Scientists of the Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC/AQD) will carry out a research-based program called the ‘Oplan Balik Sugpo’ to improve shrimp farming and boost the industry. Their research includes using locally available alternative ingredients to produce a low-cost feed.

The West Bengal Fisheries department has decided to invest in aquaculture to meet the local demand for fish and to limit dependence on imported goods. Circular cages ranging from 2m to 15m will be used to grow species including milkfish, mullet, pearl spot, shrimp, crabs and lobsters. \"These days cage culture is receiving attention from both researchers and commercial producers. Several small and limited resource farmers are looking forward to it as alternatives to traditional agricultural crops because aquaculture appears to be a rapidly expanding industry.\"

Loch Duart, an independent Scottish salmon farming business, has renewed its contract with aqua feed supplier EWOS. The two companies signed a three-year deal for a custom made salmon feed. With its high marine content, the unique Loch Duart feed provides a diet that mimics the natural one of wild salmon as closely as possible. \"Loch Duart’s demands for sustainable, healthy ingredients and the sharing of that transparency with their customers has brought us (EWOS) and the feed industry forward significantly.\" 

Nutriad has announced the appointment of Mr. Siep Raap as Sales Manager, Benelux. Mr. Raap, who has wide ranging experience in the feed and feed additive sectors, will be based in Holland and be responsible for supporting Nutriad’s customers and business partners and bringing Nutriad’s innovative products and services to the market. 

Nutriad has released its’ latest mycotoxin survey, based on more than 480 analyses of 81 maize samples from across Poland. The results showed that 100% of the maize samples were contaminated with DON and 94% with ZEN. Unexpectedly, 72 % of the samples contained FUM. None of the samples were contaminated with OTA. The average concentrations of all the recovered mycotoxins were medium. However, the maximum concentration of T-2 toxin/HT-2 toxin was several times higher than the maximum recommended concentration of T-2 toxin. The survey concluded that the year’s maize produce in Poland was of poor quality in terms of mycotoxin contamination.  

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and its partners are working on several projects to develop cost-effective feeds, with a primary focus on plant-based alternatives to fishmeal and fish oil. One project has achieved promising results treating plant-based feeds with phytase, a commercially available enzyme that destroys phytic acid in soybeans. Another project selectively bred a strain of rainbow trout that will eat an all-plant, high-soybean diet and grow efficiently on it. Other ARS projects are evaluating the potential of flaxseed, barley protein concentrate, poultry processing remains, dried distillers’ grains with solubles, discarded tree nuts, algae, and other products.

Researchers in Iran recently completed a study investigating the effects of pre-gelatinized (PG) taro and broken rice and extruder die temperatures on the physical properties of extruded pellets. Their findings indicate that PG taro and broken rice can be used to produce high quality floating pellets for fish. 

Donna Lanzetta, CEO of Manna Fish Farms, thinks aquaculture has a golden future if it successfully moves into the deep blue. Speaking at the 2017 World Ocean Council’s Sustainable Oceans Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Lanzetta said the future of offshore aquaculture is limitless. Manna is working on several innovations including a customized feeding system, and is planning to be the first aquaculture company to farm fish in federal waters on the East Coast of the United States.

Animal feed additive firm Bentoli has said a reduction in antibiotic use in aquaculture is the number one trend it expects to see for the industry in 2018. \"Aquaculture producers faced intense pressure in 2017 for their overuse of antimicrobials, which resulted in the widespread proliferation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR has the dangerous potential to \'compromise the treatment of bacterial infections\' in both aquaculture species and humans.\"

Bluestar Adisseo Company has announced the acquisition of Nutriad. "We look forward to welcoming the Nutriad employees with their great knowledge and expertise. Together, we will set up an efficient organization which should allow to strengthen global products portfolio’s competitiveness and its overall efficiency. We will also mutually benefit from respective strengths in global commercial coverage for product registration, sales, marketing and worldwide distribution network, with combined sales in more than 100 countries.”

