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.

The biological clock never ceases ticking, and all living things die. But that clock can be frozen, and decay curtailed indefinitely. The implications to fish conservation are large.

Established on the edge of Lake Wendouree in 1873, the Ballarat Fish Hatchery is the oldest in mainland Australia. Managed by the Ballarat Fish Acclimatisation Society, it was established “to introduce trout, (redfin) perch and other English fish into Ballarat district waters.”

Located on St. John’s Island in Singapore, the Marine Aquaculture Centre (MAC) is a strategic initiative of the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).

The H.B. Parsons Fish Hatchery in Oklahoma is the centrepiece of a remarkable fisheries management program. The only municipal fish hatchery in the state, it is involved in a wide variety of programs and activities designed to promote fishing in the city. As fisheries biologist Bob Martin tells Hatchery International, the program is a state-level agency program, but funded by a city.

A 40-minute trip in a light aircraft – or a five-hour ferry ride – separates the north side of the Comau Peninsula and Puerto Montt in Chile. Bumpy dirt roads, artisanal fishing vessels, as well as national and private parks dominate part of the landscape nearby. It is also where egg producer AquaGen had set up its breeding facility.

The last several months have seen a variety of vandalism incidents at hatcheries around the world that led to the loss of fish and related capital. While it varies from case to case whether these incidents appear to have been politically motivated, specifically targeted or are merely random acts of vandalism, they do have some hatchery operators talking about their security measures and what is required to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

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.

Research efforts are underway in Canada to look at how epigenetics may have the answer to improving salmon survival rates in hatcheries.

A new multistakeholder collaboration in Europe is aiming to improve the health of farmed salmon by finding ways to better understand the risk factors associated with gill disease.

Researchers in the Philippines are providing fish farmers new options to pull down feed costs without comprising fish performance.

Genomic selection provides an efficient solution to the perennial issue of early maturation in Atlantic salmon, which could lead to reduced growth, poor flesh quality and mortality.

Formulated diets of astaxanthin and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) promoted the best reproductive performance of purple mangrove crab Scylla tranquebarica, according to a study conducted in Malaysia.

Striking the right balance between darkness and light enhances the viability of hybrid catfish Heterobranchus bidorsalis x. Clarias gariepinus in its early life stage, according to a study conducted in Nigeria, where catfish is the leading aquaculture product.

The high mortality rate of green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) spat shortly after they are seeded onto nursery ropes has been linked to feeding delivery.

NEW ZEALAND - New Zealand-based independent science organization Cawthron Institute opened its new Finfish Research Centre located at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park near Nelson, New Zealand on Tuesday.

Mixed feeding schedules, based on ad hoc circadian patterns, may be instrumental to optimize fish oil use in aquafeeds, maintain the targeted omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids in fish tissues and ultimately support the further growth of an environmentally sustainable and economically viable aquaculture industry.

U.S.-based biotechnology company White Dog Labs (WDL) has announced that independent testing by the Center for Aquaculture Technologies in Canada (CATC) has demonstrated the potential benefit of ProTyton, a single-cell protein (SCP), to shrimp farming. Initial studies demonstrated that inclusion of ProTyton into a CATC reference diet reduces mortality of whiteleg shrimp compared to a commercial diet when challenged by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vpa) — the aetiological agent of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND), and commonly referred to as EMS.

Aquaculture is relatively new in Mozambique, but the culture of freshwater species such as tilapia has existed for decades. High in protein value and palatability, tilapia are a key focus due to their high growth rate and ability to breed easily and naturally in captivity.

NORWAY – Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC) recently expanded its Lerang Research Station in Stavanger, Norway to include a “state-of-the-art” recirculation hall. The company says the expansion will enable researchers to conduct precise experiments on its latest closed system feed formulations in strict, closely monitored environmental conditions.

Dubai’s Vikings Label plans to build a large, land-based salmon farm, and has tapped Gråkjær to be its contractor.

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has come out solidly behind Grieg NL Seafarms Ltd's massive aquaculture project with the announcement by Premier Dwight Ball of a $30-million investment from the government.

The Fynest Caviar Co. can now proceed with finalizing plans to build a closed containment RAS on Loch Fyne in Cairndow, Scotland after the concept received the go-ahead from Argyll and Bute council’s planning committee.

Kingfish Zeeland, which operates a new RAS production facility for yellowtail kingfish (Seriola Lalandi) in the Netherlands, has confirmed that it’s started to sell product into the United States through its Florida partner Candor Seafood.

