The State of Hawaii has announced plans to launch an aquaculture accelerator and investment fund. The venture will be based at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) in Kona on the island of Hawaii. In its first step to establish the fund, AAIF Group Partners (AGP), a strategic partnership between three State of Hawaii agencies, have issued an RFI to select an entity to manage the venure. 

The Bandung-based startup eFishery has garnered US$4 million in funding from global investors to support further growth of its automated feeding device. “Ultimately, with this new round of investment, we want to further scale […] to be a platform that connects the entire ecosystem in fish and shrimp farming, creating a more accountable and profitable industry across the region."

Marine Harvest has launched the global brand MOWI, and announced that the company name will be changed to Mowi. “I am really excited that we are now taking the company to the next level. Through implementing our MOWI branding strategy, we can communicate our integrated value-chain from feed to the consumer’s plate. We are looking forward to announcing our new MOWI product line in the coming months."

BioMar Group has raised its EBIT guidance for 2018 after delivering a strong Q3, nearly outperforming the accumulated results of Q1 and Q2. All markets except Norway have shown performance above expectations. "We have taken several measures improving our long-term financial performance, striving to increase efficiency while at the same time leveraging on our core strength being locally agile with a strong focus on innovation and collaboration. I believe that we in a short time will see our performance in Norway back on track.”

The World Aquaculture Society (WAS) has officially launched its African Chapter, and announced that Aller Aqua will support the Chapter of as a Founding Gold Sponsor. As part of its sponsorship, Aller Aqua will contribute to the activities of the Chapter and Society, and specifically to the development of its World Aquaculture activities in the African region for a period of 3 years. “I truly believe that the African chapter will make a positive difference for increased knowledge and research in aquaculture in Africa."

Global investment firm Permira and Grobest have announced that a new joint venture company backed by Permira funds will acquire 50% of the shares of Grobest, and will become the sole corporate shareholder of Grobest after closing. The investment in Grobest is the result of Permira’s continued thematic focus on the food value chain and specifically on aquaculture. “We are very pleased to partner with the pioneering team at Grobest, a real R&D leader in advanced aquatic functional feed and health products in Asia, and work closely with them to unlock the company’s full potential on the global journey ahead."

Researchers in Australia have found that dietary inclusion of Acti-Meal, a grape co-product from the wine industry, improves feed utilization and growth of greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata). In the 90-day study, researchers fed juvenile abalone diets containing dietary inclusion levels of Acti-Meal in varying levels from 0-20%, and recorded improvement in biomass gains of up to 12%. “The improvements were achieved despite greenlip abalone consuming significantly less feed when fed the Acti-Meal diets.”

According to an interim company report, Raisio is feeling the impacts of the Russian ban on fish feed imports. The company reported reduced earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for Q3, when compared with the previous period. The Division’s EBIT decreased by EUR 1.8 million, and net sales decreased by EUR 7.6 million from the comparison period. Industry is actively working to lift the Russian import ban but for the moment, the reopening of the Russian border is uncertain.

Global aquafeed company, Skretting today announced that the company has started a process of consulting with employees with the view to cease production in the UK at the end of April 2019.

Grieg Seafood BC says that a new investment in feed barges is proof that the industry has a future in B.C.’s coastal waters at a time when fish farming is coming under increased scrutiny. The $2.1 million barge at Grieg Seafood BC operations northwest of Campbell River includes housing for workers and a remote feeding system with underwater video cameras that allow technicians to observe fish behavior and adjust the flow of food accordingly.

The Nordic project NoVAqua has shown the potential of extracting important nutrients from waters used during the processing of herring, shrimps and mussels. The research team measured the composition of process waters and found them to contain up to 7 percent protein and 2.5 percent fat. Using a two-step process, the research team managed to recover up to 98 percent of the protein and 99 percent of the omega 3-rich fats. The process resulted in a semi-solid biomass and a nutrient-rich liquid. After dehydration, biomass from shrimp boiling water was shown to contain 66 percent protein and 25 percent fat. Two tests were made together with the University of Gothenburg and Skretting ARC, which used the new biomass as an ingredient in feed for salmon with encouraging results.

