We have tested a 7m hull in operational conditions with 1,200kg on deck, the drain scuppers tied shut and the deck flooded.

‘The boat still maintained more than minimum requirement freeboard and we could even walk around the collar. On releasing the drain flaps the deck self-drained dry in 1.5 minutes.

‘We feel fortunate in that we have never had a boat underperform. By that we mean that we have always had customers come back saying the boat has been capable of more than they required and their confidence builds the more the boat is used.’

Barclay, who can count lighthouse keeper and helicopter crew among his previous jobs, is a hands on builder, with an engineering background.

His son joined him on leaving school, doing a full apprenticeship, and will ultimately take over the business.

Barclay snr thinks there are too many people cutting corners and building boats to a budget price. ‘There is a lot of rubbish out there on the market – we’ve seen it. Because of our experience and what we know about building boats, we look at some of this stuff and wonder how they have the face to sell that to somebody.

‘You have to keep the price in the right place but if you’re building a workboat, the boat has to be able to work, that’s the bottom line.

‘We place great emphasis on reducing maintenance, and any maintenance that is essential must be easy to access. Balance in all things is important.’

He makes the point that in the community he works in, many of his customers are also his friends and he would not

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put a boat in the water that increased the risks.

‘If anything was to happen you’d feel very bad, and that kind of governs what we do. The boat has to get you home at the end of the day and that’s the way we view the build.

‘Every boat we have built is still operational, from Shetland to the Caspian Sea to Angola, they are still outperforming any other boat. They are just very tough boats.’

Flugga is exhibiting at Aqua Nor for the first time, although Barclay has visited before. At Aviemore last year some Norwegians approached him and said they were surprised he hadn’t looked at the Norwegian sector, so he decided to exhibit at this year’s show.

‘We’ve not really tried to look at the Norwegian market and I think it’s time we did.’

He was going to take a boat over to Trondheim too (‘it’s no further going to Norway from here than it is to Aberdeen’) but his other son is getting married a week after the exhibition and he wouldn’t have had time to wait for a weather window.

But if there is enough interest he will go back and visit potential customers a few weeks after the show, and the company may take a boat to the next Aqua Nor. Barclay is thinking of retiring and handing over to his son in a year or two, and he’d like to bring a couple of apprentices into the industry before he goes. He enjoys the work – ‘it’s almost like a hobby that’s turned into a profession’ – and wants to share his expertise.

But first he has to get the business in to provide the continuity of work: ‘If we got eight or ten orders from Norway that would be brilliant.’ Visit Flugga at Aqua Nor, Stand No. A2-666 FF

If they can “survive in the salmon industry then they can survive anywhere

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Above: The 10.3m twin jet 12 passenger Fluggaboat. Left: Brydon Barclay checking the fuel filter access on an 8.5 m eight man boat.

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06/07/2017 13:58:48

Aqua Nor preview – AquaGen Advertorial

Resistance movement

Reducing mortality from flavobacteriosis in rainbow trout

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LAVOBACTERIOSIS, also known as rainbow trout fry syndrome (RTFS), causes major problems for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farmers worldwide, particularly in Scotland and Chile.

This widespread infection is systemic in fry in freshwater hatcheries and in larger fish at freshwater on-growing sites. Affected batches can experience mortalities greater than 50 per cent.

The causative agent is Flavobacterium psychrophilum, which is also responsible for coldwater disease.

Fish infected with F. psychrophilum develop lethargy, dark skin pigmentation, pale gills and bulging eyeballs (exophthalmia).

In addition to mortality, secondary and tertiary outbreaks resulting in epidermal lesions are becoming more common in larger rainbow trout. These can result in downgrading and loss of value of the fish.

The cost of the RTFS problem for the rainbow trout industry in the UK has been estimated at £1 – 1.2 million per annum, which equates to around £6/ tonne or 6p/kg of production.

This cost can be broken down as follows: • Direct cost of mortality • Direct cost of treatment (antibiotics) • Direct cost of replacing fish • Indirect cost in terms of increased cost of production of surviving fish • Indirect cost in terms of reduced production efficiency Antibiotics are the front-line treatment for flavobacteriosis and, currently, no vaccine has been developed.

However, AquaGen recently identified two significant genetic markers (QTLs) that show a significant correlation to flavobacteriosis resistance. By using both markers in conjunction, eggs were produced in 2017 and supplied to farmers Figure 1

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in Scotland for the purpose of field validation.

Identification of the gene markers associated with both flavobacteriosis and IPN resistance in rainbow trout was made possible through use of a high density SNP chip that is capable of genotyping 55,000 SNP markers from an individual fish in one analysis.

This impressive genomic tool was developed through a collaboration between AquaGen, Affymetrix and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

AquaGen began working on resistance to flavobacteriosis in 2014, in conjunction with scientists from the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture.

A controlled F. psychrophilum challenge trial was undertaken in Norway, using 1,500, 3-4g fry from 100 families. The fish were then genotyped using the SNP chip.

The QTL search found not one, but two major QTLs responsible for resistance to flavobacteriosis.

(Figure 1).

Used both alone and in combination, the two QTLs were found to have a significant effect in reducing mortality from flavobacteriosis in rainbow trout. (Figure 2). It can be seen that survival among fish with the worst (qqqq) and the best (QQQQ) combination of markers was 31 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively.

AquaGen eggs selected for flavobacteriosis resistance include two to four of the favourable flavobacteriosis resistant variant Q. However, the frequency of the beneficial markers is low to moderate in AquaGen rainbow trout stock, which means there is a huge potential for improving resistance.

Flavobacteriosis has a complex range of causes, Left: Figure 1. Manhattan and field validation is not expected to be as straightplot, randomised chromosomes, showing forward, for example, as the IPN marker that has two significant markers. been in use for several years now.

Preliminary field trials undertaken with Torhouse Opposite: Figure 2.

