Jul 2017 - International Aquafeed magazine

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

THE POWER OF C-DOME TECHNOLOGY - Functional feed additives

International Aquafeed - Volume 20 - Issue 7 - July 2017

- A protein for our future - Empyreal 75 - Feeds for easy and efficient production of nutritionally optimised rotifers - RAS: An alternative way forward for Salmon production - Expert topic - lobster Proud supporter of Aquaculture without Frontiers UK CIO

July 2017

www.aquafeed.co.uk

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CONTENTS July 2017 Volume 20 Issue 7

Perendale Publishers Ltd 7 St George’s Terrace St James’ Square, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 3PT, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1242 267700 Publisher Roger Gilbert rogerg@perendale.co.uk Editor Prof Simon Davies simond@aquafeed.co.uk Associate Editor Dr Albert Tacon albertt@perendale.co.uk International Editors Dr Kangsen Mai (Chinese edition) mai@perendale.co.uk Prof Antonio Garza (Spanish edition) antoniog@perendale.co.uk Editorial Advisory Panel • Prof Dr Abdel-Fattah M. El-Sayed • Prof António Gouveia • Prof Charles Bai • Dr Colin Mair • Dr Daniel Merrifield • Dr Dominique Bureau • Dr Elizabeth Sweetman • Dr Kim Jauncey • Dr Eric De Muylder • Dr Pedro Encarnação • Dr Mohammad R Hasan Editorial team Rhiannon White rhiannonw@perendale.co.uk Zasha Whiteway-Wilkinson zashaw@perendale.co.uk Alex Whitebrook alexw@perendale.co.uk International Marketing Team Darren Parris darrenp@perendale.co.uk Tom Blacker tomb@perendale.co.uk Latin America Marketing Team Iván Marquetti Tel: +54 2352 427376 ivanm@perendale.co.uk New Zealand Marketing Team Peter Parker peterp@perendale.co.uk

Expanding aquaculture

Aquaculture is expanding almost everywhere. While high-quality and balanced feed rations are an essential component in the successful growing of fish in captivity, there are other aspects of fish farming that need to be considered if we are to provide consumers with a product they value and wish to buy. Therefore, IAF has, over recent months, expanded its editorial coverage to embrace more activities involved in fish farming. As a result we have updated our cover this month to reflect that development and introduced a ‘reference panel’ on the Editor’s page to identify the four areas our magazine now covers: aquafeeds, feed equipment, fish farming technology and species.

REGULAR ITEMS 3

Nigeria Marketing Team Nathan Nwosu nathann@perendale.co.uk

28

Photoshoot

44 Industry Events

52 The Market Place

14 Functional feed additives

20 A protein for our future - Empyreal 75

24 Feeds for easy and efficient production of nutritionally optimised rotifers 26 The use of taurine in fishfeeds

54 The Aquafeed Interview

Circulation & Events Manager Tuti Tan tutit@perendale.co.uk

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COLUMNS 12

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Industry News

30 Expert Topic - Lobster

Design Manager James Taylor jamest@perendale.co.uk

Development Manager Antoine Tanguy antoinet@perendale.co.uk

FEATURES

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Industry Faces

Ioannis Zabetakis

Antonio Garza de Yta

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY 36 The power of c-dome technology

38 RAS: An alternative way forward for Salmon production 42 The benefits of abrasion and UV resistance nets

Croeso - welcome

I have just returned from Cape Town, South Africa attending the World Aquaculture Society meeting of 2017. Superbly organised by the committee as usual, it was a very well attended forum, so great credit to all those involved in bringing this conference to Africa for International Aquafeed Editor the first time. It also augers Professor Simon Davies well for the future and I hope I will have this excuse again to visit the continent and see the many different forms of aquaculture practiced in the nations.

I was highly appreciative of the wonderful welcome and the chance to meet so many friends and colleagues as well as some of my PhD students and other students from the past who are now well established in good jobs and making progress. Head over to our Group president, Darren Parris’s report on the show in this edition and keep your eyes peeled for I hope to report in more detail on the conference venue in the next issue.

After a very long flight, I had a day’s rest before making my way to a facility to help my student, based at Harper Adams University, to sample some fish as part of his nutrition project. I am pleased to engage in many projects that I will be able to share in the future through articles and features for inclusion in the magazine. On July 1, 2017, I marked 31 years in full time academia and this still allows me much opportunity to travel internationally and develop links and collaborative projects in order to provide a robust environment for my students, bridging their academic attainment with the needs of industry. As the leader of our Aquaculture Masters programmes in Harper Adams University, I would like to say we still have room for keen

students for this academic year’s entry.

Turning to the magazine at hand, in the current issue we continue to make headway in presenting all the contemporary news and reports from the Aquafeed sector with our international outlook. Our articles reflect the latest technological and scientific developments of the industry such as our first feature, which demonstrates how the impact of an Enteromyxum leeei can reduce infection performance and disease severity. On the road again, turn to the ‘Empyreal 75’ article to discover what we learnt about Cargill’s new and revolutionary vegetable protein whilst touring their facility in the USA. Likewise, learn from Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania, Greg Smith, how Spiny lobster aquaculture is a dream soon to become a reality. Or if you have an eye on technology, head over to our three articles on C-Dome technology, RAS Salmon farming and the significance of abrasion and UV resistant nets. Finally, if you’re making your way to AquaNor this August, be sure to read our interview with Liv Holmefjord, Director General of Fisheries, for the Directorate of Fisheries in Norway about what makes Norway’s aquaculture industry unique and what you can expect to see at this year’s show.

We are now in mid-summer, and both Europe and the USA have seen some high temperatures that are not always so good for our temperate fish species. Technological developments in RAS closed systems is making rapid progress and I was privileged to recently visit the London based company Grow-Up Urban Aquaponics growing tilapia and high vale salad plants. Aquaponics is quite specialised and has not been featured much before, so I will discuss this in a future issue.

Please enjoy this summer season issue and keep the articles and reports coming!

IN THIS ISSUE FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

AQUAFEED ADDITIVES: Functional feed additives - page 14

C-DOME: Innovation never sleeps - page 36

PROTEIN: a protein for our future - Empyreal 75 - page 20

RAS: An alternative way forward for Salmon production - page 33

ROTIFERS: Feeds for easy and efficient production of nutritionally optimised rotifers - page 24

NETS: The benefits of abrasion and UV resistance nets - page 42

FEED EQUIPMENT

SPECIES

NEWS: First industrial scale insect processing plant in Europe - page 4

EXPERT TOPIC: Lobster - page 30 The spiny lobster, or alternatively known as the rock lobster or crayfish, are a family of around 60 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia within the class Malacostraca.

www.aquafeed.co.uk

A

“Transforming Aquaculture towards 2020” sian Pacific Aquaculture 2017 (APA17) will hold a Malaysian Farmers Day on July 25, 2017.

The meeting will be held at the THO A meeting room, Putra World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after that APA17 opening ceremony.

Organised by the Department of Fisheries and the Malaysian Fisheries Society in collaboration with the Asian Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society.

The event will be free of charge and the aim is to bring all the farmers forward for sustainable farming practices and to move market driven aquaculture, this is linked to the theme of the day, “Transforming Aquaculture towards 2020”.

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 3

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entair, who specialise in sustainable water solutions, and aquaponics farming innovator Urban Organics, are opening a new, 87,000-square-foot indoor aquaponics farm in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The farm will produce 125 metric tonnes of fish and 200 metric tonnes of organic produce annually, making it one of the largest in the world.

Karl Frykman, President, Pentair Water commented, “The world’s population is growing, and with it, the demand for fish protein is quickly surpassing sustainable natural fish production. Pentair’s aquaculture and aquaponics solutions are expanding farming techniques, including in urban areas, and supporting greater access to protein worldwide.”

He continued, “We joined forces with Urban Organics to help accelerate the development of large-scale modern aquaponics as we believe it can provide a real commercial option to help solve this growing food dilemma.”

With an advanced water filtration technology developed

by Pentair, the system is designed to allow Urban Organics to decouple the fish water from the plant water.

This allows Urban Organics to raise fish species in cold water with low nutrient levels, alongside plant species in warm water with high nutrient levels. Waste nutrients from the fish water is concentrated and delivered to the plant water.

Additionally, the system was designed for cold-water fish to take advantage of the colder climate in Minnesota, and therefore operate more energy efficiently. LED lighting is also being used to further reduce the farm’s energy use.

David Haider, Co-founder of Urban Organics explained, “Our collaboration with Pentair has helped us achieve our vision of creating a new model for urban agriculture that ensures access to healthy foods, while using less than two percent of the water consumed by traditional agriculture.”

He continued, “Our local market will get the benefit of our fish and greens, but there will also be a worldwide benefit as we continue to learn from this model and apply its lessons to other locations in the future.”

Fish and produce production at Urban Organics is underway, and the farm is expected to be at full capacity in early 2018. Fully certified by the USDA as an organic produce farm, Urban Organics is growing a variety of fresh greens, including green and red kale, arugula, bok choy, green and red romaine, Swiss chard, and green and red leaf lettuce, alongside sustainably raised Atlantic salmon and arctic char.

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New 87,000 ft2 aquaponics farm

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European approval of insect protein in fish feed welcomed

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he European Commission is to be congratulated for officially approving insect protein for aquaculture feed, nextProtein says.

The French-Tunisian agritech startup welcomed the recent decision by EU regulators to officially allow insect protein to be fed to farmed fish.

The European Commission officially authorised insectbased processed animal proteins (PAPs) as feed for aquaculture animals on May 24, 2017, through a change to Annex IV of Regulation 999/2001, with the regulation text to come into effect on July 1 this year.

Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Syrine Chaalala commented, “We welcome the European Commission’s official ruling on this important reform for the aquaculture industry. With the vast majority of farmed fish relying on fishmeal and the depletion of our marine ecosystems, insect-based proteins offer the aquaculture industry a more sustainable way to ensure fish for human consumption.”

She continued, “Our insects are fed on organic waste, namely fruit and vegetables from markets, so allowing insect-based protein supplies like ours we can alleviate the pressure on severely depleted wild fish stocks.”

First industrial scale insect processing plant in Europe

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ühler Insect Technology will build its first Industrial plant to process black soldier flies for animal nutrition together with its partner Protix in the Netherlands.

Bühler will deliver the technology, equipment and process know how for the rearing and processing of the insects and the feedstock preparation.

Start of operation is planned for the first half of 2018.

Andreas Aepli, CEO of Bühler Insect Technology commented, “With this first industrial insect protein production plant we will make an important step towards a more sustainable global food and feed value chain.”

Protein is an essential component of nutrition for both humans and animals. About 15 percent of the daily energy intake should be covered by protein, to build and repair the cells that sustain life. Agriculture produces roughly 525 million tonnes of plant protein a year, found in corn, rice, wheat or soybeans. However, today’s protein production is not sustainable: only 25 percent of proteins land as vegetable proteins on our plates, while 15 percent are waster and 60 percent are used to produce animal

protein. Furthermore, with the growing world population, protein production needs to double by 2050. Experts agree this cannot be achieved using traditional farming practices and resources, which is why alternative sources for protein such insects or algae are becoming increasingly important.

Insects offer a sustainable alternative: Grown on organic residues, they can recover up to 70 percent of nutrients, thus recycling these underutilised streams back to the food value chain.

Largest insect-processing plant on an industrial scale in Europe In January 2017, Bühler and Protix founded the joint venture Bühler Insect Technology to serve the insect processing industry. Building the first black soldier fly processing plant in Europe together is the next step in this cooperation and will serve as a modular and scalable blueprint for future projects.

The plant will be situated in the Netherlands and will serve customers 4 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

in the feed industry. With construction starting this year, the plant is expected to be operational in the first half of 2018. It will produce protein meal and lipids that are used in the animal nutrition sector to feed pigs, chicken, fish and domestic animals. The black soldier fly larvae are fed carefully selected organic by-products from local distilleries, food producers and vegetable collectors in the Netherlands, which further underlines the sustainability of the process.

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Maximize capacity, conditioning, and control.

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International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 5

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Ioannis Zabetakis

Food security and climate change

ver the past weeks, there were some rather disappointing developments on climate change and related politics and politicians. The US has now opted out of the Paris Accord Agreement. The UK’s prime minister has failed to react strongly to that decision of the Trump’s administration making a lot of people wondering where UK’s government stands today.

Let’s have a look though why we need to bother about these developments.

One of the most urgent problems that we need to face is the one of food security; i.e. Food Security (FS) stands for the production of nutritious food that is enough to feed all people on Earth.

FS has two dimensions: 1. Nutritional value of the produced food 2. Sustainable production of food Climate Change (CC) is a huge problem that we face as food scientists. CC makes the food production more difficult and more expensive. Therefore, CC is a huge obstacle in our attempts to increase FS. Denial of CC is major political and scientific nonsense!

Denial of CC jeopardises FS, in other words it may put human lives at risk. This risk is related to famine, malnutrition or even death. Therefore, in our opinion, denying CC and Paris agreement is simply wrong and inhuman!

On top of these developments, the recent elections in UK have brought some further developments that are related to CC and FS. At the moment (as these lines are being written), it looks like that UK will have a Tories-DUP government with Michael Gove as Environment Minister. Theresa May’s choice of Mr Gove is rather surprising because she sacked him as Education Secretary last year. Past record of Mr Gove is not promising: his voting record reveals he has generally opted against ecofriendly measures, such as reduction in carbon emissions and financial incentives for low carbon emission electricity generation.

On the other hand, the DUP’s political views on CC are rather alarming. While climate change scepticism is not official party “policy”, the DUP has previously appointed a denier as environment minister in Northern Ireland, and it counts a number of creationists (i.e. deniers of the evolution theory) among its senior members. Friends of the Earth has expressed concern that the Democratic Unionists will exercise major national influence over the government even though some of the party’s MPs are climate change sceptics. The most vociferous doubter of climate change is the DUP’s East Antrim MP, Sammy Wilson. He has described the theory of manmade climate change as a “con”.

James Orr, Friends of the Earth’s Northern Ireland director, said: “Their manifesto had hardly a positive word on the environment and nothing at all on climate change.

Theresa May must not allow the DUP to further weaken her already inadequate manifesto commitments to maintain environmental protections and preserve nature”.

Both the US and the UK have a strong role as leading countries in promoting science that serves the people and respect the environment. Will the current administrations in these countries show such commitment? @yanzabet Ioannis.zabetakis@ul.ie

Currently working on Food Lipids at the University of Limerick, Ireland, focusing on feeds, food and nutraceuticals against inflammation, Ioannis is a co-inventor in two patents, has edited a book on marine oils, and has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 19). He is currently writing a book on "The Impact of Nutrition and Statins on Cardiovascular Diseases" for Elsevier.

6 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

Breakthrough omega-3 investments

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

They plan to invest around US$200 million in the facility over two years. The initial annual production capacity will meet roughly 15 percent of the current total annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry.

Facility expected in 2019 The facility is expected to come on stream in 2019. The establishment of the joint venture, to be named Veramaris and based in The Netherlands, will be finalised subject to regulatory approvals.

Blair, Nebraska was chosen as it uses Evonik’s operational experience for large-scale biotechnology operations.

The company has been operating a facility there for the fermentative production Biolys – the amino acid L-lysine – for almost 20 years.

The new plant will be located adjacent to the 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.

For the first time, the production of the omega-3 for animal nutrition comes without using any fish oil from wild caught fish, a finite resource.

The initial applications will be in salmon aquaculture and pet food.

The highly concentrated algal oil will enable the industry to keep up with the increasing demand for these two essential omega-3 fatty acids without endangering fish stocks. This will help to contribute to healthy animal nutrition as well as the ecological balance and biodiversity of the oceans.

Until the facility in Blair opens, the companies will produce pilotscale quantities of the product at a current facility in Kingstree, South Carolina, US. Customers will be able to receive sizable quantities of the product for market development while construction gets underway.

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Live remote viewing for underwater vehicles

U

UV Aquabotix Ltd today introduced Live Remote Viewing, a new product feature that enables real-time underwater viewing and connectivity between Aquabotix’s products and remote customers via the cloud.

