Liptosa company profile

January 21, 2015, 5:58 am

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LípidosToledo SA began in 1996 as a family business and under the guidance of a group of professionals with extensive experience in the Animal Nutrition field.

From the outset, the company's mission has been to provide its clients with personalised service and efficient, natural products that are able to meet the demands of the sector.

In 2000 Lípidos Toledo SA moved its facilities, building a modern manufacturing plant in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo, Spain). In 2012 it acquired a new industrial warehouse in the vicinity of the main facilities where the manufacturing of the powder additives takes place and a third storage warehouse.

With these new facilities Lípidos Toledo SA is able to have separate manufacturing lines for the different products they manufacture, avoiding the risk of cross contamination.

Furthermore, the new facilities enable the company to manufacture products with fishmeal derivatives, allowing the company further expansion, mainly in the aquaculture range.

The facilities allow the manufacture of nutritional products, liquid and powder based phytobiotic additives, nutraceutical products and nutritional and specialty products without any risk of the products becoming cross contaminated.

In 2010, Lípidos Toledo SA acquired a large office space at C/ San Romualdo 12-14 in Madrid, Spain where all logistics work is carried out.

This enables Lípidos Toledo SA to fulfil its objective of manufacturing products of the highest quality and providing its clients the best service.

21/01/2015: Global: channel catfish

January 21, 2015, 6:32 am

≫ Next: 22/01/2015: Muyang to showcase FAMSUN brand, including aquafeed solutions at VIV Asia 2015

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First published in International Aquafeed November - December 2014

Interest in channel catfish began when the United States Fish and Fisheries Commission began stocking fish collected from the wild in the 1870s. Channel catfish were native primarily to the Mississippi River Valley but were widely introduced throughout the nation by the Commission. Spawning was first achieved in 1890 in aquaria, at which time it was learned that the male guards the eggs during incubation.

http://issuu.com/international_aquafeed/docs/iaf1406_w1/48

Pond spawning was first observed in 1914 at a government hatchery. Spawning nests (nail kegs) were first used in 1916 and the numbers of fingerlings produced per stocked female increased. Indoor hatching of channel catfish eggs in troughs equipped with paddlewheels to move the water in a manner that simulates the fanning of the eggs by the male fish was first accomplished in 1929.

Commercial aquaculture was first considered to be economically practical in the late 1950s. Catfish farming developed rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s as improvements in pond management, disease identification and control, and prepared feeds were developed and adopted by farmers. The commercial industry developed in the southern United States within the original range of the species. At least 90 percent of the farmed fish are produced in the Mississippi River Valley region.

Channel catfish have been introduced into Europe, Russian Federation, Cuba and portions of Latin America. The primary interest in many countries appears to be recreational fishing.

Channel catfish are reared in ponds, cages, and circular tanks or linear raceways in both the United States and China. Monoculture dominates in the U.S., while both monoculture and poly-culture with traditional species such as carp occurs in China. Formulated feeds are employed in both nations. The details presented below refer to channel catfish culture in the United States of America.

The market has been impacted by an influx of unrelated species of catfish from Viet Nam in recent years. This has led to intense competition with domestic channel catfish in the marketplace to the extent that prices paid to many producers do not offset production costs. Predictions are that some producers may be forced out of catfish farming, though legislation to require country of origin branding may provide some relief. Country of origin labelling may aid in moving retail grocery stores and restaurants towards a preference for domestic catfish. There is also a movement by the catfish farmers to encourage legislation that would place a tariff on imported catfish. Prices in the marketplace are fairly stable.

While the catfish industry is quite mature, research continues on disease control, nutrition, genetic improvement, and other aspects associated with the farming of the species. Research is also being conducted to reduce the level of nutrients in pond effluents by developing diets that are better utilised by the fish.

The future of the catfish industry in the United States is unclear. Until the situation with respect to imported exotic catfishes is resolved, it is difficult to determine whether the industry will grow in the future, remain at its current level, or decline.

The market for channel catfish in the United States is well developed. Once considered a product of interest only in the southern states, catfish can now be found in restaurants and on menus in grocery stores throughout the nation. Consumers see it as being a healthy choice food. Market expansion may be possible through development of new product forms and value added processing.

Since channel catfish are produced almost exclusively on private land there are few environmental issues associated with production of the species. In cases where ponds or intensive culture facility effluents enter public waters, there is an issue of eutrophication that is being addressed, in part, through development of feeds that are better utilised by the fish. The issue of potential eutrophication also exists with respect to cage culture.

Source: www.fao.org

Read the magazine HERE.

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22/01/2015: Muyang to showcase FAMSUN brand, including aquafeed solutions at VIV Asia 2015

January 22, 2015, 1:20 am

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≪ Previous: 21/01/2015: Global: channel catfish

VIV Asia is the foremost Feed-to-Meat show for professionals in animal production and processing of meat, egg, fish and milk with health growth ambitions in this region. And the 2015 session is valued to be bigger and better than ever when it returns to Bangkok in Thailand in March 11 to 13.

Quite fitting for this event, FAMSUN will exhibit its feed-to-meat solutions with two booth stands to introduce the latest feed machinery systems to visitors.

For aquafeed producers interested in improving production efficiency, the improved FAMSUN MY 120×2 Twin-Screw Extruder will give out solutions.

That’s why we’d like to invite you to visit us. Our Vice President Mr. Liu Guangdao and Asia regional General Manager Mr Elvis Yin and Mr Tony Peng and technical experts will be there to welcome you. We will be delighted to talk about your feed or animal productions and how our optimum one-stop solutions can help you to lift production and lower operational costs.

VIV Asia 2015
March11-13
Booth B012 in Hall 104 for FAMSUN Feed Milling Solution

Would you like to make an appointment?
Our team will be available all day, every day to meet you but should you prefer to make an appointment up front, please contact:

Mrs. Wendy Qian

wendyqian@muyang.com

Visit the website HERE.

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22/01/2015: European Algae Biomass 2015, Amsterdam

January 22, 2015, 2:09 am

≫ Next: 22/01/2015: Rare shark catch in Australian waters the first in local living memory

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Maximising Commercial Successes in Algae Biomass by Combining Focussed R&D with Business Strategy.

ACI’s5th annual European AlgaeBiomass Conference will once again bring together senior executives from industry and academia to discuss the latest commercial and technical developments, challenges and research breakthroughs throughout the entire algae value chain.

http://v11.vuturevx.com/exchange-sites/Whitmore%20Group/59/events-pdfs-eu/eal5-mktg-agenda.pdf

The conference will have a heavy focus on case study examples of latest technologies in operation in the global algae industry. Discuss the technical challenges faced when optimising the cultivation of algae. Study the current and future commercial markets for algae products and the challenges faced during the commercialisation process including the views from three different end markets.

Dual Site Visit

Exclusive LGem and AlgaPARC Dual Site Visit - Tuesday 21st April 2015

During the afternoon of 21st April 2015 a limited number of conference attendees will receive a unique opportunity to visit both LGem and AlgaPARC facilities.

There is no extra charge to attend the site visit, but spaces are limited and allocated on a first come first served basis. Please register your attendance for the site visit when booking for the conference.

Agenda Committee Members

· Cees Sagt, Principal Scientist Strain Development, DSM Biotechnology Center

· John Benemann, Microalgae biofuels Guru/ CEO, Benemann Associates/ Microbio Engineering

· Mario Tredici, Vice President & Professor, European Algae Biomass Association & University of Firenze

· Peter van den Dorpel, CEO, AlgaeLink NV

· Lolke Sijtsma, Senior Scientist / Project leader marine biotechnology, Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research

· Olivier Lépine, Management Team, Algosource Technologies/ Alpha Biotech

· Timothy S. Zenk, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Policy, Sapphire Energy

· Bernardo Llamas, Technology Manager, FCC Aqualia

· Vitor Verdelho, President, EABA & A4F – AlgaFuel, S.A.

Key Topics Include

· Roadmap to Commercialisation of Algal Bioproducts

· Recent Production Platforms for Algal Biomass

· Microalgae Harvesting & Processing

· Different Applications & Products from Algae: Nutricients, Animal Feed, Cosmetics, Pharma & Biochemicals

· Investment Activity in Microalgae Technology

· Project case studies: Biofuels from Algae

· R&D updates and expected innovations in algae technologies

· Algae as an Effective Tool in Waste Water Treatment

· Application of Algae in Carbon Capture

Confirmed Speakers Include

· Mario Tredici, Vice President, European Algae Biomass Association (EABA) & Professor, Univesrity of Florence

· John R. Benemann, CEO, MicroBio Engineering

· Sammy Boussiba, Professor Microalgal Biotechnology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

· Cees Sagt, Principal Scientist Strain Development, DSM Biotechnology Center

· Jim Flatt, CTO - Synthetic Genomics

· Olivier Lepine, Director of Operations, AlgoSource Technologies

· Syed Isa Syed Alwi, CEO, Algaetech Group of Companies

· Sander Hazewinkel, Chief Commercial Officer, LGem B.V.

