Debates and good-natured arguments are a normal part of family dinners at the Mallet home in New Brunswick, Canada. Even as a child, Martin Mallet recalls family dinners as affairs where conversations were greatly encouraged. His father, André, has a PhD in Marine Biology so it is not surprising that Martin would end up as a scientist as well.

The decline in post-larval (PL) shrimp survival rate and closure last year of the biggest shrimp hatchery in the U.S. have led some growers to put up their own hatcheries for self-sufficiency.

Joel Sims is a man on a mission. The hatchery and nursery owner in the Philippines wants to elevate the status of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) as the “new green fish” and the country’s answer to food security.

As the global demand for quality seafood rises, fish farmers are recognizing the need to gain greater control over their operations. More farms are exploring ways to create smarter, more sustainable operations and land-based aquaculture is emerging as a viable way to reduce risk and maximize profitability.

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.

A recent study from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, U.S.A., found taste is essential to feed efficiency and growth when using plant-based protein feeds.

African researchers are pushing for inclusion of moringa leaf powder in fishmeal for the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), following the results of their study. The flesh of fry fed solely with the leaf powder showed higher protein content compared to those fed with fishmeal.

Given the unique nature of each RAS facility, maintaining a catalog of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) specific to your site is helpful. SOPs describe how essential routine tasks at the facility should be performed to meet quality standards. Up-to-date SOPs are a useful tool for training new hires and are a guide for continuity and quality assurance between staffing changes and work shifts.

The potential to breed salmon with enhanced resilience to gill infections and other health issues, such as sea lice, is a core part of a new £3.5 million (US$4.6 million) Scottish research and development initiative.

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.

Washington, D.C. – RAStech 2019 conference and tradeshow was held May 13 and 14 and attended by nearly 275 aquaculture professionals from 21 countries. This RAS-focused event brought together industry, academia and suppliers to engage, network and share knowledge about the current and future prospects for recirculating aquaculture systems. Join us again at RAStech 2020, to be held on Nov. 2 and 3, 2020, in South Carolina. Check back with us at www.ras-tec.com for updates. In the meantime, here are some highlights from the event in snapshots, plus check out our editorial coverage. Close to 275 attendees from 21 countries Close to 275 attendees from 21 countries Conference director David Kuhn, welcoming our attendees during the opening session Conference director David Kuhn, welcoming our attendees during the opening session Aquabounty president and CEO Sylvia Wulf delivering her opening keynote Aquabounty president and CEO Sylvia Wulf delivering her opening keynote An update on the RAS-reared AquAdvantage salmon An update on the RAS-reared AquAdvantage salmon Aquabounty chief operating officer Alejandro Rojas says industry needs to engage educational institutions to develop the necessary skills needed for... Aquabounty chief operating officer Alejandro Rojas says industry needs to engage educational institutions to develop the necessary skills needed for... RAStech 2019 tradeshow RAStech 2019 tradeshow RAS Energy Optimization session RAS Energy Optimization session   View the embedded image gallery online at: https://www.hatcheryinternational.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=latest&layout=latest&Itemid=1#sigProGalleria0c26d15a6f

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and developments in biotechnology will help address the world's increasing food supply challenges, said Sylvia Wulf, president and CEO of Aquabounty in her keynote address at RAStech 2019.

Membrane biological reactors (MBRs) are used for municipal, industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment to remove nutrients, organics and solids from concentrated effluents. MBRs utilize fine-pore membranes (typically < 0.1 µm) that create a clean, low-solids filtrate, while associated aerobic and anoxic processes functioning within an activated sludge facilitate nitrification and denitrification, respectively.

The potential of aquaculture as a sustainable food production system is very promising. This is a statement I often hear at aquaculture conferences and events.

Spots are now completely sold out for the highly anticipated RAStech 2019 Conference being held in Washington, DC May 13–14.

Feed is the primary external input to recirculating aquaculture systems. It is therefore essential to design the feed correctly, as in RAS, we are not only feeding the fish, but also feeding the system.   

"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.

A state-of-the-art fish farm was recently launched near the city of Aktobe, Kazakhstan, by a local company, Murager 22. The new farm includes a hatchery, where the company plans to breed unique fish species.

Fish breeders in Brazil stand to benefit from a recent collaboration between the Aquaculture Centre of Sao Paulo State University and a genetics-based research group at Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.  

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).

The Philippine government bats to address the challenges impeding the growth of the Philippine mussel industry with the Mussel Industry Strategic S&T Program.

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.

Hundreds of surrogate “fish” will be put to work at dams around the world through an agreement between Isanti, Minn.-based Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS) and Richland, Wash.-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to improve operations and increase sustainability.

Biopharmaceutical company Merck Animal Health has announced its Aqua Care365 initiative to support fish farmers in their efforts to provide the best quality care for their operations.

Cargill Aqua Nutrition (CQN) now offers starter products for both freshwater and marine species, finfish and crustaceans, and in various forms to allow maximum flexibility to support early rearing needs.

SentrOXY WQM, is a smart optical sensor from Sentronic. There are two available sensor options – WQM C30 and WQM C31 – both innovative devices that accurately measure the level of dissolved oxygen in water, even in the harshest environment, the company said.

On April 23, 2019, all shares in aquaculture R&D company The Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CAT), were purchased by Cuna Del Mar LP (CDM), a US-based aquaculture investment fund, for an undisclosed amount from Linnaeus Capital Partners BV.

Scalable oxygen-generating systems manufacturer for glass blowers in North America High Volume Oxygen (HVO) has announced the production of a new, small-scale system dubbed the “HVO 2-Go.” The company previously only sold models that included a storage tank. The small form factor of the new “2-Go” produces 10 to 60 LPM and enables it to be delivered anywhere in the continental USA for a shipping cost of about $100.

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.