EWOS celebrates a major milestone this month, reaching 1 million tonnes of production in a year for the first time in its history. A world leader in delivering fish nutrition, EWOS has seen feed sales grow in line with increasing demand for farmed fish around the globe, and is confident of ongoing success.

The occasion is being marked by a website campaign featuring the slogan ‘Thanks a million’.

Previous and current employees have been comparing this significant achievement with developments during their own time with the company, and their reflections show how much things have changed.  Read the rest of this entry »

A letter to the editor by ACG senior consultant and founding partner, Dave Conley, has been published in the November 2011 issue of SeaFood Business Magazine.

Point of View: Get straight answers on aquaculture

By Dave Conley
November 05, 2011

I read with interest Fiona Robinson’s Editor’s Note of September 2011 [Consider the Source], and more specifically the paragraph that included this comment: “This tactic of painting fish farms with a broad brushstroke of ‘industrialism’ has left many consumers with the misperception that aquaculture will destroy our oceans, similar to how large corporate animal farms have sullied once-fertile farm lands. That message has been carefully placed by FWW [Food & Water Watch] and then repeated over and over again by celebrity chefs, many who have not even visited a fish farm to do their own research.”

My firm, the Aquaculture Communications Group, would be more than pleased to organize tours for anyone to come out and see what goes on in today’s modern fish and shellfish farms so that they can ask questions and get straight answers from the people who work in this industry on a daily basis. (Unfortunately we cannot do this for free.)

Despite what all the critics have to say about aquaculture in America and elsewhere, not one of them works in this industry, so as far as I am concerned they don’t know what they are talking about. Whatever information (and misinformation) they possess is second- and third-hand hearsay.  Read the rest of this entry »

More than 50 per cent of the world’s food fish will come from aquaculture, making it a crucial method to reduce poverty and combat food insecurity, said a United Nations report released today, while calling for governments to step up their efforts to support this practice.

Aquaculture, which involves cultivating fresh water and saltwater populations of fish under controlled conditions as opposed to catching fish in the wild, is the world’s fastest growing source of animal protein, growing by more than 60 per cent between 2000 and 2008, from 32.4 million tons to 52.5 million tons, according to the report.

“With stagnating global capture fishery production and an increasing population, aquaculture is perceived as having the greatest potential to produce more fish in the future to meet the growing demand for safe and quality aquatic food,” said the report, World Aquaculture in 2010.

The report, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), states aquaculture has played an important role in reducing poverty in many parts of the world. However, it says it has not grown evenly throughout the planet.  Read the rest of this entry »

In a post on October 20th - A rush to convict: the ISA discovery in British Columbia, Canada – we indicated that a discovery of ISA in wild Pacific salmon was without any scientific burden of proof so we are pleased to post the following, which vindicates the BC salmon farming industry.

No evidence of ISA in B.C., CFIA tests conclude

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of FAO has released the first global interactive map on Aquaculture production of aquatic animals for human consumption for 2009 as part of the National Aquaculture Sector Overview (NASO) map collection. The collection geographically illustrates where aquaculture is taking place. Key information features that accompany the administrative units or individual farms include: cultured species, technology used, culture systems, environments, farm characteristics and respective production quantities, and main issues (credit, diseases, environmental impact, etc.).

The NASO collection now includes national statistics on aquaculture production for 2009 and efforts are underway to include statistics related to land and water use in aquaculture during 2012. It is being developed by the Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department in close collaboration with Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics and Information Service.

New Google-based maps are also now available in the NASO map collection for Bangladesh, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Thailand showing where aquaculture is taking place.

Sea Lice 2010, Proceedings of the 8th International Sea Lice Conference, Victoria, BC, Canada, May 9-12, 2010 – edited by Myron Roth

AQUACULTURE Volume 320, Issues 3-4, Pages 147-198 (1 November 2011)

This Special Issue of AQUACULTURE is now available via Open Access from the Elsevier website. Open Access to the issue will be in place until April 24, 2012. To access the Special Issue, go to the following link:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00448486/320

For further information contact Myron Roth, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, PO Box 9120 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 9B4; email: myron.roth@gov.bc.ca  Read the rest of this entry »

AquaBounty Technologies, an American company with operations in Prince Edward Island, Canada, is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for commercial sale of its genetically modified salmon. If approved, it would be the first genetically modified animal to reach our dinner plates. John Buchanan, director of research and development for AquaBounty, told CBC News that its AquAdvantage salmon is “the most studied line of fish ever.” The fish grows at about twice the natural rate, reaching maturity in 1 1/2 to two years. Both salmon are about the same size when fully grown.