· Peter Ripplinger, CEO, Subitec GmbH

· Lolke Sijtsma, Senior Scientist / Project leader marine biotechnology, Wageningen UR

· Michele Stanley, Project Leader of The Biomara Project, Scottish Marine Institute SAMS

· Bernardo Llamas Moya, Technology Director, FCC Aqualia

· Ulrike Schmid-Staiger, Group leader Environmental Biotechnology and Bioprocess, Fraunhofer IGB

· James Drage, Managing Partner - Algal Ventures & Atlantic Venture Capital Partners

· Luciano Falqui, R&D Project Manager - Plastica Alfa S.r.l.

Who Will Attend

Algae cultivation plant owners and operators, leading algae/biomass research institutes, technology providers for cultivation, harvesting, dewatering, drying, oil extraction and processing, plant engineers and constructors, algae end market users, biofuel producers and green energy & biotech investors.

Call For Papers

Stergios Zacharakis

Tel: +44 (0)203 141 0609

Email: szacharakis@acieu.net

For Further Information or to Register Your Attendance

Dimitri Pavlyk

Tel: +44 (0)203 141 0627

Email: dpavlyk@acieu.net

Perendale / Aquafeed readers/subscribers are entitled to a discount on registration. For further information, agenda request or to register your attendance contact Dimitri Pavlyk on + 44 (0)203 141 0627 or dpavlyk@acieu.net quoting EAL4D15

Commercial & Sponsorship Opportunities

Maureen Ignacio

Tel: +44 (0)203 141 0636

Email: mignacio@acieu.net

22/01/2015: Rare shark catch in Australian waters the first in local living memory

January 22, 2015, 4:13 am

≫ Next: Jefo company profile

≪ Previous: 22/01/2015: European Algae Biomass 2015, Amsterdam

The hideous, mildly terrifying and rarely sighted frilled shark has turned up in waters off south-eastern Australia, ABC reports.

The species, whose ancestry is believed to date back 80 million years, is known as the 'living fossil'.

It was caught on a fishing trawler in waters near Lakes Entrance in the Victoria's Gippsland region.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-20/hideous-frilled-shark-found-in-victorian-waters/6028524

Simon Boag, from the South East Trawl Fishing Association, said it was the first time in living memory that a frilled shark had been sighted.

"We couldn't find a fisherman who had ever seen one before," he said.

"It does look 80 million years old. It looks prehistoric, it looks like it's from another time!"

He said local fishermen were left scratching their heads at the sight of the two-metre-long creature, whose head and body resemble an eel, but whose tail is more reminiscent of a shark.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) confirmed it to be a frilled shark, and while the species is known to the scientific community, it was a nonetheless rare and bizarre find for local fishermen.

"It has 300 teeth over 25 rows, so once you're in that mouth, you're not coming out," Mr Boag said.

"Good for dentists, but it is a freaky thing. I don't think you would want to show it to little children before they went to bed."

The species has been found as deep as 1500 metres, but generally it lives in waters shallower than 1200 metres.

Mr Boag said this frilled shark was caught at 700 metres, but there should not be any concern about repeat catches.

"Almost all the grounds deeper than 700 metres are closed to trawling, so there wouldn't be any pressure on them and there'd be very few caught," he said.

"This guy was just unlucky."

After being declined by the CSIRO, the frilled shark has now been bought by Griffith's Sea Shell Museum in Lakes Entrance.

"It's in our freezer at the moment," said museum owner Coralie Griffiths.

"It'll be two or three weeks before it's on display."

Read the article HERE.

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Jefo company profile

January 22, 2015, 4:23 am

≫ Next: 22/01/2015: Feed and feeding practices of Catfishes in India

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Jefo is a world leader in the field of non-medicated performance feed additives for the poultry, swine, ruminant and aquaculture sectors. Founded in Canada in 1982, today Jefo has offices on 5 continents, and specializes in the design, manufacturing, warehousing and JIT-distribution of an array of animal nutrition specialty products.

Jefo is a pioneer in the green revolution taking place in animal nutrition. Our commitment is to providing effective alternatives for optimal performances in animal nutrition.

The Europe / Africa division of Jefo was created in 1998 and is headquartered in Nantes, France. We market a line of original products including vitamins, enzymes, organic acids and essential oils.

Visit the website HERE.

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22/01/2015: Feed and feeding practices of Catfishes in India

January 22, 2015, 5:38 am

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≪ Previous: Jefo company profile

by B. Laxmappa, Fisheries Development Officer, Department of Fisheries, Mahabubnagar-509001. Telangana, India, e-mail: laxmappaboini@gmail.com

First published in International Aquafeed, November - December 2014

Catfishes are the second major group of freshwater fishes. India, being a mega-diverse country, harbors 197 species of catfish. Catfishes, owing to their unique taste, are considered a delicacy for the fish consumers, but production of different indigenous catfishes through aquaculture is unexplored in India, although aquaculture contribution of some of the catfish varieties like Ictalurus, Silurus and Clarias spp. has been exemplary in the World scenario.

http://issuu.com/international_aquafeed/docs/iaf1406_w1/50

Aquaculture in India has become an industry since late eighties with several entrepreneurs taking up aquaculture with carps, catfishes and prawns. Of late, the Government of India has also identified catfish farming as a National Priority and has placed emphasis on diversification of culture practices. The major chunk of catfish, however, comes from capture resources, which includes air-breathing as well as non-air-breathing varieties. Air-breathing catfishes have greater potentiality to utilise shallow, swampy, marshy and derelict water-bodies for aquaculture, whereas non-air-breathing catfishes can be well suited to normal pond environment.

Cultivable catfish species

There are six catfish species are cultured in India (Table 1). Among six, only two catfish species viz. Pangas and African catfish culture is intensified in the country due to its higher production rates by using various local as well as commercial feeding methods.

Clarias batrachus: Amongst the catfishes, Clarias batrachus, an obligatory air-breathing catfish known as magur is the most preferred indigenous catfish in India. The culture of magur obtained impetus by the standardisation of its breeding and grow-out farming techniques at the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), an ICAR fishery research institute, Bhubaneswar. The fish is currently propagated on a large scale along the north-eastern regions, mainly the State of Assam.

Heteropneustes fossilis: It is commonly known as singhi or stinging catfish, has a great potentiality as a candidate species for aquaculture. The presence of accessory respiratory organ helps this to thrive well in shallow and derelict waters with poor oxygen. It contributes to about 15 per cent of inland landings, mostly from eastern regions and some few south Indian states.

Ompok species: Ompok bimaculatus, O.pabda and O. malabaricus are the three medium-size catfishes under family siluridae. They have great importance as food fish and have good demand among the consumers.
Pangasius pangasius: It is the only species of the genus pangasius found in India water-bodies. It is mainly an estuarine habitant, displaying long migration from estuarine to upper stretch of river.

Pangasianodon hypophthalmus: It is commonly known as pangas in India, sutchi catfish in Thailand or Pla Sawai, Patin in Malaysia, tra or basa catfish in Vietnam. It is one of the swift growing catfishes under pangasiidae family is widely cultured in Asian countries. Vietnam being the largest producer of this fish enjoys its dominance of supplying sutchi catfish and its fillet to European market. This exotic catfish entered to India through West Bengal and seed has been transported to different parts of India. As shrimp-farming activity in Andhra Pradesh was affected due to disease, many farmers of Andhra Pradesh diverted their farming activity towards this catfish culture.

Clarias gariepinus: It is commonly known as African catfish or Thai magur and the culture of this species was banned in India under Environment Protection Act. But many fishermen are still cultivating this banned catfish illegally in village ponds to make a quick buck. The banned catfish is reared clandestinely in certain states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana etc. in India.

Table.1: Commercially cultured Catfish species in India.

Feeding practices

The Pangas catfish P. hypophthalmus was first introduced into India in 1997 in the state of West Bengal from Bangladesh. Farmers are overwhelmingly culturing pangas catfish using improved management methods and improvised, supplementary feeds available commercially along with locally available farm made feeds (Table 2). Because of its remarkable growth rate, this fish is being cultured in many states particularly the Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and Orissa in the country. Initially its farming was carried in limited area in the state of West Bengal later on this was cultured on large scale in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh is the major producing state for pangas catfish particularly in Krishna and West Godavari districts. The farm area is ranging from 4 ha to 40 ha. It has been found that there is a shift of culture practice from carps to Pangasianodon catfish in considerable areas in Andhra Pradesh. Due to closure of shrimp ponds on account of disease, farmers had to suffer heavy losses and they also adopted pangas farming alternatively in the same areas. The culture production of P. hypophthalmus is 15 to 20 t/ha/year which is higher than carp production (8-10 t/ha/year) in the same areas. It is estimated that presently over 700,000 tonnes of Pangas catfish is produced in the country per annum.

