DEC 2021 | International Aquafeed magazine

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

COP26 & THE “GREENING FINANCE” ROADMAP

It’s time to start taking sustainability much more seriously

International Aquafeed - Volume 24 - Issue12 - December 2021

- When drugs won’t work: The ongoing journey toward an antibiotic-resistant future - Climate Change: How it will impact the seafood industry - International Aquafeed HIGHLIGHTS OF 2021 - Agglomeration in animal & fish feed production

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December 2021

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We face a trident of challenges

WELCOME

protect the human population and the health of individuals everywhere.

This end-of-year edition of International Antibiotic resistance is a difficult issue Aquafeed and Fish Farming Technology to grapple with but one which we must magazine contains a lot of thought-provoking find a solution for. That solution might be features: especially our reports around the multi-faceted and must involve a greater issue of climate change and our carbon appreciation of the maintenance of gut health footprint. in both our farmed fish species and in our farmed livestock.

Our COP26 report (see page 14) is focused at all Let’s read the reports from our milling and does not exclude aqua feed producers Roger Gilbert correspondent James Cooper and digest the and goes into some detail on options available to Publisher – International Aquafeed comments and advice he has obtained from us on a way forward in 2022. and Fish Farming Technology the various protagonists interviewed. Then we On page 18 we look directly at the UK fishing can begin to appreciate the need to confront industry through the eyes of the organisation this challenge and bring about a combined approach that protects called Seafish UK, which supports the seafood industry - both these most beneficial of drugs to the ongoing protection of human aquaculture and fisheries in the UK - and is calling on the sector to health. make meaningful changes. It also points to the intent of the COP26 The Greek sea god Poseidon and his Roman counterpart Neptune report and looks to identify areas of climate change mitigation. both carried a trident as their symbol of strength, and it might well Climate change is something we will all have to consider and do be that we may have to adopt the trident as our symbol of courage something about in our daily lives if we are to avoid the worst from and determination to protect ourselves against the onslaught of these occurring. Coping with Covid-19 for another year has stressed upon challenges. us the importance of working together and doing whatever we can Let me turn my attention from these three (of the four) ‘horsemen to contribute to protecting our respective communities. We have to of the apocalypse’ and focus on what we have achieved this year as be prepared to do the same for our businesses and for aquaculture in a magazine. In this issue we highlight aspects of our reportage over general when it comes to climate change.

However, this two-pronged challenge does not stop at climate change the past 12 months that gained most attention. We have presented one aspect from each monthly edition. and Covid-19. We are facing a trident of challenging issues, with the Please remember that when you subscribe to our App you will have third one being even more pressing than the former two: we have an access to the library of back editions that can be readily searched to issue large on the horizon and approaching us fast, that is antibiotic find these highlighted stories. Much of our content, which is not news resistance.

We look at this third critical challenge we are facing in this issue in the based, is worth a second or even a third reading. Having access to our printed editions and to our App gives first of a two-part report on ‘When drugs won’t work’ (on page 21). you the most flexibility and useful resource you can This first report looks at how we have come to arrive at this point-intime with a general overview of the key decisions taken over time with have in your hand.

As a Christmas gift I invite you to take up a free regard to the use of antibiotics in animal welfare. annual subscription to our magazine by visiting our The second part of our report will focus on what comes next in terms of MagStand website of your choice and using the code: how we might overcome the threat of bacterial resistance to antibiotics Xmas2021. and how we might not only protect our animals (and fish) but also

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HIGHLIGHTS OF 2021 FROM INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED MAGAZINE

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY See more on page 32

www.aquafeed.co.uk

NUTRITION & HEALTH Greetings for Christmas and the New Year and welcome to this last issue for 2021 and a bridge to 2022.

China is the largest producer of farmed fish and shellfish but will need to balance its commitments to the Paris accord and to COP26 to achieve targets by 2050 as stated and to maintain and expand its GDP and rising It is fitting that we reflect on the status of economy. our climate after the Glasgow COP26 summit These will make for interesting challenges of world leaders and their representatives. that will need to be considered as well as other How might this all relate to aquaculture and Professor Simon Davies players in SE Asia such as Vietnam, Thailand, particularly fish nutrition and feeding?

Nutrition Editor, International Aquafeed and S Korea over the coming decades. There We must remind ourselves of the global is now no question that affluence will increase economy and the interrelationships of agricultural the demand for seafood. Climate change will undoubtedly seriously trade and commerce. Fish farming as well as shrimp farming as we affect wild fisheries and we can expect reductions in availability in have often stated is heavily dependent on our environment and this the future, placing more demands for aquaculture to fill the expanding interconnection embraces the production of numerous plants and byproducts for use in animal feed such as soybean, rapeseed meal, pulses gap.

Aquaculture already contributes more than 50 percent to our global and many others. seafood industry and projections have been made for targets that The increasing concern of the redirection of tropical rainforests have not been adjusted for climate changes. We need to improve our in Brazil for soybean production and the deforestation of similar definitions of sustainability in the agribusiness sector and for the rainforests in Malaysia for palm oil is extremely important with aquafeed industry this will become a priority. respect to aquafeed formulations.

We hear much of the alternate proteins to fishmeal but solving one Likewise overfishing and the effects of temperature increases has problem is likely to create another. What is the real carbon footprint placed enormous pressures on fish stocks, and this could indeed in the of soya? Also is the production of algae, insect meal, bacterial protein longer term affect the stability of the fishmeal supply source in parts and yeasts viable in terms of energy, scale, cost of substrate resource of the world. and transport?

Many important species have already begun to migrate to cooler We need more data on the stoichiometric aspects of bioconversion of waters and shifted northwards in the northern hemisphere. Global warming has been shown to be a primary cause for extreme drought as protein and energy meeting definitions of being sustainable. A system that can rank ingredients using a meaningful sustainability index and well as excessive rainfall and floods in many parts of the world and in value in addition to costs and nutritional profile would be desirable. places where intensive open water aquaculture is being practised.

There is no question that climate change and the likely scenarios Hurricanes, tornadoes and intense cyclones have recently damaged we face are going to affect our industry from every angle. That large shrimp farms in Asia. Flooding in regions like Australasia and said, I don’t wish to be pessimistic in this season of joy as I’m wildfires affect crop production and aquaculture operations. Even convinced technology will be our saviour at the end of the day. the USA and Canada and Europe don’t escape the changing weather More strategic location and local feed production may be one patterns. Feed production for animals and aquaculture face disruption answer. and higher risks.

Advanced and precision diet formulations that maximise As one response to climate change, we are being encouraged to eat performance even further and reduce waste output are being less farmed terrestrial animals such as ruminants, pigs and poultry. developed. The rising application of RAS technology coupled with However, the latter is a major source of animal by-products and are integrated power sources such as heat pumps, geothermal energy, solar included in many quality aquafeeds as protein rich ingredients as well voltaic, solar thermal, wind turbines and wave energy may become as blood meal products from swine. principal factors.

This is a conundrum as we consider how best to formulate and Clearly, we all must rethink how we can play our part in the COP26 manufacture sustainable diets for the variety of cultured fish and agenda and re-image aquaculture and improve our own aquafeed crustacean species around the world. Added to this is the cost of operations and practices. We are in a difficult transition phase as we energy and this would include the demands of the shipment of raw move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. materials to feed mills and the costs associated with pelleting and However, in my experience aquaculture and its disciplines have drying of the feed and subsequent transport costs for export or within always been prepared for change and we have evolved accordingly. a country that practices significant aquaculture.

The aquafeeds of 30 years ago were quite different to the modern diets of today and this is more obvious in the salmon farming sector.

Aquaculture fills the gap So, what will things look like in 2030 to 2060? We can certainly With the rising costs of oil, gas and electricity we may expect the expect great resets and a different style of diets and related technology feed prices to escalate and leading to increased costs for the farmer to support the industry. and ultimately the consumer. One of the biggest importers of soya In the meantime, please have a joyous and reflective season as we and fishmeal is China and it accounts of 27 percent of the global steam ahead for 2022! carbon output.

4 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY Just before the Aqua Nor exhibition in Trondheim in August 2021, two giants in the Norwegian fisheries and aquaculture industry, - Aker ASA and SalMar ASA, announced that they were joining forces to create a joint venture company focusing on offshore fish farming. The two companies put up a total of five billion Norwegian Krona (US$590 million) for the company, which has been given the name SalMar Aker Ocean AS.

million. And this is not even the largest offshore farming rig on the drawing board.

SalMar built its rig in China, and China is now seriously entering offshore fish farming. China is now building its own rigs for use off its coast.

Two rigs have already been launched: “Deep Blue 1”, with the capacity to hold 200,000 salmon, and Weihai Haien Blue Sea Aquaculture’s “Lan Xin”, with a total volume of 80,000m3.

The economic viability of offshore fish Erik Hempel farming has yet to be fully proven. But it is The Nor-Fishing Foundation highly probable that it will be successful. Why else would SalMar invest hundreds of millions The new company will engage in offshore salmon farming mainly in it? And why would a shrewd businessman like Mr Røkke put up off the coast of Norway. SalMar has already built and put into large amounts of money to participate in this adventure if it were not operation the huge offshore salmon farming rig “Ocean Farm 1”, quite clear to him that it would be profitable? which has a total volume of 250,000m3 and an annual production For developing coastal nations, such operations will probably capacity of 150,000 tonnes of salmon. remain just a dream for a very long time. They do not have the The two parent companies are owned by Gustav Witsøe, who capital, or the expertise, to take on such a venture. Furthermore, started SalMar in Norway, and Kjell Inge Røkke, who started his they cannot all produce salmon. They would have to look at a career as a deck hand on fishing vessels operating out of Seattle. number of alternative species, and many of the prime candidates He later founded the American Seafoods Company, but returned would not be possible to farm in offshore conditions. to Norway in the early 1990s, where he gradually took over the Another thing that these nations would have to sort out is the industrial group Aker, which also includes one of Norway’s largest legal and regulatory framework for such operations. In fact, most fishing companies. Aker is deeply involved in offshore oil and gas countries lack a proper regulatory framework for fish farming. But operations and bring a vast array of offshore technology to the joint such regulations are an absolute requirement to attract investors. venture, whilst SalMar is the salmon-farming expert.

No investor would go into an expensive venture without certain Many countries around the world are looking at marine fish farming, guarantees about how the country would manage the activity. but not very many have the natural conditions for such operations. The Norway has been a forerunner in developing such regulatory main obstacle has been and is an exposed coast without the protective frameworks, and other countries have to some extent copied bays, inlets and fjords that are prevalent along the Norwegian coast.

Norway in this regard. This is also true for the industry standards.

Consequently, investors in these countries are looking at offshore The Norwegian standard NS9415 regarding the requirements fish farming, or fish farming in “exposed locations”. Could this for site survey, risk analyses, design, dimensioning, production, be the answer for these coastal countries? Countries like Vietnam, installation and operation for marine fish farms is already being Australia, South Africa, Namibia and other African countries? adapted in some other countries.

The answer may be “yes” and “no”. The main reasons for a yes is So what is the future for offshore fish farming? It is being that it would probably be possible to have fish farming operations developed in some very advanced aquaculture nations, but it is in many such areas. But the “no” relates to money. probably a long way off for most countries.

Offshore fish farming is an extremely expensive business that Nevertheless, this technology will continue to be developed and requires enormous investments. The “Ocean Farm 1” rig that SalMar applied, and it will contribute to the growth of the aquaculture has put into operation already is reported to have cost over US$100 industry in the future.

This month on IAF TV Jessica Wiertz, the applications manager at the German company Brabender, talks to Roger Gilbert, publisher of International Aquafeed magazine, at this year's Aquaculture Europe 2021 event which was held in Funchal, Madeira at the end of October.

She explains the benefit of lab-scale extruders in production facilities and why companies producing aquatic feeds on full-scale extruders should consider their use. The advantage of lab-scale machines allow companies to develop their own products and evaluate ration formulations without interrupting their regular production cycles. Used regularly they can make a significant return on investment she says.

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 5

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 Managing Editor Peter Parker peterp@perendale.co.uk

December 2021 Volume 24 Issue 12

IN THIS ISSUE

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

International Editors Dr Kangsen Mai (Chinese edition) mai@perendale.com Prof Antonio Garza (Spanish edition) antoniog@perendale.com Erik Hempel (Norwegian edition) erikh@perendale.com Editorial Advisory Panel • Prof Dr Abdel-Fattah M. El-Sayed • Dr Allen Wu • Prof António Gouveia • Prof Charles Bai • 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 Prof Simon Davies sjdaquafeed@gmail.com Andrew Wilkinson andreww@perendale.co.uk Caitlin Gittins caitling@perendale.co.uk Levana Hall levanah@perendale.co.uk International Marketing Team Darren Parris Tel: +44 7854 436407 darrenp@perendale.co.uk Latin America Marketing Team Clarissa Garza de Yta Tel: +52 669 120 0140 clarissag@perendale.com Egyptian Marketing Team Mohamed Baromh Tel: +20 100 358 3839 mohamedb@perendale.com India Marketing Team Dr T.D. Babu +91 9884114721 tdbabu@aquafeed.org Asia Marketing Team Dante Feng Tel: +886 0227930286 dantef@perendale.com

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Industry News

48 Technology showcase 52 Industry Events 56 The Market Place 60 The Aquafeed Interview 62

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50 Clothing fibres from seafood processing waste

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COLUMNS 3 Roger Gilbert 4 Professor Simon Davies 5

Erik Hempel

12 Brett Glencross

FEATURES 14 COP26 & the “Greening Finance” roadmap 18 Climate Change: How it will impact the seafood industry

22 When drugs won’t work: The ongoing journey toward an antibiotic-resistant future 28 Agglomeration in animal & fish feed production

32 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2021 FROM INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED MAGAZINE

38 Precision aquaculture: Characterising FISH TECHNOLOGY fishFARMING welfare using AutoAI 42 Counting on AI: Digital aquaculture project is on the road to success

THE BIG PICTURE : Characterising fish welfare using AutoAI Precision aquaculture See more on page 38

44 Forecasting fish respiration in land-based aquaculture: Introducing an innovative approach to the smart control of oxygen supply

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Shellfish hatchery wins Scottish educational grant

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multi-species aquaculture hatchery has successfully secured funding for a number of new aquaculture graduate positions, after winning a Scottish educational grant.

Courtesy of the Highlands and Islands Enterprises’ Graduate Support Program, a scheme is dedicated to providing graduates across Scotland with well-paid work experience placements in key sectors and spans a wide variety of industries.

Positions under the scheme are available to all graduates that have finished their studies in the last four years and there is no age restriction.

With the help of the program, Orkney Shellfish Hatchery, which is located on the pristine waters of Orkney, Scotland, will employ four new aquaculture graduates to continue its research into the on-land culture of premium Native Flat Oyster spat and European clawed lobster.

The graduate positions available will offer those who have studied in the field the opportunity to gain valuable work experience in a fully operational, state-of-the-art and bio-secure hatchery facility.

“We are thrilled to have been chosen as one of the winners of the Highlands and Islands Enterprises’ Graduate Support Program grant,” says Dr Nik Sachlikidis, Managing Director of Aquaculture for Orkney Shellfish

Hatchery, commenting on securing the funding.

“This funding will allow us to bring new, eager graduates into the team, providing them with the opportunity to take their first steps into the hatchery world, alongside our team of experienced and highly knowledgeable aquaculture professionals.

“Most importantly, we are excited to bring more skilled, local employment to Orkney. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise for their ongoing support and we are excited to fill the positions quickly with graduates that are keen to be a part of our exciting Native Oyster and Clawed Lobster projects.”

With the funding secured, Orkney Shellfish Hatchery is now actively searching for aquaculture graduates to fill its Hatchery Technician positions.

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8 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

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Another company commits to making its operations more sustainable

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ndependent manufacturers of natural, sustainable animal feed additives for health, nutrition, and biosecurity Anpario, announces the installation of solar panels at the Company’s head office and production facilities.

The aim of this adjustment is to help to reduce the company’s carbon emissions and meet their net-zero emissions target by 2030 and help fight climate change.

The move to install solar panels at the company’s head office and production plant in Nottinghamshire UK will support the company’s strategy to reduce the impact of its global operation on the environment, thus enabling them to meet their ambition of net-zero for scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030.

The UK£274,000 (US$365,121.44) panel installation will commence in December 2021, with energy from the sun harnessed to power the manufacturing plant from early 2022.