Trout earlier this year were encouraging and Estimated survival using a combination showed that flavobacteriosis was slower to develop of 2 QTLs associated and that mortality was reduced. with resistance to ‘We are very pleased that AquaGen is working flavobacteriosis. on this issue, which can only be of benefit to the industry,’ said Mark Davis, managing director of Torhouse Trout.

‘In this first trial, we found that fry still developed

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06/07/2017 13:57:29

Resistance movement Figure 2

“

Field trials are a vital part of our work and help to verify our experimental findings

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RTFS, but there was a moderate improvement in the numbers succumbing to it. We were also able to treat at an early stage so kept mortalities down.

‘Producing RTFS resistant fish is an important development, worthy of support from both industry and other sources, and we look forward to benefiting from further work to identify a greater range of isolate strains.

‘This would offer a broader spectrum of resistance to one of the most important health challenges our young fish have to deal with.’

Andrew Reeve, head of sales and marketing for the UK and Ireland, explained that a database of different isolates of Flavobacterium psychrophilum is being built up.

‘Field trials are a vital part of our work and help to verify our experimental findings, so farms like Torhouse play an important part in new developments,’ he said. FF

Quality eggs all year round AquaGen deliver certified salmon eggs the whole year round to agreed quality, quantity and timing.

The “off-season” eggs are produced from brood stock raised at the land based facilities Nofima, Sunndalsøra and AquaGen Profunda, Ørsta in Norway.

AquaGen AS • P.O. Box 1240 • Torgard • N-7462 Trondheim • firmapost@aquagen.no • www.aquagen.no/en/

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06/07/2017 13:57:47

Sea Lice – Norwegian Weather Protection

Norwegian Þrm set for farm trials with new freshwaterbag transport solution

Above: Viking boat from a Norwegian fjord - near Flåm on the west coast

NORWAY, Scotland and the Faroe Islands have set high standards in the fight against sea lice.

‘We all have long traditions as seamen in extremely harsh waters, and this requires courage, good quality equipment and, not least, knowledge of survival at sea’. So says Arne Dalland, General Manager of Norwegian Weather Protection (NWP) Aquaculture.

This legacy has now been deployed in the aquaculture industry, with products tailored to meet NWP’s customers demands.

‘The weather on the coast of Norway, Scotland and the Faroe Islands sets the standard for the high quality of our products’, said Dalland. ‘The knowledge and experience of our sailors, fishermen and craftsmen enable us to create solutions that last’ Norwegian Weather Protection AS is located on the west coast of Norway, 40 minutes by car from Bergen.

With 30 years experience delivering to fish farms, the firm produces high quality products that combine both a flexible and innovative approach to meet clients requirements.

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Above: Arne Dalland, general manager

Above: From the production of a lice skirt

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06/07/2017 13:53:03

ith on

Advertorial

Norwegian local craftmanship - and user knowledge sets the standard for

Lice skirts to the next quality level

NWP Aquaculture have delivered over 900 of our quality liceskirts in 2016, and have now increased our capasity once again.

Our new lice skirt - version «Extra Strong», incorporates significant upgrades, with stronger and smarter solutions based on NWP`s experience and good feedback from the users.

This results in an even stronger skirt that is more efficient to handle, and involves less downtime and lower lice penetration.

NEW - Mounting film, tutorial and service tools Why: To secure quality and better economy for the Seafarms, through efficient procedures.

Our new mounting film is made in cooperation with Marine Harvest and gives an example of a good practice. We also have new user manuals.

If your skirt is damaged we can now offer our new Aqua Tool Bag where you can do quick repairs on site.

Right: Arild - one of the owners and our project manager, with the new Aqua Tool Bag.

Better product - and still the best price Our products are local handcraftship from Norway. The fabric is of the best german quality.

Combined with new technology and efficient productionslines we also manage to have the best price on this high end product.

10 points checklist When purchasing our new lice skirt it can be difficult to choose the most suitable op7on. NWP Aquaculture have now devised a 10-point checklist to make the selec7on easier. FF

NEW - Fresh water pool - «North Edition» Extreme weather conditions and the force of water in movement creates extreme pressure.

NWP`s focus on quality has reached a new level - with our new freshwater pool «North Edition», only the best is good enough when we chose materials and technology.

Please contact us for further information and quotes: Henriette Fennelly - Key account Manager, UK Mob: +47 915 61759 - E-mail: henriette@nwp.as Tor Steinar Olsen - Sales Manager, Faroe Islands Mob: +47 950 27752 - E-mail: tor@nwp.as

AQUACULTURE Phone: +47 56 35 64 00, E-mail: post@nwp.as, www.nwphavbruk.no

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06/07/2017 13:53:23

Aqua Nor preview – MSD Animal Health Advertorial

Big data futures MSD Animal Health hosts High Quality Salmon Congress in Granite City

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SD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the United States and Canada) hosted its first High Quality Salmon Congress on June 29. The aquaculture team invited key customers to Aberdeen to hear from inspiring keynote speakers, travelling from Scotland, Norway, Canada and the United States.

The theme, Aquaculture Futurecast: Outlook of the next five years, was covered in three sessions: salmon farming in a digital age, breaking through to growth, and the customer of the future. With experts in innovation, marketing, technical analysis and big data, the audience heard from 14 speakers over the twoday event. These talks were followed by panel discussions where delegates actively engaged with the speakers, asking questions to address both the challenges and successes of the industry.

Delegates were also inspired through a group activity featuring Lego. Groups were encouraged to design what they thoughtThe audience enjoying the MSD Animal Health High Quality Salmon Congress the future of the aquaculture industry would look like. From fish farms with helipads, to farms with solar powered big data centres, House, Aberdeen each group pushed themselves to design what could be a reality Delegates gather outside Ardoe for the future of the industry. Following the exercise, all of the Lego used for the activity was donated to the Aberdeen branch of Children 1st, a charity working to ensure a happy, safe and secure future for every child and young person in Scotland.

