Saving Seafood

GOAL 2019 keynotes to address antibiotic use, social responsibility, and more

August 15, 2019 — The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2019 conference, taking place in Chennai, India, from 21 to 24 October, will feature a variety of leading voices within the global aquaculture industry, including Ramanan Laxminarayan, Darian McBain, and Fabrice DeClerck.

Laxminarayan, the founder and director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy in Washington, D.C., U.S.A.; McBain, the director of corporate affairs and sustainability for the Thai Union Group; and DeClerck, the co-author of the influential EAT-Lancet Commission report “Food. Planet. Health.”, will address three major challenges currently facing aquaculture during their keynote address, GAA said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ASMFC Awards Grants to 5 Aquaculture Pilot Projects

August 8, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) has selected five aquaculture pilot projects to receive funding. Through these pilot projects, emphasis is being placed on promising but less commercially developed technologies for finfish and shellfish, and other industry needs like increased permitting efficiency. As part of its efforts to foster responsible aquaculture and seafood security in the US, NOAA Fisheries provided $575,000 in funding to the Commission to support these projects. Following a rigorous review, which included an evaluation of the technical aspects of the proposals as well as their compliance with environmental laws, the following five projects were selected.  The projects, ranging from black sea bass production to aquaculture workforce development, will begin in August and are scheduled for completion in 2020.

Read the full release here

ASC claims SeaChoice criticism of new salmon standards “pre-emptively undermines” future progress

August 6, 2019 — SeaChoice’s latest criticism of changes to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Salmon Standard “pre-emptively undermines” the future progress the changes are intended to make, according to a release from the ASC.

The SeaChoice criticism was targeted at the ASC’s amendments to the salmon standards, mainly the parasiticide treatment index (PTI). In a media release, SeaChoice claimed the changes allow for dramatic increases in chemical treatments on salmon farms, and that they represent a lowering of standards.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

North Carolina streamlines shellfish aquaculture permit process

July 31, 2019 — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper recently signed into law Senate Bill 648, the Support Shellfish Aquaculture program, which establishes new large-scale leasing rules and a newly streamlined permitting process.

The “enterprise” areas proved to be one of the key reasons why this year’s effort on aquaculture was successful. The House passed Senate Bill 648, Support Shellfish Aquaculture, on June 12 in a 116-0 vote. In early May, the Senate approved the bill in a 47-0 vote, according to local press reports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

This company is the only one raising salmon in Maine so far, as more look to join it

July 29, 2019 — With his high-backed chair and banks of keyboards, windows and video screens, Frank Lank could be in an air traffic control tower. Instead, he’s at sea watching fish swim inside netted pens in Machias Bay.

The 53-year-old Eastport man sits aboard a floating platform, essentially a two-story office, overseeing the automated feeding of Atlantic salmon at 12 of 24 sea sites Cooke Aquaculture USA, Maine’s sole aquafarmer of the prized kingfish, leases from the state.

He also watches them for signs of trouble. Are they surfacing too often, as if they’re agitated or lacking oxygen? Are they overeating? Lank carefully notes fish behavior and sea conditions so the company’s divers and veterinarians can review it and, if necessary, take follow-up action.

“You’re always learning from [the salmon]. You can never ever settle,” Lank said during a recent workday. “I mean, granted you have a number of years of experience and all that, which probably kind of gives you a little bit of a leap up, but there’s always some kind of new way that you can do what you do.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: State deals setback to opponents of aquaculture lease on Maquoit Bay

July 19, 2019 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has rejected a citizens petition that requested a moratorium on aquaculture leases of over 10 acres.

The petition was submitted March 20, with 189 signatures, by a group called Save Maquoit Bay. The petition was drawn up in response to an application by Mere Point Oyster Co. for a 40-acre lease in the bay, off Brunswick, in order to cultivate Eastern oysters, bay scallops and sea scallops.

Although the proposed moratorium targeted one project, it would have applied statewide.