A 43% reduction in carbon emissions It is anticipated that the installation will generate one third of Anpario’s current onsite annual energy consumption, equating to a 43 percent reduction in carbon emissions.

The balance of the onsite electricity will continue to be purchased from the grid from renewable energy sources, which have already been adopted as part of the company’s overall drive to reduce carbon emissions.

In addition to this, at times when the solar panels generate more electricity than is used on site, the excess will be exported to the national grid and used locally in homes and businesses, reducing the overall reliance on fossil fuels.

The initiative follows significant investment in recent years implementing bulk supply, automation and packaging solutions to reduce energy consumption, lower the impact of transportation and to minimise waste.

The company’s ambition is to reach net-zero within their own operational footprint by 2030, this includes all

scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as scope 3 emissions from business travel.

The solar installation will contribute significantly to the company meeting this target and will sustain their continued requirement for operational growth to meet increasing sales demand.

The company’s key focus is to optimise animal protein production by using sustainable natural resources, for the benefit of animals, customers, and human health.

Anpario’s products support animal health and productivity, enabling producers to achieve a reduction in their carbon footprint associated with milk, meat and egg production - Naturally.

“We recognise that swift and decisive action is now needed to reduce emissions and address the climate crisis globally,” comments Karen Prior, who is the company’s Corporate Responsibility Director.

“Anpario is focused and committed to reviewing and continuing to invest in our own operations to help meet this global challenge.

“Our production facility has established benchmark levels to measure scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions and is dedicated to drive continuous improvements to increase efficiency, thus reducing our impact on the environment.

“This is also crucial to our customers around the world in managing their supply chain emissions and reducing their carbon footprint.”

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 9

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Dinnissen & Ottevanger join forces in process technology

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innissen Process Technology and Ottevanger Milling Engineers have announced that they have formed a strategic alliance to realise customer value, synergy and focus together.

The alliance takes shape through a participation in Dinnissen by Bolster Investment Partners and Triott Group, the holding company which Ottevanger forms a part of.

The collaboration allows Dinnissen to focus more on high-end processing solutions for food, dairy, chemicals, pet food and pharma. For Ottevanger, the alliance offers the opportunity to strengthen its position in the international feed market.

This step fits in with the ambition of the companies to realise value creation, continuity and growth in a sustainable way. Both production technology companies have a strong international customer base, which largely complement each other. With the alliance, the companies will continue to shape collaboration in areas such as customer projects, international services, R&D, innovation and efficiency.

For Dinnissen, the alliance means the company can serve its customer group even better. Also, the collaboration with the Triott Group companies offers the opportunity to further expand the range of automation solutions, 24/7 support and dosing and storage systems.

For Ottevanger, the alliance offers the opportunity to strengthen its position in the international feed market.

Dinnissen’s high-end machines strengthen the current range in the field of food grade and hygiene.

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Realising mutual growth ambitions Bolster Investment Partners has a lot of experience in (internationally) expanding Dutch manufacturing companies and is joining this partnership as a long-term investor. Bolster will support the alliance in realising its growth ambitions with a strong network and with knowledge in the field of organisation, strategy and professionalisation.

“We are facing the next growth step for our company,” comments Frans Bakker, CCO Dinnissen Process Technology. “This alliance with Ottevanger and Bolster enables us to achieve this and to continue our healthy future. We want to follow our customers even more internationally, and strengthen our service and 24/7 support. Ottevanger has been a solid player in the international processing industry for years. We complement each other very nicely,” adds Mr Bakker.

Similarities in values “Dinnissen is a wonderful company, built on values that have many similarities with our values: customer-friendly, progressive and with an eye for the human dimension,” says Ernst-Jan Ottevanger, CEO Ottevanger Milling Engineers and Triott Group. “This alliance fits in with our growth strategy. We are confident we can offer our customers even more with this,” adds Mr Ottevanger.

Joost Bakhuizen, partner Bolster Investment Partners comments, “Dinnissen and the Triott Group companies are exceptional Dutch companies with strong international market positions and leading customers in feed and food.

“The companies are complementary to each other. We see many opportunities for further growth from the perspective of synergy. This investment therefore fits in perfectly with our long-term strategy,” he concludes.

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Brett Glencross

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Building a waste-free world The rise of by-products

was watching the BBC’s “The Earthshot Prize” program [www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09w80wb] recently with my family and was impressed by the ingenuity of the world to rise to the many challenges we face with the growing list of climate and sustainability issues.

In this fantastic television series, Britain’s Prince William and Sir David Attenborough explore a range of simple, yet ambitious ideas to help fix our planet. I really admired the clear objective of searching for practical solutions to some of the planet’s greatest challenges, offering hope for both humanity and nature. Not only is it a timely message, but one which fits well with the modern marine ingredients sector.

A quick review of the IFFO 2020 marine ingredients statistics shows that the production of fishmeal and oil from trimmings and

by-products is on the rise. We now have almost half (48%) of all fish oils and 29 percent of all fish meals coming from various byproduct raw material streams (Figure 1A and 1B).

Combined, that is close to one third of all marine ingredients currently produced. While the use of trimmings and by-products is not a new initiative in the marine ingredients sector, the momentum behind the use of these “circular” proteins and lipids is clearly growing. Further examination of where all this comes from shows aquaculture as now a major player in the provision of fish oils, with both salmon and pangasius sectors being significant contributors (Figure 1C).

On the fishmeal front, while aquaculture is a comparative minor contributor, we note that by-products from human food fisheries contribute 20 percent of all production, with most of this coming from various pelagic and demersal fisheries (Figure 1D).

Low environmental footprint

The other brilliant part about using by-products is their low environmental footprint. As most lifecycle assessment (LCA) analysis in the feed sector is now based on economic allocation, the primary catch/production of fish for human consumption means that most of the economic allocation is taken by that portion, even though that fraction often represents less than 50 percent of the raw material.

Therefore, the lower-value by-products get attributed an even lower allocation of the environmental footprint.

So, materials that are already low CO2 discharge, low energy use, with little to no reliance land or freshwater, become even less so. It is like getting a bonus on top of your bonus.

Adding new things to the dinner table

But what about the future? We are already aware of constraints to expanding the availability of wild-capture marine ingredients.

And we still need to “add new things to the dinner table to accommodate those increasing numbers of mouths to feed”, irrespective of whether they’re human or animal.

But if aquaculture keeps growing, doesn’t that give us a growing resource base from which to make marine ingredients too? What if we could mobilise production of marine ingredients beyond the salmon, pangasius and tilapia sectors?

Given we are already growing millions of tonnes of fish and shellfish, wouldn’t ensuring that we use of the non-edible parts of that produce for making marine ingredients be a better part of building a waste-free world? It is Figure 1A – 1D. Production in 2020 of fishoils (A) and fishmeals (B) from whole-fish and byproducts (BP). Shown in figure 1C is the breakdown of sectors contributing the by-product certainly food-for-thought. oils, and figure 1D the sectors contributing the by-product meals. Data from IFFO 2021.

Dr Brett Glencross is the Technical Director of IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organisation.

Over the past 25 years he has worked in various academic, institutional, and industrial roles across Australasia, the Middle East and Europe.

12 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

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Aquafeed Production School Autumn 2022 Edition Highlights from sessions five & Six The organisers of the Online Aquafeed Production School invite you to join them for the Autumn edition of their twelve-week course.

Each installment begins with a welcoming introduction by long time industry publisher and journalist Roger Gilbert and Yiannis Christodoulou, founder/owner of Progressus Agrischools Asia, followed by two hours of live training, with proceedings brought to a close with a very thorough Q & A session.

The two hours of live training cover a broad range of topics from the world of aquafeed production including ingredients, equipment used, how it is operated and the desired final product specifications.

Session 5: Micro-ingredients and final preparation prior to pellet production

by Mr Joe Kearns & Mr Marco Prati Following on from the session on coarse grinding and micropulverising, this session covers micro ingredients and final preparation prior to pellet production.

In his presentation, Mr Joe Kearns explains that before adding micro ingredients to the major ingredients in a formulation, there are several questions that need to be asked: the moisture content of the mix, the particle size, and the bulk density.

The moisture content in a mix is total moisture calculated by how much is going to be added. Some sinking feeds are close to 30 percent in moisture, whereas for floating this is approximately 20 percent.

There are ways of testing moisture, such as a rapid method moisture analyser which weighs and heats the mix; or, for a more accurate test, taking a weight sample, putting it in the oven and waiting a few hours for the result.

Micro dosing of powder ingredients Mr Marco Prati’s presentation looks at micro dosing of powder ingredients, as most micro ingredients in animal and aqua feeds are mixed in order to obtain the desired, uniform blend. Dosing these ingredients correctly is crucial, in order to have good quality feed, and to prevent cost loss during production.

He goes on to explain the three solutions of handling micro ingredients: preparing a bulk, premixed additive; preparing each formula and only dosing the amount that needs to be added to the batch mixer; and finally, micro dosing the formula directly into the main mixer.

Each of these solutions have advantages and disadvantages. The conveying that takes place after dosing is equally important, to prevent the risk of cross contamination. Mr Prati recommends vacuum transport, for its low speed, cleanliness and safety.

Mr Kearns finishes off the session with a detailed history on the evolution of extruders and dryers, which covers their developments in the last almost 100 years.

In the troubleshooting portion, Mr Kearns outlines the questions that need to be asked when troubleshooting a micro system, such as: has the supplier been given enough information to get the correct design, is there sufficient space available for ingredient storage and are there problems with the flow of the bins? With all of these factors needing to be taken into consideration in order to ensure a smooth operation.

Session 6: Extrusion versus pelleting: production via singlescrew extruders

by Mr Joe Kearns and Mr Brian Streit On the subject of extrusion versus pelleting: production via single-screw extruders, Mr Joe Kearns opens with a discussion on the differences between extruders and pellet mills, such as the feeds they produce, with pelleted feeds being high density and extruded pellets capable of being low density.

In terms of the preconditioner, there are different styles, including the single pre-conditioner, double preconditioner, differential diameter cylinder (DDC) and the high intensity pre conditioner (HIP). Comparing these types together, the HIP proves the best, as water is distributed more evenly, high gelatinisation is achieved, and mixing is increased. The different types of preconditioners demonstrate the development of technologies involved in extrusion over time.

Mr Brian Streit’s presentation takes place over two parts and is on single screw aquafeed production. In the first part of his presentation, Mr Streit starts by talking about existing extrusion technology and its several components, including the internal screw element and the knife and die.

He then continues by acknowledging that single screw extruders don’t possess as much flexibility as twin screw extruders, but with the support of changes around variable speed drives, computer control systems, and new designs in rotating elements and the extruder barrel, its capability has broadened over time.

He then directly compares single screw and twin screw technology, noting that the factors that are involved in this include wear cost, capital investment, operating costs and ingredient flexibility.

The conclusion of Mr Streit’s two-part presentation includes a summary of the advantages of extruded aquatic feeds, including increased water stability, increased feed conversion rates, a wider range of ingredient flexibility, and so on.

Enrol for Spring 2022 The Autumn 2021 Aqua Feed Production Course concluded in December. Those completing will receive their certificates in January 2022 after an on-demand period to will allow attendees to catch up on any Session missed.

To enrol for the Spring 2022 Course, be sure to visit - https://www.onlinemillingschool.com/ It's the only online aquafeed training course that offers immeasurable advancement to increase production and profits. The Spring 2022 Course runs from Tuesday February 22, 2022 to Tuesday May 4, 2022.

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 13

& the “Greening Finance” roadmap It’s time to start taking sustainability much more seriously

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by Andrew Wilkinson, International Aquafeed magazine

ringing together 120 world leaders, all with the aim of speeding up progress towards the climate change goals set out in the Paris Agreement back in 2015, November 2021 saw the drama of COP26 unfold in Glasgow, UK. On the final day of COP26, or the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties to give its full name, climate negotiators concluded two weeks of intense talks that ended with a consensus reached on urgently accelerating climate action.

This agreement, combined with increased ambition and action from countries, means that a 1.5°C reduction in global temperature still remains within our reach, but is only deliverable through “concerted and immediate global efforts.”

With all countries agreeing to revisit and strengthen their current 2030 emissions targets, the main hope is that this pact will speed up the pace of climate action, with further meetings scheduled over the coming years.

Five key points from COP26

1: Appreciation was expressed for informal agreements: This includes the increased targets and actions announced and the commitments made to work together and with nonparty stakeholders to accelerate sectoral action by 2030.

2: Come back stronger next year: Parties were asked to revisit and strengthen their 2030 targets and align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022.

3: Fossil fuel phaseout: Parties are to accelerate the transition towards low-emission energy systems and phase-down unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, 4: Called out on climate finance: The Paris agreement made it clear that rich countries had an obligation to help them pay for the transition to clean energy and for adapting to climate impacts. The goal of them contributing US$100 billion per year by 2020 has not yet been met.

5: Loss and damage finance scheme: Urges developed countries to provide reparations to developing countries for those climate impacts that can’t be adapted to. This remains almost entirely unfunded and unstaffed.

14 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

What does this mean for our industry?

Greening Finance: A roadmap to sustainable investing

In November 2020, the UK government announced that it intends to make disclosure requirements mandatory across its economy by 2025.

The Greening Finance roadmap outlines plans for new sustainability-related disclosures and implements a Green Taxonomy to evaluate corporate environmental behaviour and to counter socalled greenwashing.

This scheme parallels one currently being introduced in the EU, with the ultimate objective being to establish a globally consistent reporting standard for environmental sustainability.

Starting with “economically significant” companies, organisations will be required to make disclosures on their carbon reduction plans, with certain firms required to publish plans that align with the UK Government’s net zero commitment, or provide an explanation as to why they have not done so.

The Green Taxonomy element will set out criteria that specific economic activities must meet to be considered environmentally sustainable and has six environmental objectives, which are: • Climate change mitigation • Climate change adaption • Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources • Transition to a circular economy • Pollution prevention and control • Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems The Roadmap will initially focus on developing the first two objectives (climate change mitigation and climate change adaption), before turning to the remaining four objectives in 2023.

The quick answer to the question of what this means to our industry is, well, not much.

Other than serving as a timely reminder that we should all be adopting more sustainable working practices, there was very little in this that was specific to our industry.

However, with the UK Government set to phase in the Greening Finance Roadmap, a set of measures set to be replicated by governments throughout the developed world, the pressure is really on us to update our working practices and look for ways of reducing the carbon footprint of our respective organisations.

So as our governments have not acted on our behalf, we are going to have to make the difference under our own volition. But just where do we start?

Well one plausible course of action would be to seek out a company that has been “doing it” for many years already, a company that has already won awards for sustainability, find outwhat they are doing and then try to do something similar.

One such organisation that is setting the gold standard in sustainable food processing is a double award winner found in the UK county of Suffolk.

As a global supplier of brewing and distilling malts and malted ingredients to the food & drinks industry, sustainability is the common objective that links all aspects of Muntons business activities.

In fact, the company describes minimising the impact of its business activity on the environment wherever and whenever possible as its key objective. A decade ago, the company was one of the first malting and milling plants to install an energy efficient kiln heating system at its Stowmarket site.

Maximize capacity, conditioning, and control.

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 15

CHINA

10 steps to reducing your organisation’s environmental footprint:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Get your board interested in sustainability: Tell them that this is about business risk management, that it’s about operational cost reduction and try to get them to use the "Triple Bottom Line” business model of People, Planet and Profit.

Calculate your carbon footprint: You need to use a model which takes everything into account: scopes 1 and 2 in the factory and scope 3 - the impact of materials coming in and going out.

Don’t spend too long worrying about the accuracy though, as you may miss the opportunities to change. Action does not need 100% certainty. Some of the most forward looking and sustainable companies move ahead with 70-80% certainty and are not afraid if something does not work as well as expected.

Make a carbon map across your supply chain: This step will help you to understand which supply chain areas have the greatest carbon intensity. Be ready for an adverse reaction if your supply chain partner thinks you are blaming them for their carbon intensity and make sure they understand that you want to work with them towards a common goal: the spirit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17 is partnership.

Set a science based target (SBT): look at what you've done so far and see how your current savings match up with the target required to minimise the human impact on climate change. There could be a four-to-five fold higher target to achieve a SBT but those that set such an ambitious target find it drives innovation, regulatory resilience and gives a competitive advantage.