Chris Beattie, global head of aquaculture at MSD Animal Health, attended the congress and was delighted with the success of the event.

‘For us the High Quality Salmon Congress was a great opportunity to connect with aquaculture stakeholders from Norway and Scotland to discuss how the salmon industry will develop over the next five years and beyond,’ he said.

‘From the influence of big data and the ‘internet of things’, to breaking through towards growth, to the customer of the future, the congress addressed some of the biggest key issues facing salmon farming today.

2 ‘This is just the starting point and we look forward to continued discussions with our customers, ensuring we are aligned with their future needs so that we Dafydd Morris, Business Manager of Aquaculture at MSD Animal Health UK, addresses make the relevant investments today.’

The audience enjoying the MSD Animal Health High Celebrity chef Nick Nairn closed the event with a demonstrati of three theon audience gourmet salmon dishes while reaffirming his support for farmed salmon. He Clockwise from top: then joined a panel discussion where he answered questions from the audiDelegates gather outside Ardoe House, ence and provided an insight in how chefs will continue to innovate, keeping Aberdeen; the their customers coming back and consuming seafood. audience enjoying the Dafydd Morris, business manager of aquaculture at MSD Animal Health, MSD Animal Health said: ‘The High Quality Salmon Congress was a fantastic success. It gave us all High Quality Salmon the opportunity to hear from, and speak to, like minded people in the salmon Congress; Chris Gould, industry. It also sparked some exciting debate and questions around the key MSD Animal Health’s issues facing the industry, not only today, but what we expect over the next five global technical years and beyond. I look forward to keeping in touch with our customers and services manager, continuing these conversations, ensuring the best service possible.’ presents Canadian You can visit MSD Animal Health on stand D-335 at Aqua Nor 2017. FF PhD student Jordan

From the influence of big data to the “‘internet of things’…congress addressed some of the key issues ”

Poley with the HQSC award; MSD business manager Dafydd Morris addresses the audience

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Chris Gould, MSD An

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Dafydd Morris, Business Manager of Aquaculture at

imal Health’s Global Te

chnical the audience

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05/07/2017 15:45:32

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Long-term Industry Commitment - Collaboratively advancing UV research in aquaculture UV system designs are available in both closed pipe and open channel arrangements to provide the greatest flexibility to the hatchery.

TrojanUV3000PlusTM Open Channel System

TrojanUVSwiftTMSC and TrojanUVLogicTM Closed Pipe Systems

Learn more at aquafineuv.com Come visit us at Aqua Nor 2017 in Stand E-408, alongside Salsnes Filter.

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05/07/2017 15:46:21

Aqua Nor preview – Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

Sturgeon

success story RAS farm in Moldova aims to meet caviar demand and rescue endangered species

T

HE sturgeon population is endangered worldwide, for numerous reasons, causing a dramatic decrease in population, especially within the last two decades.

Aquaculture can help save this species from extinction and, at the same time, meet the demand for black caviar.

With this aim in mind, a company named Aquatir, based at Dnjestr in Tiraspol, Moldova, decided in 2005 to build a modern recirculation system for sturgeon farming.

The project was developed by Dietmar Firzlaff, owner of Aquatir (whose parent company is AquaFuture), and has been guided by him until now.

The technical implementation of the farm has been assigned to Billund Aquaculture Service in Denmark, a company that has been building recirculation systems for various breeds for more than 25 years.

In spring 2017, the final hall, with 28 round basins, went into operation, so in total the farm covers approximately 60,000 m2 under one roof.

The farm consists of the following modules among others: • One incubation system; • One system for first feeding; • Two fingerling units; • Four units for grow-out; • Two pre-wintering systems; • Four wintering systems; • Two processing plants; • A laboratory for chemical and microbiological assessments for self-monitoring purposes.

strictly separated.

Caviar has been obtained for several years now from sterlet, bester and Russian sturgeon. Due to the tightly controlled production process, use of high quality feed and optimal welfare conditions, sexual maturity has been achieved significantly earlier than in nature, with a time saving of around 25 per cent.

Currently, the first belugas are being brought into wintering grounds.

They weigh around 100kg at a length of about 2m and are around 10 years old. The first caviar from these fish has already been harvested. In the wild, the beluga sturgeon can take up to 20 years to reach maturity.

AquaFuture aims to produce top quality black caviar for the world market; various other sturgeon products; broodstock for a gene bank,

might “One expect a sturgeon farm like this to be found in Russia, Iran or Kazakhstan

”

Left: The Moldova farm.

Below: A four-year-old beluga

The following sturgeon breeds of different age groups are currently held at the farm: sterlet (A. ruthenus), bester (A. ruthenus x Huso huso), beluga (Huso huso), and waxdick (A. güldenstaedtii).

The sterlet and bester were primarily used for gaining experience. However, in the long run mostly belugas and Russian sturgeon (waxdick) will be worked on.

Several thousand of these sturgeon, of different year groups, can be found at the farm. They originate from spawning fish, from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and are

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06/07/2017 13:39:55

Aqua Nor preview – Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

Above: Belugas wintering. Left: There are 28 tanks. Below: The laboratory

tise of the company’s specialists. This makes it possible to produce high quality caviar yearround and deliver it as freshly as possible.

One might expect a sturgeon farm like this to be found in Russia, Iran or Kazakhstan – countries which are traditionally involved with sturgeon farming and the production of caviar.

But this success story has been realised in landlocked Transnistria (Moldova), thanks to the team work of AquaFuture’s staff, said Firzlaff.

As early as autumn 2009, about 50,000 young-of-year fry of the Russian sturgeon, with an average weight of 100g each, were released into the Dniester river.

