The U.S. Soybean Export Council today announced the launch of “Growing the Business of Growing Fish,” a video showcasing sea bass and sea bream production by Kilic, the largest vertically integrated fish farm operator in Turkey.
Kilic is one of the largest aquaculture operations in Europe, raising sea bass, sea bream and meagre in marine cages, and freshwater trout in dam lakes. A 2007 directive from the Turkish government to move all marine cages 1.2 kilometers offshore allowed the company to sustainably grow its operations with cutting edge technology, increased efficiency, and minimal environmental impact. A key component to its growth has been replacing quantities of fishmeal with high quality alternative proteins such as U.S.-grown soy protein concentrate, which has increased the sustainability and economic viability of its feed.
“The marine fish sector represents the greatest opportunity for growing the volume of high value farmed fish worldwide,” says Colby Sutter, USSEC Marketing Director for Aquaculture – Customer Focus. “Feed formulation research has proven that soy protein concentrate offers the best nutritional profile for replacing limited supplies of fishmeal in feed for marine species.”
Sutter adds, “Most importantly, soy production is scalable and can meet increased demand for feed ingredients as the aquaculture industry grows.”
USSEC’s Aquaculture Program has been producing short educational videos for public viewing online that showcase innovative fish farms producing healthful fish and seafood in an environmentally sound manner. In addition to being featured on soyaqua.org, the fish farmer videos are posted on YouTube and Vimeo. The series explores different types of aquaculture methods, technologies, and species, with a focus on how soy industry support is helping to make global aquaculture more sustainable.
The short video, the latest in a series showcasing sustainable aquaculture operations around the world, is funded by the soybean check-off program and can be viewed along with others at http://www.soyaqua.org/videos.