After an intensive ten-month training period, 18 experts on feed technology have been awarded the diploma from the renowned Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT). Alongside the growing demand for efficient feed technologies, the demands presented by customers and end consumers, as well as legal regulations, are constantly presenting feed millers with new challenges. "The training at the School of Feed technology provides the best possible basis to surmount these challenges in the future."

Perstorp has appointed Jimmy Paulakuhn as Vice President for North and Central America, responsible for the Feed & Food Business Area. Paulakuhn will join Perstorp on November 1. "Organic acids and especially our esters of organic acids are a prime candidate to help facilitate reduction of antibiotics without compromising on performance. A bigger more independent team led by an experienced specialist like Jimmy will make sure we can meet those demands."

New York Sea Grant (NYSG) in collaboration with the National Aquaculture Association received $182,108 in funding for a project to increase end-user confidence in United States farm-raised seafood, and to increase demand for U.S. farm-raised seafood in the foodservice sector. The intent of the project is to develop a communications strategy to effectively and cost-efficiently reach the U.S. foodservice industry with a consistent message about U.S. farm-raised seafood and reduce user conflicts by providing science-based information about the U.S. environmental and food safety regulatory framework. 

Unibio and various European-based partners, including the Municipality of Kalundborg, are launching the VALUEWASTE project to create biobased products out of urban waste streams. The consortium will implement three new value chains that will use urban biowaste as raw material for its valorization into high-value end-products in a cascading process, generating economic, social and environmental benefits: food & feed proteins, other food & feed ingredients and biobased fertilizer. The aim of the project, which is financially supported by the EU under Horizon 2020, is to lay the foundation for a circular economy model that has the potential to be copied by many European municipalities in the years to come.

A recent study found that adding krill meal to the diets of juvenile gilhead seabream resulted in improved growth performance. The 12-week grow out trial was conducted at ECOAQUA in Spain, and directed by researchers from the Aquaculture Research Group (GIA) and Aker BioMarine. Results of the 12-week feeding trial showed that the juveniles fed a diet containing 9% krill meal had significantly higher body weight compared with fish fed a control diet. In addition, the fish fed 9% krill meal also displayed a reduction in the accumulation of lipid droplets in the hepatocytes and around the pancreatic islets, showing a better feed utilization and therefore, promoting fish growth.

Skretting Norway’s factory in Averøy has produced commercial salmon feed with insect meal for the first time. Skretting believes insect meal will be an important raw material in the future and is helping producers scale up production. The company envisions that by 2022 there will be at least five different European suppliers, each producing 20,000 tonnes of insect meal per year. That amount equates to two thirds of the amount of soybean concentrate Skretting Norway uses today. "Our goal is that in the future, ingredients used for aquaculture feed do not compete with food for human consumption. For us it's important to invest in alternatives like insect meal. We are also currently testing the plankton Calanus, which is a natural part of the wild salmon diet.”

A new video highlights salmon producers in New Zealand who are hoping to reduce the impact of fish farming on the environment by changing how they feed their fish. It's part of research being undertaken in Nelson where thousands of king salmon are being carefully monitored by scientists.

Evonik is inviting feed and feed additive producers to utilize a new state-of-the-art feed mill in Vietnam, which was designed to produce pelleted trial feeds. The feed mill, a scientific collaboration between Evonik and Nong Lam University, is dedicated to research trials and provides a valuable resource to foster technological advancement of a more sustainable feed industry in the country. “The feed mill is also open to other companies that wish to test their products. Evonik alone will not be able to provide all of the solutions. We have, to a certain extent, specialized and concentrated on probiotics while other companies specialize in organic acids and alternative products. These need to be tested, compared and checked, and this is why we are looking for partners.”

More than 90 percent of the fish used for fishmeal and fish oil from the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific now come from fisheries that can be classified as “reasonably well-managed (or better),” according to the latest annual report on reduction fisheries from Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP). Of the stocks listed in “very good condition,” the report once again singled out the Antarctic krill fishery in the Atlantic Southern Ocean as being particularly well-managed. “The positive trend in this year's report demonstrates the power of the multi-stakeholder approach to "greening" value chains through responsible sourcing.”