Table 2: Farm made feed (with locally available ingredients for striped catfish (Pangas) in India

Table 3: Generally suggested feeding rates for industrial pellets for striped catfish (Bharat Lux Indo Company)

Table 4: Generally recommended feeding table for high protein extruded floating feed (26 percent crude protein) for striped catfish (Growel Feeds Private Limited)

Table 5: Common feed given for Clarias gariepinus (African catfish) in India

In commercial culture of Pangasianodon farmers are using both pelleted and extruded feeds (Table 3 & 4). The Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of these feeds can be improved to a range of 1:1 to 1:2 while common FCRs reported by farmers are in the range from 1:1 to 1:3. The floating feed is the modern way of feeding in contrast with the traditional way using farm made feeds comprising remains agricultural ingredients. The feed composition ranges from 25 to 28 per cent crude protein for grow out pond. Some farmers are also using chicken wastes for pangas culture as in the case of African catfish due to low feeding costs.

Clarias gariepinus is usually fed waste intestines and skin of chickens so it grows fast (Table 5). The magur can grow faster than local carp with a lower feeding cost. The fish can be produced cheaply in a short span of time. Catfish ponds were stinking, but a bigger problem is what they do to the immediate environment.

Conclusion
Efforts should be made to improve Pangasianodon culture through the adoption of Better Management Practices (BMPs) as has been done in shrimp farming. A number of immediate management measures would be useful at striving to achieve BMPs. Since conventional feeds do not perform significantly, improvement in feed quality is urgently warranted, if current Pangasianodon farming is to sustain. There is need for suitable adoptive measures. Wet feeds should be totally discouraged in the culture.

Use of floating pellets is desirable for better growth, meat quality and health. In case of polyculture mash feeds of good quality may also be used through bag feeding in addition to floating pellets. Under monoculture, manuring of culture pond may not be required; however, agriculture lime should be applied @ 100 kg ha-1depending on the pH of pond soil and water. For polyculture ponds, fertilization using organic/inorganic manures could be followed as per the soil fertility.

The slaughterhouse waste they feed the catfish is strewn all around and shows an extreme disregard for hygiene. The waste strewn all around attracts dogs, which gradually become aggressive and start hunting for meat. They become uncharacteristically ferocious and chase humans. Catfish farmer’s heat up the feed using plastic and rubber waste particularly damaged vehicles tyres. The dark, toxic fumes can be smelt from a long distance which is harmful to the environment.

Proper feed storage facility should be provided at the farm site with proper ventilation and fumigation. The feed should be stacked on raised wooden platforms without touching the walls to avoid mould. The feed should be used within three months from the date of production. Feeding should be suspended one/two days prior to harvest. It is necessary to have a nationwide campaign to improve sanitation and ensuring quarantine warranty, environmental purity and food safety.

References

Hand Book of Fisheries and Aquaculture 2011 – Published by ICAR, New Delhi.

Singh AK and Lakra WS. 2012: Culture of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus into India: Impacts and Present Scenario. Pak. J. Biol. Sci.

Read the magazine HERE.

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22/05/2015: Aqua-Spark announces First Major Investments: an Industry-Changing Technology and Extraordinary Fish Farm Operation

January 22, 2015, 9:36 am

≫ Next: 23/01/2015: Erich Erber honoured by receiving PhD hc from Kasetsart University

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Utrecht, Holland (January 22, 2015)– Aqua-Spark, the first investment fund focused exclusively on sustainable aquaculture, today announced two crucial investments that could help transform an industry that’s not just growing – but exploding. As the fish farming industry surges ahead, these two investments could help pave a path towards a more sustainable, clean and healthy way of farming seafood.

Aqua-Spark launched in December 2013. Since that time, the fund has raised $10 million for the sole purpose of investing in aspects of the aquaculture industry that will make fish farming sustainable. The goal of the fund is to grow to $400 million by 2025. Its first round of investments is valued at $4 Million.

Aqua-Spark

Scientists predict our oceans could become virtual deserts by 2050 if nothing is done. 85% of wild-caught fish stocks are exploited or, worse, depleted. With demand for fish projected to double in the coming decades, there is massive opportunity for aquaculture operations to supplement and surpass wild catch. Yet this must happen sustainably, which is the driving force behind Aqua-Spark.

Aqua-Spark’s first investee is US-based biotechnology company Calysta, which could transform fish feed – making it healthier and more environmentally sound. Until now, feed has involved everything from chicken to wild-caught fish, ultimately defeating the purpose of farming fish. Calysta cultivates an efficient, methane-eating natural microbe that produces protein. This is a new and sustainable feed ingredient – a single cell protein that is a perfect replacement for fishmeal. This protein has a smaller carbon footprint than soy and is proven to be a healthy, readily available and highly digestible alternative for fishmeal.

The second Aqua-Spark investee is Chicoa Fish Farm, located in Mozambique, Africa. Chicoa’s team and operations stand apart for their experience and sustainability practices, presenting a unique and important opportunity in Africa. The investment is part of a larger strategy to help develop a sustainable aquaculture industry in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 1% of consumed fish is presently from aquaculture. With the continent projected to need an additional 1.6 million tons by 2015 just to maintain current consumption – and a further 2.6 million tons by 2030 – this is far from sufficient, and presents a notable growth opportunity. The Chicoa team has over 20 years of experience in Southern African aquaculture.

“We’ve spent the last many months examining technologies, businesses and farms around the world that have the potential to shift the aquaculture landscape,” said Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, co-founders of Aqua-Spark. “Throughout this process, we’ve been astounded by the opportunities to innovate and scale aquaculture in a way that’s sustainable and healthy. Both Calysta and Chicoa have stood out as game-changing business ventures. Calysta is a transformative way of providing feed to farm-raised fish. And Chicoa is a farm operation that, we firmly believe, has the potential to spur the right kind of aquaculture development across the continent. Getting aquaculture right means alleviating pressure on our stressed oceans while also providing people around the world with a healthy food source. We’re confident our first two investees will help do both.”

“Calysta’s Microbial Protein™ Feed is a proven, scalable high quality protein that meets the aquaculture industry’s critical need for innovation,” said Alan Shaw, Ph.D., Calysta President and CEO. “We are honored to be joining with Aqua-Spark to develop new solutions for the rising global demand for sustainable food.”

“With decades of experience in aquaculture in Africa, we understand that to truly lead and change our industry, we must develop every link – from fish to consumer,” said Chicoa Fish Farm co-founders Damien Legros, Gerry McCollum, and Erik Rotsaert. “Working with Aqua-Spark, we can have a significant impact on lives in Sub-Saharan African by providing sustainable, affordable nutrition and employing people to grow this industry across the continent. This is only the beginning of our journey, and we’re thrilled to see how we can change the face of aquaculture while making an impact on local economies.”

"Aquaculture is the future of seafood, but to meet current and future demands, we must address its Achilles Heel: an ironic reliance on wild-caught fish for fishmeal,” said Dr. Aaron McNevin of the World Wildlife Fund. “Aqua-Spark's mission is to sustainably grow the fish farming industry, and its investment in Calysta - a single cell protein alternative for fish feed - marks an exciting turning point. It means the potential to feed billions, and protect dwindling ocean species, while using smarter and fewer resources. It feels like we're at an exciting moment for this industry, and on the right trajectory for the planet."

About Aqua-Spark
Aqua-Spark is an investment fund with a focus on sustainable aquaculture businesses around the world. The small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) we invest in are working toward the production of safe, accessible aquatic life, such as fish, shellfish and plants, in ways that do not harm our oceans. Our investors value the fact that each investment aims to create triple impact — specifically, each investment is chosen for its potential to generate significant financial returns while also activating positive environmental and social outcomes.

Aqua-Spark believes that committing to a long-term vision is the way to realize effective and lasting results. When it comes to investments, Aqua-Spark does not seek quick exits; instead, looks for entrepreneurs who strive to build and scale toward the future, who see their business as major economic opportunities that can also help solve environmental and food security challenges over the long-term. As an essential of each investee, Aqua-Spark seeks sustainability.

About Calysta
Calysta, Inc. (www.calysta.com), Menlo Park, CA, is an innovator in sustainable industrial products for food and energy security. Calysta has two business units. Calysta Nutrition develops and commercializes fish and livestock nutritional products. Calysta Energy is developing high value materials for use in industrial and consumer products.

