Jonah van Beijnen

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

For the past decade eFishery has been one of the rising stars in the aquaculture industry and a poster boy for how to use tech to sustainably transform aquaculture in developing countries. This was, of course, until recent allegations of serious misreporting a…

Minh Phu’s rice-shrimp farming model combines rice cultivation and shrimp farming in an integrated and innovative way, optimising land use and farm inputs, while reducing operational risks for farmers in the Mekong Delta.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is slowly being transformed by groundwater extraction, overpopulation, pollution and climate change. Unsolved, this will dramatically reduce Vietnam’s aquaculture output and pose a serious threat to local and regional food security.

A range of non-native fish species, including Midas cichlids, are now firmly established in the Philippines, but some enterprising farmers are beginning to capitalise on these invaders.

With two of the key international aquaculture welfare standards currently being updated, and the topic being more prominent in the mainstream media, two experts on the subject share their views.

Sharing practical tips for small-scale aquaculture operators, particularly those based in the tropics, to adapt and become more resilient to the changing climate and extreme weather events.

A new range of tools developed by some of the leading players in Vietnam’s shrimp sector is showing great promise for early adopters, including Minh Phu.

Seafood production has become a globalised industry and many countries have seafood industries that are being buoyed by overseas migrant workers – hard-working people who left their home countries, and often their entire families, to seek their fortunes abroad…

Biofloc veteran Dr Maurício Emerenciano, from CSIRO in Australia, shares four tips on how to optimise your biofloc system.

While many grandiose aquaculture projects have failed to live up to their promise in the Middle East, Fish Farms LLC – which includes a hatchery, cage farms and RAS facilities in Dubai – offers an example of what can be achieved under testing conditions.

Although Tunisia has a relatively undeveloped aquaculture sector, it has huge potential – with 1,350 kilometres of Mediterranean coastline, a maritime domain of over 80,000 square kilometres and seven lagoons covering 100,000 hectares.

Dagón – Israel’s pioneering hatchery and leading fish farmer – offers a tantalising glimpse of how aquaculture in the MENA region is evolving and of the emerging species that have the greatest commercial potential.

Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Fisheries Company recently hatched its first batch of native sobaity bream larvae – a breakthrough that could pave the way to diversifying the Middle East’s burgeoning aquaculture sector.

Devices that produce nanobubbles are becoming increasingly popular in a range of aquaculture operations, with a growing number of studies supporting their value – both in improving production and in reducing the environmental impact of the industry.

Ching Fui Fui is an associate professor at the University Malaysia in Sabah. She runs the university fish hatchery and works at the Borneo Marine Research institute, a centre of excellence working on conservation and sustainable development of marine resources…

Thierry Chopin, who coined the term integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) 17 years ago, explains why the concept is finally taking root

Naua Lakai lives on Vava’u, one of the 36 inhabited islands of Tonga. She dropped out of teachers’ college when she became a mother and is now one of the most successful pearl farmers on her island.

Kara Birkenmayer grew up in Johannesburg, studied at Harvard and, after a short shift of work experience in Panama, ended up in the Seychelles where she is leading a team of inspiring women working on the culture of some very interesting and upcoming aquacultu…

The multibillion-dollar marine aquarium trade has a mixed reputation, with many specimens being captured from the world’s coral reefs. However, a number of pioneers are now farming marine ornamentals – offering hope for a venture that benefits both people and …

The Fish Site presents five tips to help aquaculture operators stay afloat in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic – an era of changing demand, complex shipping restrictions and feeding unsold farm inventory.

The EU’s attempts to diversity its aquaculture production have met decidedly mixed results to date, but aquaculture producers have a number of overlooked, yet impressive, native candidates to contend with.

The latest statistical analysis shows that the EU’s attempts to step up and revive aquaculture production have proved to be costly, and have had very limited results. We investigate why this might be the case.

A flurry of acquisitions and new product lines suggest that Innovasea is serious about supplying offshore aquaculture operators around the world.

In recent years the buzz and hype surrounding the drive to achieve commercial full-cycle tuna farming in the Mediterranean seems to have subsided. We checked in with some of the leading minds in the field to discuss the initiatives and ideas that can help brin…

The following tips are designed to help small-scale aquaculture operators, particularly in Asia and Africa, reduce their environmental impacts and embrace operational sustainability.

Mulling over the next fish to invest in? Let’s take a cue from the ancient Egyptians and Romans, who have long loved their mullets (No, not the haircut).

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already making huge improvements to the efficiency and sustainability of global aquaculture, as this practical guide to some of the best systems currently available shows.

Tilapia that have not been treated with hormones appear to be more robust against diseases such as tilapia lake virus, strengthening the argument to use males produced via more natural means.

Now that Seabass Chile has successfully closed the breeding cycle of the Patagonian toothfish for the first time, the company is looking forward to the commercial production of this high value species. And it could, they argue, represent a long-term sustainabl…

In markets around the world, aquaculture producers are waking up to the opportunities offered by native and indigenous species. We look at initiatives from Brazil and elsewhere that are making use of their local resources.

Aquaculture producers currently shoulder too much of the responsibility for sustainability, according to a new study, whose authors argue that seafood sustainability should be redefined so that it covers a wider range of social and environmental aspects, thus …

Following a recent report from the FAO on the threats posed by the production of invasive (potentially non-native) species in aquaculture, Gregg Yan and Jonah van Beijnen argue that a number of measures are needed to steer the global aquaculture sector away fr…

The giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) fetches excellent prices in seafood markets across Asia. Aggressive marketing plus the recent development of monosex broodstock might soon make it as popular as vannamei shrimp.

Based on interviews with some of the earliest developers and adopters of biofloc, including Djames Lim from Singapore (CEO of the Lim Shrimp Organization), Khoo Eng Wah from Malaysia (managing director of Sepang Today Aquaculture Centre), Barkah Tri Basuki fro…

Fresh from professionalizing the culture and feed supply chain of salmon, two Dutchmen set their eyes on another promising fish – the Asian sea bass or barramundi (Lates calcarifer). Today their company Barramundi Asia produces 3,000 tonnes with a production p…

Optimising the production of marine herbivores, such as rabbitfish, suggests the huge potential of sustainable aquaculture techniques to feed a growing population.

One of South East Asia’s largest shrimp farming groups is the Lim Shrimp Organization (LSO), which has established a network of integrated farming projects known as Aqua Villages. In 2018, it completed 12 such projects in Indonesia, two in Thailand and one in …

The recurring boom-and-bust cycles in aquaculture production, where upscaling leads to diseases and eventual production collapse, have been one of the key factors in the declining rate of the industry's growth over the past 15 years.

Aquaculture and environmental consultants Jonah van Beijnen and Gregg Yan outline some of the key developments they expect to take place in the Asian aquaculture sector in the year ahead.