Live Remote Viewing, designed specifically for Aquabotix’s Endura ROV (remotely operated vehicle) and AquaLens Connect (networked underwater camera system), utilises remote diagnostics to allow off-site customers to monitor multiple inspections, operations and explorations from a single platform in real time.

Durval Tavares, Aquabotix’s CEO explains, “The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way our world communicates and interacts, and we believe that same concept should apply under the water. We’re helping to address our customers’ pain points by transforming a previously singular, disconnected entity into one where multiple underwater technologies can work together on the one platform. Utilising the IoT to produce the world’s only digital inspection-class ROV platform, we are confident Live Remote Viewing will be a game

Insects authorised for inclusion in fish feeds

O

n July 1, 2017, processed proteins derived from insects were authorised for use in feed for farmed fish within the EU. Commenting on the development, the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation FEFAC welcomed the authorisation of what it calls a “promising alternative source of proteins for animal feeding, in particular for fish farming, which requires diet compositions with highly

changer in the world of underwater robotics and the start of many future cloud-driven innovations for Aquabotix.”

The product feature is designed for use across a wide range of industries, including aquaculture and infrastructure.

For the aquaculture industry in particular, which continues to grow exponentially, the feature will enable higher quality, more cost-effective inspections of fish farms. Customers will now have access to continuous live feeds from the Endura ROV that can monitor the condition of the fish and nets, inspect moorings and assess feeding habits to prevent overfeeding.

Live Remote Viewing is now available to all Aquabotix customers. Current customers will not receive an upcharge to utilise, but are required to register an account with Aquabotix to access live, secure feeds through the feature.

Key factors • Product innovation enables live viewing and greater connectivity during underwater exploration and inspections.

• Aquabotix is the only digital inspection-class ROV platform to offer live remote viewing capabilities.

digestible proteins.”

They added, “In the long term, the inclusion of insect meal could further contribute to the sustainable development of EU aquaculture.”

Within the current legal framework, the feeding of insects destined to be used as fish feed needs to comply with the same requirements as any conventionally farmed animal, meaning in particular that they may not be fed with, for example, catering waste or livestock manure.

FEFAC believes that this measure is in line with the present state of scientific knowledge and should facilitate the public and market 8 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

acceptance of insect proteins used as feed.

FEFAC would welcome further research into the safety of potential alternative substrates for insect farming, that is, materials that are currently not directly usable for feeding fish, poultry or pigs, as also recommended by EFSA in its opinion on the risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed in October 2015.

The Federation summarised, “This may create further added value to proteins derived from farmed insects in the context of boosting circular economies.”

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Professor Philip Leigh CREATE, NURTURE AND GROW AQUACULTURE International Aquafeed’s ‘Aquaculture photography competition Photographers everywhere are invited to submit digital photographic work on the theme of ‘Create, Nurture and Grow Aquaculture’.

Submissions are being accepted from April 1, 2017 – August 1, 2017.

International Aquafeed is holding it’s second ‘Aquaculture digital photography competition’ to promote and support the charity Aquaculture without Frontiers CIO UK. Aquaculture is becoming an increasingly important food source for our rapidly growing world population.

International Aquafeed magazine aims to reflect the best image of our industry and what better way to do that than through photography. Funds raised through the 2017 competition will go to the charity we support, Aquaculture without Frontiers CIO UK, to support small-scale aquaculture production in communities in developing countries.”

Works will be enlarged and reproduced to the scale of approximately 20” x 30”. Therefore, the submitted work must be of sufficiently high quality (eg. sharp, clear, good contrast, well-exposed) for reproduction and printing process.

An industry panel will carry out an initial judging.

The final 20 works will be viewed by a ‘Judges Panel’ comprised of three judges who will be looking for images that illustrate the aquaculture theme in interesting ways that engage the viewer; originality and creativity, image quality and overall artistic merit.

If your entry is judged in the top three by the Selection and Judges Panel you will be awarded one of three prizes.

PRIZES 1ST PRIZE – IPAD PRO 12.9-INCH (128GB) 2ND PRIZE – US$500 3RD PRIZE – US$300 Winning photographs will be printed as posters and showcased at the European Aquaculture Society’s Dubrovnik 2017 Conference to be held in Croatia on October 17-19, 2017.

Terms and Conditions Entry: Free of charge Eligibility: Open to all photographers, amateur to professionals worldwide Submissions: Your entries must be sent by email to: photocomp@aquafeed.co.uk For more information and full terms and conduitions visit www.aquafeed.co.uk/photocomp17

In my role as Director of Business Engagement and Enterprise for the Faulty of Science and Engineering at the University of Hull, I headed to the World Aquaculture Society’s Conference 2017 in South Africa in late June.

This would be the first time the event was being held on the African Continent, it was a significant move but the organisers were quietly confident it would get the support needed to make it a success. They were not disappointed, with almost 2000 delegates registering by the end of the first day, of these 1300 (67 percent) were from 33 African Nations (from a total of 55 that make up the African Continent). The other 650 were from across the world, showing the global reach the event has and the importance aquaculture holds in feeding the 9.5 billion people projected by 2050.

Fish being a high protein food is very important in the quest to feed the growing population of Africa (and other world regions).

There were over 90 exhibitors in the main exhibition space at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town. There were many cutting-edge and innovative aquaculture and fisheries technologies present.

Included in the stands was Aquaculture without Frontiers (UK). AwF works with established academics and professionals across associated sectors. As a representative of the University of Hull, I felt privileged to attend this important conference and support AwF as its academic partner.

There were 70 conference sessions held over four days across a diverse array of aquaculture-related topics. An extensive poster session and several fish farm visits only added to the quality of the event.

There was a lot of interest in AwF during the week and the opportunities for the charity and the University of Hull programme of short courses, undergraduate degrees, masters and research programmes were popular. Other visitors and discussions to the AwF stand included financiers, academics, the World Bank, investors, agencies, universities, country representatives, technologies, speakers and the event organisation.

The conference theme was ‘Sustainable Aquaculture’ this was relevant on many levels! I was fortunate to have a meeting with the CEO of NEPAD, the Development Agency for the African Continent, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki and senior colleague’s Dr Hamady Diop and Dr Bernice McLean. Accompanied by the irrepressible Clifford Spencerchairman of AwF Cio in the UK and a Goodwill Ambassador to the African Union New Partnership for Africa’s Development we had an informative meeting. Dr Mayaki stated, “NEPAD is looking to build, the Africa we want through industrialization.”

In addition to AwF, the conference was an opportunity to showcase plans for a National Aquaculture Centre (NAC) for the UK to be centred near Hull. The vision here is to create the ‘keystone’ to all aquaculture activities in the UK and enable organisations to engage through sharing knowledge, information, technology and operational know-how through demonstration.

The NAC is being developed by AwF CIO (which is a co-owner) and the academic partner will be the University of Hull.

At Hull, we have considerable experience in aquaculture through our comprehensive and flexible degree programme, globally recognised academics, cited research papers and through extensive applied research and innovative projects.

The University of Hull has two key institutes with a focus on aquaculture and fisheries, namely: Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (IECS) and the Hull International Fisheries Institute (HIFI). Both these institutes date back to the late 1980s demonstrating almost 30 years of experience in the sector at Hull.

The opportunities for the University of Hull in collaboration with AwF to develop the NAC are immense. This vision will facilitate engagement across Africa through NEPAD and other organisations and agencies such as WorldFish to develop food security and improved nutrition to developing and transition nations.

Historically, for many African countries aquaculture has not been a major driver or contributor of food security or economic growth. However, aquaculture growth in Africa (13 percent) over the last decade has been double that of the global average.

Aquaculture, aquaponics, the bio-economy and circular economy are fundamental drivers that can underpin the vision of Dr Mayaki to let industrialisation drive the economic transformation of the African Continent.

Professor Philip Leigh is Director of Business Engagement and Enterprise at the University of Hull, UK

10 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

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International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 11

28-03-17 08:55

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Call for Abstracts

Antonio Garza de Yta

I

Here comes Costa Rica n recent days I had the great honour of giving the inaugural class for the first generation of the Baccalaureate in Aquaculture of the National Technical University (UTN) in Costa Rica.

The intention was that from my perspective could motivate the new students to continue for this beautiful world of aquaculture. Actually, I think the experience was more inspiration for me, the server.

My visit to Puntarenas filled my soul, since I can see young people wanting to succeed in life, with that passion in their eyes, with that easy smile, with that security when walking that only belongs to the youth, but recharges the batteries of anybody.

During this visit, I was able to get to know the new and impeccable facilities that UTN has and spend time with my good friend Don Guillermo Hurtado, who, along with Nelson Acosta, Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of the World Society of Acuaculture (LACCWAS) got to work and after many years of vision and effort they managed to consolidate this new educational offer that is now a reality.

I am sure that with the professionalism and dedication of all the team in charge and with the human material stadium that is now established, Costa Rican aquaculture can feel safer than ever to advance to the ambitious pace that has been raised recently.

More great news in Costa Rica is a part of the LACC-WAS, the largest conglomerate in LACQUA, organised by San Miguel de San José in 2019.

It is an example of a link, which is in fact LACQUA and its centrally located seats. I thank the Rector, Marcelo Prieto and the.

Francisco Romero, Vice-Rector of Research not only the great host, but the vision that both have had to support this event, which will surely be a watershed for Costa Rican

aquaculture; Besides an unforgettable experience for all its students.

Changing the topic a little, you know that in this column I always try to have an objective view and get away from political issues. Recent events in our most northern country cannot be overlooked and we need to at least give our attention to them.

The departure of the United States from the Treaty of Paris is not only a sign that the world is becoming more dumb rather than more intelligent, it shows that economic interest can outweigh common sense and the love for our children.

If you want to find out that you have lost your escort, then you will have to make sure that the global regression menu is unlimited, so it is important that you have no temperature with the temperature below the incremental state. There will be no going back, and not for our planet, because this will continue in spite of us, but for the moisture that could come to an end.

No, we should not keep quiet, because we would be complicit in it, and I do not think he wants to be the end of the world.

This is a time when the people of reason must act together; defend the science and ideals of it.

The future of humanity depends on what we do today.

If we don’t react, a future not only there will be no aquaculture, there will be no life and there will be no humanity to defend them.

I know that the most important thing in life is tolerance, but intolerance and stupidity have to be exhibited. We must not tolerate intolerance in the guise of tolerating difference. Let us not tolerate stupidity, let us support science, and let us leave a world with hope to our children.

As the recently inaugurated French president said: “Let’s make our planet great again".

Antonio Garza de Yta, Ph.D in Aquaculture from Auburn University, President of Aquaculture Global Consulting, Director World Aquaculture Society and creator of the Certification for Aquaculture Professional (CAP) Program.

12 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

T

he Scientific Committee of AlgaEurope 2017 invites you to submit your contribution for the Call for Abstracts, corresponding with the themes.

Deadline to submit is September 15, 2017. All abstracts will be submitted to peer-review, coordinated by the Scientific Committee.

Notification of acceptance will be emailed to the corresponding author together with detailed information and guidelines. Registration for the Conference is mandatory for those wishing to submit scientific contributions.

When sending in an abstract you agree with publication in the book of Abstracts of AlgaEurope 2017.

Next to that you agree with publication of your presentation through the AlgaEurope 2017 website.

Within the main theme of AlgaEurope Conference 2017, the Scientific Committee has derived 10 thematic tracks: • Research and industrial applications worldwide: the global experience • Science innovation potential in Europe • Genetically improved and GMO algae for high value products and commodities • Innovative processes for high value products Breakout to commercialisation: • ‘Algae Cluster’ and other ‘Lighthouse’ projects • Value chains in commercialisation: EU biorefinery and addedvalue products • Macro-algae • Novel foods and animal feed • Algae cultivation: from laboratory to commercial plants and marketing in Europe • Wastewater treatment and use, and water recycling.

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he interest in animations and illustrations has really been boosted within the aquaculture sector.

One of the reasons is the tough competition for development licenses, there is a definite need to visualise ideas and visionary projects in order to be able to describe the different technologies and concepts.

In addition to this the CEO of Salt Pixel describes increased competition, professionalism in the marketing efforts and an increased need to communicate throughout the industry. As a lot of the technology is located below the surface of the oceans, visualisation and animation is a very effective way of communicating complex systems and solutions.

Remi Johnsen, Co- Founder and CEO of Salt Pixel commented, “It has taken a while but in the little over two years we have been working towards the Aquaculture industry a lot has happened.”

He continued, “One of our first clients in this sector was AKVA group where we developed an interactive solution for showcasing their products. The solution was part of their stand at Aqua Nor 2015. We have also supplied various animations and illustrations to other aquaculture companies like BMK Genetics, Eide Fjordbruk, Storvik, Aqua Pharma, Europharma, Norsk Oppdrettsservice, Fjordservice, Aqua Circle, Aquatic, Liftup, Ace Aquatec and several others, earning quite a track record within this industry. Our approach has been to compete on price but never to compromise on quality in our deliveries.

Something that has given us an advantage in an industry

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Communicating through animations and illustrations

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with no history of huge investments in this kind of projects”.

At the moment the company is booked with work to be done prior to Aqua Nor. Remi explains, “We are to the limit of our capacity and is in a situation where we have had to turn potential customers down if they have deadlines prior to Aqua Nor in August.”

Renate Hjørnevik, Director of Marketing & Communication in AKVA group summarises, “We have

worked with Salt Pixel for little over two years now and we are impressed with the quality of their deliveries.

The quality of the visualisations and animations are simply amazing. We are really looking forward to see our showreel complete and to launch it during Aqua Nor. No doubt we have high expectations, but knowing Salt Pixel and their team I am sure they will deliver!”

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 13

FEATURE

FUNCTIONAL FEED ADDITIVES

Functional feed additives can reduce the impact of an Enteromyxum leei infection on performance and disease severity: evidence from an experimental challenge with gilthead sea bream

C

by Palenzuela O1, Del Pozo R.1, Piazzon M.C1, Isern-Subich M.M2, Ceulemans S2, Coutteau P2, SitjàBobadilla A.1 1 Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS-CSIC). Castellón, Spain (oswaldo.palenzuela@csic.es) 2 Nutriad International, Dendermonde, Belgium (mm.isern@nutriad.com)

oncern on the impact of parasite infections in aquaculture has increased in recent years. In addition to visible mortality episodes and increased running costs, some estimates of the world annual grow-out loss in finfish farming due to parasites ranges from one to 10 percent of harvest size, with an annual cost that can reach up to US$9.58 billion (Shinn et al., 2015).

In Mediterranean fish farming, one of the major parasitic diseases is enteromyxosis, caused by Enteromyxum leei (Figure 1). This microscopic parasite infects the intestinal tract of fish and sometimes-associated organs like gall bladder and liver. Enteromyxum species belong to the Myxozoa, a group of parasites related to Cnidarians that produce economically important fish diseases like whirling disease, proliferative kidney disease (PKD), milky fish liquefaction, proliferative gill disease (PGD), gill sphaerosporosis, swim bladder inflammation (SBI) or ceratomyxosis.

In contrast to the complex, two host life cycle described for about 50 myxozoan species, spontaneous direct fish-to-fish transmission has been demonstrated for the genus Enteromyxum.

This unique mode of horizontal transmission favours the spread of enteromyxoses in cultured fish stocks.

E. leei has a wide host and geographical range, including economically important aquacultured species in the Mediterranean and worldwide, like tiger puffer, Japanese flounder, parrot fish, malabar grouper, various sea breams, or Peruvian fine flounder. The virulence and mortality caused on each host is quite variable, and largely affected by the species susceptibility and the rearing system and environmental conditions.

In gilthead sea bream (GSB) (Sparus aurata), enteromyxosis has a chronic course leading to a cachectic syndrome with anorexia, anaemia, weight loss, severe epaxial muscle atrophy and, eventually, death (Sitjà-Bobadilla and Palenzuela, 2012) (Figure 1). Direct mortality due to enteromyxosis in GSB raised in sea cages is most often moderate, whereas the serious economic impact of enteromyxosis in these facilities is largely due to arrested growth and inability to reach commercial size.

