January 24, 2014

Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC) opened its new Hezhoubei Research Station for shrimp and Asian fish species in the Guangdong Province, China on January 21, 2014.

The station has been established to support the growing need for sustainable feeds in Asia and is ideally positioned to contribute towards the global growth of best-practice aquaculture production.

Driven by growing demand from Asia and Latin America, the global shrimp feed market is expanding at a rate of approximately 5% each year (from an estimated 3.9 million tonnes in 2012). ARC China will use Skretting's worldwide R&D knowledge to help shrimp farmers increase their production in a more sustainable manner.

Alex Obach, Managing Director of Skretting ARC said: "The opening of the Hezhoubei Research Station is a very important milestone for ARC. This investment demonstrates our considerable commitment to helping build a more sustainable shrimp farming industry through world-class research and innovation."

Occupying a land area of 20,000 square metres, the Hezhoubei Research Station comprises indoor facilities for conducting trials on shrimp and fish growth and nutrient digestibility. There are also outdoor tanks and ponds for fish trials. In total, more than 250 experimental units (tanks and cages) are available to run research trials with both shrimp and fish in different environmental conditions.

The species currently targeted at ARC China include whiteleg shrimp, Asian seabass, snakehead, yellow catfish and tilapia. The station will conduct trials throughout the year and currently has a workforce of 18 employees.