Join the 2000 companies globally who have agreed it’s a good initiative and the 50 percent of those who are bold enough to have already progressed to setting a target. It will align you with the Race to Zero and fast track your GHG reduction programme. The target has to be set no more than five years backwards in time and has to be achieved within a 15 year window.

Align your investment plans with your carbon roadmap. Be mindful that 63 percent of Chief Executives who have elected to take a science based target say that it has driven innovation within their operation. You can achieve remarkable changes in GHG emissions with existing technology whilst we wait for new options to become available.

Engage with your capital project team : These are the people who are going to liaise with your contractors to actually install new equipment and oversee projects and they'll be involved with local planners, the environment agency and other important stakeholders inside and outside the business.

Use the United Nations Sustainability Goals to broaden your outlook on sustainability. Don’t just agree they are a good idea. Be very specific about how your operations address each of the 17.

Don't think of offsets first: Hunt down the technology that’s available now, there is a lot out there. If you have done all you can and still have a small residual amount to offset choose offsets within your supply chain if possible and always those which capture new additional carbon from the atmosphere and are not just previously captured carbon now allocated to you through a financial transaction.

Intention needs action: All of the previous steps count for nought without action. Action can come from any part of the organisation.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking it is only the young who drive sustainability.

At a recent conference Dr Nigel Davies described it as a silver bullet - a reference to seniority and experience in the right hands being able to drive transformational change in sustainability, as is evident through Muntons winning many awards for sustainability leadership and GHG reduction.

Appoint a consultant with a good track record of sustainability improvement: If you are still unsure of what to do, a sustainability consultant will be able to help you to align board strategy with action and demystify the jargon, barriers and fears that can at times stifle sustainable improvement. All of us in the UK now have to act fast to generate robust carbon plans as legislation is proposed from 2023.

This latest project forms an integral part of the company’s strategic pledge to be carbon neutral by 2050, and this, along with an existing system at its Bridlington site, is set to take the company over 60 percent of the way towards that goal.

Since receiving the awards, the mill has been fielding inquiries from other companies keen to follow in their carbon-free footsteps. And it has been the job of its Director of Technical Sustainability Dr Nigel Davies to satisfy these requests.

International Aquafeed magazine recently met with Dr Davies to ask him what advice he would you give to companies that are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable, where do they start?

How to become more sustainable

“In my professional life I currently have two hats on; I am the Director of Technical Sustainability at Muntons for three days a week, and I run my own sustainability consultancy called Maltdoctor Ltd for two days a week,” begins Dr Davies.

“For the past 20 years at Muntons I have been pleased to lead our sustainability drive and to go boldly where many are only just beginning to tread. Muntons has made transformational change and bucked the trend in promoting rather than resisting change.

“The reason I set up my consultancy is because I was finding I was getting a lot of interest from companies that just didn't know where to start on this journey. Many company boards of directors didn't really understand what a carbon footprint was, had no idea how to calculate it and didn't see why it was relevant for their business.

“They used to think - I say used to think but I think they still think - that sustainability is just about the environment and tree hugging. Many customers of Muntons love to engage with us and help them see what is possible in sustainability in a manufacturing setting.

“When I talk with customer at Muntons or clients of Maltdoctor Ltd I often explain that it is about business risk management, operational cost reduction, and trying to get them to use the Triple Bottom Line model of people, planet and profit.

“So yes, we tell them that you can benefit the planet and still make a profit. There's nothing wrong with that; you should be able to make a profit out of being environmentally conscious.

“It is equally true that you need to invest to make sustainable improvement so profit does not necessarily mean greater margin and can require a longer payback period on investments,” adds Dr Davies.

As a final point, Dr Davies also sates that by taking these steps, this will also help to engage people - and these people are not just your own people, but it's also your customers and your suppliers too.

16 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

We protect it We protect them We protect ourselves As a result of innovation and continuous improvement, Dibaq Aquaculture takes advantage of the arrival of summer to announce a new product line: Dibaq AquaSafe®, in which we have been actively working in recent months. It is an internal quality seal to differentiate our high-value products.

Dibaq Aquaculture brand has always been of a valuable company, specialized in the manufacture of special and differentiated products, using high quality raw materials, micronutrients and functional components. However, as a result of the innovation and needs of our global market, we have managed to go further and improve the quality of our nutrients, additives and formulas in our products with this new seal that aims to provide value and differentiation to our clients and achieve them the maximum performance in their production.

Why have we called it AquaSafe?

This concept includes the sustainability and safety of water and Planet Earth, as well as the health and safety of fish fed with our products, stimulating the immune system, protecting them against internal and external parasites and improving productive performance. Therefore, it is a global concept that offers and focuses on the safety of the planet and fishes.

Visit us: dibaqaquaculture.es

Change How it will impact the seafood industry – a campaign to raise awareness

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by Seafish, UK

eafish, the public body that supports the seafood industry in the UK, is urging seafood businesses across the country to get up to speed on the impacts of climate change.

In a campaign, launched ahead of COP 26, the organisation highlights the importance of understanding both climate mitigation, reducing our contributions to climate change; and adaptation, preparing for and responding to the impacts of a changing climate.

Seafish has created a suite of resources on the challenges and opportunities that these factors bring. There’s a video, which gives an overview of how climate change will impact the seafood industry, and case studies of businesses across the seafood supply chain recognising and responding to issues.

One of the major challenges facing humanity

“Climate change is now recognised as one of the major challenges facing humanity. The impacts will affect us all and the seafood sector and individual businesses must respond,” says Aoife Martin, Director of Operations at Seafish, speaking at the campaign launch.

“We’re launching a campaign on the implications for the seafood supply chain ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow next month. Witnessing global discussions on climate change in our backyard reminds us of the significant challenges we all face,” she adds.

“We already know that Seafood has a lower carbon emissions profile than other sources of protein and that eating the recommended two portions of seafood a week can be part of a climate kind flexitarian diet.

“However, businesses still need to work to meet Government targets for net-zero emissions within the next 30 years. They also need to adapt to the impacts that a changing climate will bring to their businesses on land and at sea. Some of these changes – increased storms and changing air and water temperatures are affecting us now,” Ms Martin continues.

“Many in the seafood industry are aware of these challenges and preparing to face them head on. It’s vital that businesses have access to the right information to help them navigate this complex topic, so we’re collating resources to support the seafood sector.

“We also want businesses to understand the opportunities associated with contributing to net zero targets, so we’re also sharing case studies to highlight some positive work already underway,” she continues.

Delivering climate change mitigation

As part of the campaign, Seafish is also sharing blogs on climate change and seafood. Dr Stuart McLanaghan, Head of Responsible Sourcing at Seafish, discussing climate change mitigation and the importance of low carbon emissions in seafood production states: “While all food production has some environmental impact, seafood is a relatively low emissions protein, making it a climate smart and nutritious food choice for all.

“The diversity in seafood choice means the carbon footprint for some species is amongst the lowest for all proteins. The emissions for a portion of whitefish or farmed salmon are modest and comparable to a portion of chicken.

“The emissions for other seafood species are comparable to plant-based proteins: small pelagic fish, like herring, can be very low, whilst cultivated mussels have amongst the lowest carbon footprints at the point of production.

“Eating the recommended two portions of seafood a week is aligned with a flexitarian diet. This is a good option for consumers wanting to reduce their meat intake to help the climate, without the need to become vegetarian or vegan.

“Although the seafood carbon footprint is already low, there are opportunities to reduce that footprint. Industry can focus on making improvements in key carbon ‘hotspots’.

“For example in catching (fuel use), in aquaculture (feed), in some modes of transport (air freight). Another important area is in utilisation of raw material – maximising yield and reducing waste are inextricably linked.

“Key steps can, and are, being taken by the industry. These include investing in energy efficient gear and vessels, looking at alternative lower carbon feed sources for aquaculture production, and exploring alternatives to air freight by combining cooling technology (such as super-freezing) with sea freight,” he concludes.

Many opportunities for businesses

There are many opportunities for businesses associated with reducing their carbon emissions towards net-zero. These include enhanced sector reputation, such as showcasing a low emissions

18 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

industry. The theory is that this will further strengthen the UK’s position as a global-leader in responsible seafood sourcing.

A further adjustment is supply chain resilience, meaning that through energy efficiency improvements and transitioning to renewable electricity, businesses can reduce operating costs and minimise exposure to fluctuating gas prices, respectively.

The UK aquaculture sector in particular has substantial growth potential; this will require access to finance from an investment community increasingly looking for positive environmental (including carbon credentials) and social impacts in their returns – deemed failure here could potentially act as a future barrier to securing investment.

A further consideration is long-term business viability as financial sustainability is inextricably linked to social and environmental sustainability, which are also partly dependent upon addressing climate change.

Seafood is already playing an important part of the solution to some of our major global challenges; helping to address climate change and ensure food security. Seafood has enormous potential to help meet the protein needs of a growing world population.

Why the seafood industry is adapting to climate change impacts

In another climate change and seafood blog, Dr Angus Garrett, Head of Seafood Horizons at Seafish talks about the importance of early response to a changing climate: “We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and expect further impacts to come. These factors could challenge seafood supply chains.

“Changes in storminess and waves could compromise vessel and crew safety, damage port infrastructure and aquaculture facilities. We’re also seeing changes in air and water temperature which could be playing a role in the changing distribution of some wild caught species and might, in time, affect the range of species that can be farmed.

“Over the longer term, changes in terrestrial rainfall could mean surface flooding of land-based infrastructure, affecting water quality and salinity of nearshore waters.

“Looking further into the future, we might expect to see sealevels rising and an increased the risk of coastal flooding of onshore infrastructure. Another issue in the long term could be ocean acidification which might affect fish in low oxygen waters, including the ability of shellfish to form their shells.

“It’s essential that we have sustainable food production systems to feed our growing global population. Seafood has a key role to play in transforming food production to business models that have a lower impact on the environment. At the same time, we need to make sure that these systems aren’t unduly disrupted by climate change.

“Seafood businesses are already adapting to a changing climate in all sorts of ways. Those working in fisheries are monitoring the impacts of changes in ocean temperature and tentative steps are being taken between stakeholders to discuss shifting stocks.

“Vessel owners are taking steps to improve safety to cope with more frequent and severe storms while working at sea, and ports are investing in flood defences. Major processors are also ‘war gaming’ flood scenarios that might disrupt operations.

“The long-term challenge is one of addressing climate change whilst - at the same time - feeding a world population. Transforming food production will require smarter production - including efficient operations and responsible sourcing practices, and smarter consumption – including healthier choices and less food waste.

“Halting food production for the sake of it will be counterproductive, potentially channelling consumption towards

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 19

high impact foods. All food production relies on environmental resources and has some form of environmental impact.

“As a relatively low emissions protein, seafood is a climate smart food choice and a good option for those consumers wanting to reduce their meat intake to help the climate.

“With the resources of the blue economy to hand, seafood has enormous potential to help meet the food needs of a growing world population.We face unparalleled global challenges with clear calls to action from around the world.

“In rising to these challenges, and despite the many hurdles, the seafood industry is playing its part. From small operators through to some of the largest international seafood businesses, people are thinking differently and taking action,” he concludes.

Support for seafood businesses

To help businesses stay informed going forward, Seafish also launched a new e-alert on climate change and seafood.

Businesses can sign up for quarterly email newsletters will

bring together news on research and reports, consultation, funding opportunities and events.

The campaign and new e-alert service are part of a wider workstream from Seafish looking at the impacts of climate change. Over the longer-term, the public body is committed to working with industry, government and other partners to: • Develop its seafood emissions tool for fishing and aquaculture • Ensure relevant date are collected and available to inform decisions • Convene forums, share information, and make sure issues and potential solutions are understood.

• Facilitate and deliver seafood sector specific research to improve understanding, tackle specific problems and enable innovation.

• Convene industry stakeholders to explore pre-competitive collaborative working. www.seafish.org/climate-change-seafood

Left to right - Dr Angus Garrett - Head of Seafood Horizons, Aoife Martin - Director of Operations, and Dr Stuart McLanaghan - Head of Responsible Sourcing

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www.almex.nl 20 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

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When drugs won’t work The ongoing journey toward an antibiotic-resistant future

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by James Cooper, International Aquafeed Correspondent, UK

ou’d forgive me for feeling a futility for ‘recycling’ my coffee cup - when, for every cup of coffee consumed about one square inch of rainforest is destroyed - in a world that is overheating and where imminent ecological collapse looms closer with each sip I take.

It’s too easy to be numbed by the rhetoric surrounding modern-day catastrophic events. And where next should we be focusing our efforts when there are so many disasters looming before us?

This is not to make light of our plight. We have an individual responsibility of course – please rest assured I will recycle that coffee cup - but save your despair because, unless we can muster some collective responsibility, pretty soon we may not have to worry so much: ‘Superbugs’ could easily wipe us all out long before anything else comes to pass.

Perhaps the most pressing issue and what we should be most alarmed about right now, is the rapid global spread of multi- and pan-resistant bacteria: The so-called ‘superbugs’ which cause infections that simply aren’t treatable with existing antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics.

As I tune in to the BBC Radio 4 news, Health officials are reminding the public not to use antibiotics unnecessarily this winter because of concerns they're becoming less effective.

In a report published today (17th November, marking the start of WAAW – World Anti-biotics Awareness Week), The UK Health Security Agency says one in five people who caught an infection last year had one which was resistant to antibiotic treatment.

Drug resistance at an alarming pace

The World Health Organisation describes anti-microbial resistance (AMR) as one of the most urgent health threats of our time.

According to the UK government’s AMR review, the global burden of infections resistant to existing antimicrobial medicines is now growing at an alarming pace. Drug-resistant infections are already responsible for more than 700,000 deaths globally each year.

Without effective antibiotics, the world will no longer be

able to fight many common bacterial infections, making takenfor-granted procedures like caesarean-section births, organ transplants, joint replacements and many cancer treatments simply unviable.

In a post-antibiotic world, even a simple cut may have dire consequences.

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron said, "If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work, and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine."

But the unthinkable is happening.

The United Nations now considers superbugs one of the biggest global public health concerns of the 21st century. Today, experts predict that if current practices are allowed to continue 10 million people will die each year from resistant infections by 2050.

Across the world, intensive animal production systems have come to rely on the regular use of antimicrobials to maintain health (and in many instances productivity) in poultry and pig production. Strong legislation has been imposed in many countries especially in Europe. Zinc Oxide for pigs is soon to be banned in Europe and the UK. Aquaculture is not excluded, but its use of antibiotics is for disease scenarios and not for growth promotion.

But notwithstanding, between 2010-30, the global consumption of antimicrobials is predicted to increase by 67 percent from around 63,000 tonnes to an estimated 105,000 tonnes. Up to a third of the expected increase in livestock is based on a prediction that routine use of antibiotics for disease prevention - or growth promotion - will rise in many middle-income countries.

Already, today there are several examples of important pathogens resistant to multiple antibiotics. For example, you've probably heard of MRSA, or methicillin resistant staph aureus, to give it its full name. It’s the most common hospital superbug.

Or Gonorrhoea, one of the clearest examples of a pathogen that has out-competed antibiotics. Once treatable with sulphonamides (the original antibiotics), resistance rapidly emerged, followed by a form of penicillin resistance, which could initially be overcome by increasing the dose, but now penicillin doesn’t work either.

There’s also Ecoli, antibiotic resistant strains of Tuberculosis in humans, and more recently reported, colistin resistant gramme negative bacteria such as Klebsiella. As again, colistin was one of the last antibiotics available against this bacteria.

22 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

If the covid pandemic has taught us anything it’s surely the importance of not ignoring high consequence events that are heading our way, so why do we continue to ignore this global threat to our health?

The good, the bad and the ugly

Bacteria are everywhere and there are many different types.

First, the harmless or even ‘good’ bacteria. Our intestines, for example, are home to many different commensal bacteria and they help keep our digestive system in good health.

Then, we have the ‘bad’ bacteria, otherwise known as pathogens. These bacteria make us sick, for example, salmonella, tuberculosis, leptospirosis, pasteurella pneumonia, the list goes on.

And last, but not least, we have ‘ugly’, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These may or may not be pathogens, but here’s the important bit: They have adapted to survive antibiotics.

Whenever we use antibiotics, we impose a huge selection pressure, further speeding up the evolution of resistant bacteria.

