Wednesday, June 13, 6.12 p.m. CET

Move over, salmon - it's shrimp's turn

This year at AquaVision there was a great focus on shrimp farming genetics, technologies, feeding systems, feed formulations… and very little on salmon.

The reason? A shift of attention from the feed industry towards the shrimp farming sector driven by an immense opportunity, and need, for improvement in all these areas.

While salmon continues to be the main species in terms of volumes for aquaculture feed companies, it is a very advanced industry, while shrimp farming lacks all those improvements that are seen as opportunities for all stakeholders.

"In shrimp farming there is a lot of room for growth, the technologies that are used daily in salmon farming are still not applied to shrimp farming," Jose Antonio Camposano, president of Ecuador’s Camara Nacional de Acuacultura said.

“There is a shift towards research and development in shrimp."

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Wednesday, June 13, 12.52 p.m. CET

The moment is now

For a pioneer of aquaculture sustainability, a former shrimp farmer, current corporate sustainability director at Nutreco, and a crucial figure in the creation of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), the momentum that the industry is enjoying right now is an encouraging reaffirmation of the efforts of the past three decades.

"In Nutreco we don’t just work to do more with less, but to do so in the right places, helping developing communities, and teaching them how to farm sustainably,” Jose Villalon said.

“We are engaged with raising these communities out of poverty, and it’s not about philanthropy, we do this in places where we sell our products and in places where we operate, creating value and a sustainable industry.”

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Wednesday, June 13, 12.32 p.m. CET

Stepping up the fight against plastic

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden on Wednesday addressed the audience at AquaVision with a very clear message.

“Oxygen, drinking water, healthy food, the list goes on of all the things the oceans give us for free. What do we give back? I’m afraid the list is also long: Antibiotics, fertilizers, tranquilizers and of course… plastic," she said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to take for granted all the oceans give us, we need to grant the ocean something back.”

The challenges are enormous, but the industry has started to work on them.

“Representatives of the aquaculture industry, your business is and will be crucial for feeding populations, we need you, and for this we need healthy oceans," Princess Victoria said. "I am glad to see you taking action for a sustainable seafood industry.

“In the fight against poverty, inequality and climate change, the global goals for sustainable development are inspiring tools, but let’s not forget, the goals by themselves don’t change the world, people do. You do.”

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Wednesday, June 13, 10.42 a.m. CET

Accelerating tilapia farming in Africa

In an attempt to reduce the gap between supply and demand for proteins in Africa, tilapia firm Victory Farms is looking for further partnerships and collaboration, said CEO Josep Rehmann.

The company has operated in Kenya for two years, and has all fundamentals in place, but the understanding of the industry in the country is very low, he said.

Over the last decades, wild fish catch of tilapia in Africa has practically disappeared, leading to a significant increase in imports from farmed tilapia from China.

“Africa should be a net fish producer by very significant margins,” said Rehmann.

Although many challenges remain, such as the very impoverished population, disease affecting a large part of the workforce, low technological advances, and a labor-intensive production chain, the awareness and support of the Kenyan government gave a big push to this business.

“The response from the government was very fast. Politicians are very engaged in food security matters and the growth in the industry,” Rehmann said.

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Wednesday, June 13, 9.53 a.m. CET

West Coast, Skretting to target 'massive tilapia' opportunity in India

The sudden growth in India’s shrimp industry is increasing the gap between production and technological advances.

The entry of Skretting through the recently announced joint venture with West Coast is expected to bridge that gap and up the game in terms of technology in shrimp feed production in the country.

“India needs to improve in sustainability, it requires a lot of technology, support, education, and collaboration,” said Kamlesh Gupta, owner of West Coast.

But shrimp is not the only attractive sector in the country.

“That’s why we married Skretting, we have huge potential for shrimp, and we are also doing some important progress on tilapia, which we think will play an important role in India’s domestic fish consumption," Gupta said. "By the time this happens, Skretting will already be established there.”

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Wednesday, June 13, 9.29 a.m. CET

'Stay relevant!'

Is technology the solution to the obsolescence of an industry? Not necessarily.

It’s easy to assume that technology is disrupting industries, but what really is driving the change are consumers themselves.

