Friday, Oct. 23, 10.50. a.m. CET
Alternative opportunities in feed
Animals fats and proteins producer Soleval has been in the business for a while – but aquaculture is new to the French giant.
Only last year, the company ventured into the sector and is now offering a range of animal meals and oils for the aquafeed market.
Why? Because there is a "huge opportunity" on the back of the rampant growth of the industry, Aurelie Mourao Dos Santos, who works for the firm's marketing department, told IntraFish.
The company, which sees aquaculture as the "fastest growing food production industry," is headquartered in Le Mans and has three dedicated plants in France up and running to cater to the growing demand.
The clue? Soleval is not using marine resources for ingredients but is working with various byproducts from animals not used for human consumption.
These are "sustainable alternatives" to fishmeal and fish oil, Mourao Dos Santos said.
Europe, Asia and Latin America are seen as the biggest growth markets for the young company, and "we're trying to develop a market for aquafeed there," she said.
The company is targeting feed companies specifically, and is already doing some trials. .Products include poultry meal, pork blood meal, feathermeal and poultry oil.
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Friday, Oct. 23, 9.35 a.m. CET
EU aquaculture in numbers
The European Commission’s DG Mare recently produced a snazzy leaflet as part of its ‘Farmed in the EU’ campaign (see previous blog post) with the most important and up-to-date figures on EU aquaculture.
Did you know that in terms of volumes, the Union is the biggest producer in the world but is only providing 1.53 percent of total aquaculture output?
There’s no surprise that China is the world’s largest – with 60.75 percent -- followed by other Asian countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and South Korea.
But 1.53 percent?
This relates to about 1.25 million metric tons of fish and seafood. About half of it are molluscs and crustaceans, about 27 percent is marine fish, and 23 percent is freshwater fish.
Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece are the biggest producers and the top species are mussels, trout, salmon, oysters, carp, seabream and seabass.
In terms of seafood consumption – which averages about 23.1 kilograms per person per year – around 24 percent, or 5.54 kilograms, comes from aquaculture.
About 43 percent of this is actually produced by the Union’s member states, the rest comes from non-EU countries, with Norway being the principal supplier of aquaculture products.
Salmon and mussels are the top consumed farmed species – no surprise there.
The industry is nevertheless quite sizeable: About 85,000 people are directly employed in the European aquaculture sector.
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Friday, Oct. 23, 9.20 a.m. CET
Aquaculture producers back at school
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG Mare) is calling on aquaculture producers to go back to school and sign up to its 'Farmed in the EU' campaign.
Talking to IntraFish on Wednesday, Gilles Doignon, information and communication officer at DG Mare, said the project is looking for professionals, who would be willing to go into schools and provide kids with facts and figures, but also hands-on experience on aquaculture.
So far, the campaign attracted 73 volunteers, "but I want 500," he said.
The campaign is targeting both consumers and producers, and aims to provide facts on EU aquaculture to consumers "in a simple way," Doignon said, to do away with misperceptions on the industry, and basically boost its reputation.
"We really want to send the message to consumers to consider aquaculture as part of the EU agriculture industry," he said, explaining this is why 'farmed' was chosen as part of the campaign name.
One aim is to target kids, aged 12 to 18. DG Mare is providing an information kit to teachers, proposing them to use aquaculture as a subject in class.
As a first step, current knowledge should be discussed, before an aquaculture professional comes in to tell their story to pupils, or to organize an on-site visit -- "basically to give a human face to the sector," Doignon said.
In a third step, students are given the freedom to work on their own projects, do research or to develop a project on their own.
This year, DG Mare run a pilot with 20 schools in 10 member states, and the results have been "phenomenal," Doignon said.
Research was undertaken, recipes invented, and in one case students even achieved a change in school lunch menus to include more seafood.
"That's exactly what we want," Doignon said.
Now it is to get more producers on board who'd be willing to share their first-hand expertise and knowledge. In the end, Doignon said, it will result in both a boost in consumer confidence and higher seafood sales.
Click here to see the video of the results of the pilot project.
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Thursday, Oct. 22, 3.30 p.m. CET
Aller Aqua continues expansion drive with new African offices
Danish fish feed producer Aller Aqua continues to expand its global foothold, as demand for quality feed is rising across the globe, Maike Oehme, quality and technology coordinator at the firm, told IntraFish.
