Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)

China has an ambitious vision to enhance domestic food security by developing gargantuan offshore farming units and widespread, affordable recirculation systems – can the West learn some valuable lessons?

French startup Agriloops has recently launched its first commercial-scale saline aquaponics facility, in a bid to produce environmentally responsible shrimp and vegetables for the local market. 

Shaurya Agarwal, co-founder of Blue Wave Aquaculture, aims to not only bring quality RAS-produced rainbow trout to discerning Indian consumers, but also provide a model to catalyse a new industry in his homeland.

Mohamed Elshenawy, project manager at Gulf Union, has dramatically increased the farm’s tilapia output – transforming it into one of the leading aquaculture operations in Saudi Arabia.

Arapaima have long been touted as a promising genus of fish for farming, but there are still some major research hurdles to be cleared before they can be produced efficiently enough to be economically viable.

Richard Knuckey is convinced that giant grouper is one of the premium finfish species best suited to RAS production in the West – the question now is whether someone is able to make this potential pay. 

Aquantic Fish Farm, in Saudi Arabia, combines tilapia production with crop cultivation, while there are also plans to produce rainbow trout in a RAS unit – as Youssef Eltahawy, the farm’s technical manager, explains.

Despite past setbacks, Interest from former customers has persuaded Matilda Olstorpe, Sweden’s biofloc shrimp pioneer, to set up a new and bigger farm.

Michelle Mbeo, founder of Kenyan tilapia producer Lake View Fisheries, explains her ambitions – both for the company and for the country’s aquaculture sector as a whole.

The impending closure of a mine is threatening the future of Groote Eylandt, in Australia’s Northern Territory, but a new initiative, based on old traditions, aims to develop a sustainable blue economy involving integrated aquaculture and small fisheries busin…

Jonah van Beijnen explores the RAS-mania that grips the global aquaculture industry, along with the reasons behind the variable performance of these systems.

Francisco Murillo is perplexed by the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on failing RAS projects, when a fraction of the funding could help proven businesses like Tropo Farms produce tens of thousands more tonnes of tilapia a year.

A compound in the middle of an avocado and orange orchard, half an hour from the coast of Israel, might be an unlikely place for a marine finfish farm, but it has its advantages, according to Pure Blue Fish, a startup that’s developed a unique RAS concept.

Following promising results from its pilot plant, OoNee has set its sights on building a 200 raceway urchin ranch in Oregon – helping to save kelp forests and produce a significant quantity of a prized seafood.

A project in Duhok, in Iraqi Kurdistan, aims to produce up to 60,000 tonnes of carp a year, offering economic hope and improved food security in this fragile region.

Despite the struggles of some of barramundi’s most ambitious farmers, production of the species continues to grow, as does innovation in the sector.