But there’s another crucial element to this: Bacteria can do something that animals can't, they can swap pieces of genetic material.

Antibiotic resistance can be transferred to our worst pathogens.

And this is how we get so-called antibiotic resistant ‘superbugs’.

These are the disasters waiting to happen, which we must try and avoid; our worst pathogens, developing resistance to a multitude of antibiotics. A deadly cocktail, which can harm us all.

A story of dependency

The simple truth is that none of this will come as any surprise to microbiologists and we’ve been sleep-walking towards this

situation for decades.

AMR has been understood and acknowledged as an outcome since the very first discovery of sulphonamides in Germany in the late 1930s and many efforts have been made to control the use of antibiotics over the decades.

But since the 1940s a sort of antibiotic Gold Rush has not only changed the way medicine works, but also changed the way agriculture works across the developing world.

Actively promoted by pharmaceutical companies during the 1960s, antibiotics are used in agriculture to combat pathogens in animals and fish, to prevent new infections - and perhaps most importantly, to promote the growth of the farmed species by improving feed efficacy.

Of course, this led to their adoption by progressive farming systems across the world and created a model of dependency.

The figures speak for themselves. Intensive protein farming practices worldwide have, and continue to, play a large role in this problem: Roughly three-quarters of all antibiotics sold each year are marketed for use in farm animals rather than humans.

This is because for many years in the late 20th century, intensive farms relied on providing animals with continuous low doses of antibiotics, sometimes referred to as ‘sub-therapeutic use’ or growth promotion, a practice that is discouraged but continues today in many countries often under the guise of ‘ensuring meat safety’.

Of course, as we know, this simply gives bacteria the perfect breeding ground to turn into pathogens.

Antibiotics also are frequently accused of enabling poor conditions and overcrowding and leaving residuals that can trigger allergies in humans. But for the farmer they come with such significant benefits it’s a habit which is proving difficult to

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kick. And whilst there is an almost unanimous acknowledgement of the problems, changing farming practices is proving tricky.

The distribution of costs & benefit

Moreover, while antibiotics have enabled enhanced profitability in intensive systems with already tight margins; in poorer areas of the world, they have made rearing animals even possible.

As demand for animal protein rises globally, this is a problem which continues to disproportionately affect low- and middleincome countries, where pressure is highest to intensify animal and fish farming systems and where populations yearn to consume more meat.

Therefore, reducing consumption requires some serious management.

Consider the inherent difficulty caused by the distribution of the costs and benefits, where the cost of change appears mainly in the producing setting, and the benefits only appear to a large extent in the healthcare setting, the wider environment and society at large.

How did we get here?

But it’s important not to demonise antibiotics.

They’re a valuable and an ancient medicine - traces of tetracycline (an antibiotic still in use today) were found in skeletons from ancient Nubians (350-550 AD) as well as in the guts of ancient mummies.

Modern medicine was revolutionised from the mid-20th century after Alexander Fleming made his amazing discovery of identifying penicillin, which was heralded as a miracle drug – as indeed it was and still is – and was heavily used in World War II to treat Allied troops, despite Fleming’s warning that overuse could lead to mutant bacteria.

By the mid-1950s, Fleming’s warning had become a selffulfilling prophecy as resistance to penicillin in humans had gradually built up due to the wide availability of the drug.

However, it was the use of antibiotics in animals post-war that was the real game changer, when a British-American biologist Thomas Jukes discovered that in-feed use of tetracycline could help advance the growth of chickens.

In Europe, use of antibiotics for growth promotion has been banned since 2006, so why are we still seeing a rise in their use?

The answer lies in some key policy failures.

In 1953, seduced by the thought of a post-war increase in meat production, the British government introduced the Therapeutic Substances (Prevention of Misuse) Act. Despite the Act’s reassuring name, it legalised the inclusion of very low doses of penicillin in the feed of pigs and poultry, without the need for a veterinary prescription, for the purpose of growth promotion.

During the parliamentary debate, some concerns were raised about antibiotic resistance, but the then Health Minister, Iain McLeod MP, assured MP’s that the government had received advice that “there will be no adverse effect whatever upon human beings.”

Just one MP, Colonel Gomme-Duncan, spoke out strongly against growth promoters, asking: “May I ask whether we have all gone mad to want to give penicillin to pigs to fatten them?

Why not give them good food, as God meant them to have?”

Sure enough, by the late 1950s scientists were finding that strains of antibiotic-resistant salmonella were proliferating on British farms and their workers.

The Swann Report effectively created a back door with far reaching consequences In 1969, responding to the emerging hazard to human health,

the UK government commissioned the Swann Report which set out to end the overuse of antibiotics in farming and limit the spread of antibiotic resistance from animals to humans.

It concluded that the use of antibiotics for growth promotion was a threat to human and animal health.

The Swann Committee proposed a solution whereby a distinction would be made between antibiotics that were acceptable for routine use in feed (such as macrolides) and those that should be reserved for human medicine (such as penicillin and tetracycline).

The recommendation of the Swann Committee was largely followed, both in the UK and in the European Economic Community. The use of penicillin and tetracycline as growth promotors was phased out.

However, the Swann Report recommendation also created a back door: these drugs could still be used routinely for disease prevention in whole groups of animals with a veterinary prescription.

Whilst focussing on ending the use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion, it made no proposals for ending other types of routine use, including preventative group treatments, because the short-term economic benefits to the industry were given priority.

Though hugely influential globally for its awareness raising it was a massive, missed opportunity.

Swann essentially failed because, in trying to appease all parties, instead chose a compromise.

Crucially, it recognised the important role that low concentration of antibiotics played in the growth rates of young pigs and poultry; a practice that has facilitated a prescription habit across much of the EU and certainly enabled commercial practice across the world to this day.

Finally, a ‘Swann song’ for routine and sub-therapeutic use?

In simple terms, opinion and guidance on the use of antibiotics still varies greatly from country-to-country. Sometimes presented as ‘routine’ use to prevent disease, the whole concept of prophylactic (preventative) treatment is widely debated. And it’s clear that the term means different things to different groups.

Many industry insiders argue that ‘mass’ or ‘group-medication’ can often be necessary.

UK’s Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture alliance (RUMA) say that preventative treatment is sometimes the best course of action. This is the idea of prophylaxis, in other words using antibiotics to prevent disease rather than using it to treat disease.

Far from the way it can be portrayed, they argue, oral treatment of groups of animals through their feed (or mass-medication) can be the most effective treatment method. This is especially so if given before disease affects their appetite.

Catching and injecting individual animals can be also very stressful to the animal.

Outdoor-reared animals, such as sows or free-range laying hens, drink rainwater, making application through the drinking water system unreliable and risks under-medication.

Large groups of poultry could equally be stressed by catching, especially if a course involving daily treatment is needed. Hence, this makes individual treatment impractical. In-feed medication may therefore provide the most practicable option in many cases.

And, of course, it should be up to the vet and the farmer to decide the optimum way to administer medication, which remains under veterinary control or prescription in the UK and EU. Moreover, during the last few years, RUMA says that the UK

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has seen a good reduction in use of antibiotics and improved susceptibility of e-coli to antibiotics.

The UK VARSS (Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales Surveillance) Report published last month is certainly encouraging. Overall sales of veterinary antibiotics for food producing animals decreased by 52% between 2014 to November 2021, while sales of highest priority critically important antibiotics for food producing animals reduced for the 6th consecutive year, representing only 0.5% of the total antibiotic sales. For salmon, however, usage increased by 15.8 mg/kg since 2019, 13.2 mg/kg (82%) higher than in 2017 But the UK or even the EU case is not the norm, and without a concerted and systemic effort from governments and farming policymakers worldwide we are not going to shake off the looming threat.

RUMA, and most British veterinary and farming organisations, do not support routine preventative use of antibiotics. But there is, however, a widely held and justifiable belief, by both medics and vets, that controlled intervention to prevent the outbreak and further spread of disease in infected or carrier animals, based on sound professional examination and advice, is better than cure.

RUMA draw a subtle but essential distinction; those antibiotics ‘must not be used to compensate for poor hygiene or for inadequate husbandry conditions or where improvements in animal husbandry could reduce the need for antibiotic treatment’.

John Fishwick, senior lecturer at the Royal Veterinary College (UK), emphasises why it’s important to draw a clear distinction between therapeutic use and sub-therapeutic use.

‘Therapeutic’ use refers to the amount of a medicine required to successfully treat disease.

However, around the world low, or sub-therapeutic, concentrations of antibiotics are still given as feed and water additives to suppress disease, improve daily weight gain and improve feed efficiency through alterations in digestion, which Mr Fishwick recognises, globally, is still a huge problem.

John Fishwick explains how in many countries, antibiotics are freely available and freely used.

“It’s not my place to criticise [these countries], there are massive issues with antibiotic misuse, overuse and unregulated use all over the world.

“Human antibiotics are being used as animal growth promoters, and it's a major concern - it’s very bad news and the sooner that stops, the better,” he says.

“Antibiotics as growth promoters have no place in farming today.”

However, Mr Fishwick concedes the while issues are acknowledged, solutions are complex.

“I wouldn’t be so arrogant to say that countries are not behaving responsibly, but some have other issues to deal with, and they are really trying to get this sorted out. They are really struggling because people are poor, and they need these antibiotics to successfully rear the animals.”

“But I think often people confuse that pretty terrible situation with what is actually quite a positive story in the UK where a huge amount of work has been done,” he adds.

“Using antibiotics as a growth promoter, thank goodness, is now illegal in the EU and I think it's recognised that it was an appalling practice,” Mr Fishwick explains.

“Now, in the UK, we should very definitely only be using antibiotics to treat disease. We should not be saying, ‘give this group of animals antibiotics at this stage because it’s a high-risk period’. That is absolutely considered irresponsible and extremely unusual, if not illegal.

And it’s important not to demonise the role of antibiotics in farming systems, Mr Fishwick explains:

“One of the main ways this problem can be addressed is by careful stewardship of antibiotics in people and animals, and this requires joined up thinking.

“There's been a very unfortunate tendency for the animal health industry to say it's all down to doctors, and the medical side to say it's all down to animal husbandry and animal health, and in fact both sides of the equation need to be addressed,” he says.

A multi-pronged approach

Building awareness is the first step in addressing the public’s behaviour and it seems there is much work to be done in that area.

Research carried out by the Wellcome Trust to explore a consumer perspective on antimicrobial resistance, completed in 2015, revealed that the issue is still widely misunderstood by most people.

ReAct is one of the first international independent networks to articulate the complex nature of antibiotic resistance and its drivers.

The team, which includes microbiologists, physicians, veterinarians and global health specialists are focussed on mobilising change at both a policy and grassroots level by sharing information across five continents.

ReAct now has teams in Africa, Asia Pacific Latin America, Europe and North America.

Andrea Caputo, MSc and PhD, says there’s no one simple solution, that a multi-pronged approach is needed.

“There is no single ‘silver bullet’; AMR is a systems failure requiring a cross-sectoral response,” he says.

Outsiders and insiders

It is apparent that key to change will be outsiders, who see the problem and debate it in the media and lobby government to set targets: and industry insiders who see the problem and set about making practical changes to animal husbandry and farming practices.

Mr Fishwick offers an analogy on this last point.

“Increases of antibiotic is often associated with poor husbandry. I often say this to my students - if we put you all in a dark classroom with all the windows closed, with the heating turned up, by the end day a lot of you are going to be quite unwell.

“If we have people in lovely, uncrowded accommodation with lots of fresh air, they're probably going to come out all smiles. It’s exactly the same with animals.

“There’s a big drive in this country, and of course necessary all around the world, to improve husbandry, reduce stocking rates, look after animals well, house them and feed them well.

“And when that doesn’t happen, there's a tendency for people to cover-up the cracks with antibiotics, which obviously is very, very bad practice, both on a welfare front and an anti-microbial resistance front,” Mr Fishwick adds.

Intensive farm systems across the globe have, without doubt, created a structural need for disease prevention, where the line between disease prevention and growth promotion remains blurred.

Therefore, the whole issue surrounding antibiotics use raises important questions about our animal farming practices and expectations: What we are willing to pay for meat to sustain the husbandry required to keep animals healthy and equally, what we should be feeding animals.

We’ll take a deeper look at these ideas – especially regarding functional feed additives like prebiotics, probiotics and phytobiotics, where huge investment is being made for poultry, swine and fish - in next month’s January 2022 edition of International Aquafeed magazine.

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 27

Agglomeration in animal & fish feed production Its various forms, causes and suggestions for reducing unplanned occurrences

A

by Yemmak

gglomeration is the process of combining particles to create products with lumps of a much larger size.

Expansion by agglomeration is one of the four main operations in mechanical process engineering, which deals with dust and bulk materials. These four processes are degradation, mixing, size reduction and size enlargement (Agglomeration).

Size enlargement can take many different forms. For example, pelleting, which is widely known, is one of the mechanical agglomeration methods. It may seem like an insignificant factor to be taken into account, but the particle size of a material has a huge impact on the performance of the material, both as a raw or an end product.

Particle size affects various properties of a material including fluidity, solubility, bulk density, reaction speed, process efficiency, uniformity of end product and the availability of active components and the time needed to achieve them.

The ability to control particle size becomes increasingly important as raw materials and end products become more specific and are expected to perform better. It will come as no surprise then that there are many advantages of agglomeration.

The process has been studied under several categories and their associated benefits, which can be found in Table 1.

Various processes can be mentioned within the concept of agglomeration, including non-pressure and pressure agglomeration types, which are both briefly mentioned below.

Non-pressure agglomeration

The process of bringing the particles together without applying pressure is called non-pressure agglomeration. There are various methods for it, with a lengthy list that includes: 1. Tumble Growth

Products are rolled over each other with the help of a binding agent.

2. Pelletising

Material powders are rolled and turned into pellets with the help of binders. It is different from pelleting of the feed in a

pellet mill. A disc Pelletiser is used for this method.

3. Micro-Pelleting

Powders are mixed with a binder and combined in small sizes (20-60 mesh). It's also used for preparing the product for pelletising. Pin Mixer is used for the method.

4. Mixing

Sometimes liquids can be added in the mixer (water, oil, molasses, etc).

5. Conditioning

It is preferred for reducing dust, facilitating transportation and improving usefulness by mixing powders with a binding agent.

In non-pressure agglomeration, moisture must be present in the product or added to the process. As a result, there would be a need for post processing (such as drying, burning, improvement).

When selecting a non-pressure agglomeration method, binding agent properties, industry standards, raw material properties and equipment abilities should all be considered.

When choosing between pressure and non-pressure agglomeration, we should consider how operation costs and funds are the mainly decisive factor; whilst we should also be mindful that some materials may only be suitable for a single method.

Pressure agglomeration

The process of forming particles into desired shapes by applying pressure at various grades is called pressure agglomeration. There are several methods for this process such as compaction, briquetting, tableting, molding and extrusion; with feed pelleting belonging to the latter category.

Agglomeration and shaping are achieved by the pressure forces that push the product into the hole and the friction forces that occur as the product passes through the hole. The level of force applied during the densification and shaping phase is the most determining factor in pressure agglomeration.

When the pressure is applied, particles in the pile begin to get closer to each other (compaction). When the pressure is

28 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

increased further, brittle particles begin to crumble and soft particles start to deform (plasticisation).

The two factors that determine the speed of compaction and the capacity of the agglomeration machine are the amount of compressed residual gas (air) in the pores and a phenomena referred to in the industry as plastic spring-back.

Some reasons for the selection of pressure agglomeration: Larger feed particle size, high initial strength, dry or hot processing, no or little binder, no post treatment, processing of elastic materials, automatic operation, easy cleanout, quick turn-over.

Product characteristics in pressure agglomeration include specific shape, large pieces, specific mass, high density, low porosity, high final strength, long shelf life, amenable to the production of near net-shape parts.

Material density can be adjusted by adjusting various parameters in pressure agglomeration. For example, density increases with stronger pressing force. In cylindrical compactors, density decreases with larger diameters (even if length/diameter ratio remains the same).

Density also decreases a bit with a fluid addition. When lubrication is applied to the pressing tools/die, density decreases.

Highly preferred in animal feed industry

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in the animal feed industry, many reasons for this include the conversion of feed components with different grain size, weight, moisture absorption ability and other physical conditions into a stable feed formulation.

