2015 turned out to be a mixed but eventful year for the fishmeal sector. Undercurrent News gave a useful rundown of the year.

Reliance on juvenile fish for use in fishmeal is still rampant in Kerala, India, despite new regulations and a self-imposed ban by fisherfolk unions and boat owners.

Icelandic fishing company Isfelag is to produce an exclusive capelin fishmeal for Loch Duart salmon, which will be incorporated into its EWOS feed.

Herring is a rich source of the marine omega-3 fatty acids, but scientists at Nofima have now discovered that another fat component present in herring also promotes health in humans and fish.

USSEC is partnering with aquafeed manufacturers in Vietnam to create a demand for US Soy in fish feed.

Taiwanese aquaculture group Grobest group has expanded into the Philippines with the comissioning of a $22-million plant in Gerona, Tarlac. The 150,000 tons per year feedmill will produce aquafeed for the local market.

UK-based Benchmark Holdings plc has reached agreement to acquire INVE Aquaculture Holding B.V. (INVE), a leading international specialist manufacturer of primary stage technically advanced nutrition and health products for aquaculture, for a total consideration of $342 million (approximately £227 million).

The F3 competition aims to entice aquafeed manufacturers to create and sell a product using zero marine meals or oils. Kevin Fitzsimmons provides an update.

The ability of algae to produce omega-3 oils makes them suitable for replacing fish oil and fishmeal in animal feed, especially aqua feed. Increased use of algae in these segments is expected.

The fight for the future of Omega Protein has intensified with investors accusing the company’s management of changing the fishmeal and fish oil maker’s bylaws to prevent a sale that they say would be in shareholders’ interest.

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) are inviting funding applications for PhD projects which apply biotechnology solutions to the supply of sustainable feed ingredients for the benefit of both the industrial biotechnology (IB) and aquaculture industries in Scotland.

The EU Parliament has supported the objection proposed by its environment committee, to the decision of the EU Commission to authorize the new GM maize variety NK603xT25.

The Ocean Stewards Institute has welcomed the recent action by the Federal Office of Management and Budget that approved the NOAA rule for implementation of the Aquaculture Fisheries Management Plan in the Gulf of Mexico.

New deal boosts Cargill\'s end-to-end solutions offering for animal nutrition and feed industries.

AKVA is launching Acartia this week, a ground breaking new product that produces copepod egg on an industrial scale. This new technology is expected to revolutionize breeding of marine fish in aquaculture.

Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) mollusc farm standards have been released for a 60-day public comment period from December 7 2015.

The National Institute of Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) has signed a cooperation agreement with Núcleo Alimentos MDQ SRL, to look at the performance of its high quality fishmeal in the diet of marine fish.

Trials undertaken by BioMar and Nofima have found that adding krill to fish feed can reduce the incidence of dark melanin spots in fish fillets.

Cargill has obtained Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 for the manufacturing process of its Empyreal animal food ingredient product.

Marine Harvest\'s proposed new fish feed factory will supply the company\'s Irish, Scottish and Faroese operations.