The Waterbase Limited has reported that its 2018 fiscal year profit is its highest ever due to an increased focus on shrimp feed production. "With an enhanced base for shrimp feed, wider distribution network and improved offerings comprising hatchery and ancillary products, we have created a strong platform to address the steadily growing opportunity in the aquaculture industry in India."

Oceanus Group Limited is proceeding with its development of a self-sustaining floating food city, and is currently in talks with officials to locate the city off the coast of Singapore. The Oceanus Aquapolis City will integrate renewable technology with hi-tech aquaponics to grow vegetables, seaweed and fish in an environmentally friendly, multi-story closed-contained platform. The city is one of the projects being developed as part of a recent MOU between Oceanus Group, Shaw Investment Holdings, and China Construction to jointly explore global aquaculture-related investment opportunities and development projects worth US$500 million.

Less than a year after acquiring the majority stake in Alimentsa, BioMar is accelerating development of the Ecuadorian shrimp feed producer with the commissioning of a new production line and reorganization of personnel to strengthen the integration of the two companies. \"We have just commissioned a fifth production line in order to secure sufficient capacity next year. It is a relatively small investment as the new line fits into our present facilities, and thereby we expect it to be ready already early next year. Our new feed trial and development facility announced in November, is also progressing according to schedule and will be operational later this year.\"

On a California farm, hundreds of prehistoric-looking fish swim around in 50-foot diameter tanks. These are white sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America. The roe of these sturgeon are harvested for a boutique food producer regally named Tsar Nicoulai Caviar. Until recently, wastewater from the fish tanks on the Tsar Nicoulai farm emptied into a giant man-made pond. Tsar Nicoulai is now using the “nutrient stream” to grow something they can sell: vegetables.

Fishmeal and fish oil firm Daybrook, a subsidiary of Oceana Group in the United States, experienced record landings of Gulf menhaden in the new fishing season, which started in mid-April. Management expects an improvement on fishmeal and oil prices compared with 2017, with oil yields expected to improve markedly to 11 per cent-13 per cent from 7 per cent a year ago and the meal yield holding steady.

At the Aquaculture UK conference taking place this week, BioMar and Skretting each acknowledged that it is part of their role to help salmon farming grow sustainably, and that pressure over environmental concerns does filter down to them. 

Researchers in Canada and the UK have demonstrated the different effects that partially defatted black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFLM) and mechanically-extracted black soldier fly larvae oil (BSFLO) have in rainbow trout performance, nutrient digestibility and physiology. Among their findings, the discovery of enhanced digestibility of hydroxyproline in diets containing BSFL products has potential benefits for fish fed low fishmeal diets.

Deinove has confirmed that the COLOR2B project is progressing on schedule and has reached its third phase. The project, being done in collaboration with the Avril Group, is focusing on the development of a production process for natural feed additives. The third phase of the project, launched in early 2017, aims to validate the final choice of the strain and to test the various production options in the perspective of the industrialization and marketing of a range of feed additives. Currently, the final producer strain has been selected for its performance among seven strains and has been tested in experimental farms. Its performance is comparable to petrochemical products in use today.

The American Feed Industry Association’s Board of Directors met last week for its annual spring meeting in the nation’s capital, where they elected a new chair and several Board and Executive Committee members, discussed priority issues impacting the animal food industry with legislators, and conducted other official business. The Board elected Bruce Crutcher, managing director for Micronutrients USA, as its new chairman, and recognized Lee Hall of Hallway Feeds for his leadership as the association’s Board chairman during the 2017-18 year. Hall now transitions into his one-year chairmanship of the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s (IFEEDER) Board of Trustees. During their meeting, Rep. David Rouzer spoke with AFIA members about the upcoming farm bill, trade and the state of U.S. agriculture.

New technologies are in the works to make salmon feed using less or no forage fish. They include the emerging use of insect meal and the development of genetic technologies such as CRISPR, which could work to modify a plant like false flax to produce more Omega-3 or modify a salmon to accept a plant form of Omega-3.

A research team from China and the United States recently found that using a less expensive feed with a specific carbon/nitrogen ratio may improve performance in a shrimp biofloc system. Their study determined that both feed and C/N ratio had significant effects on biofloc development, water quality, shrimp performance, feed utilization and input cost, and that the best water quality and performance of Litopenaeus vannamei were achieved with the C/N ratio of 12:1 for both feeds.

As the popularity of insects in aquafeeds grows, research to investigate the effects of substituting freshwater shrimp meal with black soldier fly larvae meal or adult cricket meal on physico-chemical properties of hot-extruded fish feed pellets has found that it is possible to process good quality extruded pellets using insect meals. In the study, researchers substituted FWSM protein in multiple fish feed formulations and adjusted moisture content of the formulated blends to 10, 20 or 30 g/100 g prior to extrusion. Results found that moisture content of the feed at extrusion affected pellet floatability and expansion ratio. Pellets with high floatability >90% and high expansion ratio ~60% were produced from all feed blends at 30 g/100 g moisture content.

Andalusia is offering aid worth EUR 698,501 to professional organizations in the sector of fisheries and aquaculture products. This aid is included among measures to promote trade and processing. The objective is to contribute to the achievement of objectives such as the improvement of the common organization of markets for fishery and aquaculture products, and the encouragement of investments in the processing and trade sectors.

Calysta and Nofima have announced they will partner to conduct large-scale trials in Atlantic salmon using Calysta’s FeedKind®protein as a means to improve feed efficiency and fish health. The trials, to be designed by Nofima, will begin in early 2019. “We are eager to do research on FeedKind as we believe that this may be an example of new protein sources that can contribute to a more sustainable aquaculture. Feedkind’s effect on salmon will be thoroughly tested at Nofima’s research facilities along with the effects this protein may have on the physicochemical qualities of the feed pellet.”

BioMar Group has invested in additional capacity for its factory in Denmark. The new line is expected to be ready in Q2 2019, and will be highly specialized and dedicated to fry and RAS feed production enabling the factory to increase flexibility, quality and production performance. It delivers mainly feed for species such trout, eel, sturgeon and salmon in RAS; however in total the factory produces feed for more than 40 species. After the capacity expansion, the factory will be able to deliver 150.000 tons of feed per year.

Tongwei Group’s chairman, Liu Hanyuan tops list of China’s wealthiest aquaculture and aquafeed billionaires.

The Undersecretariat of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia is carrying out thirty research and transfer projects, specifically aimed at improving the competitiveness of aquaculture. Andalusian aquaculture produces 9,700 tonnes per year and represents 22 per cent of the value of the fishing sector in the region, and the goal is to reach a production of 20,000 tonnes.

IFFO has released its second Annual Report. A key area highlighted throughout the report is IFFO’s increased investment and focus on data gathering and technical reports, with the aim of effectively communicating the strategic and vital role of marine ingredients. IFFO project work has focused on the use of antioxidants and antioxidant stabilization, as well as the management of forage fish stocks, raw material supply, environmental impacts relative to other feed ingredients, and co-sponsorship of an international scientific conference on small pelagic fish stocks.   

Guangdong Haid has signed a cooperation partnership with Bühler to build a feed plant in Indonesia focused on that country’s shrimp sector. Speaking this week at the opening ceremony for the Swiss firm’s giant new manufacturing plant in eastern China’s Changzhou, Haid’s Vice President Tian Li said Haid will expand output to meet growing demand for specialist and quality feed in aquaculture across Asia. Haid also drew attention this week for launching an incentive scheme for employees granting share rights to high-performing staff.

In its 2018 first quarter report, Bakkafrost confirmed that its new salmon meal and salmon oil plant is expected to start operation in the second quarter of 2018, with full production in the second half of the year. The plant is being operated under the company\'s Harvsbrún brand. The major market for Havsbrún´s fish feed is the local Faroese market including Bakkafrost’s internal use of fish feed.