A newly constructed alternative energy system passed its final electrical inspection at N.C. State University’s Marine Aquaculture Research Center (MARC) in Smyrna, N.C., U.S.A. A demonstration hybrid photovoltaic (solar)-wind system will power pumps, as well as heat and cool water for application to the state’s growing aquaculture industry. In 2011, N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) was awarded $253,501 in funding for the project, part of a $4.6 million Green Business Fund Award granted through the N.C. Department of Commerce, as well as an additional $37, 000 from private donors. Read more …
May 032012
Meijer, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer, has announced the launch of a comprehensive seafood sustainability initiative, which will ensure all Meijer seafood suppliers follow specific sustainability guidelines for both farmed and wild-caught seafood. The announcement was made today by Hank Meijer, co-chairman and chief executive officer. Read more …
By 2020, the UN says, we will need to farm half the fish we consume globally and by some estimates 40% of the fish we eat is already farmed in some way. This is good news for consumers. Marine proteins offer a stable food source with the potential to be produced in an environmentally responsible manner and be free from contaminants. Read more …
Alltech’s 28th Annual International Symposium, which is being held in Kentucky on May 20-23, will include a major aquaculture seminar.
“Aquaculture is enormously important and remains the fastest growing industry, with 2011 seeing record highs in consumption. Fish currently contributes over 16 per cent of the world’s protein needs and as consumers become more health and sustainability conscious, this level will continue to rise,” said John Sweetman, co-chair of the aqua seminar at Alltech’s Annual International Symposium. “It is essential that, as an industry, we plan for this future and that we take full advantage of new technologies, such as algae production, developments in immunity and the role that genetics plays in nutrition.” Read more …
Apr 052012
According to a new report released by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), 2011 was an encouraging year for the industry.
Entitled ‘Scottish Salmon Farming – Industry Research Report’, the survey highlights the creation of 272 new jobs during 2011, a 23% growth in the total gross pay and a record £47.6 million capital investment. The report also points to a 22% leap in the expenditure on suppliers and services. Read more …
Vancouver (BC), AgriMarine Holdings Inc., the leader in floating closed containment technology and production for sustainable aquaculture, is pleased to report the first commercial harvest at its Canadian demonstration site at Middle Bay on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
The Company previously announced damage to its floating, solid-wall containment tank incurred during a hurricane-grade windstorm that hit Vancouver Island earlier this month. After an initial assessment of the damage, the Company harvested its first crop of Chinook salmon and has begun the process of raising the tank for insurance evaluation and repair. The Company is proceeding with the demonstration project, which is partly funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (“SDTC”). Subsequent tanks which are currently being manufactured have been redesigned and will be installed on schedule, including the upgraded pilot tank. Read more …
Norwegian National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) is one of several institutions involved in a cooperation project which will assist Cubans establishing a marine aquaculture industry.
Freshwater-based aquaculture already exists in Cuba, but this is the first time that marine aquaculture will be tried out on a large scale. The aim is to create an economically and ecologically sustainable marine aquaculture industry in Cuba. Read more …
Mar 272012
PIKETON, Ohio – Aquaculture farmers interested in yellow perch production techniques have the opportunity to view and participate in the process at The Ohio State University First Friday Aquaculture Tour: Perch Day, on Friday April 6, 2012.
The Perch Day Farm Tour will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at OSU South Centers at Piketon, 1864 Shyville Road, Piketon, Ohio. Registration is free and a light lunch will be available for $5.00 per person (or bring your own). Registration deadline is April 4. Space is limited to the first 20 registrants.
Perch Day will start with an overview of aquaculture in Ohio and the research program at the Piketon Aquaculture Center. A tour of the facility will be provided with focus on production techniques used in yellow perch aquaculture including: brood stock conditioning, spawning, egg incubation, fry stocking, live feeds, and fertilization regimes for fry ponds. Yellow perch spawning season should be in full swing on this day, so all stages of production should be available for viewing.
This tour is for those who currently have aquaculture experience and are looking to improve their current yellow perch production practices, as well as any individuals who have interest in aquaculture and want to learn more about these aquaculture techniques for egg and fry production.
The event is hosted by OSU’s Center for Aquaculture Research and Development, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and Ohio State University Extension.
For more information, or to register (free, but required), contact Julie Moose at (740) 289-2071, ext. 223 or e-mail moose.14@osu.edu.
Source: Aqua-Ohio list serve. Look for Aqua-Ohio on Facebook! OSU South Centers Aquaculture
Mar 142012
In his widely acclaimed book ‘The Great Stagnation’ Tyler Cowen suggests that U.S. economic success has been based on access to ‘low hanging fruit’. In times past, fertile lands offered American settlers vast new opportunities in agriculture. The harnessing of fossil fuels to power newly invented machines created more opportunities and millions of jobs for energetic immigrants eager for the chance to live the American Dream. There was a coming together of natural resources, invention, human energy and the freedom to put new ideas to the test so that a young, energetic nation was able to build a country and an economy such as the world had never seen.
But that was the easy bit – ‘the low hanging fruit’. Today, our natural resources are exploited or protected. Inventiveness is alive and well, but inventions often mean doing the same thing better rather than making something new that generates new revenue, more jobs and economic growth. Though better education offers hope, we seem to have reached a ‘technological plateau’ that means we must reach higher if we are to go further. And while the internet has been transformational, it has moved us away from materialism and we are discovering that “whatever the virtues of that switch – it really, really hurts.”
I fear it betrays a one track mind but I couldn’t help thinking about the seafood industry when reading this. How, worldwide, we have fished for and benefitted from the low hanging fruit of natural fisheries. How, now we’ve reached the limit of what they will sustain, we’ve turned to aquaculture to meet our needs and how, in doing so, we’ve developed farms in the most accessible and easily farmed, natural bodies of water – the low hanging fruit. And how, from now on, it gets harder.
And it gets harder not just technically but politically. Whereas terrestrial farmers, years ago, bought, leased or homesteaded their land and got on with it, would-be farmers of the sea today need government permission just to begin; and approval from society in whose name government acts. And, as society has become comfortable with the wealth created from its past access to low hanging fruit, so it has become cautious about granting more access, and intolerant to the failures and averse to the risks that must be taken if we are to reach higher.
Learning how to farm in the ocean wilderness is such a reach. Covering 70% of the Earth, the oceans offer almost unlimited potential for a future marine agronomy that would farm plants (seaweeds) as its primary crop to be used for food, feed and fuel, as we use terrestrial crops today. Such an industry could more than double our global output of farmed biomass while using only a small proportion of the oceans’ surface. It is higher hanging fruit that would provide real economic benefits, producing something we really need while creating millions of jobs.
With nine billion people to nourish by 2050, production of more food, feed and fuel seems like a pretty good bet for economic growth. That some of it might be done at sea without trespassing on more land, and without freshwater or artificial fertilizer, suggests that such growth might also be able to continue for a very long time. But, our present precautionary mindset prevents those with the energy and will to reach higher from putting their ideas to the test, as those who built this country were allowed to do when the fruit still hung low. Unless this changes, ‘The Great Stagnation’ will continue.
This article is written by John Forster, Forster Consulting Inc., Port Angeles, WA.
