Aquaculture

Objective evaluation criteria still lacking for many fish species People keep animals for various reasons. Pets can be companions, they can play a part in hobbies or pastimes, or they can serve as test organisms in the laboratory. And of course – as farm animals – they are used for food purposes. In affluent countries, a change in values is currently taking place that is fundamentally questioning the right to use and exploit animals. Animal welfare is an increasingly significant aspect of successful marketing.   This article was featured in EUROFISH Magazine 5/2019.

Aquaculture continues to grow faster than other major food production sectors reports the FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 (SOFIA). In the last few years this statement has become a motto for the European aquaculture sector to persuade local, regional, national and European regulators to develop consistent strategies and programmes to replicate global growth in the sector at the European level.

Fish oil is not available in sufficient quantities to meet the growing needs of the aquaculture and nutraceutical industries. Although essential omega-3 fatty acids are also to be found in microalgae, production capacity has so far been low. That is now changing, however, and developments in this field are making rapid progress. The first feeds for aquaculture with omega-3 fatty acids from algae are now available on the market.

The Republic of Karelia is known as the principle region for cold-water fish farming, and especially for rainbow trout. Karelia differs from other regions of the North-Western district of Russia by its natural conditions which include a large number of deep-water reservoirs with high-quality water at the right temperature.

Demand for fish and seafood products is growing throughout the world. Although catches from the fishing sector have stagnated since the 1990s per capita supply worldwide has increased. This is mainly due to global aquaculture which is growing year by year at impressive rates of between 6 and 8 per cent. In spite of this, fish farming is still criticised and its image is in many places far from good.

St. Petersburg, the “Venice of the North”, hosted the second edition of the Global Fishery Forum and Seafood Expo Russia on 13-15 September 2018. The event centered on what to expect from the global fisheries industry and markets in the coming decades.

Aquaculture insurances are one of the most difficult fields of insurance and for that reason alone it is wise to choose a partner with experience in this area.

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), growing multiple species from different trophic levels in a system that reduces the impact of the cultivation on the environment, is potentially a way of rethinking aquaculture as it is known in the west.

The EU Commission has adopted the implementing rules of organic aquaculture in the new EU Organic Regulation. The rules are geared to what is practicable and constitute only the smallest common denominator upon which all participants could agree after lengthy discussions. As was to be expected, their publication was soon followed by criticism…