The value of businesses is not so much based on the assets of a company anymore, but on how relevant a company is to the consumer, said Ken Hughes, director of Glacier Consulting, and an expert in shoppers' behavior.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, but you need to stay relevant, that’s the only thing that matters,” said Hugles.

“The future that we’re living isn’t about technology, what’s going to solve you from becoming an obsolete industry is offering solutions to respond to people’s needs.”

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Tuesday, June 12, 3.38 p.m. CET

Is the shrimp industry advancing fast enough?

Disease outbreaks in the shrimp industry must be overcome through innovation in all phases of the production chain, George Chamberlain, President of Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), said Tuesday at the AquaVision conference.

The industry continues to offer significant opportunities, but disease cycles repeating over and over again in different parts of the planet hinder the growth of the sector.

The current status of the shrimp market, with prices “below break-even point for a lot of farmers around the world,” can be prevented by adding value to the final product with higher investment in improvements, research and development.

Chamberlain, who is also manager of Hendrix Genetics-owned shrimp farming technology firm Kona Bay in Hawaii, believes innovation should come from the different phases of the chain, but particularly from breeding.

“Breeding is the primary driver of improvement, it is reasonable to expect a 10 percent improvement in aquaculture breeding in every generation,“ he said.

The opportunity in optimizing breeding models is higher than in any other protein sector, especially given the advances in salmon, tilapia and shrimp over the past decades.

“There is a lot of room for improvement in growth, multi-pathogen resistance, reproductive performance, soy tolerance,” he said.

“We found for example that some families of shrimp do very well on vegetable diets, even better than on fishmeal diets.”

Innovation, he said, is increasing production control and efficiency, but greater transparency and trust are needed to structure the market for transformational growth.

The replacement of artemia and live feed in the hatchery phase, increased efficiency of recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS) in shrimp nurseries, improvements on feed palatability and reliance on marine ingredients, water reusing in grow-out systems, and better automation to increase the value of the final product and optimize traceability are just some of the challenges that are being tackled and need to be solved to achieve an optimal level of performance in the shrimp industry.

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Tuesday, June 12, 12.34 p.m. CET

It’s time to change the shrimp farming game

Jose Antonio Camposano, president of the Camara Nacional de Acuacultura of Ecuador, called on industry leaders to do better.

“Of all the antibiotics used in the world, 80 percent is used by the food production industry, and much of it by aquaculture," he said. "We can all do better."

It's time for a change, he urged, because it's a race to the bottom that is only corrected by the rules of the market.

“We must act now, we must change the game that we have been playing for so long. Prices should not motivate change," Camposano said. “Change must come to motivate performance, to shape the future of aquaculture in the right direction.”

A new vision should drive and shape the future of aquaculture.

“Don’t stay in the comfort zone, let’s change the game. I know it is completely possible because I saw it happened in Ecuador,” he said, referring to the reduction of antibiotics in shrimp farming in the country over the past years.

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Tuesday, June 12, 12.23 p.m. CET

Investment the only way to meet Africa's growing fish demand

More than half of the growth in global population through 2050 is likely to occur in Africa, the only continent with a per capita consumption of fish of under 10 kilograms per person per year. This figure falls even below 9 kilos per person in Sub-Saharan Africa.

So, how can Africa meet its demand for fish?

"Without aquaculture, Africa would not be able to supply this demand without importing significant amounts," said Gareth Johnstone, director General of WorldFish. He presented three different possible scenarios in the medium-term in Africa based on the current situation.

The first one, business as usual, would see no investment in aquaculture on the continent, which would result in Africa being the only continent in which aquaculture would provide less fish than wild capture by 2050.

According to different contrasted studies, and based on this scenario, wild fishing would account for 9.2 million metric tons in 2050 while aquaculture would only bring in 2.9 million metric tons of fish.

The second scenario is investment across the continent. This would result in a small deficit between imports and exports, and a small increase in consumption per capita.

However, with high investment in the sector and the impact of increased GDP, there could be a big increase in per capita fish consumption, to around 18 kilograms per person a year.

“When you start to put in the factors with people making choices, putting in extra money, people will make the decision to eat healthier,” Johnstone said.

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Tuesday, June 12, 11.45 a.m. CET

How can companies build trust?