This was the first important contribution to improving the ecological situation of the species, by improving stocks in the river.

AquaFuture is sharing a stand with Senect GmbH at Aqua Nor: Stand F-507. FF

intended for reintroduction measures for both the Caspian and the Black Sea; eggs and fry for export; and giant sturgeon for suitable customers.

The firm owns two processing facilities, separated from each other. The first produces for markets in eastern Europe, as well as the Gulf region.

The second was built for target groups in Europe, Australia, the US and Japan.

All the different legal frameworks made it practical to have two distinct centres. For example, caviar can be extracted without killing the sturgeon in some former CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, formed when the Soviet Union broke up) countries. The quality demanded is guaranteed by an old tried and tested processing procedure.

The sturgeon meat is highly sought after regionally and higher prices can be realised than in many west European countries.

An entirely new broodstock system was designed based on the exper-

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06/07/2017 13:41:41

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05/07/2017 15:55:43

Aqua Nor preview – Europharma Advertorial

Ready salted

Europharma continues to support aquaculture with SuperSmolt

E

uropharma, one of the world’s leading developers of fish health and welfare programmes, has been helping its customers continually improve the health, well-being and performance of Scotland’s aquaculture industry.

One service in particular that has been used by many is SuperSmolt, the proprietary smoltification biotechnology programme. SuperSmolt Original is a unique biotechnology programme that combines a functional feed and mineral bath treatments to induce optimal smoltification of Atlantic salmon without any need for a winter photoperiod.

The feed and salts act together to stimulate special cell receptors that pre-acclimatise the fish to seawater while still in freshwater, providing and maintaining a uniform smoltification. The result is a high quality smolt that delivers numerous benefits in both the freshwater hatchery and on-growing at sea.

Europharma’s customers continue to use SuperSmolt due to the following benefits for both smolt producers and on-growers: • Flexibility: the fish never desmoltify, giving greater control over seawater transfer dates; • Enhanced production: the product can be used to optimise production by producing smolts earlier or larger; • Better smolts: fish come on to feed quicker and more evenly post-transfer; • Overall improved health and welfare: the product reduces stress, disease susceptibility and mortality following transfer.

Europharma introduced SuperSmolt Feed Only in 2015, a new improved programme variation which, in addition to the above benefits, further reduces effort as there is no need to include additional mineral treatments. There is also increased planning ability as the programme can be applied to both freshwater cages and hatcheries.

The SuperSmolt product has been used in the Scottish aquaculture industry for the past ten years in the production of tens of millions of optimally smoltified salmon from tank-based systems and loch sites.

After bringing SuperSmolt Feed Only to Scotland last year Europharma has seen a positive reaction from customers and expects to see continued success with the service.

In order for the product to be used by customers most effectively, Europharma employs a highly skilled team of experts to help customers decide which treatments will work most effectively and train them in how to utilise the product most efficiently.

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Ross Beedie is employed as SuperSmolt Technical Support, and works with the team of fish vets and technicians at Europharma to ensure the best use of the product and service for customers.

Beedie started working with the Clydebank based team in 2013 after gaining his degree in zoology and subsequent work experience at Glasgow University. During his time in Glasgow, he was put in touch with the team at Europharma, where he began undertaking lab work before securing his current role.

‘I started working at Europharma four years ago as a lab assistant before working up and taking on my current role as technical support for SuperSmolt,’ he said.

‘On a daily basis, I split my time between the office and out visiting fish farms. It gives me a chance to speak to our customers, where I can also carry out sampling and try to get an idea of what they are planning over the next year. This has to be my favourite part of the job as I get to see the farms, meet interesting people and see exactly how they go about producing smolts.

‘More importantly, it allows us to accurately forecast the next year and identify any challenges or ways we can help customers to improve the health of fish or the use of SuperSmolt within their programmes.

‘Our ultimate aim is to achieve the healthiest fish possible and are all committed to continually working hard to better the industry.’

Europharma Scotland, part of the wider Europharma organisation, is one of the UK’s leading developers of complete fish health and welfare programmes.

The company utilises the wealth and experience of its multidisciplinary teams, based in the UK and internationally in countries such as Norway, Canada and Chile to advise and assist customers via a range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services, primarily delivered by the veterinary services team, trading as Fishguard.

Europharma is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of Scotland’s aquaculture industry by offering customers a unique partnership which minimises threats to fish health and welfare.

You can visit Europharma at Aqua Nor a t Stand D-362. FF

Our “ ultimate

aim is to achieve the healthiest fish possible

”

Above: Ross Beedie. Left: Unique partnership with the aquaculture industry

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06/07/2017 13:37:08

SuperSmolt® Feed Only – All the benefits, now simpler

The new SuperSmolt® Feed Only programme additionally delivers: • REDUCED EFFORT – All the benefits of SuperSmolt® without the need for mineral treatments.

• INCREASED PLANNING AGILITY – The programme can now also be applied in freshwater loch cages.

For the last 10 years, the Scottish Aquaculture industry have been using the SuperSmolt® programme to produce tens of millions of optimally smoltified salmon from tank-based systems. SuperSmolt® continues to provide clear benefits for both smolt producers and ongrowers:

Flexibility SuperSmolt® fish never desmoltify, giving you greater control over seawater transfer dates.

Improved health and welfare SuperSmolt® reduces stress, disease susceptibility and mortality following transfer.

Better smolts SuperSmolt® fish come on to feed quicker and more evenly post transfer.

Design / Trykk:

Europharma Scotland Ltd Clydebank Business Park G81 2QP Ph: +44 (0) 141 4357 100 supersmolt@europharma-uk.com

med helse som fag

Untitled-3 83

05/07/2017 16:20:17

.no / Andenes

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05/07/2017 16:21:08

From the archive – November/December 1985

Dr Ted Needham: an independent view

The ‘numbers game’ leads to over optimistic forecasts

R

ECENTLY I was with a friend, sharing reminiscences of the Unilever salmon farming days of nearly 20 years ago, when he rather surprised me.

