Ningbo Tech-Bank, which recently acquired Texas-based shrimp broodstock company Primo Broodstock, has acquired Qingdao Great Seven Bio-Technology Co. for CNY 75 million ($10.9m), as it looks to expand in northeast China and the market for coldwater fish feed. “Prior to the deal we didn’t have a production base in north Shandong [Province]. With the acquisition, Great Seven will become our main production base serving the Bohai region.”

A new farmed Pacific coho brand launched this week at Seafood Expo North America, called Silverside™, claims a forage fish dependency ratio (FFDR) of just 0.5 kilograms, a level that would make it a leader in farmed salmon sustainability. With the farmed salmon industry using an average FFDR of 1.5 kilograms, the super-low feed used to make the product makes it the industry’s “first net salmon producer.\"

Several of the world’s leading aquafeed manufacturers and seafood producers announced their interest to trial fish-free aquafeeds developed by the winner or a finalist of the F3 (Fish-Free Feed) Challenge. The companies include Marine Harvest, Alpha Feed, Guangdong Yuehai Feed Group, and Dainichi. “This is the first time that so many large established companies have committed to offering fish-free feed trials, which signals a turning point toward viable and cost-effective alternatives to fishmeal and fish oil.”

AgriProtein has announced it is aiming to building 20 fly farms in the US and Canada in pursuit of its global targets of 100 fly farms by 2024 and 200 by 2027. The company has set up a dedicated North American team to develop its business locally and build an R&D capability. \"With supplies of fishmeal dwindling we’re moving as quickly as we can to bring insect protein into the mainstream of animal feed. As well as ensuring continued supply of protein in the years ahead, replacing fishmeal with insect meal allows our oceans to heal, reduces greenhouse gases at every stage of the supply chain from point-of-catch to point-of-sale and leaves more fish in the sea for humans.”


WorldFish’s latest report “Fish to 2050 in the ASEAN Region” projects that fish production in ASEAN countries will reach 24% of global output by 2030. The report states that policies to promote sustainable aquaculture expansion and law enforcement in fisheries management are critical to ensuring sustainable growth in both sectors. “The presence of strong institutional networks and private sector investment has played an important role in supporting the development of the aquaculture sector. However investment in research is essential to advance sustainable aquaculture technologies to improve efficiency gains, reduce production costs and mitigate environmental risks.”

Merck Animal Health has announced the introduction of the High Quality Salmon Science Award supporting research in salmon health and welfare by tomorrow’s industry leaders. Starting this year, Merck Animal Health will award one recent graduate in veterinary or animal science the opportunity to present their research to an impressive number of industry specialists at an upcoming Merck Animal Health High Quality Salmon meeting in Scotland, UK. Topics of interest include parasite challenges and solutions; infectious diseases such as pancreatic disease (PD), Moritella, Cardiopyopathy syndrome (CMS), and Hearth and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI); antibiotic reduction; and precision medicine, among others. Applications must be submitted by April 7, 2017.

FEFAC has released a call for collaborative efforts between the UK and the EU-27 to avoid any disruption in agricultural trade as from the start of the formal Brexit negotiations. FEFAC members are convinced that a comprehensive free trade agreement between the UK and the EU-27, based on EU standards, would be the best outcome for the EU and UK feed & livestock sector. FEFAC has set up a dedicated Brexit Task Force to analyze potential trade impacts of the Brexit negotiations on the EU feed & livestock sector.

A new virus that has decimated fish populations in Ecuador and Israel has spread to Egypt, according to a new report from the University of Stirling and WorldFish. Scientists are now trying to establish a firm link between the virus and a recent surge in mortalities in Egyptian farmed tilapia.

Residents of a village in the northeastern province of Mukdahan are calling for urgent help from the authorities over long-tailed macaques stealing food from their homes and fish hatcheries. They believe drought has made it hard for the wild monkeys to find food in a nearby forest. The monkeys have been eating fish feed and damaging fish feed bags.