The results of a recent survey conducted in Norway among youngsters were surprising and somewhat disappointing for the aquaculture industry. Around 89 percent of participants agreed there is a lack of ambassadors in the sector, while 90 percent believed there is a culture centered around solving problems, rather than preventing them.

"A good reputation is a must in Norway," said Nina Grieg, business development manager of Grieg Seafood.

"Reputation has become a critical issue not just for salmon as a sustainable product, but for companies and their responsibility within society."

The first recommendation given to the audience at AquaVision was to let leaders be more visible, active, and personal in the public debate.

"Letting people know that we care, and they can trust us to solve the challenges and make the changes,” Grieg said.

Transparency, commitment and collaboration are key drivers of trust, and it will become more and more important for the food industry in its task to feed the world.

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Tuesday, June 12, 10.38 a.m. CET

Scrutiny over increasingly consolidated Norwegian industry

“Where I see cooperation, some see conspiracy, where I see dialogue, some see corruption," said Geir Ove Ystmark of Sjømat Norge. "The political pressure is immense, I believe in the Nordic model is what has helped us achieve what we have, but it is under attack."

This statement drew much interest from the audience at AquaVision.

According to Ystmark, the threat to the Nordic model has not to do with the concentration of power in just a few wealthy hands, as one member of the audience suggested, but is about globalization and a model that does not follow the Nordic mindset.

“I believe in the Nordic model and I will defend it, I hope you will join me.”

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Tuesday, June 12, 10.23 a.m. CET

Aquaculture and the Nordic model

The Nordic model, a system based on trust, honesty, transparency and commitment, sets out values considered as essential in Norwegian business life -- and is the pillar of aquaculture's sustainable growth in the country.

Going back over a century in history, Norwegian companies reached an agreement to go from conflict to dialogue, a principle that still today marks the way Norwegians do business, and that has prevailed despite challenges.

“The aquaculture industry is a trial of the Nordic model,” said Geir Ove Ystmark, CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Federation (Sjømat Norge).

“Yes, we had the natural conditions for it, but without cooperation, without the collaboration between entrepreneurs, researchers, the government and the industry, the aquaculture industry we have today would have been impossible.”

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Tuesday, June 12, 9.42 a.m. CET

Nutreco CEO: Disease management the 'key challenge in aquaculture today'

The biggest challenge in aquaculture today? That's clearly disease management, according to Knut Nesse, CEO of Nutreco, parent of aquaculture feed giant Skretting.

Speaking of the annual growth of different species in the aquaculture industry, Nesse compared similar patterns between salmon, shrimp and tilapia.

After a period of growth between 2003 and 2013 a turning point came, with diseases spreading and kicking off a slow-down in production.

“Since 2013, Norway hasn’t been able to increase the production of salmon significantly,” Nesse said.

“We saw it also in shrimp, when diseases such as the whitespot and the Early Mortality Syndrome [EMS] came into play, and also in Chile,” he said.

“If I’m going to try to put a few words on what the challenges are, some are farming practices, and also the culture of the cage farming system we have, for example in salmon, which gives a lot of exposure to natural conditions and sometimes is in conflict with the wild, but most of all, it’s the ability to manage diseases.”

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Tuesday, June 12, 9.00 a.m. CET

Global aquaculture leaders gather for AquaVision in Stavanger

Aquaculture leaders from across the world come together in Stavanger this week for the start of the 12th edition of the AquaVision conference, organized by feed giant Nutreco and held over the next two days.

Almost 450 participants from 45 countries -- including a 45-strong delegation from Chile -- will hear today from keynote speaker Ban-Ki moon, secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007-2016.

On Wednesday, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will address the conference on the subject of ‘The Ocean Challenge and SeaBos,' an initiative to save the oceans.

Other speakers include Economist Ragnar Tveteras, Jose Antonio Camposano, executive president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture in Ecuador, Skretting's Viggo Halseth, outgoing Nutreco CEO Knut Nesse, George Chamberlain, president of Global Aquaculture Alliance, and others.

Click here to see the full conference program and keep checking back for all the news from the event here.

Aquaculture

AquaVision 2018: Move over salmon. It's time for shrimp