Brothers Peter and Udo Gross have been farming sturgeon (Acipenseridae) at their Fischtucht Rhönforelle farm in central Germany for 29 years, working their way through an initial cost-only decade before settling into a pattern of progressive production which continues today.

Drs. Kurt Gamperl and Mark Fast, from Memorial University (MUN) and the University of Prince Edward Island – Atlantic Veterinary College (UPEI-AVC) respectively, are leading a project that is currently developing new biomarker tools for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture in response to global climate change. Gamperl describes the goal of the program as, “Work[ing] collaboratively with industry to prepare them for rising water temperatures and other changing environmental conditions.”

In November 2013, the Guiuan Marine Fisheries Development Center (GMFDC), a 1.25-hectare, multispecies hatchery in the island province of Samar in the Philippines, was riding high.

Hunter Pearls Fiji has opened a hatchery and research lab in Savusavu, Fiji. The hatchery is able to house 4.5 million black-lip oyster larvae (Pinctada margaritifera) and will help the company recover after the harrowing impacts of increasingly severe tropical storms in recent years. Founder Justin Hunter, however, is keeping mum on much of the details, and with good reason.

A 240,000-fish RAS hatchery is nearing completion at the University of Stirling with the promise of producing research-robust stock for use in future research projects across the United Kingdom.

In the town of Calauan in Laguna, located some 80 kilometers from Manila, a husband-and-wife team received a suggestion to convert their rice farm into a tilapia hatchery.

Since it was built in 2012, the Aquaculture Technology Centre (ATC) Patagonia held the genetic improvement program of Aquachile – which used to be the largest salmon producing company in Chile. Last year, before Agrosuper purchased Aquachile, Danish feed company Biomar acquired 30 percent of this facility and helped turn it into one of the largest experimental stations of its kind.

Cedar Crest Trout Hatcheries lies in Hanover, Ontario, Canada, at the base of the Bruce Peninsula, in the heart of Ontario’s rainbow trout (Oncorhychus mykiss) fingerling production area. This location is perfectly placed to ship fish to Cedar Crest’s primary clients on Lake Huron. In truth, Cedar Crest is four closely placed hatcheries, making Cedar Crest the largest producer of fingerlings in the province. Between the four locations, Cedar Crest produces more than seven million fingerlings each year.

Unglamorous as it may be, mortality collection, classification and analysis are an essential job at any hatchery. Often, mort picking is seen as the bottom end of the job spectrum.

The shellfish industry in British Columbia has at least two very happy people this fall. Carl Butterworth is the manager of the Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Deep Bay Marine Field Station and Dr. Tim Green is the new Canada research chair in Shellfish Health and Genomics at the Deep Bay station.  

When Eric Pederson of Ideal Fish needed European sea bass fry for his indoor RAS installation in Connecticut, U.S., he went to Europe to get them.

Salmonids lay their eggs in gravel redds for a reason, yet the use of rearing substrate in salmon and trout hatcheries, is not a common practice. Hatchery personnel at the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC (FFSBC), on the west coast of Canada, have recently quantified the benefits of using substrate for early rearing of trout.  

New research out of Oregon, U.S.A, has found no negative impacts on wild steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations from interactions with hatchery fish in the upper Clackamas River.

Nile tilapia reared in biofloc systems and fed with pizza by-product could provide economic benefits to farms, a study conducted in Brazil cited.

A recent study finds that brackish-water fish farmers in Malaysia earn more than freshwater fish farmers. 

In an effort to find ways to prevent hatchery fish from straying, Oregon State University researcher Maryam Kamran has been working with the Oregon Hatchery Research Center to study salmon responses to various scent stimuli. In recent years, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the area are not homing as well as they once were, Kamran says.

Utilizing optimized culture conditions has cut the average larval development period of the common spider crab (Maja brachydactyla) by more than 50 percent.

The industry is under renewed pressure to embrace more sustainable practices to safeguard an increasingly fragile environment. Measures to prevent fouling of nets without the use of toxic chemicals are constantly being developed.