Whilst there is prevention of dust related losses, losses due to oxidation or other reactions during storage, segregation/ dispersion of feed components, clumping and accumulation and preventing animals from choosing the feed, and making it more accepted by animals, are further factors worthy of consideration.

Further criteria include better product flow, storage, transportation, improved ability to prepare animal type-specific feed (chicken, fish, etc.), a better collection of added fluids during feeding, better dissolution/dispersion in liquid (in some cases), as well as the possibility to contain a wide variety of waste materials including nutritious liquids. Petfood buyers are also attracted by the improved appearance of the finished product.

In the pelleting process, agglomeration can lead to increased availability of nutrients for digestion after conditioning and pelleting starch value of feed and lower moisture requirement for agglomeration after conditioning. This in turn leads to lower energy requirement for drying process.

Further benefits of size enlargement by agglomeration include increased production process economy and perhaps most importantly of all, a higher profit margin.

classifying/sorting.

At the second step, which is mixing, agglomeration is mostly undesirable, although it is desirable in wet mixing. It is not welcome in the grinding stage; both in the wet and dry versions of the process.

The fourth step is conveying, where it is also mostly undesirable, although it is sometimes welcome in mechanical conveying. It is undesirable or sometimes desirable at vibratory conveying, but is unwelcome in the pneumatic variety.

The fifth and final step in feed production is storage, where agglomeration is undesired in both silos and hoppers.

Desired or undesired agglomeration in the process

Suggestions for reducing undesired agglomeration

Although agglomeration is generally a desired and targeted process, it may also occur unintentionally in some cases. This can occur at any one of the five phases of the feed production process include in the separation phase, where it is undesirable at screening/sieving, undesirable or sometimes desirable at

Table 1 Category Raw Material

Benefit Simplified transportation, mitigation of dust loss, increased porosity-density and melting abilities.

Product

Dust-free handling, segregation prevention, improved appearance and performance.

Process

Dust-free handling, segregation prevention, improved appearance and performance.

Economical

Waste is converted to a usable product. Handling and transportation costs are reduced.

Environmental

Reduced need for landfill, potential for waste to fuel processes, improved waste disposal cost efficiency.

When attempting to limit undesired agglomeration in the feed production process, a unique and direct course of action should be taken at each stage. In the separation step for example, fines should be removed immediately at the source, then agglomerates should be mechanically destroyed using either rubber balls, shear,

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impact, brushes, air jets or ultrasound.

Then amplitude and/or frequency is then modified, before removing moisture from material and/or gas (air) environment and then applying heat through either the direct resistance or inductive methods.

The wetting angle or the surface tension of liquid surfactants can then be modified, before dispersing particulate solids in a suitable liquid (wet separation). The use of dispersion aids (chemicals, mechanical - stirring, ultrasound), can also be employed if necessary.

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Mixing & grinding

To remove unwelcome agglomeration in dry or moist mixing, apply shear or frictional stresses (tumbling mass, mixing tools, special accessories such as shredders, baffles).

For wet mixing, use shearing (stirring) or dispersion agents.

Also, utilise controlled flocculation (addition of electrolyte) that allows repeatable re-dispersion by shaking.

To prevent agglomeration in the grinding you should ensure that all fines and/or moisture are removed. The inner walls of mills and crushers should be coated with either elastic or non-stick materials.

You should also use a lower reduction ratio (size reduction amount in grinding) and use multiple grinding steps for that, as well as using cryogenic milling (making use of material brittleness at low temperatures).

Transportation & storage

In order to prevent agglomeration during transportation and storage, all fines and/or moisture should be removed whilst all equipment, chutes and pipes should be made from electrically conducting materials (avoid plastics). Inner walls should all also have a smooth finish or be coated with a material like Teflon.

Materials should be cooled to ambient conditions prior to storage, whilst all walls should be either heated or well insulated, with all hoppers, silos and storage containers well earthed (electrically conductive).

Walls should also be steep (as close to vertical), especially towards discharge openings and you should also employ mechanical bridge breakers (vibration, shock and pulsed air jet).

You should also consider applying a means of load overburden relief with measures such as Chinese hats or baffles, whilst conditioning/curing should also be carried out prior to storage.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED MAGAZINE In this issue, we look back at the last twelve months, in recognition of the wide range of topics we’ve covered that the aquaculture industry faces today. Perhaps accelerated by the pandemic and more recently, COP26, is the growing awareness around the importance of sustainability, and how it should shape the future of food production.

Coupled with the need to feed a growing population, this situation often proves to be a challenging one, but one that our

January The role of phytogenics in aquaculture

To kick the year off, January’s chosen article looks at how to resolve feeding a growing world population while maintaining sustainable food production practices. To meet this demand for increased production, requires improving fish and shrimp diets such as the use of phytogenics, which will result in an increase in production, as well as its profitability.

Phytogenics act as natural growth promoters and can substitute for the use of antibiotics. Testing out a new phytogenic formulation in Nile Tilapia shows that the solution is not as simple as it seems: it needs to ensure good growth performance, feed efficiency and survival.

To continue reading this article, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1280

industry consistently proves it can confront - helped along by the continuous development of technologies and innovative, adaptable approaches.

Chosen by our editorial team, the following selection is comprised of both aquafeed and fish farming technology articles that we believe reflect all of these qualities, as we all look forward to what next year has to bring us.

February

Benefits and constraints of wrasse as ‘cleaner fish’

In February, we are given an overview of wrasse as ‘cleaner’ fish and the role they play in farmed salmon. Economically and environmentally, they proved the preferred option, due to the cost of treating salmon lice with chemicals and the cost of doing so.

There are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account when deciding which wrasse to use - currently there are four species used commercially - but equally important is their size, as if they are too small, they risk being eaten by the salmon or able to escape the net holes.

Although preferred, the chosen article for September proves that there remain issues with applying wrasse in nets for farmed salmon, which can be addressed through technology.

To continue reading, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1281

32 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

March

Aquaculture sector in Egypt

In the month of March, we’re given an update on the aquaculture sector in Egypt as a relatively new industry, with modern aquaculture having been established in the 1970s. Thanks to the popularity of Nile tilapia, it has become the ‘cornerstone’ of Egyptian aquaculture, after which falls other species of fish such as Chinese carp, African catfish and mullets.

Although sixth in the global aquaculture producer as reported in 2018, Egypt is looking to scale up its production - which is where the challenge facing Egypt today, lies.

To read the full version of this article, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1282

OF 2021

AQUACULTURE

April

‘Jellyfish: more than just a blooming nuisance’

Jellyfish blooms are becoming increasingly more common owing to the impact of climate change, and has proved harmful to farmed stock, as they are effectively suffocated when surrounded by jellyfish, and are at risk of inhaling degraded parts of jellyfish.

All these factors point to the threat posed by jellyfish blooms; however, this article seeks to find the potential. With uses already in commercial industries such as the cosmetics and skincare sectors, and consumption in Asian food markets, the article suggests that jellyfish could be upscaled in farmed fisheries, for the potential as a feed additive.

To read more of this article, go to: https://aqfeed.info/e/1283

June

H2020 IMPAQT project

May

Sustainable aquafeed production

In this month’s issue, this article by Wenger addresses sustainability within the industry and acts as a guide for production facilities, advising them on how they can become more green.

The article acknowledges that in a number of cases, the consumer is driving this need to rethink production, particularly in the fish they consume and their desire to know its origins.

Recommendations for greening a production facility include creating a project requirements document in the cases of planning for a new production facility; or, where possible, choosing an existing brownfield site with the necessarily infrastructure for a facility - to avoid having to build new.

Utilities and resources required in production can be reduced through methods such as water recycling, renewable energy sources and packaging products in biodegradable material where possible.

To read more, visit: https://aqfeed.info/e/1284

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), as a concept, appears as a solution to a number of problems such as limited space for aquaculture, waste remediation, and efficiently utilising resources. In practice, however, thorough monitoring is required: which is where the H2020 IMPAQT project comes in.

Spanning three years from 2018, the project seeks to better understand the shared environment between two species - the example for which is given as fish and seaweed or plants. The need to monitor closely is facilitated by a range of technologies and systems, such as novel sensors, a submersible underwater transmitter node, the Integrated Autonomous Data Acquisition System (IADAS) the SIMPLEX app, and countless others.

All of which, as Mr Kane writes in the article, “are designed to make sense of the information available and support the operator to monitor and manage their IMTA set up”. IMTA has the potential to contribute towards more circular aquaculture, but there is more that needs to be known about it.

To read this article in full, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1285

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 33

July

Twin screw extrusion in manufacturing sustainable shrimp feed

In our July edition, an article from Hadrien Delemazure, of Clextral, France, looks at the growing need for sustainability in aquaculture via shrimp feed through a different lens: the production aspect. Global demand for animal protein presents an ongoing challenge in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, in meeting that demand; but also remaining aware that food production needs to be sustainable and efficient.

Supporting a sustainable shrimp industry, for example, is through high-quality feed, which can be produced through twin-screw extrusion.

Sustainable manufacturing, as illustrated in the article, will minimise environmental impact whilst conserving resources.

To continue reading this article, please follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1286

September Feed block technology

Existing solutions can often present their own problems, which Nigel Dawson explores in his article. In looking at the popular use of lumpfish as cleaner fish in pens, he addresses existing issues – such as high mortality rates in lumpfish, often brought on by malnutrition.

Mr Dawson discusses how this technology counters this problem, which targets lumpfish and wrasse as an alternative to the pelleted feeds salmon recognise and encourages them away from the edges of the pen.

Overall, this feature demonstrates that existing/current methods in fish farming can always be improved upon, or adapted, using disruptive technology.

To continue reading this article, please follow this link: aquafeed. co.uk/magazine/sep-2021/?Page=42

August

Novel feeds for rainbow trout

Conscious of the unsustainability of fishmeal due to its dependence on wild stocks and growing demand for protein for human consumption overall, the choice of article for the September issue explores alternative insect feeds in more depth as a partial substitute.

Looking at two types of insect meals in the aqua feed for rainbow trout - black soldier fly and yellow mealworm more specifically, it concludes that yellow mealworm proves a better alternative as a partial replacement.

The article acknowledges the advantages and disadvantages of different alternative feeds and demonstrates that ongoing research into this growing sector is required.

To read more, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1287

October

Offshore salmon farming

This month covers offshore salmon farming, more specifically looking at its development in two geographical locations, Norway and Tasmania.

Comparing the two, offshore farming is driven in Norway by a desire to farm fish more sustainably, having moved away from using oil; whereas in Tasmania this is owing to continuous growth in the sector.

Both are developing, and both require improvement, such as high fish mortality in Norway and documented environmental neglect in Tasmania.

To read more on this subject, follow this link: https://aqfeed.info/e/1288

November Dangers of digitalisation

December

The penultimate edition of International Aquafeed and Fish Farming Technology begins with a keen observation from Erik Hempel, the technology editor for the publication. He uses both the example of his hard drive crashing and losing two weeks’ worth of work from it, and the recent cyber-attack on the AKVA Group to point out one thing: the need for cyber security.

With the ongoing development of technology and its part to play in the aquaculture industry, Mr Hempel’s article highlights the dangers of digitalisation, as well as emphasises the steps that need to be taken to prevent cyber-attacks. It is a warning that all of the industry needs to keep in mind as they progress their technology and automated methods.

To read Erik Hempel’s column in full, visit: https://aqfeed.info/e/1289

The time will come when more and more of our global citizens will opt to celebrate Christmas with family and friends sharing fish as their main dish. Fish is already the key component on a table of plenty throughout Asia and other regions of the world, yet it has yet to compete with the traditional turkey dinner that we in the west enjoy. But the time will come when we will ‘give thanks’ to the fish farmers and those in aquaculture for providing just an enjoyable and nutritious alternative to land-based meat options.

With that said, we will be grateful this year if we can just spend Christmas together with loved ones. The feeling as we go to press at the beginning of December that many of us might again have to suffer the disappointment of being parted from family. I know that this might well be the case personally.

From all of us here at International Aquafeed and Fish Farming Technology magazine we would like to wish our readers, our advertisers and our supporters - and not to overlook those who support us in terms of printing, distribution, digital platforms and event organisations - a happy and enjoyable festive period.

I would personally like to thank, on your behalf, all the staff at IAF, FFT and the Online Milling School for their unstinting efforts to bring the best of aquaculture development to your attention in a way that helps you develop your businesses and careers.

As a Christmas gift you can opt to have an annual subscription free of charge to IAF using the code: Xmas2021. See my editorial for links to MagStand.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Roger Gilbert Publisher International Aquafeed

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 35

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Tech update

Scottish salmon farmer switches to electric power with first hybrid boat Salmon farmer Scottish Sea Farms has taken delivery of a hybrid power workboat, the first vessel of its kind to be used in Scotland's aquaculture sector and another step towards greater sustainability.

The 15m catamaran, Laurence Knight, was commissioned by Mull-based boat operator Inverlussa Marine Services from Norwegian yard Moen Marin and goes into service this month on Scotland's west coast.

The boat, which will run primarily on its batteries, marks a 'massive milestone' in both carbon reduction and cost savings, says Inverlussa Managing Director Ben Wilson.

The boat can perform on-farm duties for five to six hours without recharging its batteries from either of the two generators on board.

For Scottish Sea Farms, the new vessel will help achieve CO2 savings of around 234 tonnes a year, as well as potentially cut fuel costs by up to 50 percent.

37 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Precision aquaculture

Figure 1: A snapshot of fish in a cage. Visual monitoring technologies allows for real-time information on operational conditions within a farm. This is a core building block for data driven management on farms.

Characterising fish welfare using AutoAI

by Fearghal O’Donncha, Research scientist, IBM Research Europe, Ireland

Precision aquaculture seeks to use new technologies to increase farm yields and profitability whilst reducing any adverse environmental effects from farm operation and activities. Stakeholders utilising precision aquaculture aims for farm ‘ecointensification’, that boosts production while reducing the environmental footprint.

Whilst the real-time monitoring and management of welfare in livestock farming is well established, it is only in recent years that strides in sensor technology and computer vision have introduced data driven decision making to the aquaculture industry. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a core enabler that will allow farms to fully exploit these data towards actionable insight. In this article we describe how Internet of Things (IoT) and AI provides more granular insight into conditions within a salmon cage by combining information on environmental conditions and fish welfare.

Materialisation of precision aquaculture depends on IoT technologies to empower management in a chaotic environment subject to the vagaries of oceans and weather. An obvious impediment is water cover, but other major obstacles exist, including the harsh environment, power and connectivity in offshore locations, and the challenges of manual intervention or analysis in the ocean. Furthermore, the distributed nature of the industry, composed of a large number of small-scale aquaculture companies and sensor providers, poses challenges related to the integration of diverse, datasets into a unified edge, fog, and cloud ecosystem.

Application of mature monitoring, modelling, prediction, and analysis tools to fish farms has potential to improve operations and alleviate key challenges facing the industry. Examples include enhanced precision of feed timing and supply rates, targeted veterinary interventions, and more rapid response to changes in ocean conditions such as dissolved oxygen or temperature. Today, management of most of these tasks is conducted manually, and relies on direct human observation or human-centric data acquisition means, combined with decision making based on subjective experience. However, as realtime sensor technologies become more prevalent, the foundation exists to transition the industry from ad hoc decision making based on heuristics and intuition, to real-time informed decisions backed by IoT connectivity and AI.

On the Farm

Enhanced farm management is founded on the confluence of sensor data and AI. Whilst AI has already had a disruptive influence in the aquaculture industry, this disruption is only in its infancy. The growth in IoT devices to monitor environmental conditions is being augmented with new devices to sample animal variables such as size, clustering behaviour, and movement. Traditionally this has relied on cumbersome manual sampling, but modern approaches exploit computer vision and hydroacoustic technologies to

38 | December 2021 - Fish Farming Technology

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY provide automated estimates in real-time.

Figure 1 presents a snapshot of fish within a cage detected by underwater camera. These can provide continuous, real-time details on fish dynamics and cage condition. Many different biological, environmental and social parameters influence the behaviour of net-pen salmon. Interrogating these diverse datasets allows farmers to better identify stressors, and manage farm activities such as feeding, harvesting, and veterinary intervention.

