A five-day national training program on ‘Fish Feed Technology for Sustainable Aquaculture’ is taking place in Hyderabad, India. The main objective of the program is to train the participants in fish feed production technology and feed management practices in aquaculture, said ICAR-CIFA director BR Pillai. She said that feed is the most critical and vital input in aquaculture as it constitutes 60-70% of the total operational cost, and that supplementary feeding is essential besides pond fertilization to increase fish production.

AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies Ltd. Is building a 2,500-ton Atlantic salmon RAS facility in Russia. Construction of the estimated 25 million euro facility, financed by local investors, is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 and ready for the first batch of eggs at that time. The new facility will include hatchery, nursery, and full grow-out areas, as well as management and operational zones. With a robust design and construction, the facility requires minimal maintenance, while optimized feeding modes and an advanced feeding management system enable reduction of the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and operational costs.

Cargill has opened its new omega-3 research and development facility in Great Falls, Montana. Cargill's new oilseed variety was developed in Montana for Montana growing conditions through a Cargill and BASF partnership. Cargill will contract with growers to begin planting the new variety in the 2020 crop season, eventually reaching 500,000 acres of farmland throughout the Great Falls region.

Russian authorities have announced that the import ban of fish feeds ended and the border reopened last week. The Russian border has been closed since August 4, when Russian authorities announced that analyses carried out during border checks in the summer showed genetically modified soybean in Raisioaqua’s fish feeds. Raisio Group stated that it is committed to the use of non-genetically modified raw materials and that its soy supplier was responsible for ensuring its product complied with the contract. Raisioaqua has been in close contact with its customers during the export ban and will immediately resume negotiations to finalize supply contracts for the 2019 season.

Marine aquaculture can be criticized for the negative effect it can have on the environment. But could aquaculture, under certain circumstances, have positive effects on surrounding ecosystems? A team of scientists from the University of Adelaide, The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization, and Macquarie University wanted to find out. Their conclusions have been published in BioScience.

A draft report released this week by independent certification body SAI Global recommends that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certify the Atlantic menhaden fishery as sustainable. The report was produced by a team of independent scientists and assessors employed by SAI Global to carry out the Atlantic menhaden assessment against the MSC fishery standards. Stakeholders and members of the public now have 30 days to comment on the report.

Aller Aqua, DTU Aqua, The Danish Technological Institute, Hanneman Engineering and Champost are partnering with the company Enorm to establish Denmark’s first industrial insect production unit. The goal of the project is to produce 30 tons of inspects per day within four years from now. One of the outputs from the project will be insect meal, and Aller Aqua’s role will be to help develop and test products suitable for trout farming.

BioMar Group has announced it is ready to invest in additional capacity at its factory in Ecuador with the construction of a new line for extruded shrimp feed. The new extrusion line will add approximately 40,000 tons of capacity and is expected to enter operation in Q1 2020, just one year after the latest capacity expansion, which is due in Q1 2019. “For our customers the new line will mean increased flexibility and increased choice, as it will significantly expand our capacity for extruded and value added feed solutions.”

EFSA has confirmed the conclusion of previous assessments that dietary exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs is a health concern, and has accordingly updated tolerable intake levels. The new tolerable weekly intake (TWI) is seven-times lower than the previous EU tolerable intake set by the European Commission’s former Scientific Committee on Food in 2001.

Researchers at the University of Borås are developing methods to grow fungi on materials that would otherwise have become waste. The goal of the project Ways2Taste is to produce climate-smart materials, including a new source of protein. "It will be a climate-smart protein that can look like, for example, ground beef. But we will also work on producing pigments, bioplastics, animal feed and ethanol."

The American Feed Industry Association is urging Congress to approve the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade Agreement (USMCA) for the betterment of the U.S. animal food industry. "I encourage our country’s leaders to demonstrate to the world that the U.S. has entered a new era of trade agreements - one that is built on groundbreaking provisions, which increase transparency between the United States and its trading partners while rewarding science and innovation that continues to help today’s industries meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumers.”

India’s largest shrimp feed maker has lost nearly three-fifths of its market value so far this year as shrimp prices fell and raw material costs rose. Shares of Avanti Feeds Ltd. plunged nearly 59 percent in 2018, the worst yearly rout since 2011 listing, according to Bloomberg data. A 20-25 percent drop in shrimp output in addition to higher prices of soymeal and fishmeal are largely responsible for the drop in earnings.

Researchers at Nofima and UiT The Arctic University of Norway have been tasked by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF) to investigate if algae-based salmon feed can reduce sea lice infestations. “Briefly stated, we are testing whether sea lice infestations can be reduced if the fish are fed using selected Arctic microalgae, which are produced using residual heat and exhaust gas from a smeltery. Based on growth data and observations in the nutrition, it is believed that oxylipins from omega-3 work as deterrents to sea lice and other closely related organisms. Algae are primary producers of omega-3.”

The MIMECCA project, led by CTAQUA, the University of Cadiz and the University of Alicante, has set forth protocols for estimating the specific carrying capacity applicable to inland semi-intensive aquaculture and floating cage marine aquaculture. The protocols address technical, production-related, environmental, and socio-economic aspects of aquaculture. To communicate its final outputs, the MIMECCA team gathered stakeholders last week in Madrid.

Skretting is ready to launch its new and improved integrated concept for recirculating aquaculture systems: RecircReady. The concept takes into account growth and waste prediction models, nutrient recycling, fish and system health monitoring in addition to tailored feed solutions and their impact on the systems themselves.


The INSFEED project is cataloging insects in sub-Saharan Africa with a goal of using them for animal feed. The project is developing an open-access inventory of insects detailing specific nutritional qualities of commonly-found and easily-reared insects. “So far, an Africa-based list of 500 species of insects have been identified as a starting point and this will help us focus on the species with the most potential for use in poultry and fish feed.” A main goal of the project is to reduce the need for fodder plants and their associated fertilizers, thereby mitigating climate change.

Benchmark Holdings announced that it has successfully prosecuted patent infringement in Thailand. The IP&IT court in Thailand ruled that Marine-Tech International (MTI) infringed two of Benchmark's patents related to artemia and hatching enrichment, and the company must cease using the patented technology. The court also awarded damages to Benchmark, which may be subject to appeal. "We are pleased the IP&IT court in Bangkok has ruled in our favor, vindicating the intellectual property which underpins the value of our innovative solutions and future product pipeline. Robust intellectual property protection will continue to be a core strategic area of focus for the group."

During an event held between Vietnamese and Norwegian fishery firms, experts advised that the fisheries sector in Việt Nam should use more seafood by-products such as bones, heads and skin to add value to the industry. Trần Đình Luân, deputy general director of the Directorate of Fisheries, said that the country’s high-quality seafood was exported to many countries, but that Marine Rest Raw Materials could be used to make other products such as animal feeds, thus yielding more profits and reducing the need for discharge of waste.

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."