AquaBounty: A history 

AquaBounty Technologies started in 1991 as A/F Protein. The initial focus was a protein technology that would help farmed fish better withstand sub-zero waters.

In 1996, A/F Protein licensed the AquAdvantage technology from the University of Toronto and Memorial University in Newfoundland. The technology modifies fish at the molecular level to speed growth in early development.

In 2000, the company reorganized into two separate entities — A/F Protein (which retained the antifreeze protein technology) and AquaBounty Farms (which would develop AquAdvantage).

The Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Farms changed its name to AquaBounty Technologies in 2004 and, in 2006, got a listing on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

In September 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the company’s genetically modified salmon was safe for human consumption, and began a 60-day consultation process aimed at securing an official FDA endorsement. Just over a year later, however, the FDA has yet to approve the AquAdvantage technology.

In September of 2011, AquaBounty received a $500,000 research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, despite reports that the company recorded a net operating loss of $2.8m for the first six months of 2011.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Ten thousand years ago, humans entered the revolutionary Neolithic Age, where we exchanged our spears for ploughs. Now we are doing it again in the oceans.

As the climate warmed, following the last Ice Age, Stone Age people went through the most remarkable revolution in human history, changing from hunters and food gatherers into farmers.

The term Neolithic means “New Stone,” for the development of new stone tools that enabled people to cultivate the soil, domesticate animals and, for the first time, produce more food than people needed. That meant that some people could make a living doing other things besides providing food, such as shop-keeping, building roads, cities, pyramids, empires, weapons of mass destruction, and eventually, broadcasting a science program on the radio.

In other words, modern civilization blossomed out of the Neolithic Age.

It’s been a remarkable ride. But as our population swelled from less than 10 million at that time to 7 billion today, it is obvious we have run out of land to farm, while the number of hungry mouths continues to grow exponentially. We need another revolution in food production and to do that, we must look to the seas and science.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Global challenges of food shortages and the need to supply nourishment for a growing world population require innovative science. Biotechnology is the most highly regulated industry in the world. AquaBounty is using biotechnology to improve the productivity of aquaculture with the development of their AquAdvantage salmon eggs.

“As the world’s population is set to reach 7 billion this month we are fortunate to have biotechnology entrepreneurs who are developing safe and sustainable solutions for enhancing global food supply,” commented Peter Brenders President and CEO of BIOTECanada. “The companies in our industry are bringing home grown science from Canadian university labs, in the case of AquaBounty from both the University of Toronto and Memorial University, to market every day.”

Scientific discovery and development requires a fundamental appreciation and understanding. In order for our planet to sustain itself with our growing populations we need to change and adapt our daily practices. Biotechnology in all of its applications from health, agriculture and industrial is offering solutions to long-standing issues, which have impacted our collective population. Canada has established itself for being a place of excellent research and a nation who contributes to the health and well being of people throughout the world.

About BIOTECanada 

BIOTECanada is dedicated to the sustainable commercial development of biotechnology innovation in Canada. It is the national industry-funded association with over 250 member companies representing the broad spectrum of biotech constituents including emerging and established firms in the health, industrial, and agricultural sectors, as well as academic and research institutions and other related organizations.

Much uncritical media attention is being given to the recent announcement that the Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) virus has been detected in two wild Pacific sockeye smolts. The announcement is suspect given that it is being proclaimed by well-known anti-salmon farming activists. To provide some balance to the media blitz and ensuing rush to convict the BC salmon farming industry without any burden of scientific proof, please consider the articles posted at Positive Aquaculture Awareness and the videos and interviews below.

The Facts about ISA Virus found in British Columbia salmon

Biologist Clare Backman corrects statistician Rick Routledge about the ISA virus, correct OIE procedures, and BC farmed salmon disease testing.

You can view it on our Video Gallery at: http://www.farmfreshsalmon.org/video-gallery

We also have a number of interviews posted in our Audio Gallery for you to listen to:

• October 20, 2011:  Grant Warkentin of Mainstream Canada chats with Dave Reynolds of 99.7 The River about ISA “scare”
• October 19, 2011:  Stewart Hawthorn of Grieg Seafood talks with Al Ferreby at CFAX about ISA and BC farmed salmon
• October 19, 2011:  Stewart Hawthorn of Grieg Seafood talks about ISA virus testing with CBC Victoria
• October 18, 2011:  Biologist Clare Backman discusses ISA virus testing results on wild and farmed salmon in BC with CKNW 980
• October 17, 2011:  Fish pathologist Dr. Gary Marty discusses fish health and disease testing on BC salmon farms with CBC Halifax

Interviews can be accessed at: http://www.farmfreshsalmon.org/radio-programs-salmon-farming

The BC Salmon Farmers Association has also posted information regarding this evolving news story, click here.