Similar to computer vision, hydroacoustic sensors provide a real-time measure of the density and distribution of fish in the cage. The use of these sensors to infer the behavioural response of fish to the physical structure of the cage, farm operations, and the external environment, can be a highly reliable and non-invasive operational welfare indicator (OWI). A variety of commercial systems offer real-time monitoring of fish conditions at either the cage-scale (using sonar technology), or individual level (using fish tags). Figure 2 presents statistical information on fish distribution extracted from a hydroacoustic sensor. These data represent complex behavioural patterns providing continuous, real-time information on conditions within the cage.

Artificial Intelligence

Given sufficient data, machine learning (ML) has the potential to successfully detect, quantify, and predict various phenomena in the geosciences.

Figure 2: Vertical distribution of fish in a cage at a farm illustrating the evolution of the centrepoint of fish biomass over time (top) and boxplot of the data grouped into hourly intervals for each month (bottom). The box plot provides insight into distinct patterns developing in the data at different times with the colour legend representing hour of day. Lines extending from the boxplot represent the range of data (i.e., minimum and maximum values), whilst the box section reports 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile values. Filled circles represent outliers for the data.

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY While physics-based modelling involves providing a set of inputs to a model which generates the corresponding outputs based on a non-linear mapping encoded from a set of governing equations, machine learning (ML) instead learns the requisite mapping by being shown large number of corresponding inputs and outputs.

In a recent study, we used machine learning to process the environmental and hydroacoustic datasets collected on three Atlantic salmon farms in Norway, Scotland, and Canada.

For each site several environmental sensors were deployed monitoring a range of parameters, including temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and current speed. These were complemented with weather data from IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, and open-ocean model from the Copernicus Marine Service model repository.

Data were processed using an automatic machine learning framework, AutoAI. The fundamental idea of AutoAI approaches can be considered as “AI for AI”. Using machine learning, it aims to interrogate user data and discover the optimal structures, data transformation, and tunable parameters (or hyperparameters) for a given dataset. Gartner – the respected research and advisory firm for enterprise – identified the automation of ML model deployments as one of 2020’s ten key technology trends for its capabilities to "democratise AI" by enabling development of low-code ML models that do not require high levels of data science experience to setup and parametrise the models.

A variety of AutoML or AutoAI products exist with the most prominent being IBM's AutoAI, Google's autoML, and H20. ai’s H2O. They all can be used for similar purpose – to enable non-ML experts to analyse their data, extract statistics, classify anomalies or compute predictions. Like done in this case for IoT data from fish farms.

Results indicate pronounced differences

Applying AutoAI to hydroacoustic and environmental datasets allowed us to effectively characterise the environmental signature, and interrogate the primary drivers of fish behaviour within a cage. Results presented in the paper indicate pronounced differences between sites and the need to consider these variations for farm management. One could readily use the approach to quantify the difference between sites, and to identify the fundamental drivers to these variations.

The primary advantage of hydroacoustic datasets are the relative ease of collection of high-density measurements of fish behaviour. We presented a framework to identify the dominant environmental variables influencing fish behaviour (i.e. vertical motion), and extract insight on how changes in the environment affect fish response. On the other hand, these datasets only serve as a proxy for key performance metrics that might be collected on farms, such as feeding activity or satiation, lice count, fish health, and mortalities.

Currently ongoing work explores whether welfare indices collected on farms can be explained or predicted by a combination of sensor datasets (hydroacoustic measurements and environmental observations). In particular, we will investigate how relatively high-density, population level measurements such as hydroacoustic data can inform more data-sparse observations such as sea-lice, gill health, mortalities, etc.

41 | December 2021 - Fish Farming Technology

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY Improved sustainability & animal welfare

The first steps towards digital determination of stocking densities have already been taken in recent years.

However, what worked under laboratory conditions quickly reached its limits under real-life conditions - too many animals, too much overlap.

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (Bremerhaven, Germany) and the company MonitorFish (Berlin, Germany) have now succeeded in taking a big step forward within the framework of the MonitorShrimp project.

After only nine months of project work, the previous ‘state of the art’, such as the recognition efficiency with existing methods, could be improved. In addition, for the first time, a significantly higher detection accuracy could be achieved on a larger, semi-commercial scale.

"The preliminary results make us optimistic for the remaining 15 months. With our great project team, we should manage to actually achieve an accurate determination of stocking density in a real environment by the end of the project," says Dr Ende.

The first trials under real conditions are already planned for the coming weeks at the project partner and shrimp producer Förde Garnelen GmbH & Co KG. The company Erwin Sander Elektroapparatebau GmbH is also on board.

The counting model will, in addition to picture-based data, be supported by acoustic data. Shrimp make an intrinsic clicking sound during feeding and processing a feed pellet.

This acoustic feeding sound are also already used in

by Dr Stephan Ende, Scientific Associate of shrimp ponds for example, where it is already used to estimate Aquaculture Research Group, Knowledge and hunger but not to support automated counting.

Technology Transfer, Helmholtz Centre for Polar There is however an opportunity for acoustic data to support and Marine Research, Germany counting models since some correlations between signal parameters and shrimp density have already been described.

Opening his presentation at Aquaculture Europe in Madeira, In the MonitorShrimp project a novel and straightforward Portugal this year, the project leader of MonitorShrimp, acoustic method is currently being developed that uses audio a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and signal processing techniques and statistical comparisons. This Agriculture (BMEL), states "imagine you are a farmer, and you don't know how many animals (for example cows or pigs) technique is based on acoustic frequency measurement in Hz, which is directly proportional to the shrimp movement and you have in your barn." biomass.

Scientists from AWI have already generated hours of acoustic Indeed, what seems unthinkable for the farmer is a big problem recordings of feeding shrimp stocked at different densities fed at in modern fish and shrimp farming. Without knowing the exact different intervals. “Isolating a clear shrimp signal from all the number of animals or the stocking density, it is not possible to acoustic noise in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) was feed the animals according to their needs. already a big step forward,” Dr Ende says.

Projections of the stocking rate are often based on netting Data scientists from MonitorFish are now training a neuronal shrimp out the tank and taking weighing measurements to network on the spectrograms of these audio data and will estimate overall biomass. This means stress for the animals and statistically compare these spectrograms. These calculated is also inaccurate. Overfeeding or underfeeding can occur with measurements will differentiate the total shrimp stocking density both having their own respective disadvantages, both for animal in a tank under laboratory conditions. welfare and from an economic point of view too.

"We also want to use this new transparency to optimise aquaculture labels with digital data in the future," says Dominik Ewald, Co-Founder, CSO and Managing Director, MonitorFish.

In a final comment, Dr Ende notes that if the project succeeds in accurately determining stocking densities, other doors will open that will be crucial for improving sustainability and animal welfare.

In the future, our industry should be able to identify the health status of individual animals at an early stage and assess animal welfare This figure represents a spectrogram of This figure shows the results of automated detection much better. Further follow-up projects are audio data recording of shrimps. The based on three annotation points (head, stomach, spikes around 20:00 were representing tail) with indication of detection accuracy. already being planned.

COUNTING ON AI

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42 | December 2021 - Fish Farming Technology

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY Figure 1: Troticoltura Leonardi, Preore, Northern Italy

Do land-based RAS fac fish respiration in Forecasting land-based aquaculture

by Kristin Elliott, Aquasend, USA

Introducing an innovative approach to the smart control of oxygen supply

by Edouard Royer, Data Scientist, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy Precision Fish Farming (PFF) was introduced in 2018 as an adaptation of the Precision Livestock Farming approach to aquaculture. Its objective is to support farmer decisions concerning the daily management of fish farms by improving accuracy, precision and repeatability in farming operations, thus leading to improve both animal welfare and productivity.

This approach aims at supporting farm management using some predictions computed on the basis of real time-data for environmental variables, e.g. water dissolved oxygen, and "animal variables", e.g. fish biomass and size distribution.

One of the main goals of the H2020 GAIN project, led by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (UNIVE), was to use the Precision Fish Farming approach to draw some innovative paths toward the ecological transition of aquaculture.

The UNIVE team, under the supervision of Prof. Pastres, worked closely with Troticoltura Leonardi, a land-based rainbow trout farm located in Trentino Alto-Adige, Northern Italy (Figure 1), with a common goal to implement the PFFapproach for improving the management practices.

Taking a two-step approach

After feed and labour, oxygen supply is one of the main costs for land-based aquaculture companies. Oxygenation systems are not often optimised, meaning that they are not able to follow the fluctuations of oxygen demand by fish.

Instead, the widely implemented approach consists in overdimensioning the oxygen supply on the basis of a worst-case scenario.

However, DO concentration can markedly change, in relation to

the concentration in the influent as well as to the fish consumption rate, which depends on circadian rhythm and feeding regime.

With such considerations in mind a two-step approach was taken: the first step consisted in the development of a dynamical process-based model of DO dynamics within the raceway in order to be obtain hourly forecast of DO concentration and fish respiration rate.

In the second step, the predictive capability of the model was improved by including a data assimilation algorithm, which updates the model in real-time, based on the agreement with the observations which are being collected.

The methodology was tested on comprehensive data sets, collected in collaboration by field data which was collected Edmund Mach Foundation - https://www.fmach.it/

What is data assimilation (DA)?

On a personal note, I really appreciated Erik Hempel’s contribution to June 2021 edition of International Aquafeed magazine, where he warned the readers about the widely used Artificial Intelligence (AI) term. Mr Hempel highlights the fact that it was mostly used “to attract attention and create illusion of ground-breaking innovation, without really adding anything new”.

The first thing to say about DA methods is that they are not at all new in the data processing landscape, as they were introduced in statistics and engineering in the 60’s.

Its popularity has increased since then in several fields - firstly in aerospace and meteorology, and later in oceanography and ecology. However, DA methods were poorly applied in aquaculture field, and not applied at all in land-based aquaculture.

44 | December 2021 - Fish Farming Technology

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

DA differs from machine learning (another term widely used “to obscure the Fish understanding of the processes” as Erik Respiration DO Hempel stated for AI) in that it requires rate Measure Biomass a dynamical process-based model of the system under study.

Process-based DOin Basically, DA methods combine model State DO Temp Model Forecast predictions and observations to improve the estimation of the state of a given system, Oxygen thus allowing a more reliable forecast. This Supply KalmanFilter goal is achieved by assuming that the state algorithm variables of a process-based models are, in fact, stochastic ones.

The specific fish respiration rate is usually considered as a fixed “parameter” Figure 2: Physical model and data assimilation – Principles in these models but, in fact, it changes TM in a way that it is difficult to dynamically predict: therefore, it can be included in a DA scheme as a “non(Vaki Ltd), designed for salmon cages and tested for the first time observable” variable whose changes are driven by the information in a raceway. This model was then able to accurately predict the gained any time a new observation is collected.

DO concentration within the raceway.

This method is fully in line with the PFF approach, which However, to improve and make this prediction more robust, focuses on the estimation of non-observable feature variables by every time a new measurement of the dissolved oxygen fitting a model output to a set of observations. concentration in the raceway was available, we compared it with this model prediction: on the basis of the difference, the prediction itself, as well as the fish respiration rate (processA robust real-time estimation of fish respiration rate based model parameter), were adjusted following a determined Our dynamic process-based model relies on balance of the procedure specific to Kalman Filter (Figure 2). input and output fluxes of dissolved oxygen due to water inlet Outputs of the algorithm are: i) real-time forecast of oxygen and outlet, the liquid oxygen supplied by the farmer, the fish concentration within the raceway that are very reliable (Figure 3) consumption and the exchanges between water and atmosphere. ii) a dynamic estimation of respiration rate. Two different kinds The fish respiration rate was chosen TMto be a function of water of dynamics were observed from the latest (Figure 4): first a daily temperature and fish average weight, the latest being obtained oscillation due to circadian rhythm of fish and widely reported in from a real-time biomass monitoring system, Biomass Daily

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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY literature, and second a long-term evolution that we correlated with the feeding regime. On starving periods, respiration rate lower whereas on feeding period it rises.

Even if feeding regime or circadian rhythm were not taken into account by the process-based model, the DA algorithm was able to simulate them, and this means that a simple model (which means a simpler software implementation and low computation time) can be more efficient if combined with real-time measurements, using data assimilation approach.

Furthermore, from an oxygen management perspective, this means also that we are able to dynamically and reliably forecast the oxygen demand from the fish, opening the way to a smarter control of oxygen supply.

Figure 3: Dissolved oxygen forecast using data assimilation

Closing the loop: a dynamic oxygen supply to improve sustainability

It is quite clear that maintaining a constant oxygen supply to the raceway is not an efficient method to manage oxygen. However, a constant value that warranty fish welfare even in front of most probable extreme events can be very attractive for a farmer, as it minimises any risk to damage fish health, and thus economical productivity.

As a consequence, thinking about a smart and dynamic control of oxygen supply implies a combination of these two requirements: minimising oxygen supply without impacting fish welfare.

And of course, not all control strategies can fulfil both requirements.

Figure 4: Respiration rate forecast using data assimilation In such a context Kalman Filter algorithm could be a very good candidate to face this challenge, because of its ability to stick with what is really happening, However, it is of primarily importance if working in the “real combining a description of the process and the feedback from world” where every system can present several types of failures the field. Some control algorithms are dedicated to being and thus deliver unreliable measurements. This aspect if of associated with Kalman Filter approach and they should now be primary importance for aquaculture production and fish welfare further investigated to “close the loop” introducing a decision as, retrieving biased data from field and considering it as reliable mechanism that would automatically determine the quantity of would mean to expose fish biomass to unreversible consequences. oxygen to be supplied to the raceway.

To put it simply, a quality control means to confirm that Recording that producing, transporting and liquid oxygen has a retrieved data can be considered as fully representative of the non negligeable carbon footprint, this next step would open the reality. And as such it is in a sense no more than a practical path toward a sustainable management of oxygen in land-based implementation of the Shakespeare words “All that glitters is not aquaculture. gold”, showing another time that we should not yield to the lights of every “ground-breaking innovation” but keep in mind that putting sensors everywhere means also to be able to criticise the And what about control quality of retrieved data? data they retrieve.

Finally, Kalman Filter is also able to give some information The research leading to these results has received funding about the quality of the data sampled from the field. This aspect, named control quality, is sometimes neglected when talking about from the European Union’s H2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, under Grant Agreement No. 773330. processing data retrieved from probes sensors.

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AQUACULTURE WITHOUT FRONTIERS Aquaculture without frontiers (AwF) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) that promotes and supports responsible and sustainable aquaculture and the alleviation of poverty by improving livelihoods in developing countries 46 | December 2021 - Fish Farming Technology

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TECHNOLOGY SH Innovations this month December 2021 For this month’s Product Showcase we take a look back through the last 12 months, revisiting a selection of particularly notable products that showed innovative solutions in the aquaculture sector.

The choices that we have made incorporate a range of technologies that are designed to match the needs of fish farmers - from feed monitoring equipment to shrimp storing systems.

If you would like your product or service to appear in this section in a future edition of International Aquafeed and Fish Farming Technology magazine, then please contact us at editorial@perendale.co.uk

January: The FishFarmFeeder App As well as affording fish farmers real-time monitoring of the feeding systems installed for each client, the FishFarmFeeder app is also accessible from any smartphone or tablet, both for Apple and Android.

As well as offering the convenience associated with smartphone or tablet portability, the app also provides fish farmers with the opportunity to monitor their feeders in real-time that are installed for each client.

The alert and alarm system provides up-to-date and comprehensive information on the operation of the feeding system, whilst the power system configurator tells them where to enter the necessary data, adding an extra dimension to the feeding system.

The simple to use feeding system catalogue is also grouped by model with packages designed specifically for hatcheries, pre-grow, ongrowing, container, cannon and feed barge. www.fishfarmfeeder.com aqfeed.info/e/988

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

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July: EcoSea offshore submersible aquaculture cage system EcoSea’s proprietary submersible technology aquaculture cage systems are specially designed to address the global need for increasing protein production in a practical and sustainable manner.

This submersible system is designed and engineered to be utilised in high-energy open ocean conditions, allowing safe operation under the most severe weather events like typhoons and large waves, anywhere in the world.

EcoSea’s products utilise a highly durable, 100 percent recyclable, low carbon footprint copper alloy mesh, whose antimicrobial properties prevent fouling formation and thus facilitate water flow, contributing to a healthier and safer growing environment for fish.

EcoSea’s submersible technology has been tested and proven for over a decade, and thanks to our unique design and rigorous software simulations.