This effect is most patent in advanced stages of the grow-out period.

There are neither vaccines nor effective prescription medicines for enteromyxosis and its control measures are limited to avoidance of risk factors, early diagnosis, and good farm management practices. Therefore, the farming industry needs other solutions to minimise the impact of the infection. Healthpromoting feed additives are a crucial component of effective disease prevention strategies. A wide range of additives with

different modes of action is currently offered including yeast extracts, phytobiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids and their derivatives.

Functional feeds containing gut health promoters deliver with every meal an adequate concentration of natural compounds, which can work through multiple mechanisms to reduce the success of parasitic infestations. Natural compounds with antiparasitic activity can work directly on gut parasites and/or reach the blood and/or mucus to affect ectoparasites, whereas immune modulators can change the composition and thickness of the mucus (Coutteau et al., 2011, 2014, 2016).

Many of these strategies target the gut as a primary focus for health and offer maximum benefits in chronic or subchronic infection processes, and thus GSB enteromyxosis constitutes an excellent model to study and to evaluate their potential. The present study evaluated the capacity of a functional feed additive to prevent or mitigate the effect of enteromyxosis in gilthead sea bream experimentally infected with E. leei. All the experiments were run at the indoor experimental facilities of the Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS) using fibreglass tanks in an open flow-through seawater system.

Feeds and feeding protocol

Naïve GSB fingerlings, free of intestinal parasites were obtained from a local hatchery at four grammes and grown up to 12.9g before starting the feeding trial. They were allocated into 90-L tanks (25 fish/tank) and acclimated to the basal diet for 11 days until the experimental feeding started. Three diets were tested in two replicate tanks/treatment: a basal control feed (Diet A) and the same diet with two different inclusion levels of SANACORE® GM, a natural health promoting feed additive (Nutriad International, Belgium); Diet B “low dosage” and diet C “high dosage” of SANACORE® GM. The basal diet was representative of a commercial feed formulation (45/20% crude protein/fat; 15% LT fishmeal, 12% poultry by-product meal, soybean meal 25%, soybean protein concentrate 10%, corn gluten 8%, wheat gluten 3.4%, wheat flour 10.5%, soybean oil 9.7%, fish oil 6%, amino acids, vitamin and minerals premix).

Fish were fed manually ad libitum twice a day for weekdays and with automatic feeders on weekends, during the whole experiment. Daily food intake was recorded and SGR (specific growth rate) and FCR (feed conversion ratio) calculated. Water temperature ranged from 18 to 26.5 °C over the feeding trial (post-challenge period between 22°C and 26.5°C; see Figure 2A).

The salinity of the seawater was 37.5 g/l.

Experimental infection and samplings

After five weeks on the experimental diets, fish from groups A, B & C were inoculated with 0.2ml of a homogenate from

14 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Figure 1: Enteromyxum leei and enteromyxosis.

From top to bottom: Fresh smear of intestine displaying parasite stages and the characteristic spores.

Histological section from infected intestine, showing parasite development stages with the typical cell-withincell pattern. Clinically infected gilthead sea bream showing extreme emaciation.

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Leiber® Beta-S – β-glucans for: intestinal scrapings of infected donor fish via the anal route, as previously described (Estensoro et al., 2010).

An additional group of fish fed basal diet A received the same volume of PBS without parasites (non-challenged control fish, CTRL). A non-lethal PCR test of challenged A fish was carried out at five weeks post-inoculation (p.i.), to check the progress of the infection after the challenge. The final sampling of all groups was performed 10 weeks p.i, when all fish were sacrificed and intestine samples were taken for E. leei diagnosis by histology (n = 16-20/group) and qPRC (n = 29-30/group). Since the parasitological study by either method consumed the entire sample, fish analysed by histology were different from those used for molecular diagnosis.

Improvement of the cellular & humoral defence mechanisms Support of immunological competence in larval & juvenile stages Improvement of feed conversion

Diagnosis of the infection

Histology: Portions of anterior (AI), middle (MI), and posterior (PI) intestine samples were fixed in 10 percent buffered formalin and embedded in plastic resin, following routine procedures. Sectioned slides were stained with Giemsa and E. leei infection intensity was semi quantitatively evaluated following a conventional scale from 1+ to 6+. A fish was considered positive for infection when the parasite was found at least in one intestinal segment.

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FEATURE

Parasite quantification by qPCR: After necropsy, entire intestines of 30 fish per group (15 per tank) were removed and weighed individually. They were homogenised in a blender with steel beads and DNA was extracted from a 200Îźl aliquot of the homogenate from each fish. Enteromyxum leei rDNA gene copies were estimated by qPCR. Numbers were interpolated from the cycle thresholds (Cts) of the samples using standard curves with known numbers of a plasmid containing the target gene (covering 6-7 orders of magnitude), run in the same plates on each assay. Usually two dilutions of each DNA sample were run. Samples with Ct < 38 were considered positive. The total number of parasite rDNA genes present in each fish was estimated from these values and the amount of tissue in the entire homogenate sample.

Quantitative parasitological data analysed included: prevalence (percentage of infected fish in a sampled group); mean intensity of infection (mean number of parasites per infected fish); and mean parasite abundance (mean number of parasites per fish in a sampled group, i.e., involving the zero values of uninfected animals and thus combining variations in prevalence and intensity data).

infected fish results from a combined effect of direct structural damage to the intestine resulting in poor nutrient absorption and dehydration, to the diversion of energy invested on mounting an immune response and also to the anorexia triggered by the infectious process (SitjĂ -Bobadilla & Palenzuela, 2012).

As deduced from the results of this trial, supplemented diets could partially revert these effects and reach similar performance levels to CTRL in the high dose group.

Survival:

Dropping mortality was detected in challenged groups starting at 16 days p.i. A total of 14 fish died. No significant differences among diets were found in the survival curves, but the maximum cumulative mortality was recorded in A group (20%). Both supplemented groups B & C reached the same cumulative mortality value (13.3%).

Statistics

Biometrical and quantitative parasitological data were studied for differences between test groups and controls using appropriate tests for each type of variable, using software packages SigmaPlot and Prism. Since the data is overdispersed and aggregated, quantitative parasite load estimated by qPCR was normalized by logarithmical transformation (y = Ln (y) for intensity data, and y = Ln (1 + y) for abundance data). Unless specifically stated, statistical significance was considered when P < 0.05.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION Food intake and growth performance:

Fish challenged with the parasite suffered a decrease in feed intake, which was noticeable as soon as one-week p.i. in Group A, and kept on decreasing along the whole period compared to the non-challenged control (Figure 2A). In contrast, anorexia started later (3 wks p.i.) in fish fed diet B and it was not noticed in fish receiving diet C with the highest additive dose, which kept a similar feed intake to that of the control fish. Thus, the typical anorexia induced by the parasite (Estensoro et al., 2011) appeared to be mostly overcome with the highest dose of the additive.

The effect of the parasite challenge on biometrical values was quite patent, particularly by the last sampling at 10 weeks p.i. (Figure 2B, 2D). Weight, length and condition factor (CF) were significantly reduced in challenged fish fed the basal diet (A) compared to the non-challenged control group on the same diet (CTRL). Interestingly, in fish receiving the supplemented diets the length and weight loss associated to the infection were reduced, and the differences only reached statistical significance in the lowest dose group (B).

Group C was not significantly different to CTRL in biometrical parameters, and the CF was not significantly reduced in both treated groups (Figure 2B and data not shown). As expected, the SGR along the whole trial decreased in all challenged groups, but the decrease vs. CTRL fish was mitigated in diet C (10.2%), while it reached 21.1% and 25.9% in diets B and A, respectively (Figure 2D). Overall, the evolution of biometrical data clearly evidenced the clinical effect of the infection in challenged groups, in consonance with the field studies on E. leei-infected stocks and with the results of previous laboratory challenge studies with this parasite.

It is believed that the decreased performance of E. leei-

Figure 2: Biometrical and growth performance data of the experimental groups. A: Cumulative feed delivered to each group throughout the experiment; B: Mean weight per group at the intermediate biometries (different letters indicate statistically significant differences); C: Specific Growth Rate (SGR) (mean of two tanks per group); D: Percentage of decrease of performance indicators VS non-challenged controls at the end of the experiment. Error bars: SEM.

Figure 3: Quantitative parasitological data of the experimental groups. A: Prevalence of infection in challenged groups; B: Mean Intensity of Infection. Every dot represents the value of an infected individual; C: Mean parasite abundance. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences between groups. Error bars: SD (A and B) or 95 percent confidence intervals (C).

Figure 4: Parasitological data from histopathological examination of challenged groups. A: Percentage of fish with parasites in more than one infected intestine segment. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences between groups; B: Mean intensity of infection at the different intestine portions.

16 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

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FEATURE

Parasitological data:

No fish were found infected in the CTRL group, and no significant differences in the variables measured were present among replicates within each group. 50% of challenged group A fish (fed the basal diet) were found positive for E. leei at the non-lethal sampling carried out at five weeks p.i., indicating the success and adequate progression of the challenge.

According to the molecular diagnosis by qPCR, the prevalence of infection at the end of the experiment was clearly higher ingroup A (72.4%) than in the additive-supplemented groups (B = 44.8%, C = 46.6%).

Due to the limited number of replicate tanks, these differences did not reach statistical significance (Figure 3A). However, the reduction in the prevalence of infection in treated vs untreated groups was significant (t-test, P = 0.0236), when grouping the data from all the treated B & C tanks (n = 4) compared to those of A group (n = 2) (data not shown).

In the current trial, infection intensity data was clearly lower in both B (x̅ = 12.72; Md = 11.32) and C (x̅ = ¬13.33; Md = 12.65) groups than in A group (x̅ = 14.33; Md = 14.67), although differences were not statistically significant (Figure 3B).

The mean intensity of infection only considers the parasite load in infected animals, and as such it can evidence variable degrees of “resistance” to the multiplication of the parasite once it has breached the host barriers. Lowered infection levels can also result from a delayed invasion by the parasite and a more incipient multiplication in the host. Since all challenged fish in this experiment were inoculated experimentally with a single dose, the differences detected could indicate slightly improved ability to constrain parasite development or to clear off parasite numbers more efficiently. However, the over dispersion of intensity data due to individual variability and aggregate parasite distribution masks significant differences at this level, even with normalised data.

Mean parasite abundance data takes into consideration the mean parasite quantities in all the fish from the group, thus merging prevalence and intensity data in a single variable. This parameter clearly showed the differences in quantitative parasitological data between treated and non-treated groups. Both supplemented diets resulted in significantly lower mean abundance values (x̅ (B) = 5.70; x̅ (C) = 6.22) compared to group A (x̅ (A) =10.38) (ANOVA P = 0.029).

The mean parasite abundance data from both treated groups was also significantly different from that of group A (x̅ (B+C) = 5.97) in a t-test (P = 0.005). Median abundance values for both B & C was 0, resulting significantly lower than the value of the untreated group (Md(A) = 13.85) (Kruskal-Wallis test P = 0.017) (Figure 3C).

Since the molecular quantitative tests were carried out on homogenates of the whole intestine, a histopathological analysis of a subsample of fish from the experimental groups was also carried out. By looking separately at the three intestine segments, the differences on the extension of the infections along the intestinal tract were investigated (Figure 4).

The overall prevalences obtained by histology are not the same than those by qPCR not only because the fish examined by both techniques are different individuals, but also because of the different methodological sensitivities. Significant differences in the prevalence of infection were found between C (31.3%) and A (64.7%) groups (chi-square test, P = 0.05), whereas no differences were found for group B (68.8 %) (Not shown).

Analysing the spatial distribution and extension of parasites, the prevalence at the posterior intestine had the highest values in all

Figure 5: IATS Fish Pathology Research Group.

challenged groups, which corresponds to the known usual patterns of E. leei distribution along the intestinal tract of GSB. Only group C showed lower prevalence values in the three intestinal segments, and the proportion of fish with more than one infected portion was significantly lower in group C vs A (chi-square test, P < 0.05), but not in group B (Figure 4A). As for the mean intensity of infection by intestinal segment, again diet C showed the lowest values, especially at the anterior intestine, though these differences were not statistically significant (Figure 4B).

Conclusions

The experimental challenge with E. leei effectively infected fish and induced the clinical signs of enteromyxosis in fish fed the basal diet A with a dramatic decrease of feed intake (32.7 %), weight (36.2 %) and SGR (25.9 %) after 10 wks of infection.

50% of this group tested positive for the parasite in a non-lethal PCR at the intermediate check sampling on week five post infection, and 72.4% were infected at the final sampling on week 10. These are indicators of exposure to a high infection pressure, even further magnified by the high water temperatures during the trial.

The supplementation of a functional feed additive to the feed refrained most of the disease signs when used at the highest dose tested (diet C), i.e. the experimental infection did not impact significantly on feed intake, weight nor growth (SGR). A dose effect was patent and the feed additive mitigated the SGR reduction vs. non-challenged fish, from 25.9% with the basal diet to 10.2% with the high-dose supplemented feed.

Quantitative parasitological data on prevalence, intensity, and abundance, as well as histopathological studies on infection extension confirmed the effect of supplemented diets on reducing the infection rate and its severity. According to the molecular quantitative data, both groups receiving the functional feed additive showed lower prevalence and intensity of the infection compared to the challenged group not receiving the feed additive.

Although no dose effect of the supplement on the reduction of prevalence and parasite load was observed using the qPCR method, these differences were noticed in the histopathological study, with group C showing the lowest infection levels.

The inclusion of a functional feed additive into the diet prior to an experimental infection with E. leei, reduced the impact of the infection on performance as well as the success and severity of the infection.

Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by EU H2020 programme and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through ParaFishControl (634429) and AGL-2013-48560-R research projects, respectively.

References available on request

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 19

FEATURE

A PROTEIN FOR OUR FUTURE

Empyreal 75 Made of fire and a world apart’

by Roger Gilbert, Publisher, International Aquafeed

International Aquafeed magazine was invited to tour the production facility for a unique aquaculture protein product, at the remarkable Cargill production plant in Blair, Nebraska, USA.

W

hat is in a name? - Take Empyreal® for example.

Was it introduced into our consciousness simply to brand a new product coming onto the market and required a catchy new name? No, there appears to be more to it than that, a lot more to it.

‘Empyreal’ carries the meaning, in both Greek and Latin, ‘of the highest heaven’ or ‘the celestial, sublime or exalted.’ It is ‘of the sky’ or ‘of the heaven’ and is ‘made of pure fire’!

An impressive meaning to be given to a product in our industry!

But can any product live up to such formidable claims or association, you may ask? Surprisingly, we at International Aquafeed and our sister publication Milling and Grain, think it can and will.

The product is a revolutionary vegetable protein.

Protein is the building block of human civilization itself.

Without protein and the right kind of proteins in their amino acid profiles, we would not have achieved our current intelligence nor status within our small galaxy, nor can we expect to maintain that position over time without increasing the supply of the highest-quality proteins for our domesticated livestock and fish production and in turn ourselves.

Empyreal® 75 carries the meaning behind the word, and is the brand name for this ‘new’ protein product that is at last being produced in volume, efficiently and economically and is finding growing demand within the global aquafeed processing industry and is creating demand and application in intensive livestock production systems.

As it says on the label, this product has a 75 percent, highly digestive protein content with an attractive amino acid profile that is made from that humble maize or corn kernel that in its natural stage contains just eight percent protein. Producing a concentrated protein from maize or a corn-gluten meal is not new, but never at the concentration above 75 percent that is being achieved today.

The technology behind the processing - “Is staggering”

Milling and Grain and International Aquafeed magazines were given a unique opportunity to tour the production facility

manufacturing this unique product at the massive Cargill production plant in Blair, Nebraska, USA; which is located right at the western edge of the corn belt and is adjacent to the UnionPacific Railroad, the Missouri River and US Highway 30.

From across the valley the plant could be mistaken for a traditional chemical plant and consisting of silver silos, glinting pipework and masses of stainless-steel buildings. There is a regular convoy of trucks entering and leaving the site. Cargill’s Blair plant is sited on 250ha in an attractive, farming environment with hardly another building in sight.

