Volume 18 Issue 2 MARCH/APRIL 2017
RISK MANAGEMENT
EUROPEAN FOREC AST
Insurance Tailored for Hatcheries
Boom and Bust in the Med Are sea bass and sea bream hatcheries in the Mediterranean setting the stage for another industry crisis?
With natural disasters, disease, facility breakdowns and other calamities facing hatchery managers the world over, insurance brokers provide insurance tailored to companies in the broodstock, hatching and fingerling production sectors.
BY DIOGO THOMAZ
any aquaculture sectors have bumpy starts that can ultimately last a few decades. The best example, and the first real modern aquaculture industry, is salmon farming in Northern Europe. Since the 1970s the salmon sector has boomed and crashed several times, with feed companies having to bailout most producers and Last year (2016) saw a spike then selling them again to private investors, with in production of sea bass and sea bream fry in the countries like Norway Mediterranean region. Will providing support to this lead to a surplus of keep it alive. market fish going forward? Bass and bream farming in the Mediterranean is no exception as are the Pangasius and barramundi industries in Asia. In this article I want to combine data from two interrelated articles I wrote for Hatchery International, and also send out an alert to companies in the Mediterranean regarding a likely upcoming bust if nothing is done to change course.
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BY ERICH LUENING
ndependent hatcheries can often get the same coverage as the largest fish farming companies according to executives at Aquaculture Insurance Exchange (AIE) and France-based AquaSecure. Both companies represent a growing number of niche and traditional insurance firms targeting the aquaculture industry over the last decade, with interest sparked by the current and future growth of the finfish and shellfish farming sectors. “Our specific insurance policy AquaSecure is also made to cover fish hatcheries,” says Cédric Audor, an AquaSecure insurance broker. “And I can confirm there is no problem for us to cover a hatchery business as if it’s not part of a farm.”
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Climactic events, disease, water quality, mechanical breakdowns, algae blooms, and broodstock health and sustainability are just some of the risk management parameters brokers assess in developing policies for finfish and shellfish hatchery businesses. At the Aquaculture Insurance Exchange finfish and shellfish hatcheries are catered to based on their needs and risk assessments. “The insurance can be very flexible, from all-risk protection to just hatchery business owners naming one specific peril, like fungus. There are a lot of options and it’s up to the owners to pick and choose based on their situations,” notes Aquaculture Insurance Exchange (AIE) aquaculture specialist Megan Sorby.
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TASMANIAN EEL EXPORTERS
New RAS adds value to wild-caught stock
M I S M AT C H I M PA C T S
Australia’s most progressive eel harvesting company has just become more so BY JOHN MOSIG
he Finlayson family— patriarch Wayne and sons Brad and Shaun— of Bagdad, 40km north of Hobart, Tasmania are building a recirculating aquaculture system to grow-on eels (Anguilla australis) captured in the wild. The Finlayson’s story began in 1964 when Wayne’s father was the only person to apply for an eel fishing license when they were first offered. The fishery followed a Wild-caught eels, fresh from the net. (TEE photo) checkered path but by the 1990s the
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Tasmanian government recognized the potential of hundreds of fresh water storage reservoirs and restructured the fishery. Now, with secure license tenure, eel fishing has a solid commercial status and has given Tasmanian Eel Exporters the confidence to invest in its future. BIGGER IS BETTER
Already exporting to four countries, the company has realized that the only way to sustainably increase its business is to increase the size
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In 2009 I wrote about the impact of long production cycles on mismatches between supply and demand as the main cause of boom and bust cycles
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