Saving Seafood

American Aquafarms CEO: Local support is key to success in Maine

October 20, 2020 — The U.S. state of Maine has become a hotbed of aquaculture activity, with numerous companies announcing plans to open recirculating aquaculture system farms, including Nordic Aquafarms in Belfast, Whole Oceans in Bucksport, Kingfish Zeeland in Jonesport, and Aquabanq in Millinocket.

As of Friday, 16 October, another company has arrived in the Pine Tree State: American Aquafarms, which has invested in a site in Gouldsboro as its base for a closed net-pen salmon farm, from which it hopes to produce 30,000 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon by 2024.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bold Initiatives Chart Course for Stronger, More Resilient Seafood Sector

October 15, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We all have a stake in a stronger, more resilient U.S. seafood industry. Seafood is an important source of protein and other nutrients that are essential for strong bones, brain development, and healthy immune and cardiovascular systems. The U.S. seafood industry is a powerful economic driver—supporting 1.2 million jobs and adding $69.2 billion to the gross domestic product in 2017. And for decades, the United States has been a global leader in sustainable seafood production. In short, U.S. seafood is good for your health, good for the economy, and good for the planet.

While the pandemic has created serious, ongoing challenges, NOAA Fisheries has taken a proactive role in monitoring and adjusting to COVID-19. Our actions are driven in part by our rapid economic assessments that identified immediate and long term impacts on the seafood industry. The United States recently reaffirmed its commitment to building a stronger seafood industry. We’re taking bold steps to expand sustainable production and make U.S. products more competitive in domestic and foreign markets. In May, the President signed an Executive Order that will serve as the map for several exciting initiatives, including the creation of 10 Aquaculture Opportunity Areas.

Growing our domestic aquaculture industry is critical to expanding and stabilizing the supply of sustainable seafood in the face of environmental and economic uncertainty. Aquaculture operations diversify seafood production and provide a year-round source of high-quality jobs and economic opportunities in coastal communities. These jobs augment seasonal tourism and commercial fishing.

The first two Aquaculture Opportunity Areas will ultimately be located somewhere within the federal waters off southern California and in the Gulf of Mexico. By tapping into existing regional industry and infrastructure, each of the final 10 areas selected through 2025 will support new commercial marine farm sites.

Also under the Executive Order, the Department of Commerce is co-chairing the newly-established Seafood Trade Task Force. The group is charged with developing a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy that will support fair market access for U.S. seafood products. While the strategy is being developed, fishermen and other producers impacted by retaliatory tariffs can apply for direct support through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seafood Trade Relief Program.

Read the full release here

Industry Creates Plan to Position Canada as Top Fish and Seafood Producer

October 15, 2020 — The following was released by the Fisheries Council of Canada:

Following the commitment made by the Canadian federal government in the 2020 Speech from the Thone to develop a Blue Economy Strategy, the Fisheries Council of Canada (FCC) and the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) are pleased to release Canada’s Blue Economy Strategy 2040, a joint vision and action plan to capture the untapped potential of our waters.

Representing the national wild-capture and farmed seafood industries respectively, FCC and CAIA understand the proud and central role fishing plays in Canada’s identity. Recognizing the opportunity in the Blue Economy Strategy to continue to lift Canada to even greater heights and support economic recovery from the current COVID pandemic, the associations have developed this proposal to generate sustainable development through the fish and seafood industry.

“Canada is a water nation. With the longest coastline and among the most freshwater capacity in the world, communities and families across the country have built their lives and futures on capturing value from our precious waters,” said Paul Lansbergen, President, FCC. “We are ready to work with the federal government to strengthen sustainable economic growth from these waters.”

The proposal outlines a vision to position Canada to be a global top three best sustainable fish and seafood producer by 2040. FCC and CAIA are recommending the following sustainable growth targets:

  1. Double the Value of Canadian Seafood
  2. Double Economic Benefits
  3. Double Domestic Consumption of Fish and Seafood

To achieve this, FCC and CAIA have included six required actions:

  1. Identify federal department to drive sector economic development
  2. Develop specific organization with mandate to grow the seafood sectors
  3. Develop 5-year action plans for the seafood sector
  4. By 2025, through marine-based planning, ensure seafood development areas are finalized
  5. Expedite development of Aquaculture Act
  6. Completion of the new regulations under the Fisheries Act

“Canada needs to regain pride in its seafood sector, and in doing so stimulate coastal community development and job creation, sustainable food production, and Indigenous reconciliation,” said Timothy Kennedy, President & CEO, CAIA. “Our country needs improved economic opportunities as we begin to build back better from COVID-19, and we believe our industry can lead the way with a blue recovery.”

The new path outlined in this proposal can help enable the industry towards innovation and development and support Canadian entrepreneurs to “seize the podium” to produce the best, most sustainable seafood in the world. Doing so will benefit coastal and Indigenous families and communities, our nation and human and planetary health. It’s a vision worth realizing without further delay.

Aquafeed producers stress importance of shift toward sustainable supply chain

October 12, 2020 — Major aquaculture operations and retail companies are setting high targets in the next decade to push the industry’s boundaries on sustainability as it relates to novel feed ingredients, energy efficiency and the reduction of carbon emissions, and worker voice and social equity.