The company recently opened a sales and distribution office in Kenya and Nigeria, she said. "The market in Africa is expanding rapidly at the moment."
Growth is driven by increasing tilapia farming. Nigeria's political decision to boost domestic aquaculture also played a role, she said.
"You have to be at the right time at the right place," she told IntraFish, adding Africa is the market with the biggest opportunities for future growth.
The company currently sends continuous shipments of feed to the offices.
Aller Aqua recently announced its investment in a new feed plant in China to cater to the trout market there.
Planning and construction of the plant is still in early stages, but the country is definitely one of the group's growth markets, Oehme said.
Aller Aqua currently runs production facilities in Denmark, Poland, Germany and Egypt.
The company will continue to focus on offering diversified feeds for a range of species.
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Thursday, Oct. 22, 2.10 p.m. CET
BioMar: Demand for RAS diets increasing
Danish feed supplier BioMar is seeing "increasing interest" for RAS feed across the world, Henrik Aarestrup, global marketing director at the company, said.
The company has been working with RAS diets for about 10 years, but recently "new countries are coming into it."
In France, for instance, some of the biggest trout farmers are moving their production to RAS, he said.
Growth is also coming from China.
"But we also see that many of the farmers are struggling because the capital requirements are tremendous," he said.
"But we see if you use the right feed that will help you safe costs," he said.
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Thursday, Oct. 22, 1.10 p.m. CET
Making a case for RAS investments
Recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) are poised to play a bigger role in aquaculture's future -- there's no question about that.
Technology and equipment have steadily developed and "is there," Per Bovbjerg Pedersen of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua), said.
"We could farm fish on the moon with RAS technology. The question is not can we, the question is if it's feasible from an economical point of view," he told the audience at this morning's event on the subject.
"The technology is there, but we have to stress that as we go up, the complexity of the system and the investments increase," he said.
Benefits of RAS systems are production related, including better control over the water quality, such as pH and salinity, temperature, prevention from predators, improved biosecurity, prevention of diseases known to cage farming or open systems, as well as better control and surveillance.
"All in all you have improved performance of the fish," Bovbjerg Pedersen said.
In addition, environmental benefits play are role in RAS' future success. This includes constraints to expansion of production at sea in general, but also reduced discharges, reduced water consumption and less parasite spreading, he said.
"All in all applying recirculation systems results in improved sustainability," he told the audience.
Lastly, the management of these farms is easier. While specialists to tend to the equipment will be needed, companies will be able to save on labor cost as the processes are more automated.
"All this leads to a more intensified production," he said.
He gave the example of Leroy, which in 2013 took up the operation of a new RAS salmon smolt facility with a capacity of producing 1,120 metric tons per year -- or 14 million smolt of 80 gram each per year -- resulting in significant staff reductions and a 40 percent faster production cycle.
So what's the big hurdle? It's the cost, of course -- even though Bovbjerg Pedersen said energy requirements today are already a lot lower compared to the beginnings of RAS.
Industry veteran Bjorn Myrseth, co-founder and former CEO of Stolt Sea Farms and founder and former CEO of Marine Farms -- who sat in the audience -- brought it to the point by saying "we need to work hard to get that investment.
"The challenge is that the investment cost are much higher. We just need to make sure that the equipment will work for many, many years -- then it will be successful."
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Thursday, Oct. 22, 10.10 a.m. CET
Morrisons: 'Fish should eat fish'
UK retailer Morrisons' aquaculture sourcing policy is clear: The farmed fish sold at its 600 retail outlets across the country should make efficient use of feed resources, have a good conversion ratio, and in general be responsibly produced.
When it comes to one of the industry's biggest issues -- the scarcity of raw materials for feed -- the retailer is also clear.
"We personally believe fish should eat fish," Thomas Huw, fisheries and aquaculture manager at Morrisons, said this morning. "But the marine ingredients have to be responsible.
"We very much support marine raw materials at the moment" but the retailer is also looking into soy-bean and plant-based concepts.
This is part of its sourcing policy it subscribed to in 2012, and entails the FAO Code of Conduct, as well as a social and an ecological pillar.