About Chicoa Fish Farm
Chicoa Fish Farm [CFF] offers a vertically integrated solution to kick-start the freshwater aquaculture industry in Mozambique. CFF is a low cost, environmentally friendly producer of quality protein in an area with nutritional challenges. With a management team that has worked together in Southern African aquaculture for over 20 years, CFF sets the highest standards. Providing careers in remote areas with little other investment, CFF encourages others to farm fish by selling fingerlings and feed while sharing knowledge with budding entrepreneurs. With its own feed plant and hatchery, CFF is also pioneering research into sustainable feed solutions to reduce reliance on animal proteins. Ultimately, CFF is working to provide a sustainable blueprint for an aquaculture industry waiting to explode across Africa.

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23/01/2015: Erich Erber honoured by receiving PhD hc from Kasetsart University

January 23, 2015, 9:07 am

≫ Next: 23/01/2015: Aqua Fisheries Myanmar 2015

≪ Previous: 22/05/2015: Aqua-Spark announces First Major Investments: an Industry-Changing Technology and Extraordinary Fish Farm Operation

In a dignified ceremony graced by the presence of HRH Princess Chulabhorn, a total of 2450 students of Kasetsart University (Bangkok) received their degrees on Thursday, January 8th, 2015. Erich Erber, the founder of Biomin and Erber Group, was the sole recipient of the prestigious PhD hc from2014.

http://www.biomin.net/en/press-releases/erich-erber-honoured-by-receiving-phd-hc-from-kasetsart-university/

The University Council had already decided on June 23rd, 2014, to award him the degree “Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Nutrition and Food Technology Honoris Causa”.

Biomin and Erber Group have collaborated with Kasetsart University for many years. Erich Erber has held talks at the campus and various trials and other research work have been jointly conducted.

This fact and the overall contribution to the field of Thai agriculture and animal nutrition development led the University Council to bestow the honorary degree. Kasetsart University, the oldest and largest agricultural university in Thailand, is also a talent pool which Biomin Thailand is continuously able to tap.

“I feel very proud of this recognition and honour bestowed by this title to my lifelong work in the improvement of animal and human nutrition. I am now a proud member of the KU alumni!” says Erich Erber about this distinction.

 Visit the Biomin website HERE.

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23/01/2015: Aqua Fisheries Myanmar 2015

January 23, 2015, 12:49 pm

≫ Next: 23/01/2015: New funding for aquaculture degrees will support Scottish commercial success

≪ Previous: 23/01/2015: Erich Erber honoured by receiving PhD hc from Kasetsart University

The 1st International Livestock, Aquaculture, Fishery Conference & Exhibition for Myanmar, successfully closed on 11th November 2014 with participation of 75 companies, organizations, and institutes from 17 countries such as UK, USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Please have a look at our Post Show Report for more details on 2014 show at: www.myanmar-aquafisheries.com  

The second edition will be back in 2015 with its mission promoting trade activities between international enterprises with local companies in Myanmar. The show is organized by Minh Vi Exhibition with support from the Ministry of Livestock Fisheries and Rural Development Myanmar Fisheries Federation  

Time: 14 – 16 October 2015 
Venue: Myanmar Convention Center (MCC), Yangon, Myanmar

Exhibitor Profile:

Seafood 
Frozen, salted, smoked, dried, surimi, sea vegetables, processed products (sea salt, sushi, fried, canned food, natural seasoning)  

Fisheries Equipment 
Seafood processing machinery, fishing gear, fishing nets, fishing vessel equipment, Aquaculture facilities, HACCP facilities  

Marine Biotechnology
 Marine bio new materials, high functional materials made with terinary and marine life, cosmetics, health functional products, feed for aquiculture, fish medication, research achievements, marine resources application products

  Fishing Articles 
Fishing pole, fishing line, fishing reel, fish hook, float, bait fishing articles, paste bait, stand, fishing clothes, etc  

Other business line concerned serving the seafood industry, institute, quality control

Visitor Profile:
• Traders
 • Exporters
 • Wholesalers
 • Retailers 
• Brokers
 • Progressive farmers, farm managers and breeders 
• Aquaculture entrepreneurs and fish farmers 
• Technologist and technology providers
 • Professionals in aquaculture and fishing industry
 • Industry executives and cooperate heads
 • Veterinary and animal health specialists
 • Agriculture 
• Catering service and restaurant
 • Development agencies 
• Governments officials, association, institute, university
 • Other industries in association with aquaculture and fisheries
 • Media

Ms. Sabrina Hoang
sabrina.hoang@veas.com.vn
HP: +84 986 894 830

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23/01/2015: New funding for aquaculture degrees will support Scottish commercial success

January 23, 2015, 1:07 pm

≫ Next: 23/01/2015: European Algae Biomass 2015

≪ Previous: 23/01/2015: Aqua Fisheries Myanmar 2015

25 new Masters places will strengthen aquaculture skills base and boost graduate employability

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre has gained funding for 25 new taught Masters places in aquaculture. The Masters courses, at the Universities of Stirling and Dundee, Scotland, will focus on industry-relevant knowledge and skills.

By providing business-focused training to aquaculture students in Scotland, these courses will help to develop an industry that already contributes as much as UK£1.4 bn annually to the Scottish economy. They will also boost graduates’ employment prospects.

The funding for the new Masters places has been secured by the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre from the Scottish Funding Council. Worth almost UK£295,000 in the 2015/2016 academic year, it will support 25 places based at the Universities of Stirling and Dundee.

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre will ensure the courses are pertinent to industry needs and include content relevant to its four Priority Innovation Actions (see Notes to Editors).

The Innovation Centre will work with its industry partners to connect students with aquaculture businesses in Scotland, for example in placements or projects. This supports its objective to foster innovative, industry-relevant collaboration between the industry and research communities in Scotland.

Heather Jones, Chief Executive of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, said: “There is huge research and teaching expertise in aquaculture and marine engineering at Scottish universities and colleges, and these new Masters places will help the industry capture the benefits of that. By funding and nurturing a new cohort of industry-aware students, the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and its partners will uphold the sustainable growth of Scottish aquaculture. The Masters students will gain experience in the most pressing issues facing the aquaculture industry in Scotland.”

Dr Trevor Telfer, Director of MSc Programmes, Institute of Aquaculture, added: “The University of Stirling is delighted that the world-leading research and teaching carried out at our Institute of Aquaculture will be used to help produce highly skilled and employable graduates through our Masters programmes. The funding also recognises our excellent track record of collaborative working with the aquaculture industry to address its needs.”

Industry representatives also welcomed the announcement.

Colin Blair, Managing Director of Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, said: “Cooke Aquaculture are delighted to support industry-relevant student research projects. This is exactly the sort of innovation from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre that we welcome as it contributes directly to the employability of students and helps industry research real-life issues."

For more information, please contact Heather Jones at info@scottishaquaculture.com

Read more HERE.

↧

23/01/2015: European Algae Biomass 2015

January 23, 2015, 1:19 pm

≫ Next: 26/01/2015: Meant to keep malaria out, mosquito nets are used to haul fish in

≪ Previous: 23/01/2015: New funding for aquaculture degrees will support Scottish commercial success

Maximising Commercial Successes in Algae Biomass by Combining Focussed R&D with Business Strategy.

ACI’s 5th annual European Algae Biomass Conference will once again bring together senior executives from industry and academia to discuss the latest commercial and technical developments, challenges and research breakthroughs throughout the entire algae value chain. The conference will have a heavy focus on case study examples of latest technologies in operation in the global algae industry. Discuss the technical challenges faced when optimising the cultivation of algae. Study the current and future commercial markets for algae products and the challenges faced during the commercialisation process including the views from three different end markets.

Aquafeed readers/subscribers are entitled to a discount on registration – to claim simply contact Dimitri Pavlyk on +44 (0)203 141 0627 or dpavlyk@acieu.net

View latest agenda HERE

Lignofuels 2015, 21st - 22nd January, Madrid, Spain
Lignofuels Americas 2015, 25th - 26th March, Milwaukee, WI, USA
European Algae Biomass 2015, 22nd - 23rd April, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
European Biomass to Power 2015, 16th - 17th September, Berlin, Germany

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26/01/2015: Meant to keep malaria out, mosquito nets are used to haul fish in

January 26, 2015, 1:34 am

≫ Next: 26/01/2015: EAS welcomes you to Rotterdam for Aquaculture Europe 2015

≪ Previous: 23/01/2015: European Algae Biomass 2015

Out here on the endless swamps, a harsh truth has been passed down from generation to generation: There is no fear but the fear of hunger, The New York Times reports.

With that always weighing on his mind, Mwewa Ndefi gets up at dawn, just as the first orange rays of sun are beginning to spear through the papyrus reeds, and starts to unclump a mosquito net.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/world/africa/mosquito-nets-for-malaria-spawn-new-epidemic-overfishing.html?_r=2

Nets like his are widely considered a magic bullet against malaria — one of the cheapest and most effective ways to stop a disease that kills at least half a million Africans each year. But Mr Ndefi and countless others are not using their mosquito nets as global health experts have intended.