‘The old excitement has gone,’ he claimed. ‘It is now all about numbers.’

Certainly salmon farming has become a numbers game. We are told Norway could produce 200,000 tonnes one day. The usually cautious Angus Morgan- of the Scottish Salmon Growers Association and She magazine- maintains that we will have more than trebled output in Scotland by the end of the decade. With great respect to all concerned, such predictions will turn out to be wrong. Furthermore, it is an error to raise people’s hopes by making them in the first place.

We all know that it is the nature of fish farming that we always end up with producing less fish than we would like. To begin with, fish die rather more easily than other domestic animals. Performance is more variable as they are cold blooded and totally at the mercy of the weather. How many smolt producers will achieve the 1983/84 yields of yearling smolts after this lousy summer?

There will be a shortfall in salmon smolt numbers in 1986. This will affect business expansion plans in Scotland which, compounded with other factors, will make a trebling of output by the end of the decade extremely difficult to achieve.

It is extraordinary that, with so much cash invested, the industry is still so affected by the weather. Granted it has also been a bad year for hill and arable farmers, at least in Scotland. But looking at the last 20 years on the land it is rare for the weather to have such a crucial effect on profits. For salmon farmers the contrast could not be greater, for every year the weather has a major impact on some or all of us.

Some thought needs to be given to making us less reliant on the vagaries of nature and giving the salmon farming process a greater predictability. Until that happens we are vulnerable to boom and bust cycles more characteristic of fishermen than the farming industry.

No doubt we will treble farmed salmon production in Scotland eventually, though I question whether Norway will ever raise their levels to 200,000 tonnes.

The engine of farmed salmon output is the smolt producer and he more than anything else will act as the brake on output. This is not because we wants tofar from it. Smolt production is proving difficult to gear up. There is a shortage of good sites and there is a danger that in the effort to increase numbers smolt quality could suffer.

It takes some four years from planning a large smolt unit to achieving maximum output. Every site has its wrinkles. These are primarily environmental features like drought, frazil ice, acid pulses or simply dirty water. It seems to take years to learn to work a site properly. Eventual guaranteed output is usually well below original targets which seemed quite sensible when they were set.

There are not too many good hatchery sites left in Scotland. Already Highland Region planners are threatening to slow things down a bit and many of the landowners remain distinctly unenthusiastic. It will take considerable ingenuity for the Western Isles to become self sufficient in salmon smolts.. Sadly this privilege will be denied to Orkney and Shetland unless there are big changes in the way we raise our smolts.

One factor, freshwater cage culture, could alter all this. The techniques were first developed by McConnel Salmon and North Uist Estates in the Western Isles. Raising smolts in lochs is now the primary means Marine Harvest employs to increase smolt production.

Freshwater cage culture has much to commend it. The technology is not difficult and capital costs per smolt are low. New sites can be established quickly, though great care must be taken to provide suitable access. Fry are being transferred earlier than ever- it is now acceptable to stock cages with populations averaging as little as 2 grams. With experience, yield has become more predictable.

Freshwater lochs are more stable than burns or rivers supplying many con-

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Archive - July.indd 85

ventional smolt units. The temperatures vary less widely and pH and other water quality changes are less abrupt. Although fish performance is not striking, it is adequate in most lochs tested.

Two important problems remain; these are parasitic disease and environmental impact.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to forecast how limiting either will be in any particular water body. The only sound way is to try a pilot operation and see what happens.

Rod Wootten of DAFS Aberdeen has pointed out our ignorance of how and why parasites spread to freshwater salmon cage populations from the wild.

The tape worms Diphyllobothrium and Triaenophorus have caused heavy mortalities both in Scotland and Norway, leading to some sites being abandoned.

Chris Sommerville at Stirling University has found Diphyllobothrium in part held in a freshwater loch within two months of entry. A search had failed to reveal the parasite in the native brown trout, which are sometimes difficult to catch by legal means. Maybe Stirling and the Marine Laboratory at Aberdeen should get together to tell us how we should monitor a freshwater loch for parasites to asses the risk to cage culture.

As an ex-parasitologist I take no pleasure in seeing these organisms which, like lice in seawater cages, present an important limitation to commercial salmon farming.

Stirling have also studied the environmental impact of freshwater cages.

Most of the monitoring has been conducted using rainbows in Scotland and tilapias in the tropics.

Malcolm Beveridge of Stirling covers the topic in an important document – ‘Cage and pen fish farming- carrying capacity models and environmental impact’, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 255. He identifies the main danger as increased phosphorous imput to the water body. This can give rise to plankton blooms.

Apparently, regular kills of milk fish held in freshwater cages in the Philippines result from deoxygenation of the water following the collapse of algal blooms.

Fortunately, in the less volatile Scottish environment this is less likely to occur.

It is prudent, nevertheless, to follow a few guidelines, like using slowly sinking feeds to prevent wastage. Low P diets would help. More than twice the salmon’s requirements for phosphorus is supplied in most commercial diets.

In extreme cases underwater pumps or propellors could be used to promote mixing under the cages and prevent localised hydrogen sulphide production.

Environmental change brought about by farming salmon parr in freshwater lochs is still a preoccupation of Environmental Health Officers rather than the experience of salmon farmers. Somebody should prepare a statement for us to use in support of our applications to local authorities and landowners to demonstrate that little if any harm can come from our activities provided stated guidelines are followed.

