Guangdong Evergreen wins F3 prize
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Antonio Garza de Yta
What will be in 2040?
he vision we have today of the future will define what we will be in 2040. I had the opportunity to attend the event organised by the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico, headed by Enrique de la Madrid Cordero, where the vision of Mexico for 2040, “Tourism in the Global Vanguard” was raised. The event, in addition to being very well organised, I think could serve as an example to all aquacultures, especially in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, so that we begin to sit down and talk about how we are positioned both inside and outside our countries in the short, medium and long term. I would like to comment on some topics that were discussed and that caught my attention: 1. Education - In the case of aquaculture this has been a very delicate case. What came first, the chicken or the egg? We have produced generations of unemployed graduates. Perhaps what we have lacked is to be part of a broader state vision. What is certain is that the generation of Technicians is fundamental, it takes people from the field, operational and not just people who are dedicated to research. They need both generalists and specialists, and for that we have to define which universities will do it, where they are or should be located, what capacities they all have, what facilities they would acquire those capacities and how many specialists in each branch will be needed . We have to take advantage of the limited resources we have, commit ourselves to quality and make the strategic alliances necessary to fulfill the objectives that we draw. 2. Business Environment and Investment Promotion - It is not about giving money, it is about giving facilities. It is about the investors not having to enter into corruption to acquire permission; that they can move their product freely at any time they want, without having to worry about extreme security measures. It is
that they will not give preferential treatment to the neighbour for being the son of a politician; which will not unnecessarily tax the inputs or allow unfair imports that do not pay the taxes that correspond to them for the benefit of few. The moment we can convince investors that the environment of our countries gives security to their investments, then not only will aquaculture grow, all economic activities will grow. Perhaps we should make sure that this happens as soon as possible, since all countries in the region could be developed countries for the next generation. 3. Inter-institutionality - Many people call it governance, but that from my perspective would involve a broad participation of civil society, which in our region is not so common. What we have to be very clear is that we are not an island; we are a network. We are interconnected with a number of activities: environmental, forestry; educational; health; economic and political to name a few. If we want to plan ambitious projects, as we should, we have to open dialogues with many institutions and get their support. We have to convince them of what we already know, that aquaculture is no longer the future, it is the present; and to flag them with our cause. If we all work together, the region will emerge and we will achieve detonating macroprojects; such as feasible in the Sea of Cortez or Laguna Madre in Mexico. Many times I lack space in this column to express everything I would like to pass on to you, today is such a day. I would just like to end this column by inviting them to be activated. The region needs to integrate and make a common pro-aquaculture front that fosters and defends the activity with serious scientific information. Other regions of the world have advanced significantly, but here we have water, space and above all our people. Let’s begin to see ourselves in 2040 and begin to sketch our future.
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. He is currently Rector, Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas Bicentenario 12 | November 2017 - International Aquafeed
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he Future of Fish Feed announced today that Guangdong Evergreen Feed Industry Co. is the winner of the F3 (Fish-Free Feed) Challenge; a contest to develop and sell the most fishfree feed for aquaculture during a 16 month sales challenge. The US$200,100 grand prize was presented to Evergreen Feed Company during a special ceremony on October 4, 2017, at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2017 conference in Dublin, Ireland. To offset volatility in supply and rising costs for fishmeal, aquaculture operators have been seeking nutritionally equivalent alternatives to wild-caught forage fish, such as sardines, anchovies and menhaden, as a main ingredient in fish feed. With the development and widespread acceptance of their proprietary “fish-free” fish feed blend by customers, Evergreen Feed Co. has emerged as a market leader in costcompetitive alternative feeds for tilapia and carp, which are the top two farm-raised fish in the world by volume. Evergreen Feed Co. distributes its fish-free feed in China, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia. Chen Dan, President, explained, “The most important sustainability issue facing aquaculture is the feed issue. Global wild fisheries resources are currently being depleted to alarming levels and our oceans may be empty soon if we don’t do anything to stop overfishing and reduce the pressure on wild-fish stocks.” Over 120,000 metric tonnes of fish-free feed was sold since the sales contest launched in May 2016. The amount of fishfree aquafeed sold during the 16-month contest is estimated to have saved over 120 million forage fish from being used as fish feed.