Nobody in his hut, including his seven children, sleeps under a net at night. Instead, Mr Ndefi has taken his family’s supply of anti-malaria nets and sewn them together into a gigantic sieve that he uses to drag the bottom of the swamp ponds, sweeping up all sorts of life: baby catfish, banded tilapia, tiny mouthbrooders, orange fish eggs, water bugs and the occasional green frog.

“I know it’s not right,” Mr Ndefi said, “but without these nets, we wouldn’t eat.”

Across Africa, from the mud flats of Nigeria to the coral reefs off Mozambique, mosquito-net fishing is a growing problem, an unintended consequence of one of the biggest and most celebrated public health campaigns in recent years.

The nets have helped save millions of lives, but scientists worry about the collateral damage: Africa’s fish.

Part of the concern is the scale. Mosquito nets are now a billion-dollar industry, with hundreds of millions of insecticide-treated nets passed out in recent years, and many more on their way.

They arrive by the truckload in poor, waterside communities where people have been trying to scrape by with substandard fishing gear for as long as anyone can remember. All of a sudden, there are light, soft, surprisingly strong nets — for free. Many people said it would be foolish not to use them for fishing.

“The nets go straight out of the bag into the sea,” said Isabel Marques da Silva, a marine biologist at Universidade Lúrio in Mozambique.

“That’s why the incidence for malaria here is so high. The people don’t use the mosquito nets for mosquitoes. They use them to fish.”

But the unsparing mesh, with holes smaller than mosquitoes, traps much more life than traditional fishing nets do. Scientists say that could imperil already stressed fish populations, a critical food source for millions of the world’s poorest people.

Scientists are hardly the only ones alarmed. Fistfights are breaking out on the beaches of Madagascar between fishermen who fear that the nets will ruin their livelihoods, and those who say they will starve without them. Congolese officials have snatched and burned the nets, and in August, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, threatened to jail anyone fishing with a mosquito net.

“We need a regulation to deal with these people,” Mr Museveni said.

Many of these insecticide-treated nets are dragged through the same lakes and rivers people drink from, raising concerns about toxins. One of the most common insecticides used by the mosquito net industry is permethrin, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency says is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” when consumed orally. The EPA also says permethrin is “highly toxic” to fish.

Most scientists say the risks to people are minimal, because the dosages are relatively low and humans metabolize permethrin quickly. But with coldblooded animals, it’s a different story.

“If you’re using freshly treated nets in a smallish stream or a bay in the lake, it’s quite likely you’re going to kill fish you don’t intend to kill,” said Dan Strickman, a senior program officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested heavily in malaria research and development.

“That’s definitely an environmental hazard.”

The leading mosquito net manufacturers insist that their products are not dangerous. Still, many nets are labeled: “Do not wash in a lake or a river.”

Some labels go even further, warning people to pour any water used in washing a net into a hole in the ground, “away from home, animals and wells.”

When asked about this, Egon Weinmueller, a public health executive for BASF, a major netmaker, said, “We want to avoid any form of contamination.”

He acknowledged that “if it’s a small pond, say maybe 10 meters, it could be a problem.”

Though experts say that the vast majority of mosquito nets are used exactly the way they were intended — hung over beds — the full extent of mosquito-net fishing is unknown.

“No one is going to come forward in a survey and say, ‘That thing you’re giving me, we’re not using it properly,’ ” said Seth Faison, a spokesman for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has financed the purchase of 450 million nets.

Yet Mr Faison and several other public health officials maintained that mosquito-net fishing was “anecdotal.”

“In regards to what we face,” Mr Faison said, “it’s an infinitesimal problem, maybe 1 percent.”

But that would still amount to millions of nets.

One of the few detailed studies on the issue showed that in several villages along Lake Tanganyika, an essential body of water shared by four East

African nations, 87.2 percent of households used mosquito nets to fish. When that study was presented at a malaria conference last year, the reception, according to some of those in attendance, was decidedly cool.

“People are very defensive about this topic,” said Amy Lehman, an American physician and the founder of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic, which conducted the study.

“The narrative has always been, ‘Spend US$10 on a net and save a life,’ and that’s a very compelling narrative.

“But what if that net is distributed in a waterside, food-insecure area where maybe you won’t be affecting the malaria rate at all and you might actually be hurting the environment?” she said.

“It’s a lose-lose. And that’s not a very neat story to tell.”

An insecticide-treated mosquito net, hung over a bed, is the front line in the battle against malaria. It’s also the perfect mosquito-killing machine. The gauzy mesh allows the carbon dioxide that people exhale to flow out, which attracts mosquitoes. But as they swarm in, their cuticles touch the insecticide on the net’s surface, poisoning their nervous systems and shutting down their microscopic hearts.

Western governments and foundations donate the money. Big companies like BASF, Bayer and Sumitomo Chemical design the nets. They are manufactured at about US$3 apiece, many in China and Vietnam, shipped in steel containers to Africa, trucked to villages by aid agencies, and handed out by local ministries of health, usually gratis. The World Health Organization says the nets are a primary reason malaria death rates in Africa have been cut in half since 2000.

But at the end of the line, in poor areas where little goes to waste, mosquito nets become many other things: soccer balls and chicken coops, bridal veils and funeral shrouds. Mosquito nets are literally part of the fabric of a community.

For many uses, a secondhand net, which has less insecticide on it, will do. But for fishing, it’s different.

“New mosquito nets are the best,” said David Owich, who fishes on Lake Victoria. “No holes.”

When asked where he had gotten his, he smiled.

“At the hospital,” he said. “Much cheaper than a real net.”

(A “real” net costs about $50, an enormous expense in a place where many people survive on a few dollars a day.)

In Mr Owich’s world, there is no overstating the centrality of fish. His daily catch pays for school supplies and keeps the kerosene lamp lit in his mud hut. All around Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi and so many others, fish are the engine block of the economy and a de facto social security system for landless people.

“You can see it in people’s moods,” said Said Katensi, a Tanzanian conservationist on Lake Tanganyika.

“Whenever there’s fish, everyone is happy. When there isn’t any fish, like now, everyone is sad.”

Out on the Bangweulu flood plains of Zambia, where the swamps stretch all the way to the horizon in every direction, a reed basket used to be the primary fishing technology.

But the other day, when one of Mr Ndefi’s neighbors went to check some fish traps in a few feet of dank swamp water, it was obvious why mosquito mesh had replaced it. A trap made from traditional reeds was empty. The trap next to it, made from a mosquito net, was jumping with tiny silvery fish.

“It’s simple economics,” said Carl Huchzermeyer, a fisheries manager for African Parks, a conservation organization in Bangweulu. “You could spend two days making a basket out of reeds, or just use a mosquito net.”

Recent hydroacoustic surveys show that Zambia’s fish populations are dwindling. Harris Phiri, a Zambian fisheries official, blamed deforestation, rapid population growth and the widespread use of mosquito nets.

“They are catching very small fish that haven’t matured,” Mr Phiri said. “The stocks won’t be able to grow.”

Jeppe Kolding, a Danish fisheries ecologist, has challenged the conventional wisdom. He advocates a “balanced harvest” approach that calls for catching more juvenile fish and sparing some of the adults, arguing that mosquito-net fishing may not harm fish stocks as much as widely believed.

“Fish are more like plants than other animals,” he said, “in that they disperse millions of seeds.”

But even he acknowledges that, for fishing purposes, it would be much better if the nets used were not treated with toxic chemicals.

In many places, fish are dried for hours in direct sunlight on treated mosquito nets. Direct sunlight can break down the insecticide coating. Anthony Hay, an associate professor of environmental toxicology at Cornell University, said fish could absorb some of the toxins, leaving people to ingest them when they eat the fish.

“It’s just another one of these ‘white man’s burdens,’ ” Mr. Hay said, referring to William Easterly’s well-known book critical of foreign aid by the West. “We think we have a solution to everybody’s problems, and here’s an example of where we’re creating a new problem.”

Every morning at sunrise in Antongil Bay, along Madagascar’s ruggedly beautiful northern coast, fishing crews drag seines made from mosquito nets through the putty-colored sea. It’s a family affair, with spindly grandmothers and 8-year-old boys wrapping their hands around the wet ropes and pulling as hard as they can.

When the nets land on the beach, it’s like peering into the stomach of the sea: a squishy mass of sand, seaweed, dead blowfish, dead baby eels and thousands of baby shrimp, their bodies translucent, their tiny eyes black dots no larger than specks of sand.

