Industry Events
by Vaughn Entwistle, Managing Editor, International Aquafeed
T
his year’s Aquaculture America event boasted one of the most looked-forward to venues in recent times, as it took place in Honolulu, Hawaii. Small wonder then, that attendance at this year’s show was so high, with over 150 booths and in excess of 2,000 attendees. As John Cooksey, World Aquaculture Society (WAS) conference manager explained, “the attendance was higher than we expected. Being this far out in the Pacific Ocean probably limited some US participation, but then we picked up a lot more attendees from the Asia Pacific region. In the past we never had any attendees from the Pacific islands. This year we had more than 100. And we had attendees from over 95 countries, including several African countries.” The choice of Hawaii for the event was especially apt, given the Aloha state’s long tradition of aquaculture, which can be traced back more than 1,500 years. This venue of choice was the Hawaiian Convention Center, which in 2019 was voted the best convention centre in the world. When they weren’t touring the booths, show-goers had over 15 technical conferences to choose from. And as is traditional at WAS events, students of aquaculture received special attention with student receptions, student awards and even a student field trip to the Kualoa Ranch Aquaculture Facilities. The 150-plus show booths exhibited a nice mix of nutrition and technology companies that virtually covered the gamut of aquaculture disciplines. (To watch a video walk through of the event on IAF TV, point your browser at our website: https://aquafeed. co.uk.) International Aquafeed visited with many exhibitors and discussed emerging trends in the aquaculture industry. While there were many hot topics addressed at the event, globalism, sustainability and innovation were common themes. Here is a sampling from just some of the companies we spoke with:
Ziegler on Globalism
Chris Stock, Ziegler’s Global Director for Aquaculture Sales emphasized the global nature of the feed industry. “Although Ziegler is a relatively small company,” Stock said, “we act like a big business, because we have representatives and distribution partners all over the world. The engine that’s driving our company’s growth is our global reach. Over half our business is export. We’re working with partners in other countries to develop and distribute our products all over the world. Thanks to RAS systems we now have the same species being raised in North America, South East Asia and Europe.” But while that is the positive side of globalism, Stock explained that dealing with the bureaucracies of different governments is hindering progress. “Doing business is becoming increasingly complex because of trade wars and regulatory pressures,” Stock explained, “especially where regulations are not science-based rules. This potentially has the possibility of restricting the growth of aquaculture at a time when we are racing to produce enough protein to feed the planet.”
Cargill on sustainability
Sustainability is always a talking point in the aquaculture industry. Cargill has stepped up to the challenge by developing a range of new products that directly address the issue. Colleen Crewe, Sales Consultant for Cargill EWOS, explained, “Many of our discussions with clients centre upon ingredients and sustainability. This year we are introducing our marine equivalent protein replacement and marine oil replacement. By the end of this year we have our Latitude oil coming out. This will be our full fish oil replacement, which represents a significant investment on Cargill’s behalf.”
MOTIV on innovating to thrive
New company MOTIV (owned by Cargill) has developed a special protein feed for shrimp that uses fermented corn to promote gut health. “The reason behind this innovation is because shrimp have major gut health and disease issues,” Michael Klapperich, Director
52 | March 2020 - International Aquafeed