The company also provides a 10-year operational guarantee to all of their clients, regardless of the specimen, water temperature or geographic location. www.ecoseafarming.com

June: Propeller Bead Filter from AST Filters Featuring technology that has been tested and proven for over 20 years, the Propeller Bead Filter from AST Filters affords easy cleaning and automation, as well as being very compact and energy efficient.

It is currently utilised at some of the largest recirculating fish production facilities, zoos, and aquariums.

The motorised embedded propeller is used for frequent washing of the media, removing captured solids and excess biofloc. The sludge then settles to the bottom of the unit where it is drained.

With Propeller Bead filters, you will only lose 10 percent of the water you that you would normally lose with sand filters.

AST has both standard flow and high flow (pressurised) Propeller Bead filters. High flow filters can process flow rates of up to 1200 GPM, making them perfect for larger systems that need frequent turnover. www.astfilters.com

48 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

HOWCASE

STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE EVERYTHING!

August: Aquasense from SeaRAS Aquasense is an instrument that measures all relevant water parameters in real-time. The wireless and mobile units give a simple, flexible and reliable system for achieving full knowledge of the water in any part of the RAS. Data is communicated using open standards for easy exchange with other systems.

When starting up a new RAS system, Aquasense can be used in different positions along the water flow. This will map the change in water as it flows through the recirculation loop. A complete mass balance can be made of CO2 and H2S production/degassing and O2 production/consumption.

This facility will enable you to tune the system to optimal performance and give instant knowledge about it that would otherwise have taken years to obtain.

The system can then be operated based on real time water quality parameters, whilst large variations in CO2 can be avoided. https://searas.site/searas-aquasense/

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October: Aquahive from Ocean on Land Technology The Aquahive features a system that is designed to enable higher survival rates of juvenile clawed lobsters, facilitating the transition stage between stages III and IV, which typically have a high mortality rate owing to cannibalism.

The ideal system for holding juvenile clawed lobsters, the Aquahive is comprised of 28 perforated trays, 27 being useable. Each tray holds a maximum of 140 juvenile lobsters in less than 0.5m2 floor space, totalling to 3780 lobsters per Aquahive. The system is also easy to feed and clean, with a dedicated feed pump.

The honeycomb-like configuration of the chambers is designed to isolate the lobsters, enabling high rates of survival and reducing close proximity stress. For this reason, it is well suited for holding juvenile lobsters, with the potential to benefit other aquatic species that share similar biological characteristics and predatory behaviour to lobsters. www.oceanonland.com

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 49

CS Aquaculture case study

Innovative project looks to create clothing fibres from seafood processing waste

Plastic experts from Impact Solutions; biotechnology researchers from the University of Edinburgh led by Dr Stephen Wallace; seafood producer Farne Salmon, part of Labeyrie Fine Foods; and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) are exploring the feasibility of a more environmentally friendly, circular approach to the production of synthetic clothing – specifically focusing on adipic acid, a precursor to nylon.

The group are taking waste material generated as part of fish processing and using biological enzymes to extract the fatty components of the fish waste. Through advanced molecular biology, genetically modified bacteria can then turn the fatty components into a mixture of adipic acid and useful by-products.

“The project marks the start of an exciting journey to find a sustainable alternative for a key component found in the fabric of our clothes,” says Simon Rathbone, development manager at Impact Solutions.

“The initial feasibility study has led us to an exciting juncture where we can begin to see the potential of generating value from a material that would otherwise be discarded.

“As well as adipic acid, we want to maximise the overall value of the process by looking at other components that can be extracted from the fish waste, such as fatty acids and fish oils.

“Collaboration has played a huge part in getting to where we

A team of Scottish researchers is exploring a new bio-based process that could see fish processing waste used to create one of the key components in the production of nylon, in what is believed to be a global first.

are so far, showcasing what can be achieved when industry and academic partners get together and combine expertise.”

The beginning of an important step

The feasibility study marks the beginning of an important step towards finding a sustainable, bio-based alternative for the production of adipic acid, which is typically derived from petrochemicals.

The steps involved in the current process are known to have a significant impact on the environment. Waste nitrous oxide is one of many by-products of the process, with some reports stating that it could be more harmful to the climate than CO2.

In addition to nylon, adipic acid is used in a range of products including polyurethane-based items such as building insulation and furniture cushioning, as well as cosmetics, lubricants, pharmaceuticals and food additives and flavourings.

The project follows extensive research by Stephen Wallace at the University of Edinburgh, looking at the bioconversion of lignin waste – a wood component and by-product of the paper industry – into adipic acid using an engineered strain of E. coli bacteria.

Approximately 50 million tonnes of lignin are produced each year around the world, yet the majority is burned rather than being reused for alternative purposes.With the results published

50 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

CS last year, the research used modern synthetic biology techniques to build a new pathway to adipic acid from a major component of lignin waste: guaiacol.

Through careful optimisation of the bioprocess conditions, such as temperature and the media used, as well as using chaperone proteins to increase the levels of active enzymes in cells, the team were able to achieve a production rate of 0.5g per litre of adipic acid at room temperature in 24 hours.

This process is currently being scaled-up in collaboration with commercial nylon manufacturers to explore its potential on an industrial scale.

“This work epitomises what can be achieved when we combine a knowledge of enzymatic chemistry with modern synthetic biology to create new sustainable biological routes to industrial chemicals; that would otherwise be manufactured from fossil fuels,” adds Stephen Wallace.

An alternative feedstock

Impact Solutions joined forces with the university in late 2019, proposing that fish waste could potentially be used as an alternative feedstock for this process. A funding application was then submitted to IBioIC to develop the idea further and conduct a full feasibility study.

“Exploring sustainable bio-based alternatives to petrochemical-based processes is an important step in Scotland’s efforts to reach net zero, and there is a huge opportunity to make more use of co-products and extract value from industrial waste as part of that,” says Liz Fletcher, director of business engagement at IBioIC. “Supporting valuable collaborative research, such as this, underlines IBioIC’s commitment to the development and growth

Specialist in the design and build of installations for the aquatic feed processing industry

of a more circular economy, with a variety of innovation projects and partnerships with organisations such as Zero Waste Scotland, beginning to unlock new opportunities.

“Aquaculture and seafood processing are prime examples of sectors exploring new ways of enhancing their environmental impacts.”

Avoiding expensive & energy-intensive treatment

As much as 492,000 tonnes of waste is created annually by the UK’s fish processing industry – comprising fish remains, oils, and wastewater collected during the clean down of processing plants.

Currently, the waste must go through either expensive and energy-intensive treatment and separation or used in low value products such as animal feed or fertiliser, but this new process could uncover alternative uses for the waste material.

Waste used in the feasibility study is being provided by Farne Salmon, furthering its commitment to eliminating waste for landfill, and supporting its aims to optimise the use of coproducts.

“Our mission is to be a more sustainable business managing all aspects and impacts of our daily activities and in particular utilising in full the scarce resources we impact upon on a daily basis,” adds Angus Forbes, environment and projects manager at Labeyrie Fine Foods.

“Our waste streams have been a major focus in recent years and wherever possible we have found routes to divert them to businesses who have the foresight and technology to utilise them as a raw material for further processing. We are therefore delighted to be involved in this project and look forward to providing further support in the future.”

Empagran, Equador | 6 tph pellets, 6 tph extrudates

Ottevanger Milling Engineers is supplier of machines, installations and complete process lines for the aquatic feed industry and grain processing companies.

Our expertise in project management, engineering and production ensures the successful realization of machines, process lines and complete installations.

www.ottevanger.com International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 51

Industry Events

Status updates for industry events amidst global effects of COVID-19 2021

December OMS Aquafeed Production School www.onlinemillingschool.com 2-4 Taiwan International Fisheries and Seafood Show 2021 Taipei, Taiwan www.taiwanfishery.com

30-31 RASTECH 2022 Hilton Head Island, USA www.ras-tec.com 2022

5-8 World Aquaculture 2020 Singapore www.was.org

April 25-29 Agrishow 2022 São Paulo, Brasil www.agrishow.com.br

7-10 AlgaEurope 2021 Online https://algaeurope.org 11-14 Aquaculture Africa 2021 Alexandria, Egypt www.was.org

26-28 Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global 28th Edition Barcelona, Spain www.seafoodexpo.com 2022

May 3-5 Aquaculture UK 2022 Aviemore, Scotland https://aquacultureuk.com

12-17 International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF) 2021 Busan, Republic of Korea www.isfnf2020busan.com

2022

16-17 Aquafarm 2022 Pordenone, Italy www.aquafarm.show

25-27 Agritechnica Asia 2022 Bangkok, Thailand www.agritechnica-asia.com

13-15 Fish International 2022 Bremen, Germany https://fishinternational.de

2022

8-10 AFIA Purchasing and Ingredient Suppliers Conference 2022 San Francisco, California, USA www.afia.org ☑ See The International Aquafeed team at this event

2022

2022

June 29-30 Seagriculture EU 2022 Bremerhaven, Germany https://seagriculture.eu

2022

October 5-6 Poultry Africa Kigali, Rwanda www.poultryafricaevent.com

31-2 VIV Europe Utrecht, The Netherlands www.viveurope.nl

March TBC ILDEX Vietnam 2022 Vietnam www.ildex-vietnam.com

7-8 Seagriculture USA 2022 Portland, Maine, USA https://seagriculture-usa.com

24-27 World Aquaculture 2021 Mérida, Mexico www.was.org/meeting/code/AQ2022

February

28-4 Aquaculture 2022 San Diago, CA, USA www.was.org/meeting/code/AQ2022

September TBA Aquaculture New Zealand Conference 2022 Nelson, New Zealand www.aquaculture.org.nz

January 12-14 Victam Asia Bangkok, Thailand www.victam.com

2022

The Aquaculture Canada and WAS North America 2022 conference (a partnership of the Aquaculture Association of Canada (AAC), World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA)) will be an in-person event, August 15 - 18, 2022, at the St. John’s Convention Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

With eight conference rooms, the three-day conference program will include all aspects of Aquaculture. There is still time to submit your abstract online, you can do so by visiting the event’s website, where the various session topics are also listed: https://www.was.org/Meeting/ Abstract/Submit/WANA2021 The trade show has a few booths left – over 90 percent of the exhibition space has been sold. All exhibitors will get the opportunity to host their staff, customers, and conference delegates at the trade show.

Meeting rooms will be available for societies, exhibitors, and other institutions. Delegates and trade show participants can organise staff meetings, annual general assembly meetings, or customer meetings during this event.

23-25 Aquaculture Philippines 2022 Manila, Philippines www.livestockphilippines.com

2022 2022

15-18 Aquaculture Canada and WAS North America 2022 St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada www.was.org/meeting/code/WANA2021

24-26 Aquafuture Spain 2022 Santiago De Compostela, Spain http://en.aquafuturespain.com

12-14 Vietstock 2022 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam www.vietstock.org 2022

November

August

9-11 AFIA Equipment Manufacturers Conference 2022 St. Petersburg, Florida, USA www.afia.org

3-5 Ildex Vietnam 2022 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam www.ildex-vietnam.com

9-11 Ildex Indonesia 2022 Jakarta, Indonesia www.ildex-indonesia.com/

10-12 Livestock Malaysia 2022 Malacca, Malaysia www.livestockmalaysia.com

15-18 EuroTier 2022 Hannover, Germany www.eurotier.com

52 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

N DA EW TE S

World Aquaculture Singapore 2022

Nov. 29 - Dec. 2, 2022

Singapore EXPO Convention & Exhibition Centre and MAX Atria

May 24-27, 2022

The Annual International Conference & Exposition of World Aquaculture Society

Mérida, Mexico

Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2020 – Annual Meeting of Asian Pacific Chapter, WAS

Centro Internacional de Congresos de Yucatán, CIC

Hosted by Singapore Food Agency

Annual global meeting of the World Aquaculture Society

Conference Sponsors Temasek Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University National University of Singapore, James Cook University Republic Polytechnic 3rd International Symposium on Perch and Bass WAS Premier Sponsors

WA2020 Partner @WASAPC

@WASingapore WASAPC

Associate Sponsors Aquaculture Engineering Society International Association of Aquaculture Economics & Management WorldFish

WAS Premier Sponsors

Aquaculture 2022 Come one, Come all, for Aquaculture Large and Small

Sustainable Aquaculture – Feeding Africa AQUACULTURE AFRICA 2021 Alexandria Egypt • December 11-14, 2021 The 1st Annual International Conference & Exposition of the African Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (AFRAQ2021) Egypt is the biggest aquaculture producer in the continent. Both local and international aquaculture delegates will converge for the event at the beautiful City of Alexandria, the Pride of the Mediterranean Sea.

February 28 - March 4, 2022

Town and Country Resort & Conference Center San Diego, California

Hosted by

Conference Management Exhibits & Sponsors WAS - African Chapter worldaqua@was.org Mario Stael Blessing Mapfumo Chapter Founding Gold Sponsor Conference Sponsor and www.was.org mario@marevent.com africanchapter@was.org Egyptian Aquaculture Society (EgAS) AFRAQ 2021 Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

WAS Premier Sponsors

Aquacultural Engineering Society Aquaculture Association of Canada Aquaculture Feed Industry Association Catfish Farmers of America Global Aquaculture Alliance

For More Information Contact:

International Association of Aquaculture Economics and Management Latin America & Caribbean Chapter WA US Trout Farmers Association World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association Zebrafish Husbandry Association

Conference Manager | P.O. Box 2302 | Valley Center, CA 92082 USA Tel: +1.760.751.5005 | Fax: +1.760.751.5003 | Email: worldaqua@aol.com | www.was.org Trade Show Contact: mario@marevent.com

Industry Events

VIV MEA was a truly exciting prospect - and one that did not disappoint With the international feed to food trade show once again taking place in Abu Dhabi, November 2021 saw the return of VIV MEA. Now in its third edition, the organisers drew on their proven track record for delivering industry events, as the Feed to Food, livestock and animal production industry players were warmly welcomed to the three-day exhibition.

Taking place across the 17,500m2 of available space in the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), anticipation was building prior to the expected arrival of as many as 8000 visitors.

Set against the backdrop of nearly two years of the cancellation and postponements of this and other shows due to the on-going global pandemic, a face-to-face exhibition and conference programme was safely delivered at the spacious venue in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In spite of this current global situation, VIV MEA 2021 saw somewhere in the region of 500 global exhibitors showcasing the very latest products, with the show widely touted as being the place to stay ahead of new technologies and market trends.

Participants also enjoyed the benefit of eased travel restrictions in Abu Dhabi, with the city serving as a safe host for this biennial show for animal protein professionals from the Middle East and Africa.

All travellers who were able to provide vaccination documentation were able to both visit the city and attend VIV MEA, on the condition that they followed all relevant protocols diligently.

As the images that accompany this report show, VIV MEA 2021 was an undoubtable success. “The highlights of the event for me were how busy the show was and how safe we all felt,” says Darren Parris, Company President, Perendale Publishers Ltd. “When I say the event was busy, I don’t just mean busy in terms of being busy during the pandemic, VIV MEA was a busy show full stop. It was great to see so many people in one place again, engaging with one another and seeing the wheels of our industry turning once again - all in a Covid safe manner.”

The organisers of VIV MEA were able to deliver a safe and pleasant industry experience by working closely together with local partners.