The Malagasy word for these nets is “ramikaoko,” or the thing that takes all things together. The extent of the damage is unclear, but recent surveys show that Madagascar’s industrial shrimp catch plummeted to 3143 tons in 2010 from 8652 tons in 2002.

Because Antongil Bay is considered a crucial shrimping area, Madagascar recently banned the use of ramikaoko nets there. But the government has been in such disarray since a military coup a few years ago that enforcement of the decree is now up to a group of threadbare vigilante fishermen.

The group calls itself Fearless, and it prowls the pebbly, windswept beaches, looking for mosquito nets to seize.

Be Zocilin, a stocky member with a thick neck and browning teeth, sheepishly held up his left arm to show a half-moon scar — a bite mark.

“We didn’t expect war,” he said, “but the other side brought war.”

Mr. Zocilin explained, and several witnesses confirmed, that he had been attacked and nearly killed by mosquito-net fishermen.

In another village, mosquito-net users crept up to the boats of professional fishermen late one night and cut them loose into the sea. The net users were so furious about anyone trying to take away their nets that they started a boycott of the professional fishermen.

“Even my own sisters didn’t sell me rice,” said Adrien Labiza, a professional fisherman who has tried, with little success, to persuade friends and family not to fish with mosquito nets.

Clearly, there are no easy answers. In all these places, the people fishing with mosquito nets tend to be those without boats or even tackle, often women and children, the most dispossessed. They work from shore, tugging the nets through shallow waters, precisely where many species spawn, creating another potential problem: the slow, steady destruction of sensitive aquatic breeding grounds.

Dr Lehman, the American physician on Lake Tanganyika, wonders if there might be better malaria solutions for waterside communities. Specially treated wall coverings? Custom-fit window screens?

“Why is this question not being asked?” she said, a bit exasperated. “Is it that we don’t really want to know the answer?”

For Mr Ndefi, it is a simple, if painful, matter of choice. He knows all too well the dangers of malaria. His own toddler son, Junior, died of the disease four years ago. Junior used to always be there, standing outside his hut, when Mr Ndefi came home from fishing.

Mr Ndefi hopes his family can survive future bouts of the disease. But he knows his loved ones will not last long without food.

Read the article HERE.

↧

26/01/2015: EAS welcomes you to Rotterdam for Aquaculture Europe 2015

January 26, 2015, 1:47 am

≫ Next: 26/01/2015: Latest news from NOREL

≪ Previous: 26/01/2015: Meant to keep malaria out, mosquito nets are used to haul fish in

After a hugely successful AE2014 event in Donostia-San Sebastian last October, EAS is proud to welcome you to join us from October 20-23 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. You'll be amazed by the welcome of this modern port city and what it has to offer, and you will be able to combine a stay in Amsterdam and aquaculture tours before coming out to Rotterdam to join the conference.

The conference this year is entitled ‘Aquaculture, Nature and Society’ and will focus on the role and contribution of aquaculture to the management of natural resources and its importance in society through the provision of high quality, nutritious and healthy food. See the AE2015 BROCHURE and the AE2015 CONFERENCE PAGE, where you will see links for online abstract submission and registration. www.easonline.org.

The site will be updated later with info on our invited Plenary Speakers, suggested hotels, tours and other useful information. Online abstract submission is now open and we invite you to submit your abstract. The proposed parallel sessions cover many areas of aquaculture research and species that are not just related to The Netherlands. There is really something for everyone! The trade event is also an important part of our Aquaculture Europe events and we are organising industry forums and special panel discussions linked to the conference theme.

Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: May 1
Early Bird Registration deadline: July 15

We look forward very much to welcoming you to Rotterdam in October,

Thank you,
Mario Stael

MarEvent Begijnengracht 40 9000 Gent Belgium

NEW EMAIL : mario@marevent.com
www.marevent.com +32 9233 4912

UPCOMING EVENTS:

AQUACULTURE AMERICA 2015 New Orleans, USA Feb. 19-22

MIDDLE EAST AQUACULTURE FORUM 2015 DWTC, Dubai, UAE April 5-6

WA15 AQUAFORUM Jeju Island, Korea May 26

WORLD AQUACULTURE 2015 Jeju Island, Korea May 26-30

AQUACULTURE EUROPE 2015 Rotterdam, Netherlands October 20-23

LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN AQUACULTURE 2015 Fortaleza, Brazil November 16-19

AQUACULTURE 2016 Las Vegas, Nevada USA Feb 22-26

ASIA PACIFIC Aquaculture 2016 Surabaya, Indonesia April 26-29

AQUACULTURE EUROPE 2016 Edinburgh, Scotland September 20-23, 2016

LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN AQUACULTURE 2016

AQUACULTURE AMERICA 2017 San Antonio, Texas, USA Feb. 19-22

MIDDLE EAST AQUACULTURE FORUM 2017 April

WORLD AQUACULTURE 2017 Cape Town, South Africa June 26-30

AQUACULTURE EUROPE 2017 Dubrovnik, Croatia October 16-20

LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN AQUACULTURE 2017

AQUACULTURE AMERICA 2018 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Feb. 19-22

AQUA 2018

Read more HERE.

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26/01/2015: Latest news from NOREL

January 26, 2015, 2:14 am

≫ Next: 27/01/2015: Atlantic, Pacific fish face mixing as Arctic warms

≪ Previous: 26/01/2015: EAS welcomes you to Rotterdam for Aquaculture Europe 2015

Norel, 35 Years Supplying Feed Ingredients

Mr Enrique Pablos decided to start a new business on January 15th, 1980. He chose the name NOREL, coming from the Spanish “NO REconocemos Limites”, we do “NOt REcognize Limitations”. The motto transmits Mr. Pablos’ spirit and entrepreneurial philosophy accurately. It is by thinking outside the box that Norel has not only been in the industry for 35 years, but grown to be a worldwide leader in the production and commercialization of feed ingredients such as by-pass fats, organic minerals, flavoring agents and non-medicated growth promoters like probiotics, the so called physiological promoters and the rumen fermentation enhancers. Today, these products can be found all around the world, and more success ideas will continue to come from Norel, as NOREL’s accomplishments today are a reality more than ever.

Contact: D Enrique Pablos, epablos@norel.es

Dietary Sodium Butyrate Maintains Gut Integrity

Post-weaning diarrhea is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in weaning piglets. Feeding sodium butyrate (NaBut) to weaning piglets decreased the incidence of diarrhea, but the mechanism has not been fully elucidated. The present study (X.Ma, et al. 2012, J.Anim.Sci) evaluated the effect of NaBut on diarrhea in relation to wound healing of intestinal barrier using IPEC-J2 cell model. Cultured cells were scratched to induce wound and then were treated with 4mM NaBut. The results showed that supplementation of the cells with NaBut significantly promoted the process of wound healing, indicating the protective effects of butyrate on the intestinal mucosa. Butyrate treatment enhanced mRNA expression of the intestinal mucosal tight junction (p<0.05), which suggested that the promotion of wound healing by butyrate is related to the maintenance of the function of the intestinal barrier. In addition, in the butyrate-treated group, intestinal total superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase (p<0.05), two of the main antioxidant enzymes, as well as glutathione (p<0.05), one of the nonenzymatic antioxidant components, were enhanced whereas the malondialdehyde level, a marker of free radical mediated lipid peroxidation injury, was decreased (p<0.05) compared with the control group. These results indicate that dietary sodium butyrate plays an important role in recovering the intestinal tight junctions having a positive effect on maintaining the gut integrity.

Contact: Mónica Puyalto, mpuyalto@norel.es

ECOBIOL AQUA vs Vibrio

Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) technically known as Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS) seems to be the latest challenge affecting shrimp farming. The disease has affected hundreds of farmers in China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Mexico. The aetiology of EMS/AHPNS has been determined to be caused by the bacterium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Several extra-chromosomal elements may be the source of the extreme virulence of this bacterium. Recently in a FAO/MARD Technical Workshop one of the recommended measures to reduce the risk of AHPNS was the use of probiotics. In order to assess the effect of the NOREL’S probiotic ECOBIOL AQUA (B. amyloliquefaciens CECT 5940) against the plausible cause of AHPNS (EMS), a number of different Vibrio strains isolated from marine environments were tested. Cells free extracts of B. amyloliquefaciens CECT 5940 were used to test the bactericide effect using the agar diffusion method (Cintas et al., 1995) against: V. alginolyticus CECT 521, V. alginolyticus CECT 586, V. alginolyticus CECT 600, V. harveyi CECT 525, V. harveyi CECT 604, V. harveyi CECT 8408, V. parahaemolyticus CECT 511, V. parahaemolyticus CECT 611, V. parahaemolyticus CECT 5304, V. parahaemolyticus CECT 8407, V. anguillarum CECT 7199. In this work presented in the last LAQUA14 (Guadalajara, Mexico) ECOBIOL AQUA showed growth inhibition against all the above listed pathogens. It can be concluded that ECOBIOL AQUA can be a useful tool to prevent the emergence of this lethal shrimp disease.

