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?

Several regional and species specific market research reports for seafood are available from the Seafood Team at Glitnir Bank.  Review and download the reports here.

Seafood consumption in China will increase by more than 40 per cent by 2020, according to a seafood industry research report issued by Glitnir Bank.

The report offers an analytic overview of the current Chinese seafood industry and presents Glitnir’s view of its likely future developments.

Today, China is by far the world’s largest supplier of aquatic products, both by means of capture and aquaculture.

At the same time, China is also one of the most important consumer markets for seafood, with a fast growing appetite for exotic and high-end seafood products.

Seafood consumption is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, according to Glitnir Research. Seafood consumption in China was 25 kilos per capita in 2004 and is expected to reach 36 kilos per capita in 2020.

In the future, tilapia is likely to surpass other cultured species in importance. Production of tilapia worldwide is likely to be stepped up substantially in coming years, as a result of strong investment in the sector.

China will continue to be the world’s main producer of tilapia and the main export market for Chinese tilapia is the U.S.

China’s seafood processing industry will see a continued ability to attract substantial investments from around the world. In short, the vastness of the Chinese seafood industry presents many opportunities to foreign investors, in virtually all of its sectors.

The full late 2006 report may be downloaded here.

The Aquaculture Development Council is establishing a portfolio of projects and initiatives to grow the Western Australian aquaculture industry.

As part of this process, it has initiated development projects to assess the feasibility of and initiate large-scale marine finfish aquaculture in the State’s coastal waters.

To assess economic feasibility, an understanding of target market sizes, prices and price sensitivity are important; consequently, as part of the development process, the ADC commissioned a staged market study to provide the requisite market intelligence inputs.

Present and future Western Australian producers can target numerous possible marine finfish species and potential countries. Stage 1 of the market study prioritised identified species and countries (called species/market combinations).

Stage 2 of the market study then undertook an in-depth investigation of market sizes prices for the prioritised species/market combinations.

Prioritised species were yellowtail kingfish, mulloway and mahi mahi; prioritised markets were Australia, USA, Japan, UK and France.

An extension of the market study provided additional information on selected marine fish in the Western Australian market.

When they are required, Stage 3 market studies are planned to undertake further in-depth analyses of specific markets and species.

Clean Seas Tuna Limited is going “end to end” in the aquaculture value chain by building key reputation reinforcing relationships in the world’s most demanding markets.

Clean Seas produces the fish and has also created the relationships to see their fish on the most pretigeous plates in Europe. 

In May 2008 Clean Seas established an agreement with Euro-Toques International – an association of more than 4,000 of Europe’s finest chefs, targeting its Yellowtail Kingfish product.

Clean Seas’ Chairman Mr Hagen Stehr, who attended the signing in Brussels, said the agreement provided an opportunity to showcase products and increase export sales to the world’s biggest seafood market – 455 million people across the European Union. 

“Euro-Toques counts among its members the world’s most influential chefs – international celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay and the chefs of some of Europe’s finest hotels including the Ritz in Paris and Dorchester in London – providing Australian seafood producers with unique access to food opinion leaders and connoisseurs from around the world,” Mr Stehr said. 

“At the same time, the European Union represents the largest single aquaculture import destination in the world - worth more than AUD$40 billion per year,” Mr Stehr said. “Australia is the first country outside Europe to be endorsed by Euro-Toques and the fact that the South Australian State Government and local seafood industry have jointly achieved membership represents a tremendous boost for producers.” 

“Membership of a prestigiuous organisation such as Euro-Toques will build the profile of yellowtail kingfish at the premium end of the market while also increasing the awareness of South Australia as a safe, reliable country of origin for seafood products,” Mr Stehr said. 

Mr Stehr said the agreement with Euro-Toques offered producers like Clean Seas with influential endorsement for their products and provided an entry card to the finest restaurants in Europe. 

“Over the next year, Clean Seas’ kingfish will be featured on the menus of some of the best restaurants in the world. 

“Produce will also be showcased at prominent expos and market events across Europe — including the renowned Bocuse D’or World Chefs Challenge in Lyon where the finest chefs across the EU will have a chance to experience the quality of our kingfish.” 

Approximately 60 per cent of Clean Seas’ kingfish is currently sold overseas with markets including Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe as well as South East Asia and the United States. 

Clean Seas’ major shareholder, the Stehr Group, was established in the early 1970s and is now recognised as an Australian leader and international pioneer in off-shore fish farming.

In 2007-08, the Group will produce more than 4000 tonnes of aquaculture-bred kingfish and mulloway, as well as 700 tonnes of Southern Bluefin Tuna. 

Source: Clean Seas Tuna Limited

Fresh research from Nofima, the Norwegian aquaculture research organisation, shows that Norwegian cod farmers are prioritising different sources of competitive advantage to maximise their probability of success.

The most important advantages were favourable location for cod farming, high level of product quality, competent staff, the ability to supply as requested and good relationships with other companies.

“It is important to have control over and master the technological and biological challenges in cod farming,” says Sogn-Grundvåg. “Competent staff is therefore decisive in reducing the company’s production costs.”