In conclusion, I have two further comments. First, John Burn of the Marine Laboratory Library, Aberdeen, is issuing on request a monthly synopsis of the literature on Atlantic salmon farming. He is to be commended for his initiative. Secondly, I congratulate the people who decide the annual Peter Jones award for services to fish farming in the UK. In giving it to Geoff Whitnaill this year they made a choice that would have pleased Peter immensely, thus satisfying the only criteria by which the person should be selected. Good on you, Geoff. FF

85

06/07/2017 13:35:48

World – Vietnam

Farm of the

future

Massive shrimp plant aims to produce 50,000 tonnes under cover

BY ERIK HEMPEL

V

IETNAM is one of the most important aquaculture producers in the world and has experienced impressive growth in recent years. It is, of course, pangasius that has caught most of our attention, but in fact shrimp farming is more important in terms of revenue.

And now, there is an exciting new development under way in Vietnamese shrimp farming.

In Bac Lieu, a few hours’ drive from Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, the ultra-modern operations of Viet-Uc – also known as the Vietnam Australia Seafood Corporation- is located.

Nothing here looks like the traditional backyard aquaculture that you find in so many places around South East Asia. This is modern, science based and industrial.

The Bac Lieu operation consists of a large hatchery and some enormous grow-out ponds, all under cover. The hatchery will be- if it isn’t already- the largest shrimp hatchery in the world.

The area today covers a little over 100 ha, with dozens of smaller houses containing the hatcheries, plus a number of huge ‘green houses’ which contain the grow-out ponds. Each green house holds eight large dams, each covering 500 m2.

Fully developed, this operation will cover 315 ha in total and the Viet-UC company will produce some 50,000 tonnes of shrimp annually, mostly Penaeus vannamei or whiteleg shrimp.

The hatchery today produces about 15 billion PLs (post larvae) a year and supplies not only Viet-Uc’s own grow-out operations, but also many smaller shrimp farming operations in Vietnam.

Viet-Uc has a total of seven hatcheries in Vietnam, from the north to the south, and the total production capacity is 40 billion PLs per year.

All production parameters are fully controlled throughout the production process. This is

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Vietnam.indd 86

Clockwise from above: Founder Van Thanh Luong; overview of the plant; Norwegian visitors in one of the greenhouses; inside the hatchery; whiteleg shrimp; the first harvesting.

the reason why everything is done indoors, protected from the elements. All water that is pumped into the system is cleaned and controlled several times before it reaches the shrimp.

Viet-Uc was established in 2001 by Van Thanh Luong, a Vietnamese who had spent a number of years in Australia. He brought with him a belief in science based aquaculture from Australia, and established the company after a couple of years of preparations.

Van Thanh Luong’s idea was to use the best technology, modern equipment and management principles he had picked up in Australia to build state-of-the-art, modern shrimp production where he had full control throughout the production process, from hatchery to harvesting.

He put special emphasis on health matters to avoid disease (and the economic losses that inevitably are associated with disease).

The water temperature in the hatchery is kept at a steady 31 degrees C. The hatchery tanks are stocked at a density which varies between 400 and 900 PLs per square metre.

Today, Viet-Uc has a market share of about 24 per cent of all PLs that are supplied to the Vietnamese market. In addition, the company is in the process of establishing three main grow-out operations: Bac Lieu (planned production area 315 ha), Bin Dinh (300 ha), and Quang Ninh (300 ha).

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 13:33:38

Farm of the future

Bac Lieu is the first phase of this development and results so far are very promising. The shrimp are harvested at a size of between 40 and 60 pr kg (??) after a grow-out period of 78 – 108 days. Thus, one is able to achieve three harvests per year. Present production varies between 40 and 80 tonnes per ha.

Viet-Uc also has a feed factory and a processing and packaging factory, where most of the production goes for exports.

The operation is fully traceable, and the highest degree of food safety is achieved, while at the same time a stable and predictable production is maintained.

Typhoons are common in South East Asia, and many an operation has gone bust because of bad weather. The huge green houses protect the company from such disasters.

Viet-Uc is always looking for improvements in its operations. That is why the company has established cooperation agreements with a number of research institutions in Australia and elsewhere. Recently, a group of Norwegian aquaculture experts visited the operation at Bac Lieu with a view to establish some form of cooperation.

Vietnamese aquaculture has at times been thought to use methods that are not sustainable, such as heavy use of chemicals and less than environment friendly operations.

However, Viet-Uc’s operation is pointing in a totally different direction. This is industrial, science based, sustainable aquaculture- indeed the aquaculture of

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Vietnam.indd 87

the future. In that sense, Vietnam is now leading the way.

Erik Hempel is the communications director of the Nor-Fishing Foundation. He travelled to Vietnam earlier this year. FF

This is in“dustrial, science based, sustainable aquaculture

”

87

06/07/2017 13:34:09

Research – Amoebic gill disease

Looking for risk factors Effects of salinity and temperature on survival and growth of AGD pathogen

BY CATHERINE COLLINS, MARK FORDYCE, PATRICIA WHITE, MALCOLM HALL

Below: Figure 1. Number of viable amoeba on day 15 following culture at different temperatures and salinities. Actual amoeba counts are indicated by points (), model predicted amoeba numbers are indicated by a continuous line (___) and 95 % confidence Intervals (CI) by dark grey shading. The CI of amoebae numbers present on day 1 post inoculation, at the different conditions, is indicated by light grey shading. Positive growth of the amoebae population, and the conditions permitting this growth is shown where the model for day 15 and its CI, crosses over the CI for amoeba numbers for day 1.

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Research.indd 88

P

aramoeba perurans is an amoeba species causing amoebic gill disease (AGD) in fish. It is a serious parasite of salmon aquaculture, first emerging as a disease agent in Tasmania in the 1980s, but now established in northern Europe with reports of problems in other salmon producing regions.

Little is known about P. perurans outwith the aquaculture environment, but it is considered an ubiquitous organism able to survive free-living as well as having a parasitic mode on fish.

In order to understand disease dynamics, risk of disease outbreaks, and contribute to improving practices for disease control, it is important to know the range of environmental conditions under which P. perurans can survive and grow.