We were hosted around the plant, referred to as a ‘campus’, by the company’s Product Line team headed by Jered Anderson, who has overall responsibility for the production of ‘Empyreal 75’.

Included in our group were Claudio Paredes, global aquaculture sales director, Michael Klapperich, director of sales in North America and responsible for Empyreal product distribution and Eric Bell, AVP product line manager from Cargill Starches and Sweeteners North America.

‘Empyreal 75’ is one of many products from this plant, with additional products produced by a number of independent and joint-venture companies operating from the ‘campus’ site, and utilising the infrastructure and the various products of the corn milling process.

Plant construction started in 1992 and started grinding corn in 1995. With over a billion dollars invested in this site so far, it is one of Cargill’s largest investments, which has had various expansions over the past 20 years.

Each day the plant consumes thousands of tonnes of corn to manufacture various products. It operates 24-hours per day for 365 days a year. It employs 550 permanent staff and almost 400 on-site contractors. It has a dedicated team of pipe fitters, electricians and mechanics and other services contracted to maintain production and resolve issues should they arise.

The operation

Cargill has hundreds of trucks coming into the facility each day unloading locally sourced corn from the farmer, which is crucial to keep the non-stop facility running at full capacity.

There are five main elements that are used in the refining process of corn, four of these are within the kernel itself: starch (63%), protein (8%), fibre (10%), and germ (4%). Moisture (15%) is needed to soften and separate the kernel into these four

20 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE Trucks transport huge quantities of corn from the local area to supply Cargill’s Blair production plant to produce a revolutionary highprotein Empyreal protein.

Empyreal 75 in its raw state on the production line. Jered Anderson, the project and optimisation manager at the plant shows the production process.

parts. In its simplistic format, corn is steeped, ground, separated and washed. It takes 25 incoming trucks to fill one of the ‘tanks’ used in production and to which water and SO2 are added to break down the corn kernels in the initial step.

Mr Anderson explained, “Historically, this type of corn wet milling process would extract and separate the corn starch and merchandise the rest.”

However, the core business for the value added feed ingredients is within the valuable protein and fibre fractions of corn and these are primarily used for the Empyreal® and Sweet Bran® products that constitute the company’s animal feed division within

Starches & Sweeteners North America.

Mr Anderson expanded, “The starch and protein are found in the inner portion of the corn kernel and have a distinctive yellowish coloring. The outside is the bran portion and then there is the germ, which is found in the tip or cap of the corn. This gives a lot of starch and very little of the protein and germ in comparison, but the germ and protein are the most highly valued fractions on a per unit basis.”

In brief, the grain is steeped and then moved to the grinding section where the germ, fibre, starch and protein are all separated in various ways which includes the use of centrifuges.

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FEATURE

Empyreal in its raw state prior to further processing and also before dispatch.

The first stage of grinding

The first stage of grinding and the technique utilised is revolutionary.

There are two sets of plates that face opposing ways. The corn kernel drops through and is ground and broken to extract the germ. The germ is extracted via a three-stage milling process.

The third stage grinds to a fine mixture where the fibre can be completely removed.

Corn milling has exactly the same steps, but it is washed after separation, de-watered and then dried.

Post-milling there is a seven-stage screening process that further separates fibre from the starch and protein fractions. Cargill utilises large screens that act like sieves.

At the first, second, third and fourth stage, there are large gaps in the screen, which get progressively smaller. This allows more of the bran to be caught and less of the protein and starch.

Mr Anderson illuminated on the process, “If you look at your first stage that is your dirtiest fibre, the seventh stage is your cleanest fibre and then with the counter current flow, the fibre gets cleaner as it goes one way, which the starch and protein is more concentrated in the opposite direction.”

He continues, “It is vital at this stage the separation of fibre from starch and the protein is done correctly, as this affects the amount of protein that can be recovered. But further processing the starch and protein is critical to the outcome of ‘Empyreal 75’.”

Adding, “We fail if we send too much protein with the starch and we fail if we leave too much starch in the protein, which will downgrade both products.”

Centrifuges play a vital role in achieving densities and removing dry solids from the protein stream and reducing the starch. Starch is further extracted via clamshell cyclones which removes a further five percent of protein from the starch itself getting levels down to 0.3-0.35 percent.

Coping with such a high-quality, high-valued product this product has to be handled extremely carefully.

It is not bagged on site, but dispatched in bulk by railcar for other facilities across the country for packaging and further distribution. Three or four days of output can be held on site however; demand ensures that product does not need to be stored

for long. One single railcar holds approximately 100 tonnes and multiple railcars can be shipped at a time.

Mr Anderson says great attention is paid to the railcar container, specifically designed by the company for the purpose of moving product. They are cleaned, inspected and inspected again before use and departure.

“There’s a pre-load and a post-load inspection.” he explains saying that the cars are automatically loaded and closed hermetically to avoid contamination. Each shipment has samples taken and analysed for protein, moisture, fat and a number of mycotoxins prior to dispatch.

Animal and human food products

Fibre is processed into ‘Sweet Bran’ for cattle feeds with other ingredients added such as milled solubles to lift the nutritional value of the product.

When asked about the use of the fibre for Sweet Bran cattle feed, we were informed that once the germ and fibre is separated, just the starch and protein is left. If there is too much protein with the starch, it means the Empyreal formula is wrong, and the same goes for Sweet Bran.

The centrifuges previously mentioned can pump 700 gallons per minute of material processed in a very rapid pace and the speed or flow of the material can be adjusted by a simple value.

The result is, speeds of around 3000rpm let the lighter material rise to the top and the denser raw materials fall to the bottom.

This works in conjunction with clarification, which is another centrifugal force, but with a slightly different configuration.

Clarification separates just the water from the mixture and moves the consistency of the protein from five to 14 percent solid. At this stage there is still 25 percent starch content. At the end of the process, we were told that, “there’s only about 0.3 percent ratio of protein left to starch, and that’s where we will be sending it to be turned into the dextrose or high fructose corn syrup.”

Also from the starch by-product high fructose corn syrup, fuelgrade ethanol, dextrose and fermented products such as lactic acids and low calorie sweeteners are produced and supplied to other partners on the campus for processing into products such as Lysine.

22 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

Cargill’s diversification on the site has given rise to new products.

Together with its joint venture partner for example, Cargill is also making corn-based biopolymers or plastics on the site.

Mr Anderson noted that, “Cargill’s model for its campus is plug-and-play. We supply all the utilities such as water, water treatment, chemical handling, heating and electricity, etc., to those companies joining us.”

For example the site uses and treats, and returns 13 million gallons of water per day to the Missouri river, more than twice the amount the local community of Blair uses and the same as the city of Omaha.

Expanding he commented, “The focus is on short supply chains, the efficient utilisation of natural resources such as the adoption of heat exchanges in the production process which has reduced the consumption of energy and results in more value to its customers and helps meet the output goals that have to be met by the company.”

A family affair

Cargill started out as a small grain handler in 1865 and were based in Conover, Iowa. The company came from modest, family beginnings with just one elevator, but soon expanded to more advanced equipment, and in greater quantity, which allowed a complete solution from sourcing grain, handling and of course, processing.

The expansion was largely due to the use of the railroads, all of which had grain elevators.

It was reported that, “A lot of the initial expansion of Cargill followed the railroads in the early days so essentially wherever there was a railroad, there was typically a grain elevator.”

These were an efficient way of transporting grains and goods across the United States and gave Cargill a foothold for their

fledgling business.

Now in 2017, Cargill has 150,000 employees worldwide and have diversified their business to allow for further expansion. It currently has nine corn refining facilities across the USA with multiple locations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.

Cargill Starches & Sweeteners North America specific to the Empyreal product has a number of third-party partners who load and unload at various sites including Seattle, Kansas City and New Orleans, along with a fleet of railcars and trucks to move large volumes.

After touring this leading-edge facility, it became apparent that Cargill is committed to helping its customers feed a growing world by providing innovative animal nutrition solutions like Empyreal 75.

A commitment to innovation, sustainability and growth

For nearly a decade, Cargill has created Empyral one of the most dependable, highest-quality products for the aquaculture industry made from renewable resources.

“Our innovative feed ingredients are specifically designed to have the maximum impact on our customers’ animals, businesses and profits. We do this through a focus on the customer and creating a consistent and repeatable experience whether it is the functionality to create a better kibble or pellet, a nutritional profile or the service experience.” says Michael Klapperich, North America Sales Director and Global Business Development Manger for Empyreal Products, Cargill Inc.

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FEATURE

Feeds for easy and efficient production of nutritionally optimised rotifers

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by Eric Henry, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Reed Mariculture Inc. otifers remain the most widelyused live feed for early stages of larval fish culture, and hatchery success is critically dependent on a reliable supply of healthy, nutritionally-enriched rotifers that can provide the nutrition larvae need to support rapid growth and normal development.

“They are what they eat”

The nutritional value of rotifers depends entirely on the feeds used to produce them.

Typically, batch cultures are grown to harvest density using low-cost feeds based on yeast or algae that are easily produced but of limited nutritional value, such as Spirulina, Chlorella, or Nannochloropsis.

Some of these feeds are available as dry powders, which can be shipped at a low cost and stored at room temperature. But dry feeds can be laborious to properly re-hydrate and dispense to rotifer cultures, and if the powders are not completely dispersed as un-clumped particles less than 20 micrometers in diameter they cannot be ingested by the rotifers.

Uneaten feed is not only wasted, but will foul cultures and promote blooms of bacteria and ciliate protozoa that are present in many rotifer culture systems. Dry feed particles are also subject to rapid leaching of soluble nutritional components before they can be consumed by the rotifers.

“Too much and too late”

When such batch cultures have grown to the required density, the feed must then be switched to a lipid-emulsion “enrichment” feed for a few hours before the rotifers can be fed to larvae, in an effort to compensate for the poor nutritional quality of the grow-out feed.

This “gut loading” strategy fills the digestive tracts of the rotifers with the lipid-rich feed, to be delivered to the larvae when the rotifers are consumed. But this conventional enrichment practice can be described as “too much and too late.”

Too much, because the extreme lipid content of conventional enrichment feeds is nutritionally unbalanced and is quite stressful to the rotifers, as evidenced by the dramatic rise in oxygen consumption of rotifers during enrichment feeding.

Too late, because enrichment feeding at the end of the culture cycle is so brief that only the gut contents of the rotifer are enriched, while the rest of the body of the rotifer is unchanged.

Active, clean, healthy rotifers are essential for production of the healthiest larvae, but the stress caused by the extreme lipid content of conventional enrichment feeds weakens the rotifers and reduces their motility.

Lipid emulsions foul the rotifer enrichment tank as well as the rotifers, so some of the enrichment feed is not consumed by the rotifers and is therefore wasted.

The emulsion-fouled rotifers then must undergo stressful harvesting and washing procedures before they can be fed to larvae. They suffer additional stress when the popular “cold bank” technique is used (storing rotifers at refrigerator temperature and feeding out to larvae over 18-24 hours).

Temperature shocks when enriched rotifers are cold banked, and again when they are transferred to the larval tank, can cause the rotifers to eject their gut contents (and enrichment), fouling the cold storage or larval tank, reducing the nutritional value of the rotifers, and further weakening or killing many before they are fed to larvae.

Finally, once the rotifers are transferred to the larval tank, the enriched gut contents diminish as they are used to support rotifer metabolism, or they may be lost as poorly digested feces when transport through the gut accelerates as the rotifers consume “greenwater” algae.

A new paradigm

A much simpler and more effective enrichment strategy is continuous culture “grow-out enrichment” using enriching, whole-algae, liquid feeds, so that the entire body of the rotifer is enriched.

The benefits are multiple: • Liquid feeds require no preparation before use, and are ideally suited to automated feeding by dosing pumps.

• Liquid feeds made of intact algae cells are not subject to the rapid leaching of nutrients that affects dry feeds when they are re-hydrated.

• Rotifers are not stressed, so they retain good health and motility in the larval tank.

• The enrichment is in rotifer tissue and is more bioavailable (as phospholipids, organically bound minerals and vitamins, etc.)

• Rotifers require no washing, and in some applications can be fed directly to the larval tank, eliminating the labour of harvesting and washing, and avoiding temperature shocks that cause ejection of the gut contents • Rotifers enriched during grow-out retain their enrichment in the larval tank longer and deliver more enrichment to the larvae.

RotiGrow Plus and RotiGrow OneStep are concentrated, microalgae-based, liquid rotifer feeds. Subsequent to the microalgal cells being kept hydrated, they retain their full nutritional value.

RotiGrow Plus is optimised for fish with moderate DHA and ARA requirements, while RotiGrow OneStep provides still higher levels of enrichment for the most demanding applications.

Both RotiGrow feeds provide all these advantages such as fullspectrum enrichment. In addition to optimal highly unsaturated

24 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

RotiGrow OneStep • • • • •

67 percent Protein 11 percent Lipid 26 mg/g DHA Eight mg/g EPA Six mg/g ARA

RotiGrow Plus • • • • •

68 percent Protein 11 percent Lipid 17 mg/g DHA 12 mg/g EPA Two mg/g ARA

The best way is also the low-cost way

Use of RotiGrow OneStep eliminates stress-inducing and costly additional enrichment and washing stages, and even allows enriched rotifers to be pumped continuously from the rotifer culture tank into the larval tank. This saves both the labour costs and added complexity of setting up enrichment feeding schedules, rotifer washing and other handling procedures, and the opportunities for mistakes that accompany any complex procedure.

Additional savings can be realised by optimising rotifer culture practices that make use of continuous cultures rather than batch production, and intensive (high-density) cultures: 1. Continuous culturing offers several advantages over batch culture: a. Rotifers are most productive under stable conditions. The consistent feeding and harvest regimes that prevail in continuous culture promote rotifer health, supporting high productivity and nutritional quality. b. The rotifers have a younger age distribution than in batch cultures, due to the high daily harvest rate. Younger rotifers feed more actively, are more fecund, and are more vigorous swimmers in the larval tank. c. Simplified management of culture operations by using the same feeding and harvest quotas every day, thus minimising the opportunities for costly mistakes. Once the culture reaches the target density only a fraction is harvested (typically 20– 50%), and this harvest can be repeated every day, indefinitely. d. No need for tanks to be frequently emptied, cleaned, refilled and re-inoculated, further minimising the opportunities for mistakes, and saving unnecessary labor. e. No interruption of rotifer production while a new culture grows to harvest density.

2. Intensive culturing saves precious hatchery floor space, and reduces the number of culture tanks to be managed: a. Intensive cultures (3 –10 million rotifers per litre) require smaller volumes and so less space in hatcheries. b. Intensive cultures are more readily enclosed, to improve control of culture conditions and exclude contaminants. c. Intensive cultures require less water, and more concentrated rotifers are easier to harvest. d. High-density cultures are fed high-quality, high-density feeds

(concentrates). The consistent concentration of these feeds enables automated delivery to the culture by metering pump, improving consistency and reliability of feeding.

Grow-out enrichment with RotiGrow Plus or RotiGrow OneStep and adoption of these optimal rotifer culture practices enables hatcheries to reduce operating costs, improve the reliability of rotifer production, and produce more nutritious and more vigorous rotifers. Production of optimised rotifers can be the key to achieving optimised growth and survival of larvae.

Aquaculture must be sustainable

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fatty acid (HUFA) enrichment, they provide comprehensive tissuebound vitamin, mineral, and carotenoid enrichment of rotifers without sacrificing other nutritional factors or stressing the rotifer.

Further to this, healthy rotifer cultures lead to rapid growth, minimal fouling, reduced bacteria loads whilst higher yields at high densities means that rotifers can double daily at densities over five million L-Type rotifers per litre. Indeed, RotiGrow OneStep and RotiGrow Plus grow rotifers as well as Nannochloropsis.

They are also exceptionally easy to use; produce cultures with minimal foaming or clumping, requiring less maintenance.