A new silage system developed by PG Flow Solutions promises to produce high quality fish protein concentrate (FPC) that generates a market value of NOK 12-15 per kilogram, compared to today’s NOK 2 per kilogram. The PG Silage method reduces waste to fish oil and concentrated FPC, which can be stored for up to two months and supplied to a feed producer. “The PG Silage system is significantly cheaper than an on board fishmeal factory. Additionally, we use recycled heat from the main engine to manage the silage system’s heating process. In sum, our system enables fishing vessels to increase their financial income significantly and ensure that they operate in full compliance with the EU regulatory framework for fish waste.”

In its first year of operation, the Cargill Innovation Center (CIC) in Colaco Chile the has supported the launch of several new health feed products, has completed a total of 25 successful trials, and is expanding with a shrimp health facility. CIC in Colaco is one of the world’s largest research centers of its kind and its main focus is to develop health diets for aquaculture species. “One of our key achievements has been documenting the EWOS BACTER diet, which helps fish challenged with bacterial infections like Salmonid Rickettsial Syndrome (SRS).” Another main focus has been a parasite causing amoebic gill disease (AGD), which is present both in Chile and in other parts of the world.

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has released a new video case study as part of their video series. The videos feature the perspectives of a range of contributors: from public sector funders, enterprise agencies and institutions, to private sector companies. “Regular conversation with our industry-academic partners and key stakeholders is essential to ensuring that SAIC is adding value where the sector needs it most. These videos are an extension of those ongoing conversations, providing a snapshot of where we’re getting it right, while also inspiring ideas for what more we could do to be of support to the sector.”

A recent study conducted by Biomin found that phytogenic feed additive (PFA) supplementation improves the performance of white leg shrimp in low fishmeal diets. A series of feeding trials demonstrated that weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion rate and protein efficiency ratio were all improved for shrimp fed low fishmeal diets supplemented with the PFA Digestarom® P.E.P. MGE when compared to those that did not receive the PFA.

La Niña strengthened during the past month, as indicated by an increasingly prominent pattern of below-average sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, and is predicted to persist through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2017-18. La Niña is anticipated to affect temperature and precipitation across the United States during the upcoming months.

At Gado refugee camp in eastern Cameroon, 200 refugee women have developed a fish pond by a river and are supplying fish not only to people in need in the camp but to surrounding villages. the inland fish aquaculture program was started in the area in June 2017 by the World Food Program to attend to the needs of C.A.R. refugees and their host communities. The refugees and host community members receive business training, technical support that includes how to produce low-cost fish food pellets, and other innovative ideas from the World Food Program.

A project assessing the use of microalgae byproducts from the biofuel industry as a protein replacement in feeds for farmed salmon is gaining momentum, according to Yangyang Gong, a researcher at Nord University. In a recent interview, he explained how byproducts from the biofuel industry – the defatted biomass of Nannochloropsis and Desmodesmus species of algae – can be an suitable alternative ingredient to the fishmeal currently used in aquafeeds.

The Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda has hailed the Jamaica Broilers Group for its US$2-million investment in a new pellet mill, which will significantly boost the company\'s feed production capacity. The facility, located at the Best Dressed Feed Mill in Freetown, St Catherine, is the third operated by Jamaica Broilers to manufacture Hi-Pro branded products. It will move the output of feeds from over 270,000 tonnes per year, to 350,000 tonnes per year, making it one of the largest mills in the region.

The American Feed Industry Association\'s President and CEO Joel G. Newman announced that Leah Wilkinson, AFIA\'s current vice president of legislative, regulatory and state affairs, will lead AFIA\'s Legislative and Regulatory department starting in 2019. Wilkinson will assume the role currently held by Richard Sellers, AFIA\'s senior vice president of public policy and education, following his retirement from the association at the end of 2018. Effective immediately her title is vice president of public policy and education.

A project led by Nofima is investigating if trimmings from cod may be beneficial to the health of farmed salmon when used as a bioactive compound in feeds. Each year 160,000 tonnes of cod trimmings are thrown away because there is currently no financial incentive for fishermen to keep them. \"The trimmings contain a lot of bones. The nutrients in bones are difficult to digest, meaning they are currently underutilized and often discarded. Bone components seem to affect muscle quality and health, and this may help to develop a more robust fish.”