The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment has published the call for aid for research in the National Aquaculture Plans for an amount of EUR 2 million. Public research organizations, public universities, instrumental public entities of the autonomous public sector developing R & D + i and technology centers and those supporting technological innovation of public and state level character will be able to request these aids.

A company in Oita Prefecture said it has succeeded in the world’s first farming of bluefin tuna using only formulated feed. Hyoshoku Co. said Wednesday that using the feed makes it easier to control the quality of the tuna regardless of the season. The company will start selling the tuna locally before shipping it to other parts of the country.

Acting U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt recently announced that St. Joseph, Michigan-based American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) will receive $260,112 from the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP). The award will help ASABE and its member companies to work to develop international standards for feed machinery. Utilizing these Federal resources, ASABE aims to increase exports through trade standardization.

At the recent Aquaculture Chennai 2016, conference, Lallemand Aquaculture Product Manager Stéphane Ralite delivered a talk on \"A novel approach in securing aquaculture production with a synergetic association of yeast extracts,” which highlighted challenges of shrimp farm management and the development of innovative microbial based solutions. He focused the discussion on the microbial management of the pond, possible through biocontrol or bioremediation strategies, and gut microbial management through the use of beneficial bacteria (probiotics) in feed.

USSEC Vietnam will focus on the ingredients taurine and lecithin in an upcoming Asian Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (AAFFD) workshop. USSEC’s goal is to give aquaculture feed formulators more confidence in using a cost-effective soy-optimized diet. The U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) will be a key method to promote U.S. Soy products.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in farmed shrimp threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections that are caused by bacteria. Skretting has confirmed that the right combination of novel functional ingredients in the shrimp feeds will work in synergy to support the functioning of the immune system and to help protect shrimp against hostile threats. “Thanks to this knowledge and expertise, we have proved that shrimp farmers do not have to rely on antibiotics and risk building up AMR in their stocks.”

While presenting at the 2016 Biomin Aqua Days held in late August, Dr. Alessio Bonaldo, Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences at the University of Bologna, argued that farmed fish are weaker than in the past due to two factors. First, less fishmeal and fish oil in diets, and second, the intensification of aquaculture have led to weakened immune systems. Part of the solution involves meeting the nutritional requirements of farmed species. “It is possible to completely replace fish meal in shrimp feeds, provided that you have correct supplementation.”

H.J. Baker is pleased to announce that Dr. Malik Hashim will join the Technical Services team as the new Formulation Manager. Hashim will be working to manage H.J. Baker’s feed formulations. Additionally, he will assist in managing and supervising the company’s ongoing research studies and field trials of all products, in order to continually improve the products for customers.

The Skretting Ecuador brand has been officially launched in Ecuador and Peru. Skretting Ecuador will use the company’s worldwide R&D knowledge, combined with its local insight and experience, to support shrimp farmers with the overriding aim to increase their production in a more sustainable manner. “The arrival of Skretting Ecuador is a very important milestone for Latin America’s aquaculture industry.\"

Artemia egg importers and shrimp breeder producers have lodged a complaint to the Prime Minister about the imposition of the 5 percent import duty which they say will harm the shrimp breeding industry. Artemia, the best shrimp feed product, has to bear the high import tax of 5 percent but the other feed products have only zero percent.

The governments of Mexico and China established a scientific and technical cooperation link in aquaculture through signing a memorandum of understanding. The objective of this agreement is to strengthen the aquaculture industry in Mexico and establish common health protocols that allow a fluid trade between the two countries.

On September 1, Aller-Aqua commenced building their new factory in the Shandong province in China. Aller-Aqua Qingdao already employs 5 skilled staffs and temporary offices are in place. The factory should be ready for production in the second quarter of 2017. Aller-Aqua also announced the launch of a new Spanish-language website. The new website provides easy access to detailed information in Spanish about the company and its products and services.

ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) recently signed an MoU with Marine Private Limited to transfer the ‘Vannameiplus’ technology to develop cost effective and quality feed using indigenous feed ingredients for vannamei farming. Westland Marine plans to use ‘Vannameiplus’ on their own farms, and to also supply small and medium sized shrimp farms in their general proximity.

The Alltech Young Scientist (AYS) program seeks to attract future innovators for its 2017 term. Regional first-place winners will be invited to attend an all-expense-paid Alltech Young Scientist Discovery Week, culminating at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Here, the brightest minds will compete to obtain a fully funded Ph.D. position (undergraduate) or fully funded postdoctorate position (graduate) in addition to cash prizes of $5,000 USD and $10,000 USD, respectively. Registration is now open for the 2017 competition and will close on Oct. 31, 2016.

Corpesca plans to invest USD 55 million to unite and modernize the two fishmeal and fish oil production plants it has in Arica: the Northern Plant and the Southern Plant. This project involves the relocation of the existing equipment at both factories, which will be incorporated into the sheds 1 and 3 existing in the Northern Plant. The company will also adapt these sheds to transport equipment.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) signed a Technical Cooperation Program (TCP) with the Ministry of Fisheries geared towards enhancing youth and women employability in Aquaculture. The project aims to establish four hatcheries at strategic locations in the country. These hatcheries will produce fresh water, brackish water and salt water fish. The capacity per hatchery will range between 800,000 – 1,000,000 fry (small fish) annually.

The Ministry of Marine Affairs of ​​Portugal has set the goal of doubling the country\'s aquaculture production by 2020 and treble it by 2023. In addition, it also seeks to treble the investment in this sector, and change from EUR 58 million recorded during the PROMAR, to nearly EUR 150 million in the current framework, to MAR2020 program. Currently 1547 fish farms operate in the country, of which only 13 have a production level that exceeds 100 tonnes.

Cargill's 2015 EWOS Sustainability report has earned the number-one ranking for sustainability reporting from Seafood Intelligence, a global news service that reports on the seafood sector. Seafood Intelligence evaluated 10 international salmon feed firms, 16 salmon farmers' organizations and 35 international salmon farmers in their report. Numerous key performance indicators and ratings were used to compare and rank each organization to capture a comprehensive picture of the industry's transparency efforts. "EWOS has produced a detailed and understandable report on nearly all sustainability topics we measure."

At BIOMIN\'s recent Aqua Days event, a primary topic of discussion was the threat of mycotoxins in aquaculture. A recent peer-reviewed scientific study showed that deoxynivalenol and fumonisins were the most common mycotoxins found in finished aquafeeds. A total of 41 finished aquafeed samples from Europe and Asia were analyzed, and a full 76% of samples tested contained 2 or more mycotoxins. “Though it may be a relatively new topic for the industry, mycotoxins are important to aquaculture in terms of the negative effects in animals.”

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) recently announced over £140,000 support for two projects aimed at improving salmon feed formulations, amplified by over a quarter of a million pounds of funding from industry and academic partners. The first project, led by BioMar, will address a core challenge for the salmon farming industry: identifying alternative protein sources that are locally sourced and have low environmental impact, for use in feeds. It aims to highlight key issues and develop a roadmap to explore the use of avian-derived protein. The second SAIC-supported feeds project will see natural health and nutrition specialist Alltech partner with the University of Glasgow, Marine Harvest and NOFIMA to explore a key cause of poor growth in salmon: inefficient digestion, linked to the fish’s metabolic rate.