Other issues in terms of aquaculture sourcing, which retailers such as Morrisons are faced right now include the current public debate on antibiotics usage, the use of GM products in feed and fish, fish health and welfare as well as social impacts of fish farming on employees and communities, Huw said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 5.10 p.m. CET
EU reworking organic aquaculture regulation
The EU Parliament is currently discussing a new regulation for organic aquaculture, Asa Maria Espmark of Nofima said.
She is heading a project called OrAqua, which is aiming to give stakeholder input to the parliament on the new regulation.
There are several issues at stake, she said. Firstly, the fast-growing organic sector requires regulations that reinforce its image and increase consumer confidence, while at the same time promote growth for improved profitability.
In addition, the new regulation has to be based on general organic principles, but also on aquaculture-specific regulation, combined with consumer requirements.
She hopes OrAqua will be able to identify some of the gaps between science and market knowledge and help create a widely trusted and recognized organic label.
The project still runs until the end of 2016, which Espmark hopes is "in time for the new regulation."
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 4.20 p.m. CET
Moving aquaponics to commercial viability
The fledgling aquaponics sector has had one big issue: its economical viability.
But with a new system -- developed by Inapro at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin, Germany -- this issue could soon be a thing of the past.
The EU-funded project, which kicked off in January 2014, has the goal "to make aquaculture more sustainable, but also to make money," as Project Coordinator Werner Kloes said.
His team developed a double recirculation aquaponic system, moving on from the currently used single recirculation aquaponic system. This new tech provides ideal growth conditions for both fish and vegetables -- a challenge traditional aquaponics systems cannot overcome.
The system has a far lower freshwater intake, provides the necessary nutrients to both plants and fish, and has no waste water, Kloes said.
His team completed a 200-square meter big research facility in January 2015, and is now rearing "tomatofish."
"Aquaponics was mostly a hobby in the past. It sounds green, it’s positive but you have different water quality requirements for fish and plants, which is why you have low yields and which is why commercialization is difficult," he told the audience.
The new concept improves sustainability by a "drastic reduction" of fresh water usage from about 10 to 20 percent to about 1 to 3 percent volume a day. This was achieved by regaining evaporated plant water as well as the use of alternative energy and waste heat.
In addition, it increased productivity because it allow conventional recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) to be integrated with hydroponic units.
It also lowers the impact on the environment, Kroes said, by "drastically" reducing the emissions of nutrient-rich fish waste water that is used for hydroponics.
Inapro, which runs until Dec. 31, 2017, is "aiming to transfer tomatofish to commercial application," Kroes said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1.40 p.m. CET
Pike perch, made in Sweden
Demand for sustainable seafood is at an all-time high in Sweden, creating a thriving platform for aquaculture start-ups.
One of the new companies hoping to nab a piece of the pie is AMG Foods -- founded by a an architect and a business man.
The two bought a 150-square meter building south of Stockholm recently, adjacent to a lake, which it plans to use for its aquaculture operation, Anders Svensson -- the architect -- told IntraFish.
"We want to build up a recirculation facility for pike perch," he said, adding the whole project is still "at the very beginning."
At Aquaculture Europe 2015, he is trying to get an impression of what's available in terms of technology and equipment. "We want to get help, that's why we're here for," he said.
AMG wants to initially invest about SEK 3 million (€318,516/$361,692) to SEK 4 million (€424,688/$482,256) in the venture, Svensson said.
"We’ll start with that and later build it up," he said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1.10 p.m. CET
German aquaculture -- a pipe dream?
Producers of seafood in Germany have only a small share in the growing global seafood production -- the country's current degree of self-sufficiency is at about 12 percent, Katrin Zander, senior reseacher at the Thünen Institute of Market Analysis, said.
So there might be an opportunity for domestic aquaculture...or not?
Zander -- with some research colleagues -- tried to answer this question, looking into consumer perceptions of sustainable fish made in Germany.
The results of the study showed that consumers actually did prefer German fish over products from Denmark, Poland and Turkey and that origin was the most important attribute.
"Interestingly, the claim was more decisive for the probability of choice than the eco-label," Zander said.
Nevertheless, the claim "from sustainable aquaculture" had the highest impact on the buying decision itself, she said, while the product price had the lowest impact.
But it's not that easy, she added.