By ‘survive’ we mean avoiding a net decrease in the number of amoebae over time towards population extinction and by ‘grow’ a net increase in the number of amoebae. This can inform on the parasite’s ability to remain in a given environment, and the extent and severity with which it can infect fish and cause disease.

An example of such information being used to interpret disease outbreaks is reported for another Paramoeba species, Paramoeba invadens, which has caused mortalities in green sea urchins in Nova Scotia.

Disease outbreaks were associated with storms at sea, and the general consensus was that non-indigenous amoebae were transported from offshore as a result.

However, scientists began to see disease outbreaks in the absence of such storms. In vitro experiments demonstrated that these amoebae could survive at temperatures above 2-3 deg C and it was subsequently found that disease outbreaks in the absence of storms occurred following winters when sea water temperatures were higher than this threshold for extended periods – not the norm for that region.

It was therefore proposed that the amoebae were able to overwinter and

amoeba “Other species have

been shown to be capable of adapting to their local environment

”

cause outbreaks in the spring, thus highlighting an additional risk factor.

Marine Scotland Science, funded by Scottish government and Marine Harvest, has carried out survival and growth experiments on P. perurans maintained under different salinities and temperatures.

These studies were carried out on amoebae grown in flasks on a malt yeast agar surface with a sea water overlay. Conditions are different to those found on fish gills (and other potential reservoirs), but the results should still give a good indication of the range of salinities and temperatures under which P. perurans can survive and grow.

Temperatures of 2, 4 8, 11, 15 and 18 deg C were tested in combination with salinities of 0, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45 and 50 parts per thousand (ppt). Amoebae growth and survival was monitored over a 15-day period.

Results indicate that: substantial numbers of amoebae survived at 2 deg C for the 15day experimental period though there was a decline in numbers over time.

The results also indicate that population growth commences at a temperature between 4 and 8 deg C. This information highlights occasions when the risk of overwintering may increase, potentially leading to faster development of outbreaks in spring.

Approximately four per cent of amoebae survived for 24 hours at 3 ppt indicating that thresholds for freshwater treatment may need to be less than this for a longer term successful outcome.

A salinity of approximately 20 ppt represented a survival threshold and salinities of no less than this are required for growth.

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 13:31:36

Looking for risk factors

There is an interaction between salinity and temperature with respect to survival and growth, as might be expected given that both parameters have an effect on the amoebae. For example, growth at a salinity of 20 ppt was observed at 15 deg C only but not at the other temperatures (Figure 1) It should also be noted that some amoebae survived at salinities less than the survival threshold of 20 ppt (for example, 15 ppt) over the 15-day experimental period.

Under the optimum laboratory conditions, in the current study, of 15 deg C and 35 ppt salinity, the amoebae population doubled in 21 hours, although this rate of growth was lower for other growth permissive conditions.

As ever there are caveats with applying laboratory science to the field. First, the amoebae were grown in vitro, and fish gills (or other reservoirs) may offer conditions which could modify the environmental temperature and salinity limits within which P. perurans can survive and grow.

Second, the amoebae were maintained for a 15-day period only and longer term culture may have resulted in populations declining over time under certain conditions, or alternatively, adapting to suboptimal conditions.

Third, amoebae were maintained long term at 15 deg C and 35 ppt prior to the study and it is possible that adaptation has occurred explaining the apparent higher growth rates observed under these conditions. Other amoeba species have been shown to be capable of adapting to their local environment.

Nevertheless, these results provide useful information regarding the biophysical salinity and temperature limits of amoeba survival and growth. Together with field experience and data, they will help to interpret spatial and temporal trends in outbreaks of amoebic gill disease. FF This work was funded by Scottish government grant AQ0080, and

by Marine Harvest. The amoebae cultures used in the experimental exposures originated from material provided by Marine Harvest.

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Research.indd 89

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89

06/07/2017 13:32:14

Markets & Retail News

Young chefs scoop seafood award

Sales surge at Easter

Above: Yannick Lequitte of Kendal College, judge Nathan Outlaw, winners William Bolster and Niall Frith, and judges Nikki Hawkins, Franck Pontais, and Serge Solent of Young’s Seafood.

KENDAL College took the winning title at the grand final of the UK Young Seafood Chef Competition 2017.

Nine colleges from across the UK competed to take the title, which is highly regarded across the seafood industry.

The competition provides young chefs with a platform to demonstrate their flair, understanding, skills and abilities

using seafood from sustainable sources.

This year’s final was once again hosted by the Grimsby Institute’s Gallery Restaurant, with trainee chefs from across the country competing in teams of two to become this year’s champions.

Judges included celebrity chef Nathan Outlaw, who has recently finished filming BBC2’s Great

Saucy Fish strikes gold!

THE Saucy Fish Co’s product range has been recognised by the consumer magazine Healthy Food Guide, which has given the company first place in its food and drink awards.

The ready to eat Roast Salmon with Sicilian Lemon & Dill Mayo won best fish product in the Mealtime MustHaves category.

The Healthy Food &

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Retail - Processing News.indd 90

Drink Awards are now in their fourth year, after being established to champion some of the nation’s most nutritional food and drink products.

The Saucy Fish Co’s sales and marketing director, Amanda Webb, said: ‘It’s an honour that the wonderful folks at Healthy Food Guide value the great taste and convenience of our Saucy products!’

Saucy Fish products are now becoming as popular overseas as they are in Britain.

Earlier this year the Grimsby based company launched into new retail outlets in the US and Canada.

‘Amazing’ opportunity

“

Competitions like this will really make a difference to our careers

”

THE Easter retail period this year experienced the highest UK sales of fresh fish in three years, according to new market data from Seafish.

A total of 6,051 tonnes of seafood was sold during the Easter fortnight from April 8-22, up by almost 188 tonnes, or 3.2 per cent over the past two years.

