Fish Farming (Aquaculture) Goes Hi-Tech
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Transcript of Fish Farming (Aquaculture) Goes Hi-Tech
China’s neighborhood includes
another 10 of the 15 leading
aquaculture countries; aggregated,
Asian aquaculture represents 89
percent of global volume and 79
percent of global value.
Looking at the high-value luxury end
of the seafood trade, premium prices
are paid for fish of the right species,
at the right size, kept alive right up
until the time that they are selected
from a tank in the restaurant.
In many Chinese restaurants, one of
the most common and preferred
species is Groupers. It is supplied by
the Live Reef Food Fish (LRFF) Trade,
a US$1billion trade centred in Hong
Kong.
The problem with farmed fish
Groupers are the mainstay species of
the LRFF trade, and some consumers
believe farmed grouper are inferior
to their wild-caught counterpart. This
perception is based on past realities
and it is no longer appropriate to tar
all farmed fish with the same brush.
Not all aquaculture systems or
husbandry methods are equal. Many
operations in Asia follow outdated
protocols, and are far less advanced
than new systems. The majority of
farmed grouper are raised in sea
cages or ponds. These fish are often
fed only once a day, and are fed trash
fish – usually a mix of pieces of fish,
entrails, and other leftovers. It is
often not refrigerated, and there is
rarely any structured quality control
in place.
THERE IS NO DENYING China’s love
of seafood. China is a major
player in the fish and seafood market
– it is the largest consumer, importer,
exporter and producer of seafood in
the world.
China is also the largest global
producer of aquaculture products,
and the only country where farmed
fish production exceeds wild catch.
Water quality is questionable and
uncontrolled, often affected by a
build-up of rotting uneaten food and
faeces. In extreme cases this can
result in eutrophication of the water
but at the very least it can
compromise the health of the fish –
and therefore their taste. I can
guarantee that if you were raised in
an environment like this you’d taste
pretty average as well.
The problem with wild-catch
According to Austrade, in 2009
Australia exported 592,790 kg of live
fish (99.4 percent of which went to
Hong Kong), comprising mainly wild-
caught P. leopardus, and mainly
through Cairns airport.
But at the macro-level, world capture
fisheries production has hardly
moved since 1990, and it peaked
overall in 2004.
In the context of the LRFF trade,
severe over-fishing and habitat
destruction has decimated wild
populations of many species. The
trade has had to expand its capture
footprint over recent decades,
looking further and further afield for
supplies. What started as a local
trade now encompasses tens of
millions of square kilometres.
In many parts of Asia, fish are caught
using destructive fishing techniques
including blast fishing – where
crudely constructed explosives are
thrown onto a reef to stun the fish,
or cyanide fishing - where potassium
30 2013 ACQ VOL 1
Fishing for global food solutions:
AS FISH-EATING HUMANS multiply and increasingly overfish the oceans,new solutions are required to nourish the population. While fish farming
receives a bad rap from many quarters and wild-caught stocks are underthreat, Australian know-how has created a game-changing third way.
Gar
eth
Lott
Not all wild-caught fish are caught sustainably – heredeadly cyanide is added to reef water to stun fish atthe cost of the whole marine environment.
Case study #2
cyanide solution is squirted into the
reef, again to stun the fish. Both
processes kill the surrounding coral
and any other living organisms
nearby. At best half of the fish
survive the capture process but they
are weakened and severely stressed.
Of those that survive the capture
process, only half survive the journey
back to the markets.
Overfishing and habitat destruction
has resulted in 22 species of grouper
being threatened with extinction,
and significant loss of habitat for
those fish that remain.
When fish are stressed their quality
decreases. In an aquaculture system
fish that are stress-free will grow
more rapidly and are much less
susceptible to infection or disease.
Even handling a fish too many times
will have a negative effect - imagine
the deterioration in a fish that starts
its journey to market by being nearly
blown up or receiving a face-full of
potassium cyanide!
A solution
Aquaculture technology, feed
products and husbandry techniques,
as well as hatchery production and
survival rates, have improved over
recent years. In the context of
groupers and the live reef food fish
trade, many of these advances have
happened here in Australia and are
about to add to our growing bilateral
trade with China.
In modern tank-based systems with
advanced husbandry protocols, fish
can be raised in a ‘better-than-
nature’ environment, and growth
and survival rates can eclipse those in
traditional systems.
