Volume 21 Issue 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
OUTLOOK
PROFILE
High-tech future Disruptive technologies making their way to aquaculture farms
BY JEAN KO DIN
quaculture has exactly 10 years to meet the global seafood demand by 2030. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the industry will need to supply two-thirds of the world’s seafood requirements or risk the world facing a seafood shortage of 50-80 million metric tons. As we enter a new decade, there are technological pioneers in the industry that are helping drive aquaculture into the future.
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DESIGNER FISH
As the industry looks to more sustainable ways to increase production, the Centre for Aquaculture Technologies Canada (CATC) is investing its resources on gene editing technology. Executive vice-president of research Debbie Plouffe says the future of aquaculture is in genetically-designed fish that are tolerant of warmer climates, disease-resistant and reproductively sterile. “Different industries within the aquaculture industry probably fall somewhere in the continuum of genetic improvement but towards the most disruptive end of the continuum, is gene editing technology and that’s where
Brian Dixon holding a Chinook broodfish at a B.C. hatchery. Dixon is studying fish genomes that will make the species more resistant to disease.
we spend a lot of time in R&D,” says Plouffe. Plouffe is a molecular and cell biologist with a specialty in fish immunology and fish health. She has conducted leading research projects in the industry for 12 years. She currently oversees several new projects and collaborations from the CATC facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Plouffe says gene editing of fish species offers several opportunities to increase high-quality production for farmers. In fact, many organizations are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in gene editing tools that make fish species resistant to more pathogens. The Centre is also collaborating on a new consortium funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency looking to identify genetic markers in Atlantic salmon associated with tolerance to higher water temperatures. This also includes response to vaccinations and response to pathogens under these conditions. continued on page 10
ISSUES
INDUSTRY VS ACTIVIST: Finding a middle ground
Hatchery expansion plans in Newfoundland, Canada, spark activist protest BY MATT JONES
onflict between environmental groups and the aquaculture industry is nothing new. The industry around the world is regularly met with harsh criticisms from activists over alleged environmental impacts. Is the aquaculture industry doing enough to address these concerns? And is there any common ground to be found with these groups, to work with them to address misinformation? Hatchery International spoke with representatives on both sides to find out. This acrimony has been brought into sharp focus in Newfoundland this year, as activists have raised concern about MOWI operations, including pursuing legal action over a perceived incomplete environmental assessment process for the company’s Indian Head Hatchery expansion project, as well as Mark Lane, executive director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry the mortality of 2.6 million salmon at the company’s net pens in Fortune Bay. Association, is stunned by how quickly
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THE CONTENTION
Dr. Stephen Sutton of the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) points out the environmental assessment for the hatchery facility expansion itself is not the issue. The concern is the open-net pens where the additional fish will end up
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the narrative around the industry shifted. In late September, NAIA hosted 600 participants for the 2019 Cold Harvest conference and trade show. Days later, he found himself defending the industry from criticism following 2.6 million salmon mortalities at a MOWI farm.
Broodstock fed with a diet of dried krill and commercial feed produces more eggs and healthy fingerlings. (All Photos by Fisheries Production and Support Services Division, BFAR Region 2)
Green water
Filipino tilapia hatchery operator shows innovation is king BY RUBY GONZALEZ
reen water technology and achieving sexreversal in a fifth of a time of the normal procedure are just some innovations practiced at JAVE Farms in the Philippines. And these have been attracting attention all over the country. “JAVE Farm now serves as model aquaculture farm in Region 2 in [Northern Philippines]. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) clients such as existing hatchery operators, interested fish farmers and students are usually referred to visit JAVE Farm to learn from the innovation and hatchery management of the owner, Mr. Vicente Lugagay,” Dr. Severina Bueno, BFAR Region 2 chief of fisheries production and support services division, tells Hatchery International. Other innovations developed by Lugagay include producing his own probiotics, cutting down feed costs and water pollution, designing and developing a special pump using the aeration principle, and using lambanog, a local nipa palm wine, instead of ethyl alcohol in preparing sex-reversal tilapia feeds. Lugagay, 55 years old, has owned and operated
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