Let me be very clear - sustainability is an imperative feature for the future of seafood (aquaculture and wild catch). However, the future is about more than just sustainability, its about corporate responsibility.

What do I mean by corporate responsiblity? Check out the corporate responsibility reports of all the world’s leading retailers and food manufacturers and you’ll find slightly different definitions and practices (its well worth doing this, you’ll have your eyes opened).

The basics are pretty much the same though, its about trying to minimise your negative actions and maximise your positive actions. Create a positive impact from your business activities.

Examples of corporate responsibility might include product positioning, environmental impact of business activities, integrity of sourcing practices, impact on local communities etc.

Will this help your business? From my experiences working in the UK with Young’s Seafood and Sainsbury’s, and contact I have had with Wholefoods in the US. The answer is YES YES YES. See these examples:

• Youngs Seafood
• Sainsbury
• Wholefoods

To capitalise on the market opportunity you have to give the customer what the consumer wants. Corporate responsibilty can give you a point of difference as you develop your aquaculture business.

Can anyone share any other examples of exemplary corporate responsibility amongst producers / suppliers or retailers inside or outside the seafood industry?

The following story was posted this morning on the ABC News Website: Tuna boss threatens to quit Pt Lincoln

Mr Hagen Stehr, chairman of Clean Seas Tuna, has voiced strong concern regarding the possibility that Centrex Metals may be permitted to ship iron ore from Port Lincoln, suggesting he may relocate his business if this occurs.

This raises an interesting topic for discussion. With increasing competition for the utilisation of oceanic waters, how will this be regulated into the future? How will the zoning of appropriate waters for fish farming stack up against competing industries such as oil and gas and mineral exploration, who may be vying to use the same ‘patch’ of water?

Please post a comment and let us know what you think.   

My recent posts on breakthrough efforts in Bluefin Tuna reproduction by Clean Seas Tuna clearly illustrates how important it can be to control the environmental conditions experienced by a captive fish population.

One of the key contributors to fine grained control applied by Clean Seas is UNI-Aqua a Danish designer, systems integrator and builder of recirculating systems for rearing broodstock and aquaculture growout.

UNI-Aqua have established quite a reputation for themselves as a result of projects with an array of salt and freshwater species in Europe, South America, North America, Australia and Asia.

A nice review of the Arno Bay recirculating facility in South Australia can be viewed here.

The Western Australian Fish Foundation convened a workshop during 2007 to discuss the implications of the highly successful project ‘’Restocking the Blackwood River Estuary with the Black Bream Acanthopagrus butcheri’’ funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. In this project, 220,000 hatchery reared fish were marked and restocked, bred from 100 locally caught broodstock, with high survival that was monitored over 8 years.

The aim of the Workshop was to discuss the results and implications of the study, to understand the current environmental condition of the Blackwood River Estuary and to determine what issues should be addressed in the future.

The evidence presented pointed to a general decline in the health of the environment of the Blackwood River Estuary over an extended period since the early 1970s. Research also clearly indicated a significant reduction in black bream catch by recreational fishers from the system over the past 25 years.

The high survival of the introduced bream and the low cost of the project led to calls for a halt to the extraction of bream and for ongoing restocking to maintain fish stocks in the Blackwood Estuary. The complete report can be found here.

Listened to a television program on the ABC last night (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) which covered some of the themes being covered at the 2008 World Poultry Congress.  There are some interesting parallels in the issues that are being addressed in poultry and aquaculture - as aquaculture seeks to increase its scale and intensity of production.

One of the keynote speakers at the Conference, Professor David Farrell from the University of Queensland was interviewed about the key factors that have allowed the poultry industry to intensify its production so successfully. Professor Farrell identifies the following factors as key contributors:

• technology
• genetics
• feed
• management
• disease control

At the 4.20 minute mark in the video (see the link below) Professor Farrell reviews the conversion efficiency of the three major livestock industries.  He states the feed conversion ratios as:

• Poultry  - 1.7:1
• Pigs  - 2.2:1
• Cattle  - 7:1

This makes the peak feed conversion ratios in aquaculture of 0.8:1 look very good.

Can anyone help by pointing out the latest data on feed conversion ratio in aquaculture both in the lab and in the farm setting?

The video of the interview with Professor Farrell is available here. 

The World Poultry Congress site is here.

Feeds which are typically formulated with an excess of protein are usually due to one of two reasons: either the protein is not very digestible so more has to be added to meet amino acid requirements, or excess protein is added because specific essential amino acid requirements are not known.

The excess protein provides a large margin of safety so that there will be less chance that essential amino acids are limiting in the diet. It is not economical or necessary to increase the total protein content of a feed to a point where excessive amounts of many amino acids are included in an attempt to meet the requirement for one or more of the essential amino acids that are shortest in supply.

A diet should be formulated based on digestible amino acid values of feed ingredients and an ideal protein.

The excess nitrogen excreted as ammonia by fish may have a negative impact on the environment because it is a major contributor to water pollution.

