The Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda has hailed the Jamaica Broilers Group for its US$2-million investment in a new pellet mill, which will significantly boost the company\'s feed production capacity. The facility, located at the Best Dressed Feed Mill in Freetown, St Catherine, is the third operated by Jamaica Broilers to manufacture Hi-Pro branded products. It will move the output of feeds from over 270,000 tonnes per year, to 350,000 tonnes per year, making it one of the largest mills in the region.

The American Feed Industry Association\'s President and CEO Joel G. Newman announced that Leah Wilkinson, AFIA\'s current vice president of legislative, regulatory and state affairs, will lead AFIA\'s Legislative and Regulatory department starting in 2019. Wilkinson will assume the role currently held by Richard Sellers, AFIA\'s senior vice president of public policy and education, following his retirement from the association at the end of 2018. Effective immediately her title is vice president of public policy and education.

A project led by Nofima is investigating if trimmings from cod may be beneficial to the health of farmed salmon when used as a bioactive compound in feeds. Each year 160,000 tonnes of cod trimmings are thrown away because there is currently no financial incentive for fishermen to keep them. \"The trimmings contain a lot of bones. The nutrients in bones are difficult to digest, meaning they are currently underutilized and often discarded. Bone components seem to affect muscle quality and health, and this may help to develop a more robust fish.”

NouriTech, a company created by Cargill and Calysta to commercially produce a new kind of sustainable fish feed known as FeedKind, has gotten the green light from its board of directors to move forward with construction on its production facility. The 37-acre brownfield site has already been prepped for construction after demolishing some of Cargill’s existing on-site structures. Once fully up and running, the NouriTech facility will be able to produce up to 200,000 metric tons of FeedKind in 20 separate fermenters. “In the fall of 2018 we will start some of the civil preparation for Phase 1 of the plant. Material will be produced in the latter part of June of 2020.”

Researchers in Singapore have developed a method to package a vaccine for a common bacterium in tropical waters, tenacibaculum maritimum, into a material 100,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair. The new method will allow fish farmers to vaccinate their fish stocks by immersing them in a container of water containing the \"nanovaccine.\" It then enters the fish through their gills and skin. The nano material used is a combination of clay and chitosan, derived from crustacean shells. \"There is no need for skilled workers, and fewer workers are needed, making it cheaper.\"

Half of the world\'s farmed salmon are part deaf due to accelerated growth rates in aquaculture, new research has found. Normal otoliths are made of the mineral \'aragonite\', but deformed otoliths are partly made of \'vaterite\' which is lighter, larger, and less stable. A research team at the University of Melbourne found that vaterite was seemingly caused by a combination of genetics, diet, and exposure to extended daylight, all of which differ between farmed and wild fish. Growth rate was one factor that linked them all. \"The close link with growth rate means that the prevalence of the earbone deformity is within the control of hatchery managers.\"

TomAlgae, the feed firm specializing in the production of freeze-dried algae to be used as feed in shrimp and oyster hatcheries, is looking to crack the North American oyster market. “North American is the third largest oyster producer in the world. And by providing an ICX prize to two oyster producers we hope that we can not only help them to grow their businesses by sharing our expertise in algae, but we can also learn more about the US market from them – the knife cuts both ways.”

Fish 2.0 has announced the winners of its 11 ICX (Industry Connection) prizes, the final awards in the Fish 2.0 2017 competition for sustainable seafood businesses. All of the 39 finalists from around the world who presented at the Fish 2.0 Innovation Forum were eligible for ICX prizes. These prizes are unique opportunities for ventures to gain market insights and expertise from industry leaders who support growth and innovation in sustainable seafood, and are offered by investors and buyers, intermediaries and other seafood companies such as AllTech. \"Given Alltech’s ACE principle commitment to agricultural solutions and to improving aquafeed specifically, we were eager to partner with Fish 2.0 in identifying companies that might be able to complement our core competencies and capabilities. We are very excited to meet NovoNutrients to learn more about their technology, which could have many applications in Alltech’s animal nutrition.\"

EFSA’s Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) has launched an open consultation on a draft guidance on the assessment of the efficacy of feed additives. This document proposes guidance to applicants for the preparation and the presentation of an application for authorization of a feed additive. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by January 28, 2018.

EFSA’s Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) has launched an open consultation on a draft guidance on the assessment of the efficacy of feed additives. This document proposes guidance to applicants for the preparation and the presentation of an application for authorization of a feed additive. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by January 28, 2018.