It will be difficult to establish a strong sustainable market segment in between conventional and standard production and the well-established organic production, due to the low degree of consumers' knowledge on aquaculture.
But "stressing German origin in combination with sustainable production seems to be a promising option," Zander said.
"In order to increase the market share of fish products from sustainable German aquaculture, producers, processors and traders need to cooperate along the whole value chain," she told the audience.
"A crucial role is with the retailers who should list these premium quality products in a high price segment making use of consumers' added willingness to pay for these products. Taking these conditions into account, a considerable market potential for sustainable aquaculture products made in Germany exists."
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 12.40 p.m. CET
Retailers' role in promoting eco-labels
Supermarket should take on a greater role in promoting sustainability labels to consumers, Malin Jonell of Stockholm University, said while presenting findings of the study Eco-Labeled Seafood Purchasing -- Factors Influencing (Blue) Green Consumption.
In the study, conducted in the Stockholm area, the research team found that labels and environmental concerns are the biggest reasons why Swedish consumers opt for sustainable seafood.
Jonell said, consumer-oriented campaigns at a retail level could benefit from focusing on emotional aspects to a higher extent than is typically done in order to improve awareness of environmental issues linked to seafood production and create positive attitudes towards eco-labeled seafood.
"There is the need for improvement," she said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 12.10 p.m. CET
Closing the gap between science and industry
There are obvious challenges of transferring knowledge from a science level to industry needs -- and Jorge Dias of aqua nutrition company Sparos tried to give scientists some helpful advise during his presentation on Wednesday morning.
He told researchers to focus on the obvious things: the industry's biggest challenges.
These, according to him, include biological challenges, environmental challenges -- including feeding, sustainable resources and integrated systems -- occupation and coastal areas -- which he described as the main "object of debate" in many countries -- and consumer perception -- one of the most "relevant" points to the industry, especially on food safety.
"The challenges require novel solutions, which eventually will for some of you mean to initiate solutions for new business," Dias said.
So what does the industry require? Sparos has been focusing on the area of nutrition, where it's definitely the "scarcity of resources.
"We know that aquaculture is going to grow but in some cases we don’t know how to fuel that growth," Dias told the audience.
New feed ingredients, including aquatic biomasses such as microalgae, zooplankton and other aquatic plants, insect meals, mesopelagic resources, plant molecular farming, and processed food wastes, still need new and different approaches.
Additives are one important area.
"We can still do much better with the fine-tuning of nutrition and feeding," Dias said. "We need better knowledge of nutrient requirements."
Feed conversion ratios, nutritional programing, epigenome changes, controlled delivery of nutrients, integrated production systems, and technology that will replace extrusion at some point are other areas to consider, he said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 10.16 a.m. CET
The difficulties of shrimp
Which standard has been the most difficult one to develop? This was the question ASC's Chris Ninnes was asked by one member of the audience this morning.
Technical challenges vary widely from standard to standard, he replied, but the shrimp standard has "by far the greatest social and economical" issues involved.
The development of the shrimp industry had the "greatest controversy" attached to itself, he said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 10.05 a.m. CET
Standard confusion
The sense and non-sense of having more than one standard was quite naturally a topic at this morning's keynote speech by Chris Ninnes, CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
As the 'new kid on the block' the ASC is looking to play a "complimentary" role to other similar aquaculture standards, he said.
"I'm not saying we're the best or the biggest...there needs to be a fundamental role for more than one standard," he told the audience.
Collaboration between the standards is key, which is why the ASC signed a collaboration agreement with the Global Aquaculture Alliance and GlobalGAP already back in 2013.
In June this year, it also inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to strengthen the relationship between the two on the use the MSC Chain of Custody and logo licensing model, Ninnes said.
"We don't want to go and reinvent the wheel," he commented. According to him, collaboration "makes a lot of sense."
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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 8.00 a.m. CET
Aquaculture in-depth
New feed ingredients, disease prevention, fish welfare, labeling and certification, offshore production and new issues in aquaculture -- the subject list is long for this year's Aquaculture Europe 2015 conference and show in the Dutch harbor city of Rotterdam.
Over the next three days attendees will hear about the latest scientific advancements and developments in the field.
The program is packed -- and IntraFish will make sure to pick and choose the most interesting and relevant talks.
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