Saving Seafood

UNH scientists aim to solve a million dollar problem for aquaculture industry

May 25, 2021 — A pesky little jellyfish-like animal is causing major problems—and major costs—for aquaculture everywhere by choosing to permanently live on aquafarming equipment, reducing production sustainability. However, new research from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station in the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture sheds light on possible ways to dissuade these animals at early, larval stage from calling aquaculture production systems home.

The research is vital to NH’s oyster-dominated aquaculture industry, in which the number of farms grew faster than any other state—a 229 percent increase— from 2013 to 2018, according to the U.S. Census of Aquaculture.

New Hampshire had nearly $1 million in sales from aquaculture in 2018. Globally, more than 50 percent of all human-consumed seafood is produced by aquaculture—the farming of fish, mollusks, aquatic plants, and other products. The global economic impact of aquaculture is greater than $31 billion. When post-harvest operations data are included, it is estimated that one in two workers in the sector is a woman.

Read the full story at Foster’s Daily Democrat

SATS pens letter to Biden urging support for aquaculture prioritization

May 24, 2021 — U.S. aquaculture advocacy group Stronger America Through Seafood penned a letter last week urging President Joe Biden to prioritize seafood production to help mitigate climate change and outline the climate impacts and potential benefits of aquaculture in the country.

“As our federal leaders seek innovative solutions to address the climate crisis, aquaculture, one of the most resource-efficient methods for protein production, should be considered as a tool to help feed our growing population responsibly while protecting our planet,” SATS campaign manager Margaret Henderson said. “Through federal action, the [Biden] administration and Congress can establish a clear regulatory pathway for permitting offshore aquaculture that would support a sustainable seafood future, increase the resiliency of our food systems, and create new jobs in communities nationwide.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US landings flat in 2019, while seafood trade deficit continued to increase

May 21, 2021 — Commercial fishermen in the United States landed 9.3 billion pounds of seafood products worth a total of USD 5.5 billion (EUR 4.5 billion) in 2019. That’s according to one of two reports NOAA Fisheries released on Thursday, 20 May.

The reports, Fisheries of the United States 2019 and the agency’s Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries, indicate that the country saw slight increases to the number of stocks that were either overfished or subject to overfishing. However, the production from U.S. commercial fishing businesses dipped slightly from 2018.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Dutch firm harnesses DNA, blockchain for sturgeon traceability solution

May 21, 2021 — A Dutch firm is harnessing blockchain and DNA to disable what it has identified as a burgeoning illicit trade in wild sturgeon passed off as farmed product.

Geneusbiotech, which describes itself as a “genomics specialist company,” has introduced a traceability solution for sturgeon and caviar sold in Europe in a three-year collaboration with the Berlin Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). The Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based company develops solutions for the food, luxury goods, and pharma sectors.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Salmon Group scraps plans for grasshopper feed produced by startup Metapod

May 19, 2021 — Bergen, Norway-based Salmon Group has announced it has scrapped its deal with Metapod to develop a locally-produced protein source featuring insects.

Under the original agreement, Metapod was going to produce insect flour from grasshoppers and crickets, to be used in the Salmon Group’s network of salmon and trout farms. The process was also going to use refined food waste, with an overall goal – Salmon Group said when the deal was announced last year – of reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Cyberattack takes a USD 6 million toll on AKVA, company declines to confirm if it paid ransom

May 19, 2021 — Kleppe, Norway-based AKVA Group ASA has declined to comment on whether losses it reported in its Q1 financial statement relating to a cyberattack resulted from paying a ransom.

Cyber-attackers took a toll on the aquaculture technology and services provider in the first quarter of 2021, costing the company NOK 49.7 million (EUR 5 million, USD 6 million) in losses in January.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish salmon producers defy border chaos with record EU exports

May 17, 2021 — Scotland’s salmon farmers exported a record volume of fresh fish to E.U. markets in the first-quarter of 2021, overcoming the significant post-Brexit supply disruptions experienced in the first weeks of the year.

According to figures compiled by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organization (SSPO) – from information supplied by all of the country’s salmon producers – some 19,410 metric tons (MT) of fish, worth more than GBP 100 million (USD 116 million, EUR 141 million), were exported to the E.U. in Q1 2021. This volume represented an increase of more than 8,200 MT or 74 percent over the corresponding period of last year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

World Food Prize granted for research on nutritional importance of seafood

May 13, 2021 — Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, the global lead for nutrition and public health at WorldFish, has been named the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate for her research into developing nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems, including fisheries and aquaculture, and integrated food production from land and water.

Sometimes referred to as “the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture,” Thilsted’s research has been praised by the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and represents the first time a woman of Asian heritage has been awarded the prize. Her research delved into the nutritional composition of small native fish species that are typically consumed in Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Program will train aquaculture workforce in Maine as industry grows

May 12, 2021 — Seafood farms popping up all along the coast have Maine’s aquaculture industry primed for a boom and two organizations in the state are preparing to meet its workforce needs with a first-of-its-kind training program.

The Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and Washington County Community College received a $500,000 grant to be paid out over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop an aquaculture-specific training program at the college.

The program will aim to meet the growing need for tech-savvy, skilled workers in four of the largest aquaculture subsets: land-based recirculating aquaculture, marine fin-fish aquaculture, cold-water coastal shellfish aquaculture and marine macroalgae aquaculture. Students will graduate with either a workforce training certificate or an associate’s degree.

“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing form of agriculture in the U.S.,” said Chris Davis, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

State bill would tackle development pressures along Maine coast

May 7, 2021 — Divisive opinions around Maine’s growing aquaculture industry, particularly a proposed salmon farming operation in Frenchman Bay, are driving lawmakers to consider studying coastal development in general.

The Legislature’s Marine Resource Committee held a public hearing Tuesday on LD 1211, “Resolve, To Create the Study Group To Research Balancing Development and Conservation in Maine’s Coastal Waters and Submerged Lands,” introduced by state Rep. Lynne Williams, D-District 135.

A goal of the bill is to establish regional units functioning in individual bay areas, composed of municipal representatives and consultants, that would be able to provide input into how each bay is used.

The resolve would establish the group “to address current system deficiencies in the regulation of the state’s coastal waters and submerged lands.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz