Aquaculture is showing signs of recovery in the EU after more than a decade of stagnation. The sector had 4 percent growth in volume and 8 percent in value between 2014 and 2015, and its profits exceeded EUR 400 million euro. “Aquaculture can deliver local food and local jobs in an environment-friendly way. The planning, authorization, and ultimately the success of aquaculture in the EU lie in the hands of our regions and Member States. We count on you to support investment in this promising industry.\"

The world's first insect-fed salmon is now available, ushering in a new era of sustainable aquaculture. 'The Friendly Salmon' is raised on natural and circular proteins made from insects. Protix developed the insect-based ProteinX ingredient, and together with their partners developed a well-balanced feed that entirely replaces fishmeal. Protix will hold a launch event on February 27 in Bergen to mark the occasion.

NOAA has announced “phase 1” of its new Fisheries website is now complete. NOAA has begun and will continue migrating 20 separate websites and platforms into one national website to reduce redundant content and make it easier to find information without having to jump from website to website.  

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have called into question the validity of the means by which FCR is measured, suggesting aquaculture does not stack up as well against terrestrial livestock as we like to think. FCR is a limited measure of efficiency, they argue, because it only accounts for the weight of feed inputs and not the nutritional content of the feed, the portion of the animal that is inedible, or the nutritional quality of the final product. ““Based on our review, a more precise measure than FCR is the efficiency with which an animal converts nutrients in feed into nutrients for the human food supply. Fed aquaculture requires more highly nutrient-dense feed than livestock production (i.e. higher in protein and calories), and results in a loss of most protein (81%) and calories (90%) during production.”

Ridley Corporation has broken ground and begun construction of its new aqua feed mill in Westbury, Tasmania. The mill will have a 50,000 tonne capacity to manufacture and supply feed primarily to the Tasmanian salmon industry, as well as other aquaculture species on the mainland and in New Zealand. "It will have the latest milling technology and will provide a platform for our customers that is globally cutting edge.”

The Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation has officially launched the Myanmar Sustainable Aquaculture Program. Over the course of five years, MYSAP will support the sustainable development of aquaculture in Myanmar, with 22.25 million EUR in funding from the European Union and the German government. The program aims to help improving nutrition standards and food security, and to create livelihoods. 

Neovia is strengthening its portfolio with the recent acquisition of Epicore, a North American company specialized in the manufacture of larval feed and probiotics on the global aquaculture market, and a newly signed partnership with Naturex, a French company specialized in the production and marketing of natural ingredients. \"Working with Neovia opens up a new field of opportunities in the use of plant extracts for animal nutrition.”

Aquabyte, a startup applying computer vision and machine learning models to optimize fish farming efficiency, has announced a $3.5 Million Seed Round of funding. Aquabyte\'s technology will utilize underwater 3D cameras to collect data including fish biomass to determine optimal feeding quantities. Aquabyte anticipates that this more efficient feeding over a fish\'s lifetime could result in as much as a 20 to 30 percent decrease in feed cost.

Raisio has announced it is considering a sale of its fish feed and cattle businesses. The manufacturer produces feeds for rainbow trout, whitefish, pikeperch and sturgeon under multiple brands including Hercules Growth feeds and Baltic Blend feeds. While its grain trade business is not for sale, Finland-based Raisio has already initiated negotiations on the divestment of its feed businesses with several operators.

DSM and Evonik have established a new company, Veramaris V.O.F., for the production of an algal oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Commercial quantities of the oil, produced from natural marine algae, will be ready for sale in 2019; pilot quantities are already available for market development purposes. The initial annual production capacity will meet roughly 15% of the total current annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry. “Our algal oil, rich in both EPA and DHA, is our response to the industry’s call for a sustainable and traceable source of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.\"

Recent increases in tilapia exports from China have been impacting West Africa\'s fragile aquaculture industry, which is seeking to establish a firm foundation. One of the main issues inhibiting regional growth is the cost of feed, which accounts for 70 percent of a farmer\'s budget.

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) has announced plans to utilize a grant provided by the U.S. State Department to create a Center for Feed Manufacturing in Tunisia. As part of establishing the Center, a core team of professionals including nutritionists, feed millers, and aquaculture producers will be trained in both intensive and extensive programs. \"The Council’s work in Tunisia is becoming more strategic, focusing on how to utilize training programs to help develop both the Tunisian market and other markets in the region, while emphasizing the advantages of U.S. coarse grains and co-products.”

The NOAA Sea Grant 2018 funding opportunity is now open. Depending on appropriations, NOAA Sea Grant expects to have available a total of $7,000,000 to $11,500,000 across fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The competition is designed to foster the expansion of a sustainable U.S. ocean, coastal and Great Lakes aquaculture sector by addressing one or more program priorities.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. announced a formal agreement aimed at making the oversight of food more efficient and effective by bolstering coordination between the USDA and FDA. The formal agreement outlines efforts to increase interagency collaboration, efficiency and effectiveness on produce safety and biotechnology activities, while providing clarity to manufacturers. “Over the last several months, the Secretary and I have worked closely and identified several areas where we can strengthen our collaboration to make our processes more efficient, predictable, and potentially lower cost to industry; while also strengthening our efforts to ensure food safety.\"

According to the 2018 Alltech Global Feed Survey, international feed tonnage has exceeded 1 billion metric tons for the second consecutive year, with a total of 1.07 billion metric tons of feed produced in 2017. Aquaculture feeds showed a slight increase in 2017, particularly in the European and Asia-Pacific regions. Although China reported a five percent decline for the year, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for more than thirty five percent of the world’s feed tonnage and seventy percent of global aqua feed production.

Cargill has opened its first feed mill dedicated to fish species in India. The plant is strategically located in the Andhra Pradesh region and has a capacity to produce 90,000 tons per year of fish feed products for tilapia and other warm water species. Cargill invested more than US$10 million in the opening of the plant, which also bring around 200 new jobs to the region. “This is a vibrant market and we’re excited to better serve farmers across Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Bengal. The new facility positions us to better meet their demand.\"

Researchers in Taiwan have found that dry grape extract is an antioxidant solution that can be used as an alternate for vitamin E in shrimp starter diets. Nor-Feed carried out the 8-week trial at the National Taiwan Ocean University to evaluate the effect of a supplementation with Nor-Grape 80 on the growth performances of the Pacific White shrimp at an early stage. Results demonstrated that the replacement of vitamin E with Nor-Grape 80 led to an improvement of the FCR in all supplemented groups, despite the fact that vitamin E was totally removed.

The FDA issued the first five chapters of a draft guidance to help animal food facilities subject to the Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule develop a food safety plan to significantly minimize or prevent hazards that could cause illness or injury to people or animals. The FDA is seeking public comments on the draft guidance.

Nofima reports that production costs for Norway’s aquaculture industry rose by 50 per cent in the four years between 2012 and 2016, and the main culprit seems to be the rising price of fish feed. \"There is a limit to what breeders can do when it comes to increased feed prices.\"

The project GoJelly, which aims to investigate the suitability of the organisms as fish feed, microplastic filters, and fertilizers, has officially begun after the recent kick-off meeting in Portugal. The six-million-euro project is funded by the EU and coordinated at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. \"The GoJelly project will actively contribute to the newly proposed European strategy to combat plastic pollution while empowering the industry sector through the development of a variety of blue-green biotechnology products based on jellyfish raw material.\"