A BCSFA update, click here.

The blog Salmon Farm Science is posting more information as it becomes available.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Global Initiative for Life and Leadership through Seafood (GILLS) was officially launched on 5 October 2011 at the IAFI World Seafood Congress (Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC). This initiative is an outcome from the International Seafood & Health Conference (Melbourne, Australia Nov 2010) and has been organized by an international consortium of universities and individuals.

The GILLS website is designed to be a factual website with a strong science focus to ensure that global consumers have a definitive resource to obtain important information and data about seafood and health issues.

Other international universities are encouraged to join the consortium to enable the messages to be spread globally and add value by converting the information into their own language. Additionally a template for seafood consumption study will enable those universities to engage their students and communities in getting some consistency in understanding levels of seafood consumption in a consistent way. Over time this will build into an invaluable resource.  Read the rest of this entry »

ACG senior consultant and founding partner, Dave Conley, made a presentation on the concept of a Community of Practice (CoP) for seafood professionals at the recent World Seafood Congress in Washington, DC. Given during the the session on Capability and Capacity Building, Dave provided an overview of what a Community of Practice is and how it can enhance the sharing of knowledge, technology and lessons learned to achieve a number of business and professional development objectives. Click here for a copy of the presentation.

The Capability and Capacity Building session contained the following presentations:

• The International Seafood Professional by Roy Palmer, Chairman, Global Initiative for Life & Leadership through Seafood (GILLS)
• The Role of Women in Capability & Capacity Building by Graciela Pereira, Technical Assessor, INFOPESCA
• Successfully Networking in Food Safety by Pamela Tom – Director, California Sea Grant, University of California
• Connecting Africa – The Role of SARNISSA by Doug Waley, University of Stirling, UK
• The Certified Aquaculture Professional by Antonio Garza de Yta, Director International Training & Outreach Fisheries & Allied Aquacultures, Auburn University
• Community of Practice as a Means of Sharing Knowledge, Technology and Lessons Learned by Dave Conley, The Aquaculture Communications Group, LLC

Some surprising numbers: of the seafood Americans currently eat, more than 50 percent is farm-raised, and nearly 84 percent is imported. But compared to other nations, we don’t eat that much seafood, and the most recent federal dietary guidelines recommend that Americans more than double their current average seafood consumption because of the health benefits.

If we all decide to start eating twice as much seafood starting tomorrow, where will we find the fish?

The National Aquaculture Act of 1980 and federal aquaculture policy encourage the development of aquaculture in the U.S., based on the assumption that future increases in supply are likely to come either from foreign aquaculture or increased domestic aquaculture production, or some combination of both.

Realizing that increasing demand for seafood can’t be met by projected stocks of wild fish, seafood scientists and business leaders continually look for ways to advance and modernize marine aquaculture. In Maine, through funding by NOAA Sea Grant, scientists from the University of Maine and Cooke Aquaculture deployed a mussel raft, one hundred meters in circumference, at one of the company’s salmon farms off the Washington County coast in late August. This experiment, designed to test how water quality and animal health are affected when both species are raised within the same aquaculture site, is the first in Maine to focus explicitly on whether integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) can be mutually beneficial to farmed species.

Read the full article »

A new website aimed at helping consumers weigh the benefits against possible risks of eating seafood has just been launched, and organizers hope the site will help clear up many of the myths surrounding seafood.

The site, seafoodhealthfacts.org, developed largely through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was created to serve as a credible resource to health care professionals and consumers, said Dr. Michael Morrissey, Director of Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center, and primary investigator for the project.

The initiative, Seafood Health Facts: Making Smart Choices, included researchers from Oregon State University, Cornell University, and the Universities of Delaware, Rhode Island, Florida, and California, along with the non-profit Community Seafood Initiative. The end result is a user-friendly, comprehensive website and downloadable brochures aimed at health care professionals and consumers.   Read the rest of this entry »

Today, a new organization, the Recirculating Farms Coalition, is officially launching a national campaign to promote growing local, fresh food and create green jobs. Its focus is on eco-friendly farms that use clean, recycled water in place of soil to grow plants (hydroponics), fish (aquaculture), or a combination of both plants and fish (aquaponics). The new collaborative brings together educators, farmers, chefs, non-profit organizations and many others who are working to create an accessible, sustainable and healthy food system in the United States.