A new, ambitious strategy to drive growth in Scotland’s farming, fishing, food and drink industry was unveiled today by industry body, Scotland Food & Drink. ‘Ambition 2030’, launched today, establishes a vision to cement food and drink as Scotland’s most valuable industry, with the opportunity to more than double turnover in the sector to reach £30 billion by 2030. “Food and drink is now a national success story for Scotland, yet there are areas requiring more work. Too few view our industry as a top career choice, many farmers feel detached from the success story and we can do more to support improvements in Scotland’s health.\"

KSA is to host the region’s first fly farm in a licensing deal between Saudi technology hub Sajt and waste-to-nutrient pioneer AgriProtein. The agreement signals the start of a new industry for the region: commercial-scale production of insect-based animal feed. Sajt will use AgriProtein’s factory blueprint to build the first of three fly farms in Saudi Arabia, boosting food security and supporting Vision 2030.

Researchers from the Mariculture and Experimental Biology Program (MARI) of the National Institute of Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) developed a balanced extruded feed from a special formulation for yellowtail kingfish. INIDEP researchers determined a base formula composed of about 50 per cent protein, 14 per cent lipids and 17 per cent carbohydrates. From this formula, and with ingredients available in the local market, two formulas were defined: one is regular based on fishmeal, and the other one with its partial replacement.

Nuseed has completed preparation for regulatory approvals of its innovative long-chain omega-3 canola. Nuseed’s proprietary canola will provide long-chain omega-3 oils, similar to those found in fish oil, using a sustainable land-based source. It is anticipated that one hectare of this canola has the potential to provide the omega-3 yield from 10,000 kilograms of fish. The company also announced the commercial brand for the resulting oil product for aquaculture feed uses: Aquaterra.

On a regular basis, the AQUAEXCEL2020 project will invite proposals from European research groups for scientific research that utilizes the facilities of any of the participating aquaculture research infrastructures. Interested researchers can propose projects that involve visits of one or in some cases two people to the chosen research infrastructure for periods of up to three months. Submissions must be made on or before April 17, 2017.

Unga Holdings new feed plant in Kenya is designed to produce 5.000 tons per year of high quality floating fish feed for the East African Market. “In line with our Vision of “Nutrition for Life”, Unga has taken a bold step – investing, with the support of funding from the Dutch Government – Kshs. 225,000,000 in a state-of-the-art fish feed production facility to serve an aquaculture industry still in its infancy.” For the design of the plant, Unga Holdings ltd. cooperated intensively with the dutch companies Ottevanger Milling Engineers, Almex – Extrusion, Nutreco/Skretting and Larive International.

Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) has welcomed the first facility in Greece to engage in the BAP third-party certification program. IRIDA S.A., a fish feed manufacturer located in Evia, Greece, is currently participating in the iBAP program and is expected to transition to BAP certification soon. The company produces 48,000 metric tons of feed annually for sea bream, sea bass, meagre and trout, supplying high-quality feed to aquaculture producers worldwide. “The level of compliance of responsible manufacturing practices that IRIDA applied into its feed production is impressive. IRIDA’s good performance in our iBAP improvement program is allowing the company to transition to third-party certification earlier than expected.\"

GAA has debuted a new online portfolio, which includes redesigned GAA, Global Aquaculture Advocate and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) websites as well as the new MyGAA community forum and GAA Films. The new online portfolio comes as GAA celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2017. Among the improvements to the new BAP website are a new map feature allowing users to pinpoint the exact location of all 1,600-plus BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills, and simply by clicking on a map pin more information on a facility can be accessed.

The International Soy in Aquaculture Program of the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) has announced the rollout of the Stage 2 version of the International Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (IAFFD), a standardized tool for feed formulators around the world. “As we increase sustainability by moving away from fishmeal and fish oil in aquafeeds, the easy approach to formulation with those ingredients is over. We have to move to more complex formulations using a wide variety of ingredients to meet target nutrient levels. We need formulators that are good at innovative approaches, and that are trained both within a feed company and within the industry.”

As the price of fish feed continues to increase, companies will need to work to make its use more efficient by creating more precise feed formulas to reduce waste. Albert Tacon of Aquatic Farms pointed out that fish feed prices, which can make up about 60% of the cost to raise fish, have continued to increase significantly, a trend which will not likely change. “Prices of ingredients are never going to go down, they\'re always going to go up.”

The world produced a record one billion tonnes of animal feed last year, and it did so with seven percent fewer feed mills. Aquaculture and the aqua feed industry have seen six years of growth in line with increased consumption of farmed fish. China is the world leader in fish feed production at 16 million tonnes. It’s estimated that three-quarters of the world’s fish feed is consumed in the Asia Pacific region.