A new aquaculture technology has
been developed in Australia that is
designed specifically around the
biology of groupers. The SICRA™
system developed by South
Australian company Aquanue Pty Ltd,
takes into account the fish size,
metabolism, water temperature and
other parameters and provides a
platform for optimal water quality
312013 ACQ VOL 1
In modern tank-based systems withadvanced husbandry protocols, fishcan be raised in a ‘better-than-
nature’ environment.
Coral Grouper, also known as Coral Trout, ata North Queensland export facility.
>>
traditional hatcheries. This modern
enclosed facility in far north
Queensland has recently had great
success with the Giant Grouper (also
known as Queensland Grouper) and
can breed and produce fingerlings in
a number of other species as well.
The Giant Grouper is the largest of
the true reef fishes and is rarely
available – partly because it is now
protected within most of its natural
range due to severe overfishing in
the past. It has the excellent eating
qualities of the grouper family, with
large white flakes of flesh when
cooked, and has the classic large
grouper appearance favoured by
consumers. Wholesale prices can be
as high as $US100/kg for small size
individuals.
Summary
With wild-catch of groupers
collapsing, and decreasing availability
and feeding regimes. Fish can be
kept active and healthy, which
ultimately leads to a better tasting
product.
For aquaculture to be successful in
the long term a reliable supply of
healthy fingerlings is required. Many
traditional farmers in Asia simply
catch babies and hold then in cages
until they reach market size. This is
not sustainable in the long-term
because grouper take several years to
reach sexual maturity and the
removal of so many juvenile fish
means that natural repopulation is
being put under intense pressure.
There may soon be no babies left to
fatten up!
Many years of scientific and technical
research at the Northern Fisheries
Centre in Cairns has developed the
ability to breed several species of
grouper and produce fingerlings with
greater larval survival rates than
of potential sites for coastal sea-cage
aquaculture, we are fast-approaching
a time where advanced land-based
aquaculture technology is our only
option to keep up with demand
Aquanue’s SICRA™ system brings
additional benefits by being able to
ensure fish health, predict and
manage production output, and
deliver exactly what the market
needs – and all with much lower risk
than traditional methods.
Australia is well-positioned to
respond to this opportunity by
exporting this new technology into
China – the hatchery IP as well as the
grow-out systems and husbandry IP.
Information and resources provided
by the ACBC have helped Aquanue
develop its China strategy.
Gareth Lott is founder and CEO ofAquanue Pty Ltd.
32 2013 ACQ VOL 1
Nothing goes into the fish inthe SICRA™ system other
than fish food and oxygen. Noadded steroids, no malachitegreen, no hydrogen peroxide,
just fish-food pellets.
Aquanue is a new aquaculture company that iscommercializing a new, proven tank-basedaquaculture system called SICRA™. This systemrecirculates the water and passes it throughmultiple stages of filtration to maintain apristine marine environment. With strict controlof water temperature, dissolved oxygen andother critical parameters, the SICRA™ systemcan grow marine species year-round, in somecases twice as fast as sea cages ,with one-tenththe mortality.
Sea-cage aquaculture often causes problemsinvolving fish waste, nutrients and drugsaffecting the surrounding environment. Theseissues don’t exist with the SICRA™ system as it
is completely self-contained and operatedentirely on land. Advanced husbandry protocolsreduce the amount of fish waste and uneatenfood – this not only lowers the feed cost per kgof fish produced (and therefore the Fish-In-Fish-Out ratio), it also reduces the cleaning andfiltration requirements within the system. Thedesign of the system around the biology of thefish means there is no need for drugs andchemicals to be added. Nothing goes into thefish in the SICRA™ system other than fish foodand oxygen. No added steroids, no malachitegreen, no hydrogen peroxide, just fish-foodpellets. Intensive sea cage systems produceapproximately 7.5kg of fish per sqm per annual
season. The SICRA™ system can reliablyproduce more than 25kg of live fish per sqmper year, year-round, with a far lower riskprofile.
In current sea cage systems, some of the high-value grouper species take 14–18 months toreach market size with up to 50 percentmortality due to the species’ sensitivity. TheAquanue system grows these species to size innine months, with less than 5 percent mortality.
There are two sizes preferred by the market:600-800g (‘Plate Size’) and 1.0-1.2kg (‘BanquetSize’).
For information visit www.aquanue.com
>>
Aquanue’s high-tech solution
Source countries forlive reef food fishimported into HongKong – approximateboundaries over thedecades.
Source: Asian Development Bank, Philippines.