Optimal HUFA enrichment with high protein content — Eliminates any separate enrichment steps —Typical analysis (ash free) of rotifers grown on:

FEATURE

The use of taurine in fishfeeds

A

International Aquafeed caught up with the Research Associate for the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences at Auburn University, Dr Guillaume Salze, PhD, to discover what adding taurine to fish feed could mean for the industry

fter many years of research, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has now approved the use of taurine in fish feeds.

Taurine is an organic compound that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine, accounting for up to 0.1 percent of total human body weight. The chemical compound is named after the Latin Taurus, meaning bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin.

Dr Salze has been a research associate at Auburn University, Alabama since September 2012 having previously been a postdoctoral fellow ay the University of Guelph from July 2009.

He has written or been involved in over 20 publications in the aquaculture industry.

He explained that, “The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)’s members include both public officials and industry partners. One of their roles is to provide guidelines for animal feeds and establish ingredient definitions. This new announcement is to inform the public that AAFCO amended its definition of crystal taurine – that is the species and limitations within which it can be used as a feed ingredient. The previous definition included cats, dogs, and chicken. The amended definition now includes all species and all life stages of fish.”

What is the relevance of taurine to fish feed?

Dr Salze expands, “Taurine is found ubiquitously in all animals – it is actually one of the predominant amino acids in animal tissues. For a long time, taurine was thought to be a non-essential nutrient – that is a substance that the body can make on its own using other molecules, and therefore is not required in the diet.

For over a decade, a number of research groups have looked at the role of taurine in fish. As it turns out, taurine is an essential nutrient for many fish species, so it must be found in their food. If taurine is not present in the food, the fish do not eat or grow well, are more susceptible to diseases, and have increased mortality. So taurine is extremely important in these species.”

Describing how this amendment will benefit both the fish stock and producers, Dr Salze reinforced that it will have a far-reaching impact. He remarked that since taurine is found in all animal tissues, animal-based ingredients typically contain significant levels of taurine (provided it is not lost during ingredient processing). As a result, fishmeal contains taurine, usually around 0.5-0.7 percent.

In contrast, plants do not contain taurine, so plant-based ingredients do not bring any taurine to the feed. As fish nutritionists improve feed formulations to increase plant-based proteins at the expense of animal-based proteins, diets contain lowered levels of taurine. This can be to the extent that for some species like Florida pompano, taurine is actually the first-limiting amino acid in soy-based diets, not methionine!

Dr Salze observed that, “Before the AAFCO amended its

taurine definition, taurine had to be supplied through other animal ingredients, such as fishmeal, fish solubles, krill or squid meal, poultry-by product meal, etc. These ingredients are expensive, and increase feed costs.

Also, ingredients like fishmeal rely greatly on dedicated wild fisheries. Now that the definition has been officially amended, feed can be formulated with lower levels of animal-based ingredients, because taurine can be included separately. Its inclusion is conducive to the further reduction of expensive animal protein and in turn increasing plant proteins, thereby contributing to reducing feed costs while also reducing pressures on wild fisheries.”

Dr Salze highlighted that the other benefit to the American fish feed industry includes exportation to international markets. He reiterated that before the amendment of AAFCO’s definition, the United States was the only country where taurine was not approved for use in fish feed, whilst the European Union, New Zealand, China, Japan, Canada, Chile (to name a few), all have regulations in place allowing for taurine use.

He concluded that, “The American producers found themselves in a difficult situation because their formulations could meet the taurine requirement through higher levels of fishmeal.

In that case, the feeds were not competitive with those from other countries, since they were able to include taurine and reduce fishmeal inclusion. Buyers were aware of the importance of taurine, and were quite skeptical of un-supplemented feeds.”

Alternatively, they would include taurine but then were somewhat at odds with FDA’s regulation and could be barred from accessing international markets altogether.

He noted that, “Clearly, this was not a good situation, and now the gap is filled.”

He clarified that, “To be clear, crystal taurine is artificially synthesised through chemical reactions. Producing taurine by extraction and purification from animal tissues is simply not feasible: the efficiencies are low, cost is very high, and there are not enough raw materials available to satisfy global demand. On the other hand, chemical synthesis is relatively simple (compared to that of some other amino acids), inexpensive, and the purity of the resulting product is very high (>98%). Very importantly, the crystal taurine has the exact same chemical structure as the taurine found in animal tissue. There is no difference whatsoever. Whoever ingests it will therefore use it just as the natural taurine would be.”

The research behind the project

Despite a great deal of information already available, Dr Salze observed that there were still some gaps that needed to be filled.

So, Dr D. Allen Davis and himself (Auburn University) teamed up with four other laboratories in the country: Dr Delbert Gatlin III at Texas A&M College Station, TX, Dr Gibson Gaylord from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Bozeman, MT, Dr Ronald Johnson from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries in Seattle, WA, and Dr Mark Drawbridge from the Hubbs Sea World Research Institute in Carlsbad, CA. Each of the five groups were tasked with answering different questions ranging from feed manufacturing (stability of taurine,

26 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

recovery during mixing and extrusion), to estimating the quantitative requirement for various species (Florida pompano, California yellowtail, white seabass, sablefish) and evaluate any toxicity effect when feeding very high levels of taurine in the same species.

Dr Salze acknowledged, “I also want to recognise the support of funding agencies, starting with the Soy in Aquaculture Alliance (SAA), who supported us for both research and meetings to facilitate discussions. The Auburn Agriculture Experimental Station and NOAA Sea Grant also funded a significant portion of this work.

Finally, the institutions of all teams above contributed resources.”

Collaboration and project development

Talking about how the project came about, Dr Salze divulged, “I initiated the project by reviewing the literature for all current knowledge on the use of taurine in any species of fish. After that, it was critical to identify the knowledge gaps I mentioned. Filling them was necessary for a successful amendment petition to the AAFCO. For this, the help from FDA’s Center of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and its now director, Dr Charlotte Conway, was instrumental. Their role is to review applications similar to the one we were preparing, so they provided invaluable counsel, in terms of both knowledge gap as well as the best application pathway to achieve our goal.”

He continued, “All the collaborative work I mentioned was centralised by me at Auburn. My job was to crunch numbers on the research we all had conducted (with the help of corresponding team), and bring it all together in a single document with my co-authors (Drs. Gaylord, Johnson, and Davis) we could then put forward to the CVM and AAFCO.”

Length of project and future aims

Dr Salze expanded, “The issue of the absence of fish in the AAFCO’s taurine definition became clearly apparent in 2012.

We obtained our initial grant to support the work that year, though the bulk of the research was conducted in 2013. It is particularly rewarding to see such a long-term project come to fruition. I think we are all looking forward to see the impact this will have on the American fish feed industry – I expect it to be quite significant.

Even though our work is now complete with regard to the AAFCO taurine definition, there is still a lot of work to be done with taurine. In fact we are currently investigating the effect of taurine supplementation in broodstock spawning output and larval performances.”

Will there be a future application for the use of taurine?

He concluded, "With the amended definition, it has already become another arrow in the fish nutritionist’s quiver.

We know it will help reducing our use of animal protein, especially fishmeal. After that, who knows? It is used in pet food, as an essential nutrient for cats, and now fish. It is included in infant formula, as well as in so-called energy drinks. Taurine is a small molecule involved in many, many physiological functions. I always say that taurine does everything for you, short of your laundry. This is precisely why the exact mechanism of action is so difficult to discern, since there are more than one, and they are all happening simultaneously in the body. Once we understand these mechanisms better, perhaps we will be able to give direction to these functions and promote the ever-important things to us aquaculturists: feed costs, growth, health, gamete quality, larval development, feed efficiency, etc. In one word (heck, for what it’s worth) sustainability.”

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 27

PHOTOSHOOT THE BIG PICTURE - PHOTOCOMP

This image of Catfish in the USA was entered into the International Aquafeed photo competition in 2014. For details about the 2017 competition please visit: www.aquafeed.co.uk/photocomp ŠAndres Moreno

EXPERT TOPIC MURREL

1

Introduction

by Zasha WhitewayWilkinson

LOBSTER

EXPERT TOPIC

The spiny lobster, or alternatively known as the rock lobster or crayfish, are a family of around 60 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia within the class Malacostraca.

Although they superficially resemble true lobsters in terms of shape and having a hard carapace and exoskeleton, the groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters can be identified by their long, thick spiny antennae, by their lack of claws on the first four pairs of walking legs (although the females of most species have a small claw on their fifth pair) and by a specialised larval phase called phyllosoma.

The species typically have a slightly compressed carapace, lacking any lateral ridges. Their antennae lack a scaphocerite, the flattened exopod of the antenna. This is fused to the epistome (a plate between the labrum and the basis of the atenna). The flagellum, at the top of the antenna, is stout, tapering, and very long. The ambulatory legs (pereopods) end in claws (chelae).

The lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, although they are particularly common in Australasia.

They tend to live in crevices of rocks and coral reefs, only occasionally venturing out at night to eat.

Sometimes they migrate in very large groups in long files across the ocean floor, the lines could be up to 50 lobsters long.

The spiny lobsters navigate using the smell and taste of natural substances in the water that can change in different areas of the ocean. It was also recently discovered that spiny lobsters could navigate by detecting the Earth’s magnetic field.

They contact each other using their long antennae and deter potential predators also using their antennae by rubbing it against a smooth part of their exoskeleton, creating a loud screech. This noise is produced by frictional vibrations – sticking and slipping, similar to rubber materials sliding against hard surfaces, while a number of insects use frictional vibration mechanisms to generate

sound, this particular acoustic mechanism is unique in the animal kingdom. Notably, this system does not rely on the hardness of the exoskeleton, meaning that they can continue to produce deterrent noises even in the period following a moult when they are at their most vulnerable.

Although the species usually stay together, recent studies indicate that healthy lobsters move away from infected ones, leaving the diseased ones to fend for themselves.

Interestingly, spiny lobsters, which are an economically significant food source, particularly in the Bahamas where they are the biggest food export, have had their fossil record traced back by the discovery in 1995 of a 110 million year old fossil near El Espiñal in Chiapas, Mexico. Workers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico have named the fossil Pallnurus palaecos, and report it is closest to members of the genus Palinurus currently living off of the coasts of Africa.

In the news recently, an interesting report has been made of the southern rock lobster showing resistance to the effects of climate change.

The study, taken over 25 years, investigated the environmental aspects that influence the species’ settlement across Australian locations and found that the fishery as a whole is showing broad resilience to changing ocean currents, water temperatures, swell and wind patterns.

In July’s “Expert Topic”, join Professor Greg Smith as he discusses the exciting establishment of world-first hatchery technologies to support the development of a sustainable spiny lobster aquaculture industry, and how he and his colleagues think that this dream can become a reality.

30 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

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EXPERT TOPIC LOBSTER

2

A DREAM SOON TO BECOME A REALITY?

S

Sustainable farming of lobsters

by Associate Professor Greg Smith, University of Tasmania, Director of the ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)

piny lobsters, also known as rock lobsters in Australia and New Zealand, are one of the few high value marine species that are yet to be cultured in commercial hatcheries.

The appeal of culturing spiny lobsters is due to favourable market attributes including the fresh product’s high value in the Asian market, increasing product demand and the static nature of current wild fishery. Research into the biology of spiny lobsters is not new, with initial propagation studies undertaken in Japan in the 1800s.

The larval phase of up to seven species was completed in Japanese laboratories between 1960 and 2000. Spiny lobster propagation research has since been undertaken in a number of countries including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, India, America, Mexico and England.

For the last two decades, larval propagation research has been focused in Australia and in recent years at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), in Hobart.

Australian lobster research has had long-term government support through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), the Tasmanian Government, the Australian Research Council (ARC) and private equity.

The current research programme at IMAS focuses on commercialisation of the hatchery technology supported by an ARC grant of US$5 million through the Industrial Transformation Research Program. The ARC funding targets

collaborative research between industry partners and Australia’s best researchers. The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Spiny Lobster Culture Systems is a collaboration with the University of Tasmania, University of Auckland (New Zealand), University of the Sunshine Coast, and Australian industry partner Plastic Fabrications Group.

The research programme is supported by the Tasmanian Government through the Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration Agreement.

While there have been challenges to overcome in the hatchery production of seed stock, the grow out sector has been established since the 1990s, primarily in Vietnam, with some recent activity in other countries in the region including Indonesia.

Despite the larval phase of many species of spiny lobster being completed in research laboratories, until recently, there has been a failure to translate the small-scale research success into commercial processes. As a result of there being no hatchery production of spiny lobsters seed stock, aquaculture is based on the collection of wild seed stock. The larval cycle of spiny lobsters is protracted; typically females mate in inshore waters and carry a fertilised bundle of eggs externally attached under their tail. While attached to the female the eggs develop for a period of between weeks and months, depending on the species, and then hatch as underdeveloped larvae (phyllosoma).

To sustain a static population, spiny lobsters focus their reproductive energy in the investment of large numbers of offspring. In the wild, each breeding female will hatch millions of phyllosoma, but with a long larval duration, small numbers

32 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

survive to reach juvenile and later adult stages.

Phyllosoma reside within the water column and are transported into the open ocean by currents and eddies, they have very limited swimming ability. In offshore waters, and often at depth, the phyllosoma will undertake the complex larval development phase, including up to 24 individual moult events.

The larval duration can be protracted and may last anywhere between months to years, dependent on a number of factors including the species, availability of feed and environmental conditions. At the completion of the phyllosoma phase of development spiny lobsters undergo an extreme metamorphosis event, transforming from a two-dimensional clear disc shaped phyllosoma into a three-dimensional shaped puerulus. This puerulus is a non-feeding nektonic stage; the primary purpose of this life-phase is to swim from the offshore waters to inshore reef systems or other suitable benthic habitats to settle upon.

This migration from oceanic waters to reef habitats during the puerulus phase is often a distance of hundreds of kilometres.

When they have reached a suitable habitat puerulus will undergo a final larval moult transforming into the benthic juvenile phase and assume typical lobster morphology.

Currently, aquaculture farmers will target both of these latter stages of development to enable the stocking of their sea cages.

Puerulus are caught at night in inshore bays using lights for attraction into fine mesh nets, or alternatively harvested from artificial settlement structures, such as bundles of mesh or used cement bags.

The juvenile development phase is also targeted using poles with small holes drilled in them set near the shoreline; this structure provides a habitat for juvenile lobsters to shelter in and thus a means of collection for farmers.

The preferred culture species targeted in Vietnam is Panulirus ornatus, also known as the tropical, ornate or painted lobster, however obtaining this species from local waters can be difficult, with other less commercially desirable species also being collected and cultured.

There are a number of issues with the reliance on collection of seed stock from the wild, including sustainability, reliability of supply, biosecurity and the inability to obtain genetic improvement of cultured stocks.

The long and complex lifecycle of spiny lobsters has provided challenges for the establishment of a sustainable commercial aquaculture industry. The collaboration between expert scientists and industry in the ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Spiny Lobster Culture Systems has provided the platform for innovative research to bring the dream of sustainable farming of lobsters a step closer.

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A breakthrough for aquaculture

Indeed, systems and processes have been developed to massproduce spiny lobster seed stock. A reliable, large-scale supply of lobster seed stock will enable sea-cage culture and sustainable food production in new commercial aquaculture ventures.

The success also supports jobs in commercial manufacturing and science and creates opportunities to evaluate wild stock enhancement. The ready supply of lobsters also provides a unique resource for understanding how wild lobster stocks are affected by the impact of changes to the environment, such as climate change.

The University of Tasmaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Professor Brigid Heywood, said the breakthrough has created exciting commercial opportunities for companies interested in establishing spiny lobster aquaculture ventures. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is the cutting edge of aquaculture research and will enable

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the establishment of a new industry with significant economic, social and environmental benefits.”

“Importantly, it also opens the door for other species that can benefit from our advances in hatchery systems design, nutrition and disease control.”

The world leading scientists have addressed a number of the major bottlenecks in the larval propagation of spiny lobsters. The production of commercial numbers of spiny lobster seed stock is a major achievement as the result of the use of an integrated approach to hatchery production.