BioMar Australia has released plans to develop a $56 million aquafeed production facility in the state’s north west, providing a significant boost to the local economy, job creation and the state’s growing aquaculture industry. At present, one in every three farmed salmon in Tasmania is fed BioMar fish feed products, which are currently being exported from Scotland. “We are very grateful for the Tasmania Liberal Government’s commitment of $2.3 million towards this project. Once operational, the facility will produce up to 110,000 tonnes per annum of aqua feed product to support the aquaculture industry, expecting to create 55 full time jobs and an additional 30 jobs across the region.\"

Preliminary trials and analyses of omega-3-rich oil from genetically modified rape seed indicate that it is safe to use in salmon feed. Nofima is currently testing omega-3 Canola, a rapeseed oil rich in the marine fatty acid DHA. The salmon given feed containing omega-3 Canola were analyzed for growth, composition and health, and found to have the same fillet omega-3 levels as salmon fed with fish oil. Gene expression analyses showed that effects depended on the amount of oil, not the type of oil. “Thorough analyses of these results have not shown any differences in health and growth between fish fed the two oils.”

NOAA Fisheries has announced it will provide $1.5 million in funding to support aquaculture pilot projects through the nation\'s Interstate Marine Fisheries Commissions. These competitive grants will be managed through the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commissions. Through these pilot projects, emphasis is being placed on promising but less commercially developed technologies for finfish, shellfish, seaweed, and other relative newcomers to the domestic aquaculture industry. The deadline for proposals is February 1, 2018.

AgriProtein has been named a top 10 Virgin Media Business Disruptor to Watch in the Fast Track 2017. The company has fly farm projects under development in several countries to produce its flagship product MagMeal™ for the aquafeed market. “We are delighted to name AgriProtein as one of the UK’s most disruptive businesses. They have seen an opportunity and made it their purpose to disrupt long-established markets and practices, creating an entirely new industry to great success.”

The government in Ghana is seeking to increase the local fish supply by 100,000 metric tonnes by 2018, and will do so through increased fish farming and local feed production. “Fish feed is the single most important cost component for the fish farming business, and to improve the fish feed supply situation, the Ministry has facilitated the construction of 40,000 metric tonne feed mill at Akuse; this will bring the total national production of fish feed to 100,000 metric tonnes annually.\"

The Global Aquaculture Alliance announced that Jeff Fort has agreed to take on the role of chief operating officer, effectively immediately, in addition to his existing role as chief financial officer, a position he has held with the organization since 2012. “Jeff has supported GAA since its inception in many capacities and has been instrumental recently with the consolidation of operations and staffing in our Portsmouth, N.H., headquarters. The professionalism and performance of our associates is what distinguishes GAA, and Jeff can rightly take a good deal of credit for getting us to where we are today.”

Globally, the past year has seen many changes at feed company Skretting. The latest is that Erlend Sodal now has widened responsibility and takes over Skretting UK and Australia, in addition to Norway. “Yes, this is a change of course. (Owner) Nutreco wants to let Skretting rein in its portfolio. They want Skretting to concentrate on the feed market and to strengthen its position in it. A number of positions in The Netherlands have been moved to Norway.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has launched Phase III of the redesigned Animal Drugs @ FDA website. As before, the new Animal Drugs @ FDA website provides a searchable database for veterinarians, pet owners, animal producers and others to get information about approved animal drugs by application number, sponsor name, proprietary name, ingredient, application status, dosage form, route of administration, indication and species.

The Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture (CTSA) has produced a video highlighting aquaculture activities in Palau. In an effort to keep this small island nation pristine, the government is switching focus from commercial fishing to local aquaculture production. CTSA interviewed several aquaculture stakeholders from the local community, including researchers, farmers, conservation officials, and more to produce a series of short films, the first of which is now online.

Aller Aqua has won the Entrepreneur of the Year award in Denmark, as well as a Globalization Award. An independent jury awarded Aller Aqua the two prizes during a ceremony held in Copenhagen. The award is given out by Ernst & Young as part of the world\'s largest competition for growth companies. \"The opening of two new factories this year as well as our approach to sustainable production and knowledge sharing in new challenging markets are some of the reasons we have received these awards. We place a big emphasis on education of fish farmers in new markets as well as our CSR activities. It is certainly possible to achieve growth in a responsible way.”