Marianne Cufone, Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition, said, “The current U.S. unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, and about one in six people are struggling to buy food. Building recirculating farms in diverse communities nationwide can provide fresh, local food and create stable jobs in a sustainable business, two things the U.S. very much needs right now.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Island University (VIU) will put the finishing touches on a new International Centre for Sturgeon Studies (ICSS), the first of its kind in North America, thanks to federal funding announced Monday 12 September 2011.

An investment of $717,700 is being provided through the Western Diversification Program towards the centre’s completion.

“Developing innovative opportunities in our traditional industries is vital to the success of our coastal communities,” said Andrew Saxton, Member of Parliament for North Vancouver and Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification, on behalf of the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification. “Projects like this are helping to grow our economy by establishing new markets and creating quality jobs across the West.”  Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Council of Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministers concluded their annual meeting on September 1st with discussions on the need for Canada to maintain a leading position in a changing global fishing industry. The meeting was co-chaired by the Honourable Keith Ashfield, federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Honorable Daniel Shewchuk, Minister of Environment for the Government of Nunavut.

“My colleagues and I are working together to support a more economically and ecologically sustainable Canadian fishing and aquaculture industry that will ensure the continued competitiveness of Canadian seafood products in domestic and international markets,” said Minister Ashfield. “We are cooperating to provide Canadian fish harvesters, processors and marketers with an operating environment characterized by stability, predictability, transparency and trust – where they can make more informed business decisions for the longer term.”   Read the rest of this entry »

In a bold initiative to take aquaculture into the deep blue of the United States exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Kona Blue Water Farms is forsaking a fixed mooring to the ocean floor and letting the cage go free, so to speak, to travel the eddies on the backside of the Big Island in Hawaii.

Neil Anthony Sims, co-founder of Kona Blue and now co-founder, president and co-CEO of Kampachi Farms, LLC, explained the Velella drifter cage project in a press conference webinar on Monday.

Velella is a scientific name for a group of organisms, including Portuguese men-οf-war, carried by ocean currents. The Velella project will investigate the potential of raising fish, in this case Kona Kampachi® (Seriola rivoliana), in drifter cage arrays floating freely in the ocean current. This is an attempt to expand open ocean mariculture into the far offshore region, away from the restrictions caused by competing user groups, site lease requirements and mooring restrictions.   Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Conley, ACG senior consultant and founding partner, is moderating two sessions at the BioMarine Business Convention taking place in Nantes, France on Sept 7-9, 2011.

Wednesday Sept 7th is Discovery Day, a special networking event dedicated to investors, cluster representatives, government agencies, industry players and local government representatives. Two groups (one on marine renewable energies, one on marine bio-resources) will meet key players in Nantes & Saint-Nazaire to understand the very complex business ecosystem (marine protected areas nearby to industrial development zones). They will discover investment and development projects on marine renewable energies and marine bio-resources.  Read the rest of this entry »

In furthering its commitment to develop an educated algae production workforce, the National Algae Association’s (NAA) ever-popular annual Algae Production Certification Program will be held on October 22, 2011, at Lone Star College, The Woodlands, Texas. Participants will learn from industry experts about algae cultures and strain selection, growing algae in ponds, photobioreactors, hybrids, harvesting and extraction methods and the economics to make this emerging algae industry a profitable one. If you are interested in becoming certified, visit the Algae Production Certification page on our website for additional information.  Read the rest of this entry »

How are you balancing innovation with the environment?

The importance of using land farms and being environmentally friendly continues to grow, but so does product innovation as consumer tastes and demand evolves. How do you ensure that you are meeting all the requirements of the supply chain?

At Value Added Seafood (27-29 September 2011, London) you will meet players from right across the seafood market. You will overcome new product development challenges and identify new growth markets from around the world alongside retailers and foodservice operators. Download the brochure now for more information.  Read the rest of this entry »

After the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, opened Aqua Nor last week she spoke at a value-adding seminar called “A cage of possibilities”. ”The Government’s vision is for Norway to become the world’s leading seafood nation. For the aquaculture industry this means that it will be in the forefront of research and sustainable development,” she said. “I am also concerned that we should be at the forefront when it comes to creating value from what we produce, to create exciting products, developing new markets, creating interesting seafood jobs and attractive communities.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs State Secretary, Kristina Grimstad, gave the following speech at AkvArena Sea 2011 held during Aqua Nor.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would first of all like to say thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. As State Secretary in The Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, an environmentally friendly aquaculture industry is one of the major areas of my attention.