The market was boosted by good value options such as warm water prawns, basa, haddock, cod, crabstick, plaice, trout and whitebait, which have all proved popular over Easter, increasing their volume sales from both the previous fortnight and the Easter period last year, which was earlier, running from March 19 to April 2.

Replicating consumption trends at Christmas, fresh fish topped the segments in terms of increasing volume sales (0.3 per cent) and sales value (7.6 per cent) on Easter 2016 sales, with total sales at more than £85 million.

In comparison to the fortnight before Easter, volume sales increased by 1.4 per cent, while sales value rose by 4.1 per cent.

The frozen sector saw volume sales grow by 0.2 per cent and value rise by 5.8 per cent to £28.5 million, compared to Easter last year.

When compared with the two weeks before Easter, an increase was seen across all measures – sales value increased 4.2 per cent and volume by 0.6 per cent.

British Menu.

The winning duo of William Bolsover and Niall Frith were thrilled to take the title.

Bolsover said: ‘I can’t believe we’ve won, I’m so shocked.

The competition has been amazing, it’s been brilliant to meet Nathan Outlaw and the judges today. Competitions like this will really make a difference to our careers.’

Above: Crabsticks

Grimsby fish processor picks up top prize FISH dishes from a Grimsby company have been crowned Best New Frozen Retail and Foodservice Products of the Year at the big British Frozen Foods Federation annual awards ceremony.

Northcoast Seafoods won the title alongside the Authentic Food Company which mainly produces non fish dishes.

The awards were the highlight of the trade BFFF’s annual gala dinner dance at the London Hilton on Park Lane Hotel.

Northcoast Seafoods won the prize for its Fishmonger’s Favourite Two Salmon and King Prawn Stacks. The Grimsby based company’s product also won the Gold Award for Best New Fish-based Retail Above: John Hyman Product.

Northcoast said afterwards: ‘The awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication put in by all of the team here at Northcoast that make it all happen.’

John Hyman, BFFF chief executive, said: ‘The UK frozen food market continues to evolve and take advantage of the general consumer trends of health, online and minimising waste.’

Above: Northcoast Seafoods

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

06/07/2017 13:27:30

WWW.SOTRA.NET TEL: +47 56 32 68 50 E-mail: sales@sotra.net

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Aqua Source Directory.indd 91

WWW

1

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92

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SALT

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93

07/07/2017 11:36:21

Opinion – Inside track

How much do we really know?

BY NICK JOY

I

USED to have a sign over my desk showing the lifecycle of a sea louse with the tag ‘Public enemy number one’ written over it. I put that sign up there in 1993 and it stayed for nearly 20 years before it was taken down by the new incumbent.

That chart became out of date when, after about 50 years, our industry discovered that two stages of the lifecycle didn’t exist.

Is this a criticism of us, that we don’t understand parasitic lifecycles as well as we need to? Perhaps so but the story of husk (Dictyocaulus viviparus) in cattle is pertinent.

When I was in agricultural college we had just begun to understand it. Sure the first anthelmintics were around but also we began to understand the lifecycle. The larvae needed dew to travel up the grass in the morning. If you avoided putting your cattle out then, you reduced the risk enormously.

Nowadays, the pressure to use these pastures is seeing a rise in the disease but we have vaccines and so on to fight it.

The question about husk is rather like furunculosis; how much of the improvement was down to medicine and how much was down to changes in practice?

There is no doubt that we learnt a huge amount from the reduction in furunculosis in the industry but have we applied that learning?

We should not criticise ourselves too much in such a young industry when such an old one took so long to solve a similar problem.

However, we must accept the need to grow our knowledge. The problem is that we are a farming industry not a scientific one.

Our output is measured in kilos not in growth of knowledge. Research tends to be very near market and thus market driven.

All of this is entirely understandable or even reasonable except that because we are a young industry, knowledge is so much more critical to us.

We are facing many new challenges and some old ones and if there is anything I have learnt from such a long career in aquaculture, it is that there will be new challenges tomorrow.

If we do not start to try and increase our knowledge we will be fighting old battles when the new ones come around. The parallel to husk is so apt as we don’t really understand the parasite and we don’t really understand the host.

Let me ask some questions of you and I will be thrilled if someone writes back with research to answer them.

Why do sea lice larvae rise and fall with light?

It is not enough to suggest that this is purely an artefact of the louse. This is an extremely adapted parasite. If it does this then it does it for a reason. If we can surmise the reason, then we can adapt our practices to minimise its success.

How do sea lice travel distance?

Clearly they move with the tide and current. Maybe also with wind in the top layers of the water but somehow these mechanisms don’t seem to be quite enough to explain some of the instances seen throughout the industry.

Why do some salmon, even in affected pens, get no sea lice?

Some will say it is genetic but if so, what are they producing or

94

Nick Joy.indd 94

The “ problem is

that we are a farming industry not a scientific one

”

what is the louse unable to recognise? There are companies that say they are breeding resistance but how is that affecting the parasite/host relationship.

Why do we see infections that come from nowhere or come in bursts?

Are lice timed to a lunar cycle? Tides are very significant to their ability to disperse and find new hosts, so it would not be illogical. If they are adapted to lunar cycles or maybe barometric pressure then how can we use this?

I could go on a great deal more. This parasite is vulnerable, like all living things, if we can work out exactly how it interacts with its host.

Sometimes I think there is an air of hopelessness about this issue. It has pressured this industry for so long. We grab at the first solution offered and hope desperately that this is the silver bullet. I don’t believe there is one.

I once remember one of our biologists say to me, ‘We will win. We have to! We have to remember that this parasite is adapted whereas we are intelligent!’

In this statement lies a clear truth but only if we use our intelligence and develop our knowledge.

FF

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06/07/2017 12:22:06

Ace Aquatec.indd 95

05/07/2017 16:27:04

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