“Key factors in achieving this outcome have been the development of a manufactured diet for phyllosoma, design and construction of lobster mass culture systems, overcoming long-standing density and metamorphosis challenges, shortening the larval duration and significantly reducing disease during the larval phase.”

“These advances are the result of having an effective and highly skilled research team with targeted areas of research.

Areas of research

The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Spiny Lobster Culture Systems undertakes research on three spiny lobster species: Panulirus ornatus (Tropical Spiny Lobster); Sagmariasus verreauxi (Eastern Spiny Lobster); and Jasus edwardsii (Southern Spiny Lobster).

Recent research has focused on P.ornatus, as this species currently demonstrates some immediate attributes for culture.

It has a relatively short larval duration (3-4 months), fast growth from juvenile to an adult size of one kg (15-18 months), recognition in the market place as a premium product and an existing grow out sector established in South East Asia. P.ornatus has a wide natural geographical range across tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific.

The other two species researched are both temperate species found in southern Australian waters and around New Zealand.

S.verreauxi has a relatively short larval period compared with other temperate species and provides potential opportunities for commercial aquaculture and enhancement of the wild fishery.

J.edwardsii is a well-established premium fishery product from Australian and New Zealand. Due to the slow growth rate of the southern spiny lobster, research is focused on determining the suitability of seed stock production for enhancement of the wild fishery.

Research activity is organised into distinct but closely related study areas.

Nutrition

Developing an effective manufactured diet for the phyllosoma phase of spiny lobsters has been a major challenge for the commercial production of lobster seed stock. Previously larval rearing relied on the use of fresh and live products that had inherent biosecurity and health risks associated with their use, this was a prime source of disease during culture.

The research team has developed diets to meet nutritional requirements of phyllosoma and significantly reduce mortality at metamorphosis and developed specialised techniques for the measurement of feed intake in phyllosoma to allow the quantification of feed intake in a larval crustacean.

Led by Professor Chris Carter, the Research Hub is now focusing on the development of effective juvenile grow-out diets and further optimisation of the larval diets.

Mass larval rearing and water treatment systems

The research team is developing new concepts in larval tank

design and construction. There has been a focus on limiting phyllosoma interactions during the larval phase to reduce cannibalism and maximise feed interaction.

Research continues to develop streamlined metamorphosis processes and puerulus holding. Water quality is of paramount importance during the protracted larval phase, the team has developed a number of new techniques to optimise and maintain culture water quality. Working in collaboration with engineering expert Dr Alan Henderson and plastic construction experts at Plastic Fabrications Group I lead this area of research.

Physiology

High rates of mortality in cultured spiny lobsters are most common at or around metamorphosis. This has represented a major bottleneck for commercial production. Research has focused on improving late stage larval competency, optimising environment requirements during culture, metamorphosis, puerulus and juvenile holding.

Dr Quinn Fitzgibbon leads this area of research in collaboration with Professor Andrew Jeffs, from the University of Auckland, who is a world authority on lobster oceanic transport and settlement.

Animal health

The high-density propagation required for commercial spiny lobster aquaculture increases the risk of health issues during the larval stages and sea cage grow-out. A better understanding of disease conditions and health physiology are important steps in the development of disease solutions and the assessment of animal health status and treatment effectiveness.

Health research is led by Professor Barbara Nowak and is focused on improved basic understanding of disease conditions and larval health physiology, and targeted health research.

Components of health research are addressed through PhD studies, which will provide the advantage of trained expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of crustacean diseases, an area in which there are very few trained researchers in Australia.

Brood stock genetics

A reliable supply of high quality year-round larvae is central to the success of the research. At IMAS we have closed the life cycle of three species of spiny lobster and hold second-generation stock for both Tropical and Eastern Spiny Lobsters. Methods for brood stock holding are well established with on-going research focused on assessment of larval quality and brood stock nutrition.

The Research Hub is also evaluating methods for establishing a genetic breeding program utilising the advanced genetics expertise of the University of the Sunshine Coast led by Associate Professor Wayne Knibb and Dr Nguyen Hong Nguyen.

Research facilities

The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for both research and education at the University of Tasmania.

IMAS Taroona is a dedicated fisheries and aquaculture centre, located on the banks of the Derwent River, just 15 minutes south of Hobart. With direct access to the water for specialist aquarium facilities, IMAS Taroona provides the ideal headquarters for the ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Spiny Lobster Culture Systems with state-of-the-art systems for maintenance and experimentation on all life-cycle stages of spiny lobsters. Aquaculture facilities include seawater treatment plant, brood stock holding, specialist larval hatcheries and juvenile rearing facilities.

34 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

by Nina Hanssen, Commercial Director of Aqua Farming Solutions B.V., a subsidiary of H2O Technics B.V., The Netherlands

As the key industry that needs to ensure the evergrowing world population will have sufficient food on the table in the future, the aquaculture industry has a huge burden upon its shoulders. Fish consumption is growing rapidly, not only due to better availability, but also since consumers are becoming more and more aware of the health advantages of seafood. There is no reason to believe that this will change, but fish farmers all over the world are preparing effectively for the necessary adjustments

INNOVATION NEVER SLEEPS: THE POWER OF C-DOME TECHNOLOGY Although parts of the industry might still have a long way to go before it is sustainable in the eyes of a fairly big part of the consumer market, there is no doubt that within the industry itself, there is a fast-growing awareness of the importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly farming, as well as increased efforts to meet the requirements of the consumers.

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aquaculture industry is young, and it stands to reason that it still has a few issues that need better solutions, including the continuous problems caused by parasites which not only has an impact on wild fish like trout and salmon, it also disaffects public opinion towards farmed fish around the world.

A vast amount of money is being spent globally every year to continue to improve all aspects of aquaculture, and the will to find solutions to problems, is enormous, giving credit to the entire industry as a whole as the efforts and self-appointed targets are consequently raised. For example, new techniques and ideas are invented, developed and tested, and existing techniques improved where possible.

Finding one method which can solve all issues is the ultimate goal for everyone involved in aquaculture, and as the whole industry goes through a continuous development and is strong enough to face any new challenges, there is no doubt that aquaculture will sooner or later succeed in finding that one method. Indeed, we might be closer than we realise.

A new technology, a natural solution

The technology of H2O Technics B.V. was developed by a team of Dutch inventors more than 12 years ago, and although it was based on an already known technology, the Dutch inventors were able to reinvent and customise the technology for various purposes related to water treatments.

Similar technology is used in several areas of everyday life; pregnancy ultrasound, echo sounding to determine depth of water, automatic door openers, processing of liquids and paper, cleaning of medical equipment; the list is endless.

The C-Dome has been developed by Aqua Farming Solutions, for and together with the aquafarming industry, and it is equipped with four resonators mounted on the inside, three aiming sideways and one aiming straight down.

The C-Dome is preferably placed in, or close to the middle of, the fish cage and each resonator has a reach of approximately 50 meters in salt water. Together with the electronics box mounted on the frame, each resonator is able to create non-inertial Nano-cavitation: The microscopic vibrations caused by the resonators, change the

36 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY potential energy stored within the mass of water into kinetic energy, creating microscopic voids in the water which implode due to the pressure changes, hereby creating microscopic water jets; Nanocavitation.

Our Nano-cavitation is unique within water treatment, and as mentioned earlier, is the result of more than 12 years of reinventing the ultrasound technology. It has been in use for several years already in the Netherlands, and together with the multiple installations in fish cages in several countries, the technology has proven its worth.

The importance of keeping the nets used in the fish cages clean and free of algae, is probably something the average consumer hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really thought of, but for the farmer, it is of utmost importance.

Bio-fouling might not seem to be a big issue, but too much of it can lead to far bigger problems; the nets may become too heavy, followed by the risks of tearing which again may give the fish the opportunity to escape, with all the consequences that this entails.

The accumulation of fouling organisms on the nets may lead to hydroids settling down, in addition to being a perfect hiding place for various ectoparasites like sea lice and the amoeba Neoparamoeba perurans; the last one causing the amoebic gill disease in farmed fish.

There are several ways of cleaning the nets, and pretty much all of them include handling the fish one way or the other, which by multiple treatments may have impact on the skin and the mucus layer. High pressure and mechanical net cleaning may also lead to damages on the net itself, increasing the risk of escapes, as well as release of various organisms hiding in the fouling which may even expand the problem further with regards to parasites.

Using the power of nature

With the technology of the C-Dome, there is no need to handle the fish or the nets, thus minimal risk for the mucus layer or the netting itself. The Nano-cavitation created water jets will keep the nets clean as it works 24/7, and has no negative impact on the nets or the fish.

The C-Dome will not only prevent build-ups of marine growth on the nets, but also reduce reproduction of unwanted organisms to a minimum, as the same water jets will also eliminate eggs and early life stages of ectoparasites, minimising the need to use man-made chemicals or mechanical delousing treatments to prevent reproduction of ectoparasites.

The C-Dome is a 100 percent natural solution and capable of recycling the power already present in water, just waiting to be released. It is a new technology that is not only able to solve the problems with bio-fouling and sea lice, but also to do so in an environmentally friendly way, and with no stress or risks for the fish and its welfare.

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 37

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #2

by Ben Green MA (Cantab), CEO The Supreme Salmon Co, UK

The salmon farming industry started in a small way 50 years ago using tiny hatcheries and wooden sea cages, a lot of the knowledge we have now was gained in those early days. This has to be the same with RAS; if it can’t be made to work on a small scale with a pilot unit then it’s a big gamble to hope the economies of scale will make a project viable

RAS: An alternative way forward for Salmon production After 44 years of growing Salmonids in general, and 28 years of rearing salmon in RAS systems in particular, I would hope to have gained some wisdom but I have certainly discovered a lot of my own foolhardiness.

Fish farming is a very unforgiving business and it peers into the depths of one’s soul at times but who wants a boring life in an office when there are so many exciting challenges to be had in RAS? I luckily grew some RAS large salmon in the early 1990s and then spent the next 20 years finding the best way of doing it on purpose; and there’s still plenty of system design upgrades to do. I’ve been working away in isolation on a course of parallel evolution and my RAS systems are very different from the systems being sold by other companies but they work well and are profitable enough to supply me with a reasonable living.

In this article I will lay out a blueprint of how a successful salmon RAS project can be implemented.

It’s not very exciting, it won’t be making millions of dollars from thousands of tonnes of production but it won’t be a spectacular loss of money either.

The salmon farming industry started in a small way 50 years ago using tiny hatcheries and wooden sea cages, a lot of the knowledge we have now was gained in those early days. This has to be the same with RAS; if it can’t be made to work on a small scale with a pilot unit then it’s a big gamble to hope the economies of scale will make a project viable.

Laying the groundwork

There have been many words printed on the successful implementation of entrepreneurial projects so I won’t study them here but there are some points that apply specifically to this kind of project.

Choose the right species. I’ve concentrated on Salmonids. Why? Mostly because I’m fascinated by them!

Staff have to be motivated to care for the stock but salmon also have a high value and a large existing market. It doesn’t make sense to grow a warm water species when the temperature can drop to -10C outside, because that’s massive built-in vulnerability for a start.

My farms have been located not far from London. This was a disadvantage when I was selling salmon fry to customers in Scotland 500 miles away, but a massive advantage when I can get fish to the London Billingsgate fish market within hours of harvesting them. One of the advantages of RAS is its small

Figure 1: The biggest ever salmon from a freshwater RAS 24 kilos Figure 2: 10kg grown in 1992 Figure 3: Stocking the angling lake Figure 4: The record rod caught salmon from the lake, 16kg

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

38 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY environmental footprint so why locate hundreds or even thousands of miles from your customers?

Finance is a big subject; the initial cost can be reduced to a fraction if care is taken. I can expand with capital derived from existing profits but only because I do all the construction myself. The farms I supply for clients are in kit form; they supply the infrastructure and construct the tanks etc. themselves, cutting out the expense of outside contractors. That way the operators also have an intimate knowledge of how their equipment functions and it’s ‘theirs’.

Large companies usually have an underused site somewhere and underemployed labour at certain times of the year. New entrants can get a bargain by finding a site where a badly conceived project has gone bust!

The money invested in a project has to be recovered from profits, the penny pinching has to start right at the beginning, large grants and generous investors lead to a profligate mind-set. Start modestly and expand prudently in a new and largely untested field of endeavour.

Be adaptable to the local planning laws. Here in England, any farming enterprise is allowed to take 20cu m of water from an aquifer per day without a license and erect a 400sq m building without planning. That’s enough for a 50 tonne salmon RAS unit, so maybe a series of small units is a better way to go. A geographical spread may help with the local marketing too.

Construction Principles

A quick Google Images search for RAS systems show that most installations comprise a single centralised filter unit supplying a range of tanks. Without going into the

intricacies of RAS design, this to my mind is inherently risky, why put all your eggs in one basket? Elegance and efficiency of design is very important, I hate to see a 90-degree elbow in a water pipe where a long radius bend could be installed instead.

My farms consist of single standalone tank modular units, each with dual circulation, multiple pumps, overlarge filters and settlement chambers. The oxygen system is completely separate, electrical circuits are split and duplicated, the alarm is completely stand-alone and a computer is not allowed anywhere near the place!

This is a business where one small error could lead to the loss of two years production and that’s over a 25-year equipment life expectancy; low technology is more reliable, especially in the 100 percent humidity of a fish rearing building. There must be a name for it but the overriding principle is of reducing vulnerability.

A constant asking of the question ‘What if this piece of equipment fails?’ and if it does will it lead to a cascade of failure or will the other elements of the system continue to function? Everyone involved needs to be able to sleep at night, believe me I know this!

Individual units give great production flexibility, allow incremental expansion, reduce disease risks and allow low cost evolution of design. I would say the reason for not adopting this route would normally be an outside contractor’s cost, but with an in-house construction team the advantages become overwhelming.

My production cycle is indoors for the first 15 months, two winters and a summer, then nine months finishing in large outdoor tanks over a final summer and autumn. That

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 39

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Above Figure 5: Salmon in the 200 cu m tanks

way takes advantage of warm weather at the right time of the growth cycle without the cost of a large building. Strangely, the fish seem to ‘harden off’ and be of better quality when reared in the open air.

Operation of systems

For biosecurity, the site should be sited away from open water and one should only ever import eggs. Besides, it’s important to grow a top grade of faster growing fish, something that can’t be guaranteed with fish imported from an outside supplier.

Operating a RAS well is really difficult and after all these years I still make errors. I would say good fish husbandry is the most important thing for success, after all whatever leaves the fish tank comes back again at some point.

It’s amazing just where a rotting mortality can hide inside a tank and with uneaten food decomposing in the water it’s these two major factors, which lead to fungal problems, and more deaths. Salmon are basically ocean-going fish, which require good quality water with fast, flow rates. They’re not really domesticated so leave them alone and stop disturbing them.

Making the unit easy to operate is not necessarily better; if there is a fair bit of routine maintenance to do, the operators get to know how the RAS is performing. Spending time looking and listening is not time wasted, it’s good husbandry, which can reduce mortalities to near zero and make all the difference to profitability. I carry my own insurance; a little fear of imminent catastrophe stops me getting sloppy and keeps the RAS running in tiptop condition, so if you want to a cushy job with lots of holidays this business is not for you.

A lot of claims are made about the performance of RAS both with stocking densities and growth rates. The very best top grade salmon make three kg in 21 months in my systems; I would be surprised if that could be bettered, three kg in two years is a realistic target. A traditional winter intake of standard eggs with a tried and tested photoperiod and temperature regime is best, problems soon arise with hybrids, out of season production, triploids etc. Rainbow trout grow quicker, three kg in 16 months is possible but the salmon is ultimately a bigger fish, has lower maturity and commands a better price. I personally feel uncomfortable over 40kg per cu m in RAS; it’s better just to build another tank rather than pushing the boundaries of what the fish is comfortable with.

Marketing of product

Ok so you’ve produced your fish and wonderful they look too, now is the time to sell them. Without sales at a good price, all businesses will fail because customers won’t necessarily throw money at you just because you have some special fish.