In a virtual Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference panel on Wednesday, sustainability heads from several companies came together to explain their guidelines, goals, and reasons for focusing on increasing sustainable practices in these key areas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Feds move toward permitting offshore Florida fish farm

October 9, 2020 — The Army Corps of Engineers will open a public comment period on a permit application for a fish farming pilot project off Florida’s southwest coast, following demands from critics and a newly issued pollution permit.

Hawaii-based developer Ocean Era LLC is proposing its Velella Epsilon aquaculture project, a single net pen system to raise up to 20,000 Almaco jack fingerlings, in the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles southwest of Longboat Pass-Sarasota Bay.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 30 issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit allowing the fish farm to discharge up to 80,000 pounds of wastewater during its pilot production cycle.

“The proposed aquaculture system would be deployed for one period of 12-18 months, which will represent one production cycle including a 12-month rearing timeframe and 6 months for initial cage deployment and water quality and benthic sampling, time between stocking and harvesting, and the removal of gear at the project conclusion,” according to the Corps’ public notice of application.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Octopus Farms Could Become a Reality. Scientists Warn This Isn’t a Good Idea

October 8, 2020 — Some researchers have wanted to commercially farm octopus for decades. From trying to raise hatchlings themselves to storing the wild invertebrates in submerged cages, scientists have tried a range of techniques to cultivate watery fields with on-demand access to the elusive creatures.

The closest researchers have gotten is catching wild octopus for a few months of captive rearing before harvest. Today, there are still no functional octopus farms raising the sea creatures from hatchlings in operation — and that’s how some researchers argue things should stay.

In 2019, a handful of scientists started to raise questions about the ethical and ecological issues that might come from farming these remarkably intelligent animals. Speaking up about these concerns before octopus farming becomes a reality was part of the point, says Jennifer Jacquet, an interdisciplinary scientist at New York University. “Our goal was to create that dialogue before [octopus farming] becomes embedded in our society,” she says.

Read the full story at Discover Magazine

Aquaculture leaders see tech advances as key to future growth

October 8, 2020 — While aquaculture companies around the globe have different approaches to raising seafood –building land-based RAS facilities or pushing for offshore development, which species are most profitable, choice in feed varieties, etc. – there are common threads that bring different production systems together: the need for increased control across the board and the industrialization and automation of day-to-day operations.

In a Global Aquaculture Alliance presentation focused on paradigm shifts in aquaculture production systems – which took place at its virtual Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference – representatives from aquaculture projects came together to talk about challenges faced in their own operations, and where they see a need for innovation in aquaculture production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Aquaculture advancement would benefit Mississippi’s economy

October 6, 2020 — During the past several months, Mississippians have faced many challenging situations. One way that we can embark on a path to recovery to grow our economy, create jobs and support our industries is by increasing the production of sustainable seafood through aquaculture.

Offshore aquaculture, the process of cultivating farm-raised fish in an ocean environment, is a safe and resource-efficient way to produce protein. In fact, it has a much lower environmental impact than other forms of food manufacturing.

Domestic aquaculture will complement wild fishing to increase American seafood production, provide jobs in communities along the Gulf Coast, and help revitalize our local seafood industry, which has faced devastating economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full story at the Clarion Ledger

Video Research Investigates Effects of Shellfish Farming on West Coast Nearshore Habitat

October 2, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The underwater video scene is full of life. A school of sinewy fish darts across the screen while a crab rummages along the seafloor. A flatfish, camouflaged like the sandy bottom, doesn’t seem to mind when the crab crawls over its back to approach an oyster.

Scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center are collecting this video and more like it. They want to assess how marine life uses, and may even benefit from, habitat in and around farms growing oysters and other shellfish. They are teaming up with Microsoft to use computers and artificial intelligence to scan hours of video within seconds for different species of interest.

This particular video reveals the underwater landscape of Hama Hama shellfish farm in Hood Canal, Washington, one of many partners assisting with the study. Other local shellfish growers and the Pacific Shellfish Institute are also taking part.

“We collected the video as one way to assess how fish and invertebrates use shellfish aquaculture habitats compared to areas of the nearshore that don’t have aquaculture,” said Beth Sanderson, a Northwest Fisheries Science Center research scientist. Researchers collected the video over the past several years to assess the way species use, and feed in, different habitat types.

Shellfish farming is one of the most valuable parts of the Northwest aquaculture industry. It generated close to $100 million annually for the regional economy and provides close to 1,500 jobs prior to the pandemic. Shellfish farms occupy more than 25,000 acres in the Northwest. Researchers and managers want to understand how farming practices affect marine life in the shallow and highly productive nearshore waters where oysters and other shellfish grow.

“We’ve seen basically all of the fish you’d expect in the nearshore—herring and other forage fish, varieties of perch and sculpin, juvenile salmon, along with diving ducks, harbor seals and more,” Sanderson said. “There’s an amazing variety of life in the shallows of the Pacific Northwest, and we are seeing for the first time how many of these species use habitats within and near shellfish farms.”

Read the full release here

Offshore aquaculture project hoping to make history gains critical EPA permit

October 2, 2020 — There are currently no commercial finfish operations in US federal waters, which is defined as ocean water spanning between 12 and 200 miles offshore.

This week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Velella Epsilon aquaculture project, another big step in making American offshore aquaculture a reality.

The Velella Epsilon offshore demonstration farm is a netpen aquaculture facility set to be located approximately 45 miles southwest of Sarasota, Florida, slated to raise a single batch, or cohort, of 20,000 kampachi (Seriola rivoliana).

Read the full story at IntraFish