A study in Brazil on the “occurrence of compensatory growth, in view of enabling the storage of juveniles at densities in the intermediate culture phase” showed that juvenile scallops (Nodipecten nodosus) have ideal growth rates in a low-density environment.

Rigid artificial turf, smooth plastic or soft bottle brush?

According to a peer review conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, farmed salmon that carry and transfer the deadly Piscine Orthoreovirus (PRV) pose a low risk to wild Fraser River sockeye salmon in British Columbia.

The Canadian Federal Court has ruled that juvenile farmed salmon in B.C., must be tested for piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) before being introduced to open net pens. 

"Sustainability” and “sustainable” are popular words these days, but often misused. We understand it as producing food while sustaining natural resources and achieving it only through production systems with minimal ecological impact.

Just a few years ago, someone touting the commercial viability of raising fish exclusively on land would have raised a lot of eyebrows. Today, the general attitude toward land-based fish farms – in various forms and sizes – is optimistic, particularly for salmon.

Get a seat at the table to discuss the practical economic realities of RAS at the RAStech 2019 Conference being held in Washington, DC May 13–14.

Hello readers and I hope we all have great experiences in this new year 2019. I think some of these exciting experiences will be centered around recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology and farms.  

Highly prized for sashimi, sushi, nigiri and Peruvian recipes, such as ceviche and tiraditos, the Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi) has found a great ally in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), which seems to be a perfect match for rearing this species on land.

Get a seat at the table to discuss hatchery and live feed technologies at the RAStech 2019 Conference being held in Washington, DC May 13–14.

Join fellow industry professionals from across the globe in this exclusive session on aquaponics at the RAStech 2019 Conference being held in Washington, DC May 13–14.

NEW ORLEANS – Aquaponics was a big feature at Aquaculture 2019 held in this city March 7-11, with presenters highlighting the system's potential for addressing the world's food security challenges.

MIAMI – Amidst the heavy construction activities in and around Atlantic Sapphire’s Bluehouse project in Miami, Florida, U.S.A., somewhere in the vicinity, at least 800,000 Atlantic salmon eggs are safely tucked away inside its biosecure hatchery, getting ready to make their debut as the first batch of commercial grade fish to be produced at the Miami Bluehouse.

The University of Southern Maine (USM), in Maine, U.S.A., and Maine-based aquaculture firm Whole Oceans have joined forces to offer a course on aquaponics and recirculating aquaculture systems, the university's public affairs office said.

Join peers from worldwide to find out the latest on shrimp production in RAS at this year’s RAStech Conference being held in Washington, DC May 13–14.

A collaborative project in Spain is making great progress in developing and optimizing a successful breeding program for the greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili).

Simultaneous five-year research work in Europe has cleared most of the stumbling blocks related to wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) farming.

A shrimp breeding farm of the Viet-Uc Seafood Corporation in Bac Lieu, Vietnam, has become the first in the country to fulfill criterion set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers.

When it comes to oyster seed production, the triploid-tetraploid technology is the option that delivers. But verification on different stages and facets are necessary to make it work.

A university and government agency in Vietnam worked together to develop the country’s first protocol for sperm cryopreservation of tiger grouper fuscoguttatus with the goal of providing an all-year-round supply for seed production.

It is one of the most frequent arguments made in the introduction of aquaculture publications: the success of the industry will be key to the effort of meeting the demand for high-quality protein for a growing human population.

Animal biotech and genetics company Enzootic and NRGene, provider of genomic big data analysis, have completed the sequencing and assembly of the world's first high-quality genome of freshwater shrimp M. rosenbergii.

Efforts to culture ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) have reached a major milestone with the first spawning of the farmed fish in captivity.

A study at the Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada investigated methods used to trigger spawning and artificially induce maturation in sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa).

Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada is a long way from the Balkans, but a European expert is looking to replicate the success he had there by raising freshwater crayfish in British Columbia.

Fish-breeding experts in Taiwan have broken new ground with the first successful breeding in captivity of one of Asia’s premium fish: the large-mouth grouper, known in the Philippines as lapu-lapu, but most commonly referred to in China as garupa.