It’s notoriously difficult to come up with an honest cost of production but I would say £5 a kg for salmon produced by RAS would be a good benchmark. That would leave a profit at recent prices and should mean not too much of a loss if prices really dived, but the margins could be tight especially if a good sea lice treatment comes along; this is why a loss of production due to mortality can ruin the profitability. Sales turnover projections should be made based on the standard current market price, then the more value that can be added the better.

In my dealings with fish merchants over the years, I’ve found no real premium for the way I’ve produced my fish.

When a fish sits on the shop counter the buyer (sadly) doesn’t really rate its production credentials that highly on their list. Or to put it the other way round, if the fish doesn’t look nice and taste good, no amount of organic this or environmental that will rescue the product. I haven’t secured a better price for labeling my salmon as ‘English’ but in other countries such as France, people will pay more for just being French produced alone. So the benefits for the customer of producing fish in RAS lie elsewhere, at least to start with.

The best feature my RAS product has is freshness. A fish merchant can telephone me with his order on a Saturday, I’ll harvest on Monday and my fish are in the Billingsgate market by five am the next morning, the difference in quality compared with a week old salmon from Norway is a great advantage. It enables me to sell my salmon un-gutted so I don’t need a processing facility (without a price penalty too) and also it increases the product differentiation. I can sell to fish merchants further down the supply chain and to final users such as restaurants to raise margin. I even collect empty fish boxes when delivering product and reuse them so there is no cost there. Small-minded? Don’t forget we need all the profit margin we can get.

There is a lot of potential for producing a great tasting salmon. I’ve recently eliminated the earthy taint, a real problem with RAS, without the need for depuration, with some groundbreaking work on low cost ozone equipment.

Here in the UK the salmon feed contains a lot of plant products, I use a feed from Europe containing blood and poultry meal, giving it a better taste as well as being more palatable to the fish. As the feed cost is a lower proportion of total input costs in RAS, I would like to research a special feed with added shrimp or krill meal in the future, to make the kind of product that would make great inroads into the premium market.

One of the ways I’ve added value has been to run a fishing lake where anglers harvest the fish, but dealing with the general public is a whole different ball game.

However, there is potential for using an open body of water to finish the salmon off in their last month or two of life and calling them ‘free range’. I supply other fisheries with live fish, the price is good and there is no slaughtering, boxing, icing, weighing or delivering either.

The right location opens up the possibility of farm gate sales and local farmers markets.

All these ideas add value but take time to build up a reasonable volume, flooding your market will depress the price, another reason to start with a pilot unit then build up production at the right pace.

There’s already a well-established supply chain for the salmon and trout market, a new entrant has to offer good reasons for customers to buy from them.

40 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FEATURE

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #3

by Elihai Radzinski, Director, Fibras Industriales S.A.

An additional product we recommend for harsh conditions is the Polytar rope that is made of high tenacity polyester but at the same time coated with a tar solution developed by FISA that will work as a lubricant during maneuvering specially with the stretching of the rope in open sea conditions.

The benefits of abrasion and UV resistance nets Fibras Industriales S.A., commercially known as FISA has been around for over 70 years. Until the late 90s, the company focused mostly on the South American market with some sales to central and North America.

The main reason for this was that until the millennium, Peru would fish around nine million tonnes per year and with Chile fishing an additional four million tonnes, the two countries alone represented around 15 percent of world fishing in terms of volume.

As FISA had around 40 percent market share of those two countries together with some additional sales to Ecuador, Mexico and North America, the company had a market share above eight percent of world netting requirements and much higher for ocean fishing considering that until recently FISA only dealt with multifilament netting and not the monofilament introduced over the past five years.

As always, times change and markets change, therefore over the past 20 years FISA has dedicated more and more resources for growth in the aquaculture industry on a global scale.

The first stage was to divert existing knotless Raschel machines towards production for the Chile Salmon aquaculture market. As this market grew with extreme speed, it was within no time that FISA was obliged to invest in new machinery for this netting and with this extra capacity new markets were entered like the lake farmed tilapia in Honduras and Mexico and during the first years of the century, FISA started supplying rigged cages and bulk netting to European customers with tougher weather conditions such as The Canary Islands and Greece.

Each time the company entered new markets, we learnt together with our customers the specific requirements for each market and developed new products that better suit each requirement. The biggest advantage FISA has over other netting manufacturers is that we have a complete range of products and not just Raschel Knotless netting.

This means we can always innovate and adapt to each markets specific requirements.

FISA Polymax ropes

In The Canary Islands, there are very strong currents that cause the vertical ropes of the cages to rub with the structural cage. This leads to friction and abrasion of the rope. Apart from adding plastic hoses to the first 1.5 meters of the rope, we proposed to our customer the use of Polymax ropes instead of polypropylene or Polysteel. For those of you not familiar with the difference between these products, Polysteel is basically a mix of polyethylene and polypropylene (mixed at extrusion stage, not production of rope stage) thus 42 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY giving the product the benefits of both materials. In the case of Polymax the rope is composed of Polyethylene and Polyester a combination that highlights flexibility and high abrasion resistance. What we have done is taken a polyethylene rope and wrapped it in multifilament Polyester.

This product is slightly more expensive but its benefits in abrasion resistance and at the same time UV resistance (thus delaying the downgrading of the rope) greatly outweigh the extra costs that can add up to a couple of hundred US dollars per cage. Polyester has a higher density than the monofilament polysteel or polyethylene thus could increase the weight of the cage in an unnecessary manner. That is the main reason we have not proposed polyester ropes but we definitely don’t discard that option for customers willing to try it although it would be more recommendable to use the FISA polytar rope.

FISA Polytar ropes

An additional product we recommend for harsh conditions is the Polytar rope that is made of high tenacity polyester but at the same time coated with a tar solution developed by FISA that will work as a lubricant during maneuvering specially with the stretching of the rope in open sea conditions. It is important to mention that we don’t simply tar the ropes but rather the actual twines that compose the ropes so it is not just a top layer of protective tar but also actually a rope produced with tar inside.

This protective coating also gives added protection against the UV rays.

Accelerated UV and abrasion resistance tests

FISA quality control department gives great importance to follow up controls of our end products under the most realistic and life resembling situations.

Thus we don’t just rely on the theoretical facts and standards relating to raw material but we actually run as realistic as possible a test on the actual finished products such as ropes and twine.

An example for this would be our abrasion and accelerated U.V. effect tests. Here we take both netting and ropes with different characteristics through rigorous testing that includes initial “standard” breaking load and elongation tests followed by accelerated abrasion effect machinery and UV accelerating effect equipment in order to retest the products and see the breaking strength, elongation and most importantly the Working load of the product after deterioration due to its use in the real world.

This is a comparative test and gives clear indicators as to what products are more adequate for each specific use.

As part of our service, we are always glad to receive used products after specified periods of time so we can evaluate the performance and compare the durability of alternative products used in same or similar water conditions.

Over the next few months we will gladly share on these pages some more of our extensive experiences including the advantages of using braided knotted netting for tilapia farms in lakes, the use of monofilament polyethylene and SUPRA netting for predator protection, the use of long life twisted knotless SHOGUN netting for bird protection and also some technical advice in cage design and maintenance.

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 43

Industry Events Events listing n 25 – 27/07/17 - ASIA PACIFIC AQUACULTURE 2017 Malaysia WEB: was.org WorldAquacultureSociety wrldaquaculture n 02 - 04/08/17 - AQUA FISHERIES CAMBODIA 2017 Cambodia WEB: veas.com.vn n 15 - 18/08/17 - AQUA NOR 2017 Norway WEB: aqua-nor.no AquaNorExhibition n 11 -13/09/17 - CICFO China WEB: cicfo.com n 19 - 21/09/17 - LIVESTOCK ASIA 2017 EXPO & FORUM Malaysia WEB: livestockasia.com livestockasia15 n 17 - 20/10/17 - AQUACULTURE EUROPE 2017 Croatia WEB: easonline.org WorldAquacultureSociety wrldaquaculture n 18 - 20/10/17 - ILDEX INDONESIA 2017 Indonesia WEB: vnuexhibitionsap.com ILDEXEXHIBITIONS ildexexhibition n 07 - 10/11/17 - LACQUA Mexico WEB: was.org WorldAquacultureSociety wrldaquaculture n 08 - 10/11/17 - EXPO PESCA & ACUIPERU 2017 Peru WEB: thaiscorp.com n 09 - 11/11/17 - TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES & SEAFOOD SHOW Taiwan WEB: taiwanfishery.com n 07 – 08/12/17 - FOI 2017, FATS & OILS ISTANBUL / FGI 2017 Turkey WEB: agripro.com.tr

READ INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED FOR FREE ON YOUR MOBILE!

bit.ly/readaquafeed

ILDEX Indonesia 2017 Internationalising the livestock market in one of the fastest growing countries in Asia.

Indonesia is considered as the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The middle class is set to become a prominent force in the country. This is due not only to their huge demographic, but also to their strong income growth prospects.

Investors will find in Indonesia the ideal balance between booming demand for livestock products and an abundance of agricultural and natural resources. As Southeast Asia’s largest country (and the world’s fourth most populous at about 250 million people), Indonesia has witnessed a major boom in demand for livestock products such as red meat, milk, eggs and beef and cattle. Of which the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture is more focused on strengthening at the moment.

The Indonesian Minister of Agriculture commented, “This effort is the government’s commitment in pursuing self sufficiency of cattle production, targeted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, to be reached in 2026. This effort is also to realise an independent country in terms of the fulfilment of livestock products, and at the same time, to improve the welfare of farmers.”

The Minister of Trade also remarked that Indonesia should be self-sufficient on livestock and be able to export these products. He said, “The welfare of farmers is rising, and the poverty rate is decreasing. That is the governments target.”

VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific and Federasi Masyarakat Perunggasan Indonesia together announced investment platform entitled, ‘ILDEX Indonesia 2017’.

It is the third edition of its kind, focusing on international livestock, dairy, meat processing and aquaculture exposition. It will take place at the Jakarta International Expo in Hall D1 and D2, Jakarta, Indonesia on October 18-20, 2017.

More than 8,000 trade visitors are expected to participate and interact with 250 international brands. The show will feature three industry zones which will include; feed and animal health, feed milling and farm equipment and genetic, breeding and processing.

The exhibition will also present two country pavilions (China and South Korea) and a special pavilion for pet food.

Mrs Panadda Atthakowit, Head of Competence Center of Livestock of VNEAP explained that, “Indonesia represents 40 percent of ASEAN’s total population and middle-income economies. It also represents a growing domestic and regional consumer base. With a professional industry partner, FMPI, we are strongly confident that we can offer the qualified market place that may create value and business opportunities for today’s livestock market. At ILDEX Indonesia, visitors will be able to meet many top companies such as Big Dutchman, Charoen Pokphand Indonesia, Japfa, Famsum, Cheil Jedang Corporation, Elanco, Emtech and King Techina.”

ILDEX Indonesia 2017 will feature a long list of supporters from the Indonesian government and local associations including the Department of Husbandry), Department of Marine Agriculture and Food Security, Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agriculture University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Federation of Indonesia Poultry Society, Indonesia Layer Farmer Association, Indonesia Poultry Farmer Association, Indonesia Poultry Veterinarian Association, Indonesian Association of Veterinary Public Health, Indonesia Feedmills Association, more from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Republic of Indonesia.

Deddy Kusmanagandi, Chairman of Indonesian Poultry Industry Association expounded that, “ILDEX Indonesia is the event that the Indonesian people are waiting for. We told our members and farmers in our association to come to this event because it is the right platform where we will meet top quality exhibitors and buyers.”

In the previous editions of ILDEX Indonesia, 94 percent of visitors gave positive feedback and recommended this show to their friends and colleagues. More than 88 percent were satisfied with the qualities of the trade visitors and they intend to visit the expo again.

Edy Purwoko, country manager of PT Ceva Animal Health Indonesia commented that, “The quality of the visitors is very good. It exceeded my expectation and Indonesia is one of the largest countries we will continue to invest in during the next edition. Next year I think the number of participants will grow significantly and be even better. So, I’d like to invite everyone to come to ILDEX Indonesia 2017.”

For more industry event information - visit our events register www.aquafeed.co.uk 44 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

Industry Events

SHOWCASING THE MOST EXCITING INNOVATION IN FARM MANAGEMENT, NUTRITION AND HEALTH INNOVATION SHOWCASE The 12 most exciting innovations in aquaculture Applications open!

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27-29 September 2017 Millennium Gloucester London, UK

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The University of Limerick (UL) is a rapidly growing, modern university. UL is a young, energetic and enterprising university with a proud record of innovation in education, and excellence in research and scholarship. We take great pride in attracting students who are seeking a supportive learning environment to help nurture and achieve their personal and professional dreams.

UL is highly regarded for conducting leading-edge research in key areas such as biological sciences, information and communication technologies, materials and surface science, environment & bioengineering and humanities & social sciences.

Limerick is in western Ireland, an ideal starting point to explore the Wild Atlantic Way. Shannon International airport is only 24km away with frequent bus connections. Limerick, with an urban and hinterland population of over 200,000, has something to offer everybody thanks to its many cultural, historical, architectural, sporting, shopping and business activities. With almost 50 per cent of Limerickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population under the age of 30, it is a vibrant, living, cosmopolitan city.

www.ul.ie International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 45

Animal Health Innovation Network

We have the largest work placement programme of any university in Ireland, with a network of over 1700 employers Amazing academic and sporting facilities on a stunning campus Graduate employment rates that are 18% above the Irish average

T

by Darren Parris, International Aquafeed

his was a truly formidable WAS aquaculture conference. What can I say, other than well done to all that made it such a success!

Attendance was superb, with more than 1,400 delegates alone from over 35 African countries that had all been sponsored by the African Union. In all we know there were in excess of 2,500 visitors as we had brought over 2,000 of our International Aquafeed magazines to the exhibition and they were all gone by the third day.

Sustainable Aquaculture

With the theme of “Sustainable Aquaculture” what better place to kick this off than in Africa, after those immortalised words were uttered by Roger Gilbert the then Founder and secretary General of the IFIF said in the presence of Kofi Annan at the UN in 1997 “We need to feed 9.5 billion people by 2050”.

But how?

Well these number and sentence have driven a crusade across the globe to focus on and work together to solve this issue. It was therefore no surprise that Dr Rohanna Subasinghe, the former chief of Aquaculture at the FAO, opened the conference with this very same topic. What followed over the coming four days were 70 excellent conferences on a multitude of topics and in between the conferences, the many delegates could visit the exhibition hall and visit with the over 100 exhibitors.

We have included a selection of exhibitors from the event over the coming pages and if you missed 46 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

WORLDWIDE CALENDAR 2017-2018 VIV MEA 2018

FEBRUARY 5-7, ABU DHABI, U. A. E.

VIV Europe 2018

JUNE 20-22, UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

VIV Turkey 2017

VIV China 2018

JULY 6-8, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

SEPTEMBER 17-19, NANJING, CHINA

WWW.VIV.NET International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 47

POULTRY Africa 2017 OCTOBER 4-5, KIGALI, RWANDA

out on this wonderful event, please make sure you are at Aquaculture America next year being held at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.

The opening

World Aquaculture 2017 was officially opened by the Guinean Ambassador to South Africa as unfortunately President Alpha Condé, President of the African Union, was unable to make it due to last minute unforeseen circumstances. In the opening speeches the panel focused on the “spotlight on Africa’ theme and the importance of conferences and show like WAS for the whole African community.

Ali Nassah from World Fish

Thank you

A big thank you to our hosts in South Africa, the opening evening reception was just amazing with live music, face painting and excellent party food and now it sounds like a children’s party, but rest assured it was no such thing.

In true African style and colourful costumes, the entertainers took to the stage and we all donned some tribal war paint and found the time to mingle and talk with colleagues in the industry.

Overall an excellent networking event enjoyed by all.