Contact: Álvaro Ortiz, aortiz@norel.es

Norel participates in EUROTIER 2014

Last November the most important trade fair for animal production, Eurotier took place in Hannover, Germany. A total of 1678 exhibitors and 156,000 visitors from more than 100 countries attended this event organized by DLG. Norel had a booth with a welfare concept, promoting animal nutrition without the use of antibiotics. It was a successful event for Norel, we strengthened relationships with our European, Asian and American customers, and established connections with potential new ones. As usual, Norel offered a tasting of Spanish jamón and wine using that time to have an opportunity to share ideas, concerns and promote new products like Gustor N'rgy, Fluidarom 1003, or new trials in developed products.

Contact: Minerva Pujol, mpujol@norel.es

Visit the website HERE.

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27/01/2015: Atlantic, Pacific fish face mixing as Arctic warms

January 27, 2015, 1:11 am

≫ Next: 27/01/2015: How to farm a better fish

≪ Previous: 26/01/2015: Latest news from NOREL

The gradual warming of the Arctic Ocean over the next century will weaken a natural barrier that has separated fish from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for millions of years, leading to a mixing of species that could make life difficult in fishing communities from Alaska to Norway, Discovery News reports.

A new study by scientists in Denmark combined current models of climate change, and the biological water temperature and food requirements for 520 fish species native to the two oceans. The report forecast changes in the range of these fish in five-year increments from now until 2100, when the world’s oceans are expected to heat up globally by an average 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit).

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/atlantic-pacific-fish-face-mixing-as-arctic-warms-150126.htm

"There will be an interchange of the fish communities between those two seas," beginning as soon as 2050, said Mary Wisz, lead author on the report in Nature Climate Change and a senior ecosystem scientist at Aarhaus University in Denmark.

"We know from historical examples that this kind of interchange, when biotas have been separated over long evolutionary time scales, can have huge consequences."

In this warmer future, fishermen based in Kodiak, Alaska, could be pulling up Atlantic cod, a prized species normally caught off New England and Northern Europe. A similar change has already started off the coast of Greenland, where fishermen in the last five years have been catching larger numbers of Atlantic mackerel, which prefers more temperate water.

Wisz and colleagues say that by 2100, up to 41 species could enter the Pacific and 44 species could enter the Atlantic, through Arctic water passages over Canada or Russia. This interchange will have ecological and economic consequences to ecosystems that at present contribute 39 percent to global marine fish landings.

While some fishermen may benefit from the new catches, scientists warn that it's hard to predict exactly what kind of fish will take over, and which will be driven away by the newcomers. It's also possible that several kinds of fish could compete for the same food source – smaller fish, marine shrimp or larvae, for example, leading to a big reshuffling of the existing marine food chain.

"Some species when they come together they get along," said Peter Moller, curator of fishes at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and another author on the new report.

"But of course the Atlantic cod has the potential to become extremely numerous and dominating if it has the right conditions. There is speculation if it gets to a new place, it can be a real game-changer."
Moller said the cod is an especially voracious predator of smaller fish, and could impact commercial landings of Alaska Pollock, for example. Around 3 million tons of Alaska pollock are caught each year in the North Pacific from Alaska to northern Japan. Alaska pollock is the world's second most important fish species in terms of total catch.

Jason Link, senior scientist for ecosystem management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, agreed that the mixing of species will cause changes in the food web in both oceans, but it's hard to predict exactly how it will shake out.

"Another issue not noted in this paper is what happens in the ecosystem that these fish move out of, do they remain there or do other species replace them from the south?" Link said via e-mail.

Another thorny issue is how to manage fishing boats who will likely be plying the rugged Arctic Ocean once commercial harvests become feasible.

"This work raises important ramifications for fishes in response to changes in sea ice," Link said.

Wisz and Moller say their next task is to look at realistic scenarios of predators and prey in the new warmer Arctic ecosystem.

Read the article HERE.

↧

27/01/2015: How to farm a better fish

January 27, 2015, 1:34 am

≫ Next: 27/01/2015: Don't eat fish that fell off the back of lorry in Belfast, warn health chiefs

≪ Previous: 27/01/2015: Atlantic, Pacific fish face mixing as Arctic warms

In a dark, dank warehouse in the Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia, Bill Martin picks up a bucket of brown pellets and slings them into a long concrete tank. Fat, white tilapia the size of dinner plates boil to the surface. Martin, president of Blue Ridge Aquaculture, one of the world’s largest indoor fish farms, smiles at the feeding frenzy.

Each day Mr Martin sells 12,000 pounds of live tilapia to Asian markets from Washington, DC, to Toronto, and he’s planning another farm on the West Coast, National Geographic reports.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/aquaculture/?sf6240394=1&sf7054074=1

“My model is the poultry industry,” he says. “The difference is, our fish are perfectly happy.”

“How do you know they’re happy?” I ask, noting that the mat of tilapia in the tank looks thick enough for a man to walk on.

“Generally they show they’re not happy by dying,” Martin says. “I haven’t lost a tank of fish yet.”

An industrial park in Appalachia may seem an odd place to grow a few million natives of the Nile. But industrial-scale fish farms are popping up everywhere these days. Aquaculture has expanded about 14-fold since 1980. In 2012 its global output, from silvery salmon to homely sea cucumbers only a Chinese cook could love, reached more than 70 million tons—exceeding beef production clearly for the first time and amounting to nearly half of all fish and shellfish consumed on Earth.

Population growth, income growth and seafood’s heart-healthy reputation are expected to drive up demand by 35 percent or more in just the next 20 years. With the global catch of wild fish stagnant, experts say virtually all of that new seafood will have to be farmed.

“There is no way we are going to get all of the protein we need out of wild fish,” says Rosamond Naylor, a food-policy expert at Stanford University who has researched aquaculture systems.

“But people are very wary that we’re going to create another feedlot industry in the ocean. So they want it to be right from the start.”

There are good reasons to be wary.

The new ‘blue revolution,’ which has delivered cheap, vacuum-packed shrimp, salmon, and tilapia to grocery freezers, has brought with it many of the warts of agriculture on land: habitat destruction, water pollution, and food-safety scares. During the 1980s vast swaths of tropical mangroves were bulldozed to build farms that now produce a sizable portion of the world’s shrimp.

Aquacultural pollution—a putrid cocktail of nitrogen, phosphorus, and dead fish—is now a widespread hazard in Asia, where 90 percent of farmed fish are located. To keep fish alive in densely stocked pens, some Asian farmers resort to antibiotics and pesticides that are banned for use in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The US now imports 90 percent of its seafood—around 2 percent of which is inspected by the Food and Drug Administration. In 2006 and 2007 the FDA discovered numerous banned substances, including known or suspected carcinogens, in aquaculture shipments from Asia.

Nor have fish farms in other parts of the globe been free of problems. The modern salmon industry, which over the past three decades has plunked densely packed net pens full of Atlantic salmon into pristine fjords from Norway to Patagonia, has been plagued by parasites, pollution, and disease. Scottish salmon farms lost nearly 10 percent of their fish in 2012 to amoebic gill disease; in Chile infectious anemia has killed an estimated two billion US dollars’ worth of salmon since 2007. A disease outbreak in 2011 virtually wiped out the shrimp industry in Mozambique.

The problem isn’t the ancient art of aquaculture per se; it’s the rapid intensification of it. Chinese farmers started raising carp in their rice fields at least 2500 years ago. But with that country’s aquacultural output now at 42 million tons a year, fish pens line many rivers, lakes, and seashores. Farmers stock their ponds with fast-growing breeds of carp and tilapia and use concentrated fish feed to maximize their growth.

“I was very influenced by the green revolution in grains and rice,” says Li Sifa, a fish geneticist at Shanghai Ocean University. Li is known as the ‘father of tilapia’ for developing a fast-growing breed that’s become the backbone of China’s tilapia industry, which produces 1.5 million tonnes a year, much of it for export.

“Good seeds are very important,” Li says.

“One good variety can raise a strong industry that can feed more people. That is my duty. To make better fish, more fish, so farmers can get rich and people can have more food.”

How to do that without spreading disease and pollution? For tilapia farmer Bill Martin, the solution is simple: raise fish in tanks on land, not in pens in a lake or the sea.

“Net pens are a total goat rodeo,” says Martin, sitting in an office adorned with hunting trophies.

“You’ve got sea lice, disease, escapement, and death. You compare that with a 100 percent controlled environment, possibly as close to zero impact on the oceans as we can get. If we don’t leave the oceans alone, Mother Nature is going to kick our butts big-time.”