Because every species of fish and the individual proteins within each species has its own unique amino acid composition, the ideal situation would be to formulate a low protein feed that would minimize nitrogen excretion and at the same time meet all requirements for essential amino acids.

Today, in other species such as poultry and swine, this is done routinely since synthetic essential amino acids (e.g., methionine, lysine, threonine) are commercially available, and these animals utilize these synthetic amino acids efficiently.

A better understanding of the dietary nutrient requirements of cultured fish species and a continual search for accessible, highly digestible proteins to replace expensive fishmeal is essential. This approach coupled with applying the ideal protein concept in the formulation of fish feeds can greatly ameliorate nitrogen pollution arising from fish production systems and increase profitability.

The catfish and trout farms, which account for the vast majority of the food-fish produced in the United States, already have greatly reduced their use of fishmeal in feeds, to a total of around 5% in catfish diets, and a total of 20% in trout diets.

More information on the ideal protein concept is available here.

This material is drawn from document FA144, one of a series of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. First Published: March 2007. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

I´m looking for information related with alternatives to convert aquaculture waste into a valuable by product. Specifically I´m talking about faecal matter from salmon farms that could be taken out before it gets to the bottom of the sea.

 I´d really appreciate if anyone can help me.

Sea lice pose a huge health threat to both wild and farmed fish. Researchers have investigated the efficacy of a treatment for sea lice in wild sea trout.

Sea lice are important exoparasites of fish, both in the wild and in aquaculture.

These tiny crustaceans can lower the fitness of the fish and indirectly cause fatalities due to open lesions that prevent the fish from maintaining its osmotic, or salt/water balance. If infection rates are severe, the parasites can feed on the fish at higher than the growth rate. It follows then that developing stock are more prone to this distressing phenomenon due to their small size.

To investigate means of tackling this disease, wild sea trout were tagged with Passive Integrated Transponder tags (PIT tags). Fish are therefore identifiable and traceable using a tag scanner on recapture of the fish.

There were two groups, one treated with a prophylactic substance designed to control the parasite and the others untreated. The experiment took place in the north-west of Scotland.

It was discovered that the treatment had a significant effect on the condition factor of treated fish. Indices of condition indicated that the fish that received the prophylactic suffered less growth constraints whilst in open sea.

Possible subsequent effects on growth and survival to sexual maturity could have significant implications on stock conservation due to the direct relationship between fecundity and size in the female.

Control of this parasite is important, not only for farmed stocks, but also for wild stocks as farming situations are thought to act as sources of infection for this pest. Further research could well bring about more effective controls and superior management of our natural and farmed fish stocks.

More on this approach to sea lice control is available via this link.

I spoke with Ian McRobert today about his Semi Intensive Floating Tank System (SIFTS) technology. The interview includes links to videos and pictures of his waste minimising aquaculture systems.

Ian and his team are using low pressure air in very unconventional ways to generate some significant advantages, especially in promoting a clean environment for fish growth and through innovative approaches to waste handling.

This is a picture of a small scale trial of the SIFTS system in Fremantle Harbour in Western Australia. The trial is a breakthrough in that it has gained the support of the Fisheries Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Port Authority.

Finfish: Ian, you have been able to achieve some some impressive stocking densities with your SIFTS approach. Can you share with us your present metrics?

McRobert: Yes Andrew, we have experienced exceptional carrying capacities with our system. Our experience is that fish can be cultured at stocking densities above eighty kilos per cubic metre without the need to resort to pure oxygen or sophisticated recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) equipment.

Finfish: How do you achieve this Ian?

McRobert: Our SIFTS waste extraction system efficiently removes almost all of the solid waste - in fact up to 95% of all faecal matter is extracted quickly. Our objective is to minimise the opportunity for material to suspend or dissolve in the water column.

Finfish: Ian, you have secured environmental approval and the endorsement of the Fremantle Port Authority to trial SIFTS?

McRobert: With its waste extraction capabilities, SIFTS is able to avoid some of the biggest challenges facing aquaculture like the environmental effects caused by some cage operations conducted in nearshore areas.

Finfish: What other techniques do you use to maintain a clean growing environment for your fish, Ian?

McRobert: we use a patented liner technology that allows us to easily and thoroughly clean the tank to promote as pristine a growing environment for our fish as possible. The liner also gives us major benefits in stress free fish handling techniques. You can check this out easily by reviewing the videos on our Website.

I have included a link to the fish handling videos here.

Finfish: Thank you Ian.

McRobert: Thank you Andrew. Here are a few pictures of our system in Fremantle Harbour to allow Finfish readers to see what we are up to.

If you would like to find out more about the SIFTS approach, please visit the McRobert Aquaculture website.

Neil Sims, an ex-pat Australian, is the president and co-founder of Kona Blue Water Farms. The farms, situated off Hawaii, are stocked with ‘Kona Kampachi’ or yellowtail and Sims is embracing the need for sustainable aquaculture innovations. To date, Sims has assisted in the modification of submersible cages to make them ‘flippable’ and therefore much easier to clean in addition to trialling various food sources, some with very positive results.

If you would like to view the full article, please click here.