Ideal Fish has officially opened its brand new land-based aquaponic facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the United States, spanning 63,000-sq-ft of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS).

I remember when “organic” was just a basket full of spotted apples in the corner of the produce section. It’s not that anymore.  

Compared to on-shore grow-out farms, where water is pumped through tanks and raceways, fish hatcheries and nurseries use significantly less water. The reason is that the biomass produced in these facilities is normally 10 to 100 times smaller than in grow-out farms. So, why is there a need for RAS technologies in fish hatcheries?

A freshwater director for one of the world’s leading salmon producers explains how closed containment fits into the company’s corporate strategy going forward.

Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) present us with an alternative to seawater net-pen aquaculture.  The recent struggles with net pen licenses, and legislation in general, have made it difficult in many countries to expand current sea farms or create new ones.  

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 Tru Shrimp Company has signed an agreement with the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii Pacific University to develop a nucleus shrimp breeding program in the U.S. Under the agreement, Oceanic Institute will supply Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) breeding stock selected and developed exclusively for Tru Shrimp.

Aquaculture biotechnology firm Benchmark and salmon producer AquaChile have announced a breeding and genetics joint venture to form a new genetics company that will create a "world-class salmon breeding operation," according to a statement from Benchmark.

Riverence Hatchery in Washington state is putting the final touches to a state-of-the-art egg production facility, aiding their quest to grow and support the salmonid farming industry in the United States.

Croatia’s Cromaris has hired Scotland’s Xelect Ltd to render genetic services for the bream and bass producer. Under the agreement Xelect will provide complete genetic management service to Cromaris’ selective breeding program.

Through a grassroots-approach, a USAID-funded program is offering a solution for sub-Saharan Africa's fish farmers' perennial problem of sourcing catfish fingerlings.

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.

A rare trout makes its home in the upper reaches of the Gila River of New Mexico and Arizona. The Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae) is native only to small headwater streams where it was landlocked thousands of years ago from sea-run Oncorhynchus species.

The freshwater pearl mussel is under threat of extinction across England with most remaining populations under severe decline. Now, a new conservation project by the UK Environment Agency's Kielder Salmon Centre is using sea trout to help the mussels flourish once again.

NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) has started altering stocking times and location to optimize survival of Atlantic salmon smolts migrating down Maine's Narraguagus River into the Gulf of Maine on America's eastern seaboard.

How efforts by government agencies in California contributed to a record salmon return at the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery

Adsorptech will be launching a new oxygen generator design dedicated to recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fish farms at RAStech in May 2019.

Middlesex, N.J. – Adsorptech will be launching a new oxygen generator design dedicated to recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fish farms at RAStech in May 2019.

The reliable production of high quality offspring is paramount for successful aquaculture. This is true for both a shift from quantity to quality in established species as well as for closing the lifecycle of new candidate species. High mortality rates can occur in hatcheries if abiotic and biotic conditions are not within tightly framed optima, which is a consequence of the reproductive strategy of many teleost fish species.

A probiotic supplement that boosts the survival of oyster larvae exposed to pathogens is now ready for commercialization.

FloatPac, owners of FishPac live seafood transportation systems, have announced the first successful shipments of live salmon parr fingerlings (Salmo salar), from Scotland to Dubai.

AquaTactics Fish Health has a new addition to its team of fish health experts. Dr. Kyle Farmer is the company's new veterinarian and professional services manager, providing fish health consultation and fish health medicine support to public stock enhancement facilities and private aquaculture clients, both nationally and internationally, the company said.

Earlier this year BernAqua announced that it had received organic certification for some of its hatchery feed products. Based in Belgium, BernAqua specialises in advanced nutrition and environmental solutions for hatcheries.

The team at Innovaqua, a Spanish company specialising in aquaculture technology, is responsible for the design and manufacture of the Mirafeed system.

Global fish feed producer BioMar is investing to increase production of fry and RAS feeds at its factory in Denmark, following an upward trend in the company’s sales volumes.  

Evonik, one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals, has launched a new software tool that gives amino acid recommendations for optimizing tilapia feed. AminoTilapia was built following a factorial modelling approach and allows users to optimize amino acid regulations for different growth stages of tilapia, by simulating different production scenarios.

The 2018 Global Aquaculture Innovation Award has announces it is now accepting applications for the sixth annual competition.