Martin’s fish factory, however, doesn’t leave the land and air alone, and running it isn’t cheap. To keep his fish alive, he needs a water-treatment system big enough for a small town; the electricity to power it comes from coal. Martin recirculates about 85 percent of the water in his tanks, and the rest—high in ammonia and fish waste—goes to the local sewage plant, while the voluminous solid waste heads to the landfill. To replace the lost water, he pumps half a million gallons a day from an underground aquifer. Martin’s goals are to recirculate 99 percent of the water and to produce his own low-carbon electricity by capturing methane from the waste.

But those goals are still a few years away. And though Martin is convinced that recirculating systems are the future, so far only a few other companies are producing fish—including salmon, cobia, and trout—in tanks on land.

Eight miles off the coast of Panama, Brian O’Hanlon is going in the exact opposite direction. On a calm day in May the 34-year-old president of Open Blue and I are lying at the bottom of a massive, diamond-shaped fish cage, 60 feet beneath the cobalt blue surface of the Caribbean, watching 40,000 cobia do a slow, hypnotic pirouette above us. The bubbles from our regulators rise up to meet them; one pauses to stare into my mask. Unlike Martin’s tilapia or even the salmon in a commercial pen, these eight-pound youngsters have plenty of room.

O’Hanlon, a third-generation fishmonger from Long Island, grew up with New York City’s famed Fulton Fish Market as his playground. In the early 1990s the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fishery and the import tariffs imposed on Norwegian salmon bankrupted the family business. His father and uncles kept saying that the industry’s future was farmed fish. So as a teenager, O’Hanlon started raising red snapper in a giant tank in his parents’ basement.

Now, off Panama, he operates the largest offshore fish farm in the world. He has some 200 employees, a big hatchery onshore, and a fleet of bright orange vessels to service a dozen of the giant cages, which can hold more than a million cobia. A popular sport fish, cobia has been caught commercially only in small quantities—in the wild the fish are too solitary—but its explosive growth rate makes it popular with farmers. Like salmon, it’s full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and it produces a mild, buttery, white fillet that O’Hanlon claims is the perfect canvas for picky chefs. Last year he shipped 800 tons of cobia to high-end restaurants around the U.S. Next year he hopes to double that amount—and finally turn a profit.

Maintenance and operating costs are high in offshore waters. Although most salmon operations are tucked in protected coves near shore, the waves over O’Hanlon’s cages can hit 20 feet or more. But all that rushing water is the point: He’s using dilution to avoid pollution and disease. Not only are his cages stocked at a fraction of the density of the typical salmon farm, but also, sitting in deep water, they’re constantly being flushed by the current and the waves. So far O’Hanlon hasn’t had to treat the cobia with antibiotics, and researchers from the University of Miami have not detected any trace of fish waste outside his pens. They suspect the diluted waste is being scavenged by undernourished plankton, since the offshore waters are nutrient poor.

O’Hanlon is in Panama because he couldn’t get a permit to build in the US. Public concerns over pollution and fierce opposition from commercial fishermen have made coastal states leery of any fish farms. But O’Hanlon is convinced he’s pioneering the next big thing in aquaculture.

“This is the future,” he says, once we’ve said goodbye to the cobia and are back aboard his orange skiff.

“This is what the industry is going to have to do in order to keep growing, especially in the tropics.” Recirculating systems like Martin’s, he says, will never produce enough biomass.

“There is no way they can scale up to meet the market demand. And to make one profitable, it’s like a cattle feedlot, where you cram so many fish in you’re just trying to keep them alive. You’re not providing the best environment possible for them.”

Read more HERE.

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27/01/2015: Don't eat fish that fell off the back of lorry in Belfast, warn health chiefs

January 27, 2015, 1:50 am

≫ Next: Evonik company profile

≪ Previous: 27/01/2015: How to farm a better fish

Health chiefs have warned people not to eat fish lifted off a road after a lorry shed its load of mackerel, The Belfast Telegraph reports.

Photographs showed people putting the mackerel into plastic bags to bring home to eat after hundreds were spilled amid bizarre scenes on Belfast's Ravenhill Road on Saturday night.

Health chiefs, however, have advised against eating the fish.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/dont-eat-fish-that-fell-off-the-back-of-lorry-in-belfast-warn-health-chiefs-30939597.html

A Belfast City Council spokeswoman said: "We would strongly advise against the consumption of food where you are not clear as to its source or if it is safe to eat.

"In any event, there is a possibility of the fish being contaminated through direct contact with the road, rendering it unfit for human consumption."

The Council spokeswoman said its street cleaners helped remove up to 600 mackerel from the Ravenhill Road close to the junction with My Lady's Road.

"Responding to a call on our environmental health line, and to ensure traffic was able to flow freely, City Council cleansing services helped remove up to 600 mackerel," said the spokeswoman.

Resident Tommy Bardsley said he bagged 25 mackerel.

"It's all fresh fish, I'll have some for dinner and freeze the rest," he said. "I know fish and can tell they were just off the boat."

At a chip shop close to the scene of Saturday night's fish spill, staff said yesterday afternoon that their trade was not down.

Shelley West from the Chip N Fish was asked if there had been any adverse effect on business, but she replied: "No, not at all".

It is understood that local people teamed up to help clean the area ahead of official road cleaners being drafted in.

One said: "Some people are embarrassed that people who live here were seen lifting the fish off the road to bring it home, but most just stood at the side of the road.

"Local people came out with brushes and stuff to help in a big clean up and it was a real community effort."

Police said the driver of the fish lorry did not stop and may not have been aware what happened.

Read the article HERE.

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Evonik company profile

January 27, 2015, 1:57 am

≫ Next: 27/01/2015: Aidan Connolly appointed as Chief Innovation Officer at Alltech

≪ Previous: 27/01/2015: Don't eat fish that fell off the back of lorry in Belfast, warn health chiefs

http://corporate.evonik.com/en/Pages/default.aspx

Evonik is one of the world's leading specialty chemical companies.

Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of our strategy, which is supported by our owners, RAG-Stiftung (74.99 percent) and funds managed by CVC Capital Partners (25.01 percent). Our specialty chemicals activities focus on high-growth megatrends—especially health, nutrition, resource efficiency, and globalization—and our goal is to enter attractive future-oriented markets.

In 2011 Evonik’s roughly 33,000 employees generated sales of €14.5 billion and an operating result (EBITDA) of €2.8 billion. More than 70 percent of sales are generated outside Germany, providing convincing evidence that our business is global.

Visit the website HERE.

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27/01/2015: Aidan Connolly appointed as Chief Innovation Officer at Alltech

January 27, 2015, 2:08 am

≫ Next: The Jan | Feb 2015 edition of International Aquafeed is out now!

≪ Previous: Evonik company profile

First published in International Aquafeed, November-December 2014

Global animal health and nutrition leader Alltech has appointed vice president Aidan Connolly as Chief Innovation Officer, connected to the company’s global research department.

Working closely with Dr Karl Dawson, vice president and Chief Scientific Officer, Connolly will be involved with Alltech’s innovation pipeline and lead the commercialization of the company’s research programs.

http://issuu.com/international_aquafeed/docs/iaf1406_w1/66?e=1620985/10049203

In his new role, Connolly will put together a team within the company’s research department that will primarily focus on developing innovative, nutrition-based technologies. Their new product development will capitalize on the insights gained through the company’s considerable investment in nutrigenomics, the science of how diet affects gene expression.

“Giving a rapid and effective response, backed up by cutting-edge scientific research, to the market’s changing needs, has always been one of Alltech’s biggest strengths. It is all about how these technologies are implemented to the market,” said Connolly.

Connolly brings a strong commercial background to Alltech’s research team. He graduated from University College Dublin with a master’s degree in international marketing. He has been with Alltech for nearly 25 years, initially in Ireland, and then in France, Brazil and the United States. From 2002 until 2008, Connolly held the position of vice president of Europe and was most recently based in Washington, DC, as vice president of corporate accounts.

Today, Connolly is an adjunct professor of marketing at University College Dublin and a professor of agribusiness at the China Agricultural University in Beijing. He is also an executive board member of the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA), the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation, and a former board member of the European Union Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures (FEFANA).

“As Alltech is moving forward to become a US$4 billion company in the next 4-5 years, it is crucial that the company’s research and technical teams work hand-in-hand with sales and marketing. With Aidan joining our group, we will be even more strongly placed to support the industry with science-based nutritional solutions,” said Dr Karl Dawson, vice president, Chief Scientific Officer at Alltech.

Based at Alltech’s Center for Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition at Alltech’s corporate headquarters near Lexington, Kentucky, Connolly will also maintain his current responsibilities as vice president, corporate accounts at Alltech. Connolly is well-known as the architect of Alltech’s annual global feed survey, which assesses global feed tonnage in more than 130 countries.

Read the magazine HERE.

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