Sustainability is said to be the capacity to endure. Given this perspective, it is important to remember that the concept of sustainability encompasses more than concern for the environment. Social and economical aspects must also be taken into consideration, and there must be balance between the three.  Read the rest of this entry »

The world’s largest aquaculture exhibition, Aqua Nor, had a record number of visitors this year. ” The exhibition is a very effective meeting place, created by all the exhibitors and visitors who are here,” said Liv Holmefjord, Chairman of the Board of the Nor-Fishing Foundation, which is the organizer of the event. Representatives of 61 nations – or more than one quarter of all countries in the world- visited the exhibition during the four days it lasted.

The recipe for this success is a balanced mixture of exhibitors, professional conferences, seminars and presentations. In addition, all the international visitors have added colour to the exhibition. “All told we have had visitors from 61 nations,” says Ola Eriksen, Managing Director of Trondheim Spektrum, the technical organiser.  Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech, is keynote speaker at a luncheon titled “A Fishfarming Evolution” taking place on the 17th of August from 11:30am – 1:30pm, during Aqua Nor 2011 in Trondheim, Norway.

Over the course of the luncheon, Dr. Lyons will share his vision for the future of aquaculture – how new natural technologies will allow flexibility in feed formulation and how algae can offer a new dimension for animal nutrition. Topics under discussion include: improving productivity, reducing the carbon footprint and developing a sustainable future.  Read the rest of this entry »

I came across an interesting paper – Economics of Airships for Perishable Food Trade - that outlines the economics of shipping perishables by airships (zeppelins), comparing conventional aircraft and container ships to a new breed of lighter-than-air powered airships. It even provides an example of shipping fresh produce from Hawaii to the Mainland USA with cost and benefit data.

Given the rising costs of shipping fresh seafood to markets from all over the world, perhaps it is time the seafood logistics experts had a look at this new/old technology with its surprisingly green footprint and attractive cost savings.

For more information and papers on airships and their various potential new logistics applications click here.

Coming Event - Airships to the Arctic VI, December 4-6, 2011, Seattle, Washington, USA

Game Changers

Advances in transportation technology are game changers. The advent of steam railways opened up the centres of the continents to settlement because it became economic to cultivate crops and ship them to distant markets. The development of jet airplanes created worldwide tourism because it became possible for the masses to afford a holiday in the sun or a trip to visit interesting locations. The introduction of ISO sea containers spurred the economic growth of the “Asian tigers” and the globalization of manufacturing. The next great game changer is transport airships.  Read the rest of this entry »

Astec Aquaculture Business & Science Centre has one very unique offering not typically found off the North Sea coast – the ability to provide tenants with a year round supply of near tropical temperature seawater.

The team at Astec, the UK’s first aquaculture business incubator centre, have developed a new CGI animation to explain in simple terms how this process works. The computer animated tour shows how we taps into seawater warmed by a neighbouring power station, filter and treat it before pumping it into our specialist wet labs. It also showcases the Centre’s full range of facilities and highlights plans for future expansion.   Read the rest of this entry »

Missing molecules show evolutionary flexibility, and may help fish farmers.

The sequencing of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) genome has revealed an immune system never seen before in jawed vertebrates. The finding could be used to develop better vaccines and to improve disease management in farmed cod.

Kjetill Jakobsen, of the University of Oslo, and his colleagues found that Atlantic cod have lost the genes for three important components of the adaptive immune system, which fights pathogens and creates the immune memory that gives resistance to infection.  Read the rest of this entry »

The International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade (IIFET) and the University of Dar es Salaam are pleased to confirm that our sixteenth biennial conference will be held July 16-20, 2012, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The welcome reception will take place on the evening of Monday, July 16th; conference sessions will run from Tuesday morning, July 17th, through mid-day Friday, July 20th. We also hope to arrange pre and/or post conference tours and events, which will introduce our participants to the Tanzanian culture and fisheries, so please place a hold in your calendar for several days on either end of the conference period to spend in this wonderful, unique locale. And of course, please consider arranging personal travel before or after the conference, to visit Tanzania’s many wonders–game parks, beaches, Mt. Kilimanjaro!  Read the rest of this entry »

Parliamentary Secretary Randy Kamp, on behalf of the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced significant funding to support innovation and sustainability in the aquaculture industry in British Columbia.

“Our government is committed to enhancing the global competitiveness, productivity and environmental performance of Canada’s aquaculture industry,” said Mr. Kamp. “We are pleased to help keep the B.C. economy strong by supporting these promising new commercial innovations. Canada has the potential to become a world leader in aquaculture with our extensive coastlines, an international reputation for safe, high-quality fish and seafood products, a skilled workforce and strong management expertise.”

The federal funding provided through the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program (AIMAP) is supporting three finfish and five shellfish aquaculture projects in B.C. These projects are designed to help the industry expand its market potential through new technologies for use in the B.C. aquaculture industry.  Read the rest of this entry »