The Aquaculture Roundtable Series 2011: A shared vision for aquaculture in Asia

 

 

Thirteen experts from various areas of the aquaculture industry presented their thoughts and findings to a diverse and dynamic audience of close to 180 participants from 20 countries, with topics ranging from nutritional requirements of marine fish and shrimp, to insights on overcoming inefficiencies in feed processing, to lessons learned from other non-aquaculture industries.

 

Collectively, the speakers agreed that the major issues faced by the aquaculture industry included rising feed costs, running headlong into soaring food demand due to an increasing world population hungry for aquaculture protein.

 

Dr Robert Payne, regional director of Evonik Degussa, warned that the demand for aquaculture production was outstripping the supply of fishmeal, resulting in the cost of fishmeal increasing substantially over the past decade. "The aquaculture industry is dealing with sustainability questions, both from the standpoint of the environment as well as production," he said. Dr Payne highlighted the lessons learned by the swine and poultry sectors in dealing with these issues, and how the same lessons can benefit sustainable aquaculture production.

 

"If fishmeal and fish oil are to be completely removed from the feeds, the missing fatty acids will have to be supplied by other sources," said Dr Victor Suresh, director of Nutrition and Feeds, Integrated Aquaculture International, speaking of shrimp feeds.

 

He suggested soy protein concentrate or poultry byproduct meal as replacements, adding that more research are needed before options such as these and algal sources can be made commercially viable. Nevertheless, he estimated two to three more years for a high likelihood of a complete, successful replacement of fishmeal and fish oil in shrimp feeds.

 

A trend towards regulation of the traceability of feed and food, such as those enacted in the EU, presents another important consideration for those intending to replace the limited supplies of fishmeal and fish oil with alternatives.

 

"The increasingly stringent food safety regulations and consumer expectations restrict the choice of raw materials that can be used," said Martin Guerin, aqua technical group general manager of the Gold Coin Group. "Antibiotics and antibiotic growth promoters should not be used and a new generation of authorized anti-bacterials is emerging."

 

Dr Pedro Encarnacao, aquaculture technical director of Biomin Singapore, covered the current status of freshwater aqua feeds, pointing out that until recently, the predominant method of feed formulation in Asia used local raw materials at low cost, leading to poor nutrient profiles and under-optimal performance by the fish. Even with the "massive expansion" on the use of commercial feeds in recent years, as well as the resultant increased yields, the development of these commercial feeds did not follow the nutritional requirements of different fish species. Instead, feed development was based on assumptions from other species, or follows ingredient availability and cost constraints instead of hard data.

 

The presentations helped answer the first of the two questions posed by TARS 2011 to the aquaculture sector worldwide, and especially in Asia: where are we today? While the aquaculture industry has made great strides in Asia, with the top aquaculture producing countries accounting for more than 80% of the world's total, there are still many challenges affecting the region and the industry that must be overcome.

 

During the breakout session on the second day, participants broke into three groups to discuss the challenges facing the industry of their choice, striving to answer the second question: where do we want to be tomorrow?

 

The discussion groups zoomed in on one issue: the need for information and data.

 

Dr Wing-Keong Ng of the Fish Nutrition Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, led the roundtable panel discussing freshwater fish feeds. The challenges identified for this industry sector included the lack of data for both digestibility of alternative feed ingredients, and nutrient requirements for farmed fish. Public and private partnerships to finance and execute research and development were suggested, to overcome the issues of proprietary information kept by feed companies and unknown to the public.

 

Similarly, the need for more research and data was the focus of the discussion panel on marine fish feeds, led by Dr Shunsuke Koshio, Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, Japan. The group agreed that research into suitable feeds for the different species, as well as improving larva and fingerling quality by experimenting with their diets, was a key strategy for improving that industry sector.

 

The urge for further research was once again highlighted by the panel for shrimp feeds, noting that shrimp nutritional studies often lacked the scientific rigour and replication of other fields, such as poultry nutrition.

 

The panel was headed by Daniel Fegan, regional technical manager for Cargill Animal Nutrition, Cargill Siam, Bangkok, Thailand. To overcome the problem of over fragmentation of the shrimp industry, the panel suggested improvements in communication, such as setting up an industry association to share views and information, and educating producers in the benefits of cooperation over competition.

 

Dr Zuridah Merican, editor of AAP and chairperson for TARS 2011, summed up the success of the inaugural Aquaculture Roundtable Series, as the industry prepares to face the challenges before them, armed with the insights and recommendations from the meeting of the minds.

 

"TARS provides a unique opportunity for delegates to network and interact with each other," she said. "It is our hope that, by the end of the meeting, we will all leave with a clear idea of where we want the industry to be tomorrow."

 

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