Warren G. Dominy PhD (1947 - 2021)
Aquafeed specialist, Warren Dominy, passed away December 10, 2021, at home in Kailua, Hawai’i.
Dr. Dominy was a true visionary, who laid the foundation for much of what we know today about shrimp nutrition and aquafeed processing technology. He was a research scientist, nutritionist, feed formulator and feed processing specialist at Oceanic Institute (OI), Hawai’i for 30 years, retiring as Director, Aquatic Feeds and Nutrition Department in 2013. During this period, he conducted feed, feed ingredient and feed manufacturing research trials with species of shrimp, fish, abalone, sea urchin, and even swine, poultry and cattle. His focus in the last decade was on potential feed ingredients of products and co-products from agriculture, algae and yeast, and co-products from biofuels, food processing, fisheries waste and by-catch.
It was in feed processing, however, and particularly extrusion technology, that his heart lay. He was forever grateful to Dr. Keith Behnke, Kansas State University, for encouraging and supporting him in earning a PhD in Grain Science, becoming the first person with a doctorate in aquafeed processing. His passion was to build the first pilot-scale aquatic research feed mill at OI. In 1991, the industry had enthusiastically embraced it. Key equipment was generously donated, and the mill designed and ready to go. Alas, in spite of several promising starts, his dream was never realized.
Warren epitomized humility. He took little credit for his work and shared his knowledge and ideas generously and enthusiastically, always happy for others to take them up and build on them. He was a sought-after consultant, helping equipment manufacturers hone their machinery for aquafeed production, and ingredient and aquafeed companies throughout the world through organizations such as the American Soybean Association, U.S. Wheat Associates, U.S. Agency for International Development. Since 2013, as the senior consultant for Aquafeed.com, he put his energy into helping under-resourced Pacific Island communities to achieve food sufficiency. His ultimate vision was to create aquafeed entirely from sustainable marine sources. Inspired by the plight of the Marshall Islands, surrounded by ocean but with scarce land, he was working towards creating multitrophic ecosystems in the vast atolls, where inventory could be controlled: “What comes from the ocean should be fed by the ocean” became his mantra. As always, he was a little too far ahead of his time.
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