The mass release of farm-hatched fish to supplement wild populations and increase harvest has been practiced across the world. In Japan, the northernmost island of Hokkaido has been home to Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) hatchery programs since the late 19th century. Between the late 1970s to the end of the 1980s, chum salmon (O. keta) populations increased exponentially, coinciding with enhanced hatchery technology and improvements in marine survival due to favorable climate and ocean conditions.

The return of cod (Gadus morhua) farming to Norway is based on a number of factors but is anchored by the continued efforts of the National Cod Breeding Program, Atle Mortensen, senior scientist at The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Nofima), explains during his presentation at Aqua Europe 2018 held in August in Montpellier, France.

Russian company Biosphere-Fish has launched the first stage of a major sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) hatchery in the Republic of Tatarstan, 62 kilometers east from the city of Kazan, the regional government said in a statement.

Following the Aktau International Summit on August 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and leaders of other Caspian states released sturgeon fingerlings to the Caspian Sea. This symbolic gesture was to show the intention of the top officials in the region to enhance efforts to save the sturgeon population from complete extinction.

Russia’s scientist and businessman Rasul Bikmukhametov has launched a state-of-the-art hatchery in a small hangar using several know-how that are not applied anywhere else in Russia, the regional government informed in a statement on its website August 9, citing earlier reports made by the state-owned news media Vesti.

The oyster industry in New Brunswick, Canada, faces a best-of-times, worst-of-times scenario as it moves into the next decade. The Canadian province aims to grow the industry by 10 per cent annually over the next five years but concedes it has limited options for ensuring spat supply.

Russia’s biggest natural gas and oil-extracting companies Gazprom and Novatek have allocated funds to Soba Hatchery under its project to restore the whitefish population in Arctic rivers.

There’s a Winnemem Wintu legend that goes like this: “When we first bubbled out of our sacred spring on Mt. Shasta at the time of creation, we were helpless and unable to speak. It was Salmon, the Nur, who took pity on us and gave us their voice.  In return, we promised to always speak for them.”

A small number of Lost River and shortnose sucker fish were released along the shores of Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake several weeks ago.

The mussels in the Delaware River Basin are about to get a helping hand.

LP Kuzmitch, a privately-owned company in Eastern Kazakhstan, plans to start producing sturgeon fingerlings in a bid to restore populations of this species in the region.

Aquaculture nutrition solutions provider Skretting has developed a new diet aimed at helping tuna farmers avoid the biosecurity risks and sustainability issues associated with baitfish diets.

As global aquaculture production continues to increase, demand is surpassing supply of fishmeal from capture fisheries. Researchers are now looking at plant-based alternatives to meet the growing demand for protein feeds.

Robins MacIntosh, senior vice-president of Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods) in Thailand, talked about building shrimp aquaculture in Thailand, as his plenary address at the Aqua 2018 conference in Montpelllier, France.  

Following his plenary at Aqua Europe, Robins MacIntosh, senior vice-president, shrimp production and shrimp technology CP Foods in Thailand, sat down with Hatchery International to talk about the role of shrimp hatcheries in the company’s success.

In December 2018, Stephanie King started as the new sales representative for western North America with Pentair Aquatic Ecosystems. Based out of the new Pentair office in Campbell River, B.C., Canada, she will be the point of contact for Pentair sales in British Columbia, Alberta, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho.

Global aquaculture supplier AKVA group and artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Observe technologies have teamed up to bring a new, intelligent feeding assistant with pellet recognition to the market. 

SWEET HOME, Oregon – Fish egg sorter and fish egg counter manufacturer Jensorter has expanded production by adding a new facility in Hillsboro, Oregon.    

Shrimp and fish farmers and hatchery owners no longer need to rely on manual data entry to monitor their stocks and maximize profitability.

Wisconsin-based aquaculture equipment manufacturer Fresh-flo has made enhancements to its aerators, which fish farmers use to ensure their stock remains healthy during transport.

Pontevedra, Spain-based aquaculture feeding systems manufacturer FishFarmFeeder is launching a new hatchery feeding system of live feed.

Global aquaculture feed supplier Skretting is launching a new concept for recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) called RecircReady.