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Twenty-nine Danish suppliers in the global fishing, aquaculture and seafood processing industries will travel to Trondheim Spektrum, Norway for this years Aqua Nor conference. The conglomerate of Danish suppliers represents Fish Tech, Danish Export Association, the largest group of Danish suppliers in the fishing equipment sector. Head of Fish Tech Martin Winkel expects this year’s Aqua Nor conference to be especially remarkable because of shifting market forces that are demanding more sustainable products. ”Accordingly, [this shift] offers great potential for Danish suppliers that hold a position as front-runners in developing new technology with a strong focus on high quality solutions, cost-efficiency and sustainability,” Martin said. 

On 12 September over 7,000 food industry specialists from 11 different countries will flock to Warsaw, Poland to see the latest and greatest of the Polish agri-food sector. The Ptak Warsaw Expo, the largest food fair in Poland, is an opportunity for producers to present their food to representatives of the largest retail chains in Poland and foreign purchasing groups in the HoReCa industry. The event aims to promote the Polish food sector both domestically and abroad by facilitating an opportunity to establish direct business contracts. This year thee will be buyers from all over the world including the Ukraine, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, China, Tukey and Azerbaijan.

Falling fish population across the world are prompting innovators to look to the lab to find new ways at producing inexpensive fish products. Globally, demand for salmon has skyrocketed, along with demand for all fish, fueling overfishing and threatening the stocks of many fisheries. Fish and seafood now account for almost a fifth of the animal protein people consume making the need for a solution to a potential seafood shortage urgent. Maynard, United States based AquaBounty Technologies is hoping its genetically modified version of Atlantic salmon, which is says grows twice as fast as normal salmon, will soon become a top consumer choice. The company raises the salmon in land-based production systems that eliminate the various risks to wild fish, humans and the environment posed by farmed salmon.

Surviving in a competitive marketplace is increasingly dependent on the effective implementation of information technology for process control and automation.  Technology in this sector is evolving rapidly, especially with the recent proliferation of virtual reality. Fortunately, on 25 September, Marel, a supplier of integrated systems and machines for the meat, fish and poultry industries will host the Whitefish Showhow in Progress Point, Copenhagen addressing these themes. The conference will showcase the latest high-tech processing solutions for fish products. Demonstrations of Marel equipment and software will run all day. In addition to live demonstrations, visitors will also be able to experience cutting-edge innovation and technology via virtual reality. The upcoming event is Marel’s fifth edition of the Whitefish Showhow.

Turkeys aquaculture exports during this season reached $582.2 million, a 9 percent increase compared to the same period last year according to the Eastern Black Sea Exports Association. Some 118,954 tonnes of aquaculture products were exported between September 1 and April 15, 2019.The Netherlands, Japan and Italy were the leading export destinations for frozen fish fillets from Turkey

Hungary has revealed plans to build a new carbon-neutral greenhouse-filled farming city that will be powered by renewable energy sources. The farming city will include one of Europe’s largest indoor fish farming facilities. The €1 billion agricultural center will adjoin the border between Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. It will cover 330 hectares – equivalent to 500 football pitches.

Should Brexit come to pass, Danish fishermen might find themselves in a tricky situation. If Britain leaves the EU and Denmark loses access to British waters the Danish fishing fleet will lose 30 percent, or about 1 billion Kroner, of total annual income, according to a report from the Department of food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen.  Brexit could have the most negative impact on larger fishing corporations, which would end up losing 61 percent of total income. The Danish government is working towards a scenario in which the Danish fishing fleet will have access to British waters even if the UK leaves the EU. A recent deal between the Faroe Islands and the UK may set a positive president for trade relations between the UK and the rest of Europe in a post Brexit EU.

Sursan Su Urunleri AS, a fish production company based in Turkey, became one of the first companies awarded Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ACS) certification for farmed seabass, seabream and meagre. The two farms operated by Sursan share this accomplishment with Nireus, a Greek farm which received ACS certification at the same time. The certification for all four farms were carried out by independent Conformity Assessment Body Acoura. The certification guarantees the products are produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner. Since receiving certification on June 5, 2019, producers of seabass and seabream have responded enthusiastically with a strong demand for ACS certified products. High demand for ACS certified products has driven more farms to schedule audits to the new standard. Farms in Turkey, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Albania have all undergone audits since Sursan received ACS certification. 

The use of big data is becoming increasing accessible in aquaculture with systems like Manolin, XpertSea and Jala offering services that could revolutionize practices within the industry. These platforms aim to offer services that improve the management of farming activities. Within the production process for aquaculture, huge amounts of site and operation specific data is generated, and platforms like XpertSea offer services that streamline this data. Using Big data farmers can obtain health information on the animals they raise, monitor disease outbreaks and water quality and several other pertinent sources of information. Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence may also result in increased productivity with algorithms boosting feed conversion rates and methodologies that can detect when fish are experiencing increased biological stress.

Skretting, the world’s largest producer of feed for farmed fish, has committed to a deal with insect breeder Protix that could see up to 5.5 million servings of salmon containing insect meat brought to the market per year. Aquaculture production is expected to grow by 30 million tonnes in the near future. Sustaining this growth will require an additional 45 million tonnes of raw materials for feed, creating a potential ’protein’ gap between feed production capacity and demand for farm-raised fish. One potential way to bridge this gap is through insect protein. Not only could insects help bridge the protein gap, it will do so sustainably, contributing to a circular bio economy. A new Protix insect production facility in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands, breeds insects that convert vegetable residual flows into sustainable protein, contributing to a future-proof, circular bio economy.