The Ministry for Primary Industries has released the results of a survey asking New Zealanders what they think about our aquaculture industry. MPI Acting Director of Aquaculture Growth and Innovation, Alice Marfell-Jones, says the findings are positive.

MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the USA and Canada) today introduced a new fish vaccine as a promising measure to help protect tilapia and other fish against the biotype 1 strain of Streptococcus agalactiae, which is the biotype specific to Thailand and other key tilapia-producing regions in Asia, including Malaysia.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has been working with the European Union and the Fiji Ministry of Fisheries and Forests (MFF) in assisting smallholder tilapia farmers to improve production by working together in cluster groups. Experience in Africa and Asia shows that, by working in a cluster, farmers can improve economies of scale and increase their bargaining power for inputs, such as fish feed or hatchery seed supply.

New technology will deliver results in real-time so marine fish farms can know instantly if anything is changing in the ecosystems around their operations

A collaborative project between Norway and India has discovered markers for genes that control resistance against the bacterial disease Aeromoniasis in rohu carp. Breeding programs can make use of these new markers to select rohu carp broodstock (Labeo rohita) with genetic variants that make them more resistant to disease.

Quality Certification Services (QCS) has launched its Aquaponics Certification program to address food safety requirements applicable to aquaponic operations.

UMaine, UNE, partners to receive $20 Million National Science Foundation EPSCoR Grant for Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network

At a small ceremony in Aarhus, Denmark, the final agreement for the establishment of a Joint-Venture feed company and a feed plant in Turkey was signed by BioMar CEO Mr. Torben Svejgaard and the owner of the Sagun Group Mr. Ahmet Sagun.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the creation of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) and the appointment of a 15-member board of directors. The new foundation will leverage public and private resources to increase the scientific and technological research, innovation, and partnerships critical to boosting America\'s agricultural economy.

The American Feed Industry Association submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today on the proposed Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food rule. The proposed rule is one of many pieces of the Food Safety Modernization Act puzzle, which is considered the largest overall rule of the U.S. feed industry since the 1950s. FSMA requires FDA to create regulations for shippers, carriers by auto transit or railway vehicles, and receivers to use sanitary transportation practices to ensure food-including animal food-being transported does not become contaminated. The goal of the sanitary transportation rule is to ensure that transportation practices do not create food safety risks. And although AFIA openly agrees with FDA in certain areas, such as allowing \"the industry to continue to use bulk transport equipment in accordance with best practices without limiting industry, by rule, to hauling non-food exclusive of or preceding any food items,\" the organization listed numerous points of difference in their nine pages of comments for FDA to review.

Nutreco reported an increased EBITA of 23.9% to € 43.5 million (H1 2013: € 35.1 million) in its Fish Feed operations for the first half of the year. This was mainly driven by higher salmon feed volumes in Norway due to exceptional market circumstances and the contribution of the operating companies in Ecuador and Egypt which were acquired in 2013.

Since announcing its formation six months ago at the Aquaculture Americas Conference in Seattle, the Coalition of U.S. Seafood Production (CUSP) has found that there is certainly strength in numbers when advocating as a unified industry. Coalition members have met twice with federal agencies and legislators in Washington, D.C. this spring to support government action to grow domestic aquaculture, and they are optimistic about progress made to date.

COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC have called on the European Commission to finalize approval of eight GM products to safeguard vital imports of soybeans, maize and various protein-rich derivatives from the key exporting regions to the EU

A process that improves the nutritional value of barley for use in aquafeed has been developed by scientists at the USDA and Montana Microbial Products of Missoula, Montana.

The growing demand for responsibly produced fishmeal and fish oil, for use in both animal feed and human food, is increasing the number of factories certified to the global standard developed under the auspices of IFFO (IFFO RS). Already there are over 100 factories certified to the standard and a number of companies certified under the related Chain of Custody standard. Now for the first time there are two companies in Asia which have been certified under the IFFO RS Chain of Custody standard

Experiments on zebrafish suggest that excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids may disturb the delicate balance between the formation and breakdown of bone that is essential to the development of a healthy skeleton.

Domesticating Atlantic Bluefin Tuna may help meet the food industry’s demand for this endangered species. However, making such an endeavor sustainable is a challenging task.

The U.S. algae production industry is scaling-up production with all private investment; Natural Algae Production, LLC of Louisiana has broken ground on a new 10 acre algae farm

Fermented protein-enriched sweet potato (PESP) has been trialed as feed for bangus, tilapia, crabs and shrimp and is now ready for commercial scale-up

Aves Reproductoras de Centroamerica S.A. (ARECA), part of Grupo PAF founded in 1958, is the first Guatemalan feed mill to obtain GLOBALG.A.P. Compound Feed Manufacturing (CFM) certification for the production of its aquaculture feeds of shrimp and tilapia.