In its decision, the department wrote that it doesn’t see a basis for a moratorium.

“The Legislature has limited the size of any single lease to no more than 100 acres,” the decision reads. “Leases of greater than 10 acres may be appropriate and suitable in some areas and for certain aquaculture activities, just as leases of less than 10 acres would be required in others. The department can adequately deal with the size of a lease requested under the current lease decision criteria.

“Lease applications greater than 10 acres have been found to meet the decision criteria and have been granted, and other lease sites have been reduced in size by the department’s lease decision where the proposed sites were found to be unreasonable. Further, a 10-acre limitation on lease size may have the unintended effect of causing applicants to apply for multiple leases, as opposed to one single lease of a size that is suitable to meet their needs.

“Without further justification, a moratorium on leases of greater than 10 acres is arbitrary, and the department will not implement such a moratorium.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Massive shift underway in China’s aquaculture, fisheries sectors

July 19, 2019 — It’s unlikely anyone on the average Chinese aquaculture worker’s wages will afford to eat often at “Guo,” a fancy new restaurant which opened recently at the New Century Hotel in Dalian, one of China’s traditional fishing and seafood processing hubs – and the home town of the Zoneco Group.

Punters pay CNY 500 (USD 73.00, EUR 64.76) to sit amid chic décor at a buffet of “Dongbei” treats including lobsters and crabs.

The average annual income for a Chinese fisherman (including aquaculture workers) stood at CNY 18,450 (USD 2,685, EUR 2,390) in 2017. That’s lower than an industrial wage in China – and this in a workforce that is now officially shrinking. And that might explain why so many are exiting the sector.

China claims a total 18.7 million people are active in fisheries, which includes related industries. Other figures suggest five million involved directly in aquaculture. But it’s not clear how long many of the small-time players in the industry – and that huge headcount – will last.

Several factors are combining to radically transform China’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. Most significant among those are a nationwide environmental crackdown and the domestic market’s mounting concern over food safety and the overuse of chemicals and antibiotics in local aquaculture production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bountiful Alaska salmon catches affecting Canadian farmed prices

July 18, 2019 — A bumper sockeye run from the US state of Alaska’s prolific Bristol Bay fishery is thought to be putting downward pressure on Canadian farmed prices, the Norwegian investment bank Nordea believes.

In a recent written comment, analyst Kolbjorn Giskeodegard wrote that the seasonal drop in farmed prices is typical during the second quarter as wild stocks come online. However, this year’s unexpectedly strong sockeye return in Alaska has put some 45,000 metric tons of sockeye above the preseason forecast of 80,000t to 85,000t.

Canadian farmed prices have stayed closer to $5 per kilogram from the April to June 2019 period, below last year’s $7/kg average during week 22 of the year

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Where Soybeans Meet The Sea: Midwest Aquaculture May Boost Demand For Local Grain

July 9, 2019 — Midwestern fish farmers grow a variety of species, such as tilapia, salmon, barramundi and shrimp, all of which require a high-protein diet. The region grows copious amounts of soybeans, which have a lot of protein, but these two facts have yet to converge.

Take Eagle’s Catch, a tilapia farm in Ellsworth, Iowa, where a nearly 4-acre greenhouse is filled with tanks that segregate the fish by size. CEO Joe Sweeney said he feeds the fish a soybean-based diet he buys from a processor in the South.

“We’re actually getting it from Louisiana, unfortunately,” Sweeney said, “feeding Louisiana and Arkansas soybeans. But as time goes on I look forward to feeding them that Iowa product.”

Across the 12 states served by the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, from Ohio to North Dakota to Kansas, hundreds of businesses are trying to raise fish for food. But local demand will have to grow to make them viable. If that happens, aquaculture could provide a new market for Midwestern soybeans and other grains at a time when turmoil in international trade and several years of very high yields have led to oversupply.

Read the full story at KCUR