See our full album of photos from this event on our Facebook page Visit: aqfeed.info/e/1260

54 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

Industry Events

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International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 55

Coolers & driers Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de

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)

Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com

Soon Strong Machinery +886 3 990 1815 www.soonstrong.com.tw

Liptosa +34 902 157711 www.liptosa.com

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

Computer software Inteqnion +31 543 49 44 66 www.inteqnion.com

Alltech +44 1780 764512 w: www.alltech.com Anpario +44 1909 537 380 www.anpario.com

Elevator buckets

Biorigin www.biorigin.net

Alapala +90 212 465 60 40 www.alapala.com

GePro +49 54415 925252 www.ge-pro.de

Tapco Inc +1 314 739 9191 www.tapcoinc.com

Grupo Dibaq +34 921 574 286 www.dibaqacuicultura.es

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

Jefo +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com

Enzymes

Silos Cordoba +34 957 325 165 www.siloscordoba.com

Colour sorters

Aller Aqua +45 70 22 19 10 www.aller-aqua.com

Faivre + 33 3 81 84 01 32 www.faivre.fr

Bulk storage

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

Adisseo + 33 1 46 74 70 00 www.adisseo.com

Drum filters

Amino acids

Conveyors

Feed and ingredients

Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

Romer Labs +43 2272 6153310 www.romerlabs.com

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

Zheng Chang +86 2164184200 www.zhengchang.com/eng

Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com

Phibro +972 4 629 1833 www.phibro-aqua.com

Symaga +34 91 726 43 04 www.symaga.com

Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

FrigorTec GmbH +49 7520 91482-0 www.frigortec.com

Additives

Silo Construction & Engineering +32 51723128 www.sce.be

Wenger Manufacturing +1 785-284-2133 www.wenger.com

Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br

Kaeser Kompressoren +49 9561 6400 www.kaeser.com

Evonik +49 618 1596785 www.evonik.com

Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com

FAMSUN +86 514 85828888 www.famsungroup.com

Air products

R-Biopharm +44 141 945 2924 www.r-biopharm.com

IDAH +866 39 902701 www.idah.com

Consergra s.l +34 938 772207 www.consergra.com

Faivre + 33 3 81 84 01 32 www.faivre.fr

IMAQUA +32 92 64 73 38 www.imaqua.eu

Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br

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

Aerators

Analysis

Clextral +1 813 854 4434 www.clextral.com

Liptosa +34 902 15 77 11 www.liptoaqua.com

JEFO +1 450 799 2000 www.jefo.com

Equipment for sale

Phileo (Lesaffre animal care) +33 3 20 81 61 00 www.lesaffre.fr

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

Skretting + 47 51 88 00 10 www.skretting.com

Extruders Almex +31 575 572666 www.almex.nl Amandus Kahl +49 40 727 710 www.akahl.de Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com Buhler AG +41 71 955 11 11 www.buhlergroup.com

56 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

The Anderson Inc +1 419-897-6758 www.andersonsgrain.com

Feed Mill Clextral +1 813 854 4434 www.clextral.com Van Aarsen International +31 475 579 444 www.aarsen.com

Fish counters Faivre + 33 3 81 84 01 32 www.faivre.fr

Soon Strong Machinery +886 3 990 1815 www.soonstrong.com.tw

Andritz +45 72 160300 www.andritz.com

Fish pumps

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

Faivre + 33 3 81 84 01 32 www.faivre.fr

Clextral +1 813 854 4434 www.clextral.com

Fish Stunning Aqua Future + 49 27 32 / 65 35 www.aquafuture.de

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

Fish Stunning

FAMSUN +86 514 87848880 www.muyang.com

Ace Aquatec + 44 7808 930923 www. aceaquatec.com

Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com

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

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

Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br

Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

Yemtar +90 266 733 8550 www.yemtar.com

Yemtar +90 266 733 8550 www.yemtar.com

Zheng Chang +86 2164184200 www.zhengchang.com/eng

Predator Defence Ace Aquatec + 44 7808 930923 www. aceaquatec.com

Hydronix +44 1483 468900 www.hydronix.com

Probiotics

RAS Equipment Fish Farm Feeder +34 886 317 600 www.fishfarmfeeder.com

FAWEMA +49 22 63 716 0 www.fawema.com

FISA +51 998128737 www.fisa.com.pe

Paddle Mixer Anderson www.andersonfeedtech.com

Pellet binders Borregaard +47 69 11 80 00 www.borregaard.com

Pellet mill Clextral +1 813 854 4434 www.clextral.com PTN +31 73 54 984 72 www.ptn.nl

Vacuum Dinnissen BV +31 77 467 3555 www.dinnissen.nl Ferraz Maquinas e Engenharia +55 16 3615 0055 www.ferrazmaquinas.com.br Wynveen International B.V. +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

Weighing equipment Ottevanger +31 79 593 22 21 www.ottevanger.com Wynveen +31 26 47 90 699 www.wynveen.com Yemmak +90 266 733 83 63 www.yemmak.com

Wet expansion machine Soon Strong Machinery +886 3 990 1815 www.soonstrong.com.tw

Yeast products ICC, Adding Value to Nutrition +55 11 3093 0753 www.iccbrazil.com Leiber GmbH +49 5461 93030 www.leibergmbh.de Phileo (Lesaffre animal care) +33 3 20 81 61 00 www.lesaffre.fr

Biomin +43 2782 803 0 www.biomin.net

FISA +51 998128737 www.fisa.com.pe

Packaging

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

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

Faivre + 33 3 81 84 01 32 www.faivre.fr

Nets & cages

FAMSUN +86 514 85828888 www.famsungroup.com

Plants

Fish Graders

Moisture analysers

Silos

RAS system Aqua Ultraviolet +1 952 296 3480 www.aquauv.com

Pulverizer (large fine) Soon Strong Machinery +886 3 990 1815 www.soonstrong.com.tw

Roller mill - vertical Soon Strong Machinery +886 3 990 1815 www.soonstrong.com.tw

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 57

To include your company in the International Aquafeed market place in print, and a company page on our website contact Tuti Tan +44 1242 267700 • tutit@perendale.co.uk To visit the online market place visit: www.aqfeed.info/e/1130

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THE BUSINESS NETWORK LINKING PROFESSIONALS FROM FEED TO FOOD

CALENDAR MEAT & POULTRY INDUSTRY RUSSIA 2021 MOSCOW | MAY 17-19 ILDEX VIETNAM 2021 HO CHI MINH CITY | JULY 21-23 POULTRY AFRICA 2021 KIGALI | SEPTEMBER 1-2 VIV QINGDAO 2021 QINGDAO | SEPTEMBER 15-17 VIV MEA 2021 ABU DHABI | NOVEMBER 23-25

MOSCOW UTRECHT QINGDAO ISTANBUL ABU DHABI MUMBAI BANGKOK NAIROBI KIGALI

HO CHI MINH JAKARTA

ILDEX INDONESIA 2021 JAKARTA | NOVEMBER 24-26 VIV ASIA 2022 BANGKOK | JANUARY 12-14 MEAT PRO ASIA 2022 BANGKOK | JANUARY 12-14 VICTAM AND ANIMAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION ASIA 2022 BANGKOK | JANUARY 18-20 VIV EUROPE 2022 UTRECHT | MAY 31-2 JUNE VIV TURKEY 2023 ISTANBUL | JUNE 8-10

Organized by

58 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

MyMag - the Aquafeed info links system

Market place members in this issue Ace Aquatec Ltd Adisseo (France) Aller Aqua (Denmark) Alltech (Ireland) Almex Andritz (Denmark) Anpario plc Aqua Ultraviolet AVANTRON MICRO CO., LTD Biomin Holding GmbH (Austria) Clextral Chile Dinnissen Evonik Degussa (Germany) Faivre FAMSUN Co., Ltd Fibras Industriales S.A. Fish Farm Feeder GePro Group Dibaq Inteqnion Jiangsu ZhengChang Kaeser Kompressoren SE Leiber Lipidos Toledo S.A. ( Liptosa ) Orffa Ottevanger TSC PTN Phibro Animal Health Ltd. Phileo (France) The Packaging Group GmbH Van Aarsen International B.V. Wenger Manufacturing, Inc Yemmak

See company profile

See advert on page

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myMAG myMAG LINKS AND PAGE FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

International Aquafeed's myMAG shortlinks are custom links that enable readers to get the most out of the products we showcase in the magazine each month.

QR CODES & myMAG LINKS to digital content Custom QR codes and short links can be placed against any content in the magazine and linked to any content on the web.

the interview Heather Jones, Chief Executive Officer, SAIC With over thirty years’ experience working directly with governments, industry and research institutions in a scientific capacity, Heather Jones established the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) – the UK’s first industry-led aquaculture innovation body – an organisation with in excess of 240 members.

The former Head of International Division in the Scottish Government and a Deputy Director in Marine Scotland, she also possesses a wealth of experience as a CEO, operating strategically at board level for 14 years. She is also founder of the WiSA (Women in Scottish Aquaculture) network.

Heather Jones’ range of advisory roles includes the UK Seafood Innovation Fund, the Aquaculture Research Collaboration Hub, and Scotland’s Aquaculture Leadership Group.

She is also a Member of the Advisory Board to the Roslin Institute, a Member of the Seafish Board, a grant panel assessor of the UKRI Transforming Food Production call, and a UK Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment advisor on innovation in aquaculture.

Her role as SAIC CEO involves developing the organisation’s strategic vision, leading the executive team, ensuring a focus on delivery and outcomes, representing the organisation at national and international level, and maintaining an extensive network of relationships in aquaculture around the globe.

How did you become aware of the aquaculture sector? Was this a sector that interested you from the beginning of your working career?

My interest in aquaculture stemmed from the three years I spent at the Scottish Government responsible within Marine Scotland for aquaculture, wild salmonids and marine regulation. I thoroughly enjoyed the direct links with people in the sector, whom I found to be passionate about and committed to what they did.

I jumped at the opportunity to start up SAIC when it came around, and immediately found working with company members of the SAIC board both motivating and exhilarating.

What other roles have you had that, in particular, prepared you for your current position?

I spent 25 years in the UK civil service, working in Edinburgh, London, Brussels, Houston and Glasgow. In these various roles, I had responsibility for Scotland’s international relations, including external trade promotion, which gave me an insight into global perspectives on consumer demands and the world’s perceptions of Scotland and the UK – in other words, ‘seeing ourselves as others see us’.

It was also fascinating to gain an appreciation for the geopolitics of international investment and trade decisions, as well as how countries and their governments seek the best for their citizens.

What are the key goals of SAIC in terms of both meeting the concerns of the consumer and the interests of the wider sector when it comes to sustainability in aquaculture?

SAIC exists to support increased economic impact with reduced environmental footprint in UK aquaculture. We do that by focusing our funding and research efforts on projects that will make a meaningful impact to the sector’s sustainability – whether that is through enhancing fish health and wellbeing, looking at alternatives to medicines, or directly cutting carbon emissions.

A sustainable aquaculture sector is one that is recognised as providing healthy, nutritious and affordable food, produced through the most efficient use of natural resources. That means efficient use of feed inputs, minimising production losses, and using as much technology and zero carbon energy inputs as possible – all of which we aim to support through our work.

How relevant have the COP26 discussions been in directing Scottish and/or European aquaculture when it comes to climate change and what might have been overlooked in terms of the improvements in efficiency and sustainability that are already being achieved in aquaculture?

Recent research has pointed to the fact that food production is responsible for more than one-third – 37 percent – of

greenhouse gases, largely produced through land animal production and the deforestation of some countries to turn forests into areas of plant cultivation.

Aquaculture is often a forgotten aspect of a highly efficient and effective means of protein production: when people think of fish, they tend to think of fishermen going to sea in boats and hauling in ‘wild’ fish of unknown provenance.

Aquaculture offers far greater traceability, a more reliable and quicker-to-market route from slaughter to plate, and quality assurance on the health, welfare and feed inputs of farmed animals.

Increasing efficient production in freshwater and at sea holds enormous potential for feeding the world. And, with the level of technology investment going into global aquaculture, there is an opportunity for sustainable growth that balances inputs with harvested yield.

Does aquaculture have to do more to convince consumers and possibly governments that it is a significant food provider for our populations for the future?

Developing countries see the potential of aquaculture to secure jobs and support communities, while meeting consumer demand for farmed shellfish and finfish. Sectors like these offer social and economic benefits, although any risks to the environment must be managed and regulated.

In the developed world, we have strong regulatory regimes, which vastly exceed those of developing economies. That should mean we can trust the provenance and sustainability credentials of farmed seafood grown at home.

Yet, there are voices of disdain who dispute the social licence of farmed marine species because of perceptions around environmental impacts. The reality is that some of these views are based on misinformation, or inaccurate data from 20 years ago.

The sector stands to gain by building social licence. This can be achieved by collaboration throughout the supply chain, and clear messaging to consumers about the positive ways in which aquaculture in developed countries is well managed, well regulated, and that it delivers against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

What is your view on where Scottish or UK-wide aquaculture is headed in terms of their development?

Or is its output potential likely to be constrained and if so what might those constraints be?

UK aquaculture growth is constrained by an under-appreciation by the UK Government of how big an opportunity farming our marine waters is. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) needs to compare our aquaculture growth potential, along with the carbon emissions and other measures of the environmental sustainability of shellfish and finfish, against those of land animal production.

60 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

Restricting production in the UK could mean we simply import even more seafood from abroad, at a higher carbon cost and the prevention of sector growth in rural and coastal communities around the UK. This is something we will need to address if we are to realise aquaculture’s full potential.

Finally, what would your advice be to young people joining our sector with regard to their careers? Are there challenging career opportunities for young people in aquaculture?

The best piece of advice I could give young people is to approach your work with these six words framing everything you do: think big; work hard; have fun.

When it comes to thinking big, consider how you can help your company or organisation to have the biggest impact on the world’s biggest challenges. Think about where you fit into making that happen and how you might share those ideas with the right people.

Work hard is fairly self-explanatory, but I’ve always found that you get out what you put in. Hard work often earns you ‘lucky breaks’ and people remember those who go the extra mile.

Just as importantly, have fun. You spend around one-third of your life at work, so make sure to enjoy it. A little humour also goes a long way. Be easy to work with, help others around you to do well and succeed – that can often mean others will do the same for you.

International Aquafeed - December 2021 | 61

THE INDUSTRY FACES ASC appoints new Senior Director of Technical Operations

T

he ASC has appointed Ally Dingwall as Senior Director of Technical Operations, a new role providing leadership and coordination to ASC’s standard systems and certification assurance processes.

Mr Dingwall joins ASC from Sainsbury’s UK with decades of seafood industry experience, including as a member of ASC’s Supervisory Board for the last three years where he has been closely involved in new developments.

Ally Dingwall

“Having worked with Ally for many years I know how passionate he is about responsible aquaculture,” says Chris Ninnes, ASC CEO. “We’re really excited that all his experience and expertise will now be dedicated towards the technical functions of ASC.” Mr Dingwall’s role will also involve supporting the ASC at executive level, working with the CEO, Senior Management Team, and Supervisory Board to ensure technical services are coherent, innovative and aligned to ASC’s wider strategic plans.

BioMar appoints new Divisional Marketing Director

B

ioMar are pleased to announce that Marcel Huijsmans joins the company from Hendrix Genetics, where he has been Director of Communications and Marketing for the last 12 years.

The company creates the new position of Divisional Marketing Director in order to establish strong leadership and the agile delivery of product development. The aim is then to meet customer needs, together with a rigorous and focus on customer value and sustainability.

Marcel Huijsmans

“I am pleased that we have been able to attract an international marketing leader such as Marcel Huijsmans to BioMar,” announces Paddy Campbell VP, Salmon Division in BioMar. “With 20 years of experience within the food industry and agriculture/aquaculture businesses across various categories, he brings a wide range of competences within product and concept development, market dynamics and research, which I am sure will benefit the BioMar organisation as well as our customers.”

Skretting appoints Global Manager Closed Aquaculture Systems

S

kretting announces the appointment of Charlie Granfelt as Global Manager Closed Aquaculture Systems.

In this role, Mr Granfelt will support industry ambitions and ensure Skretting provides solutions to a dynamic and important sector. A sector that is essential to ensuring that aquaculture continues to meet the seafood needs of our growing global population.

Charlie Granfelt

Mr Granfelt joins Skretting HQ with over 30 years experience in sales and marketing, including over 20 years in senior leadership positions including football directorship and as a board member.

“I’m excited to work with the existing global team working at Skretting to deliver the best value proposition to our customers in this segment,” says Mr Granfelt Commenting on his new role.

“We are mobilising our global competence, and organising to meet the market needs in a way that is structured and efficient.”

Experienced professional joins American Aquafarms as its new CEO

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merican Aquafarms announces that the company has recent appointed Keith Decker as its new CEO.

Until recently Mr Decker was CEO of US based company Blue Harvest Fisheries, having previously served as the CEO of High Liner Foods from 2015 to 2017.

According to American Aquafarms Founder Mikael Roenes, Mr Decker’s skill-set and experience with Blue Harvest made him an appropriate pick to lead American Aquafarms.

Keith Decker

“Keith has the right resume, experience, and New England know-how to move American Aquafarms into the next generation of Maine’s maritime traditions,” says Mr Roenes.

“I am eager to work on the opportunities that American Aquafarms is bringing to aquaculture,” comments Mr Decker.

“By leveraging the state’s deep-water assets with next generation eco-friendly technology to sustainably produce food close to its market, we can set a new standard in the United States,” he adds.

62 | December 2021 - International Aquafeed

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