Volume 20 Issue 6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
TOP 10 UNDER 40
OPPORTUNIT Y
Get to know some of the world's most exceptional young hatchery professionals
Fishers to farmers Businesses eye huge potential for kelp culture in Alaska BY TOM WALKER
he recent expansion of kelp farming in Alaska has Julie Decker, chair of the Alaska Mariculture Task Force, excited. “The 2018 Alaska Mariculture Development Plan aims to grow the mariculture industry in Alaska by $100 million in the next 20 years,” Decker explains. “The new applications we have seen from kelp farmers over the last two years are pretty exciting.” Wild fish capture is still king in Alaska, where growing fin fish is illegal. That leaves mariculture, the farming of all other aquatic species, to balance the highly seasonal work of ocean fishing. Oysters are the top cultured species in the state. But the industry for sugar kelp (saccharina) and ribbon kelp (alaria) is expanding. “Folks are really starting to show an interest in kelp,” says Decker. “This spring was our third commercial harvest in the state.” In 2017, just over 16,500 wet pounds were harvested, with 89,300 pounds in 2018. Decker expects the 2019 haul to be between 126,000 and 200,000 wet pounds.
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BY MARI-LEN DE GUZMAN
ork at a hatchery can be one of the most demanding, delicate, complex, stressful, and at times, isolating job for any young worker. The long hours, the remoteness, and the 24/7 nature of the job make it an occupation that is not for the faint of heart. But not so for these young hatchery aficionados, who continue to show commitment and dedication to the craft – and the fish or shellfish under their care.
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Hatchery International’s search for the top young professionals in the hatchery sector across the globe introduced our team to some of the greatest talents in the industry. All the nominations received were impressive and the editorial team had the difficult task of narrowing down the candidates to the top 10. continued on page 11
COLL ABORATION
Model hatchery
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Public-private partnership aims to boost tilapia production in Timor-Leste BY BONNIE WAYCOTT
here’s high hopes for a new tilapia hatchery in East Timor in Southeast Asia, which not only promises to improve the livelihood of fish farmers but also ramp up aquaculture and food security in that region. Dubbed as Timor-Leste’s first public-private partnership (PPP) model tilapia hatchery, the facility opened in June 2019, in Leohitu, Bobonaro, and is intended to increase the availability of and access to high-quality, genetically-improved farmed tilapia (GIFT).
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