The fact that companies are trying to utilise different competitive advantages implies that different strategies are being tested.

Aquaculture Management (whatever the species)  can learn from the experiences and adopt the most successful strategies. 

One of the practices highlighted by the research is farmers striving to become a reliable supplier by achieving a critical mass of production. Achieving a higher production threshold will allow them to supply on a reliable basis year round to demanding large supermarket chains.

As the Nofima press release points out, in the absence of sufficient production volumes to command a year round marketing relationship the farmers are timing their production to achieve maximum prices.

Changes in water temperature and the schedule that the fish follow in reaching sexual maturity are additional challenges to achieving the desired levels of production control.

I suppose the ability to finely control and monitor growth conditions will be critical to the ability to produce premium quality fish year round - to meet demand.

If we were to think in terms of adopting a ‘manufacturing mindset’ as opposed to a ‘farming mentality’ this would lead us lean towards adopting production environments where we can exert maximum control.

Does this mean that the aquaculture production facility of the future is more likely to be a land based recirculating system than an open ocean cage or pen where control over growing conditions is more problematic?

There is mounting evidence that the soaring demand for fish (based on its widely promoted health giving nutritional qualities) will be subject to significant competition.

Growth in the aquaculture industry has been buoyant due the challenges faced by wild capture fisheries. This however does not mean that the backers of aquaculture companies will have a free ride to future prosperity or the license to print money - any time soon.

We have canvassed the subject of Omega-3 long chain fatty acids on this site through several posts.

The health-giving properties of fish oils have not gone unnoticed. The fact that there has been a sustained growth in demand for fish has been recognised by food producers from other sectors.

Due to several factors, massive budgets are being directed at the ability to produce Omega-3 long chain fatty acids from non-fish sources:

This level of activity is interesting in the world of aquaculture for two reasons:

• Firstly, the widely appreciated health giving properties of consuming oily fish is a major driver of the increasing demand for fish in human nutrition.
• Secondly, the major cost component in the aquaculture value chain is feed. The critical components of aquaculture feed include protein and suitable oils. Traditionally this has been sourced from fishmeal, but this is now unsustainable.

UK fish business, Young’s Seafood has underlined the importance of fish farming to the security of future fish supply and highlighted its approach with a new policy document entitled: “Why we believe fish farming is a good thing.”

Fish farming – or aquaculture – is already the world’s fastest-growing food production industry, with consistent growth of around 9% a year every year since 1975. Already around 45% of global fish supply is from farmed sources.

Young’s is Britain’s most famous name in fish and the UK branded seafood business of the Foodvest Group. Foodvest is a £1.1BN, independently-owned European seafood and frozen food business comprised of Young’s and The Seafood Company in the UK, together with Findus in Scandinavia and France.

Their “Why fish faming is a good thing” policy document is available by clicking on the link.

The value of world exports of fish and fish products grew 9.5 percent in 2006 to US$86 billion and nearly 7 percent in 2007 to US$92 billion, according to the paper, presented to 60+ countries attending the 11th session of FAO’s Sub-Committee on Fish Trade (Bremen, Germany 2-6 June 2008).

The proportion of world fish production (145 million tonnes) that is traded internationally now represents 38 percent of the total, or 55 million tonnes, the paper noted.

Developing countries have confirmed their fundamental importance as suppliers to world markets, it added, accounting for 50 percent of all fish exports. Their net export revenues from this trade have reached a record high of US$25 billion.

Imports are mostly by developed countries, now responsible for 80 percent of all imports in value terms (US$96 billion).

More details available here.

An FAO fact sheet on the global Ffsh trade may be accessed here.

Nigel Edwards, Technical Director of Seachill, presented a clear set of insights on the priorities held by large retailers and processors in seeking to meet the needs of their customers. As a result of rapidly evolving customer priorities, these are the innovation challenges from the retailer/processor point of view:

• The industry must maintain the considerable nutritional benefits from eating farmed fish and provide for increased demand despite the stable or declining feed fish stocks
• All feed raw materials must be demonstrably sustainable, we need a responsible sourcing standard for feed producers
• There is a need to reduce the contaminants in fishmeal and oil
• The top line feed conversion ratio could be improved
• It is unacceptable to enhance the human nutritional benefits by genetic modification of fish

Improving the ratio of conversion of feed fish to farmed fish should be a research priority but not at the expense of

• fish health
• human nutrition, (especially EPA and DHA content)
• intrinsic quality of the final product
• cost of production

Reduce cost of production by

• automation
• improved feed conversion
• reduced mortality
• lower energy use
• lower feed wastage

Improve fish welfare by:

• introducing new vaccines
• improved fish handling techniques
• instantaneous stunning prior to slaughter

Other innovation priorities:

• introduce new species to aquaculture especially those that have a low cost of production
• Support development of organic standards for all species and assist farmers to be efficient within organic farming regime

As well as working for Seachill (part of the Icelandic Group), Nigel is a member of the GLOBALGAP Aquaculture Sector Committee. GLOBALGAP is a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe.

Nigel’s March 2007 presentation can be viewed here.