Bülent from E.S.E. & Intec

Aubert Faivre from Faivre

Christopher Noel, Melinda Griffiths, Fabrice Zarour, Georgina Robinson, Hannaa Darbarry and Rocky Forget from LFL Dr Hamady Diop from NEPAD, Darren Parris Group President of International AquaFeed and the team from NEPAD

Dirk Weich and Cornia Sauerman from Marifeed

Latin American & Caribbean Aquaculture 17

November 7 - 10, 2017 Mazatlan International Center

•

Mazatlan, Mexico

Consolidate the growth in Aquaculture All info: www.was.org

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The annual meeting of:

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48 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

Stuart Weitzman from Evonik

Hannaa Darbarry from LFL

Douglas Russell from Aqua Logic

Zainoe Hendricks and Sidney Jacobs from Alnet Ltd

Dr Holger KĂźhlwein from Leiber

Elihal Radzinski from FISA

Epshita Jaian and colleague from Global Reach

The Nutrition Hub

Gary Miller from Aquaculture Technologies

Gregory Komnik and Michael Daniel Martin, Alex Roca and Francesca Lisi from Intermas Martin from Insta-Pro

Hans-Christian from OxyGuard

Cooperation FOR

growth

Join us in 2017

october 17 - 20

Croatia

Dubrovnik The annual meeting of the European Aquaculture Society

All info:

www.aquaeas.eu

for conference: ae2017@aquaeas.eu for tradeshow & sponsorship: mario@marevent.com

All info: www.easonline.org International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 49

Jack Smith from Growfish International

Jean Dhont from Ghent University and JoĂŁo Dantas Lima from Imaqua

Lana Burri, Tane Solstad and Kjatil Ribe from Qrill

Michael New founder of AWF, Dr Hamady Diop from NEPAD, Clifford Spencer Goodwill Ambasador for NEPAD and Tuti Tan on the international Aquafeed Stand

Pierre Phillips from Monitoring and Control Labatories

Janice and Ria Spencer, Tuti Tan and Clifford Spencer representing Aquaculture Without Frontiers and Phillip Leigh from Hull University

Japle Engelbrecht and Chris Parker specialised Aquatic Feeds

Jorge Arias from Alltech and Patrick Charlton Kabir Chowdhury from Jefo from Coppens

Leon GĂźnter, Lasisi Nurudeen and Kristina Petersen from Aller Aqua

Nicole Hendricks, Ryanhardt Landman and Maschang Bronkhorst from BJK Industries

Robyn and Tijan Oberholzer from Dunkeld Trout Hatcheries

Marc Wenger and Joe Kearns from Wenger Manufacturing Inc.

Thomas Mohr and Dieter Rohlf from Andritz

Rumit, Chris Stock, Craig Browdy,Sidinel Valle from Zeigler Bros.

Bassem El Maraghy and Ossama Eldeeb from Aqua International for Food Industries and Prof. Fattah El-Sayed South African team from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries department from Alexandria University

50 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

Enzymes Ab Vista +44 1672 517 650 www.abvista.com

Welcome to the market place, where you will find suppliers of products and services to the industry - with help from our friends at The International Aquafeed Directory (published by Turret Group) Additives

JEFO +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com

Equipment for sale

Conveyors Chemoforma +41 61 8113355 www.chemoforma.com Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com Liptosa +34 902 157711 www.liptosa.com Nutriad +32 52 409596 www.nutriad.com Sonac +31 499 364800 www.sonac.biz

Analysis Laboratorio Avi-Mex S.A. de C.V +55 54450460 Ext. 1105 www.avimex.com.mx R-Biopharm +44 141 945 2924 www.r-biopharm.com Romer Labs +43 2272 6153310 www.romerlabs.com

Amino acids Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com

Bags Mondi Group +43 1 79013 4917 www.mondigroup.com

Bulk storage Bentall Rowlands +44 1724 282828 www.bentallrowlands.com Chief Industries UK Ltd +44 1621 868944 www.chief.co.uk Croston Engineering +44 1829 741119 www.croston-engineering.co.uk Silo Construction Engineers +32 51723128 www.sce.be Silos Cordoba +34 957 325 165 www.siloscordoba.com Symaga +34 91 726 43 04 www.symaga.com TSC Silos +31 543 473979 www.tsc-silos.com Westeel +1 204 233 7133 www.westeel.com

Certification GMP+ International +31703074120 www.gmpplus.org

ExtruTech Inc +1 785 284 2153 www.extru-techinc.com

Vigan Enginnering +32 67 89 50 41 www.vigan.com

Colour sorters

Event organisers

Bühler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com Satake +81 82 420 8560 www.satake-group.com

Computer software Adifo NV +32 50 303 211 www.adifo.com Format International Ltd +44 1483 726081 www.formatinternational.com Inteqnion +31 543 49 44 66 www.inteqnion.com

Coolers & driers

VIV +31 30 295 2772 www.viv.net

Extruders Almex +31 575 572666 www.almex.nl Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com Brabender +49 203 7788 0 www.brabender.com

Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de

Buhler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com

Bühler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com

Dinnissen BV +31 77 467 3555 www.dinnissen.nl

Consergra s.l +34 938 772207 www.consergra.com FrigorTec GmbH +49 7520 91482-0 www.frigortec.com Geelen Counterflow +31 475 592315 www.geelencounterflow.com Muyang Group +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com

Elevator buckets Alapala +90 212 465 60 40 www.alapala.com Tapco Inc +1 314 739 9191 www.tapcoinc.com STIF +33 2 41 72 16 80 www.stifnet.com VAV +31 71 4023701 www.vav.nl

Elevator & conveyor components 4B Braime +44 113 246 1800 www.go4b.com

52 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br IDAH +866 39 902701 www.idah.com Insta-Pro International +1 515 254 1260 www.insta-pro.com Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com Zheng Chang +86 2164184200 www.zhengchang.com/eng

Feed and ingredients Aliphos +32 478 210008 www.aliphos.com Aller Aqua +45 70 22 19 10 www.aller-aqua.com Jefo +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com SPAROS Tel.: +351 249 435 145 Website: www.sparos.pt

Hatchery products

Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com

Reed Mariculture +1 877 732 3276 www.reed-mariculture.com

Sensors Aqualabo +33 2 97 89 25 30 www.aqualabo.fr

Buhler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com

Level measurement BinMaster Level Controls +1 402 434 9102 www.binmaster.com

Agromatic +41 55 2562100 www.agromatic.com

FAMSUN +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com

FineTek Co., Ltd +886 2226 96789 www.fine-tek.com

Ottevanger

Moisture analysers

+31 79 593 22 21

Dol Sensors +45 721 755 55 www.dol-sensors.com

Shrimp feed additives

www.ottevanger.com

CHOPIN Technologies +33 14 1475045 www.chopin.fr

Dishman +31 318 545 754 www.dishman-netherlands.com

Wynveen +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com

Doescher & Doescher GmbH +49 4087976770 www.doescher.com

Training Aqua TT +353 1 644 9008 www.aquatt.ie/aquatt-services

Zheng Chang +86 2164184200

Hydronix +44 1483 468900 www.hydronix.com

www.zhengchang.com/eng

Probiotics Biomin +43 2782 803 0 www.biomin.net

Seedburo +1 312 738 3700 www.seedburo.com

Lallemand + 33 562 745 555 www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com

NIR systems NIR-Online +49 6227 732668 www.nir-online.de

Research

CB Packaging +44 7805 092067 www.cbpackaging.com

Safety equipment

Mondi Group +43 1 79013 4917 www.mondigroup.com

Palletisers

Rembe +49 2961 740 50 www.rembe.com

Second hand equipment Ehcolo A/S +45 75 398411 www.ehcolo.com PAYPER, S.A. +34 973 21 60 40 www.payper.com

Pellet binders Akzo Nobel +46 303 850 00 www.bredol.com Borregaard LignoTech +47 69 11 80 00 www.lignotechfeed.com

Pest control Rentokil Pest Control +44 0800 917 1987 www.rentokil.co.uk

Pipe systems Jacob Sohne +49 571 9580 www.jacob-pipesystems.eu Used around

all industrial Plants sectors.

Sanderson Weatherall +44 161 259 7054 www.sw.co.uk

Amandus Kahl 40 727 710 www.akahl.de

Vacuum Wynveen International B.V. +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com

Parkerfarm Weighing Systems +44 1246 456729 www.parkerfarm.com Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com Wynveen +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com

Yeast products ICC, Adding Value to Nutrition +55 11 3093 0753 www.iccbrazil.com

Silos Denis +33 2 37 97 66 11 www.denis.fr Kepler Weber Group +55 11 4873-0300 www.kepler.com.br Obial +90 382 2662120 www.obial.com.tr MYSILO +90 382 266 2245 www.mysilo.com Muyang +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com Tornum AB +46 512 29100 www.tornum.com

Fr. Jacob Sรถhne GmbH & Co. KG, Germany Tel. + 49 (0) 571 95580 | www. jacob-pipesystems.eu

Visit us! www.pipe-systems.eu+49

Ridgeway Biologicals +44 1635 579516 www.ridgewaybiologicals.co.uk

Weighing equipment Imaqua +32 92 64 73 38 www.imaqua.eu

Packaging

Vaccines

TSC Silos +31 543 473979 www.tsc-silos.com

International Aquafeed - July 2017 | 53

Lallemand + 33 562 745 555 www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com Leiber GmbH +49 5461 93030 www.leibergmbh.de Phileo (Lesaffre animal care) +33 3 20 81 61 00 www.lesaffre.fr

To include your company in the International Aquafeed market place in print, and a company page on our website contact Tom Blacker. +44 1242 267700 โ ข tomb@perendale.co.uk

the interview Liv Holmefjord, Director General of Fisheries, Directorate of Fisheries, Norway Liv Holmefjord was appointed Director General of Fisheries in Norway in 2008 for a six -year period, before having her target extended for another six years in 2014.

The Directorate of Fisheries is an advisory and executive body in matters pertaining to fishing and the management of aquaculture. The main tasks involve regulation, guidance, supervision, resource management and control.

Ms Holmefjord is a graduate economist from the Norwegian School of Economics and has been working for most of her career in the seafood sector.

After university she then worked in the Norwegian Fisheries Bank and in the State Food and Regional Development Fun before becoming Deputy Fisheries Director in 2004.

She has also stood as chairperson of the board of the Nor-Fishing Foundation since 2009.

In this exclusive interview with International Aquafeed magazine, Ms Holmefjord explores the rise in importance of “crossover knowledge” and whether 2017 is the year to thwart sea lice altogether as well as what to expect at this year’s Aqua Nor running from the August 15-18, 2017.

What drives your passion for aquaculture?

I grew up in a small coastal community on the west coast of Norway. My grandfather, uncles and father were all fishermen.

They established a salmon farming company in 1975.

I have therefore followed the development in this industry for the last 40 years. The industry produces healthy food, but is also an important source of income in many coastal communities.

What do you believe lies behind the success of Aqua Nor?

I think it is the combination of the exhibition and different seminars covering important aspects of the aquaculture industry.

Aqua Nor is a meeting place. In addition to national and international players from the industry, you will find researchers and managers, politicians and students as well as many more.

What aspects of the show can visitors look forward to in particular?

They will meet many exhibitors who have been present at Aqua Nor for decades. These companies have shown ability to innovate and find new solutions to different challenges the industry has been facing. For the last couple of years we have also seen increasing interest from for example the offshore oil and gas industry. So “crossover knowledge” from other industries might be a keyword for Aqua Nor 2017.

Is 2017 the year that we will see a technology breakthrough to thwart sea lice in Norway?

It is difficult to say. Both the industry and research institutions are working hard to try to develop new and better measures to prevent sea lice as a problem both to farmed and wild salmon. I also think in the future we will be dependent on a 'box' containing different 'tools' to be able to keep the level of sea lice within acceptable limits.

What is something that makes Norway’s aquaculture industry different to the rest of the world?

Norway is blessed with a long and sheltered coastline, well suited for fish farming. In other words, the natural conditions are probably better than in many other parts of the world – at least for salmon farming.

Another important factor behind the growth of salmon farming in Norway is the cooperation between scientists, different authorities and the industry.

Through this cooperation, knowledge has been developed on important issues like fish health, production technology and environmental impacts. I guess this has been the case in other countries as well. But there have also been setbacks in Norwegian aquaculture. Commercialisation of other farmed species like cod and mussels has for example not been a success.

Why is it so important that young people are enthused by aquaculture?

It is important for the future development of a sustainable industry that young people find it as an attractive place to work. In the Nor-Fishing Foundation we see it as one of our tasks to increase the knowledge about fish farming among students. Aqua Nor could be an arena for “matching” companies with possible new employees.

What more can our industry be doing to promote consumer awareness of sustainable aquaculture?

Aquaculture has to be a transparent and innovative industry, open to new ideas both when it comes to technology and how to operate. They have to be honest about possible environmental challenges and how to solve them.

Consumers want healthy food, but the food should also be produced in a sustainable way.

Do you believe that aquaculture will sustainably feed our ever-growing population?

According to the FAO, aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food-production sectors in the world. I think there is a potential for further growth, both in Norway and globally, but the growth has to be based on long-term sustainability and effective governance, whilst of course science and further knowledge is needed.

54 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

PEOPLE

THE INDUSTRY FACES

Dr Marcin Korczynski becomes Technical Support Manager

D

r Korczyński has been with Pancosma for six years before taking on his new role with the company.

He obtained his PhD in animal sciences in 2011 and has previous experience in product development and formulation.

This is part of the company’s efforts to strengthen their presence in the region.

Dr Marcin Korczynski

Dr Korczyński will report to Ronal Kräft, Sales Director for Central, Eastern and Northern Europe.

Dawid Kolacz appointed Area Sales Manager

D

awid Kolacz is one of Pancosma’s new team members as the company announces his appointment to their sales team dedicated to the Central and Eastern European region.

His appointment is part of the ongoing efforts by Pancosma to strengthen their presence in the region. He will report directly to Ronald Kräft, Sales Director for Central, Eastern and Northern Europe.

Dawid Kolacz

Dawid is trained in animal nutrition and has prior sales experience in the area of premixes and feed additives.

Matt Taylor appointed CEO of The Western Rock Lobster Council

M

att Taylor has been appointed CEO of The Western Rock Lobster Council (WRLC) in Freemantle, Australia.

Kim Colero, Chairman of the WRLC, commented, “Matt will be an excellent addition to the WRLC and we are excited about his future contribution to both the WRLC and the industry as a whole.”

Matt Taylor

Mr Taylor has always been a strong advocate for the fishing and aquaculture industries, prior to working for the Australian government; he was a commercial fisherman across numerous sectors and has completed a degree in aquaculture and seafood science.

He will start in his new position on July 10, 2017, for the Council, which represents the commercial western rock lobster fisherman of Western Australia.

Chris Oliver joins NOAA Fisheries

C Chris Oliver

hris Oliver will oversee the management and conservation of recreational and commercial fisheries including some aspects of marine aquaculture, the preservation and maintenance of safe sources of seafood and the protection of marine mammals, marine protected species, and coastal fisheries habitat within the US exclusive economic zone. He commented, “I understand how important stakeholder involvement, transparency, and best available science are to making the right policy decisions. I intend to rely heavily upon the regional expertise of the eight fishery management Councils and the associated NOAA Fisheries Regions and Science Centers, and to ensure they have the resources necessary to effectively tackle region-specific issues.”

He has been executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, for the past 16 years. With the Council since 1990, he also served as a fisheries biologist and then deputy director. During his time as executive director he developed the limited access privilege programmes and fishery cooperatives and catch share programmes, the North Pacific’s on-board observer programme, numerous by catch reduction programmes, extensive habitat protection measures, commercial and recreational allocation programmes, and coastal community development programmes.

Bente Torstensen appointed as ‘Director of Aquaculture’

B Bente Torstensen

ack in our May edition of International Aquafeed magazine we published an industry faces piece about Bente Torstensen regarding her incredibly impressive appointment as Nofima’s Director of its Aquaculture division.

Due to an editing error we printed incorrect personal pronouns for her.

Bente is due to start her new role on August 1, 2017 and the team here at International Aquafeed wish her our absolute best in her new role and our apologies for the previous mistypes in our May acknowledgement.

56 | July 2017 - International Aquafeed

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