Features

An analysis of the $808 million invested in the aquaculture industry by venture funds in the last 12 months.

Sea cucumbers, which are known as jongoo bahari in Swahili, are considered an endangered species and have been protected in Tanzania since 2003. However, illegal fishing, collection and trading of sea cucumbers have created a critical conservation iss…

Simon Johansson, CEO of Nordic Seafarm, believes that the company is on the cusp of commercial success – following breakthroughs in the production of three key seaweed species, as well as a business strategy that involves a range of cunning collaborations.

It was disappointing to see the media storm that followed the publication of plans by Biome Algae to establish a 270-acre seaweed farm off Gerrans Bay, in southwest England.

Shrimp farmers should be braced for six months that are even more testing than 2023, with prices hitting a 20 year low, while salmon farmers will continue to be highly profitable, according to Rabobank’s newly published report covering H1 2024.

Alan Espinoza, founder of Bendito Mar, is determined to transform Mexico’s shellfish farming sector in order to improve the environment and create new livelihoods for people in fragile former fishing communities.

Shrimp farmers in Indonesia are increasingly turning to UV treatment as an alternative to chemical options for significantly reducing the presence of Vibrio in their ponds.

Moses Njoku Uwa is the founder and managing director of St Mosco FeedNation, the largest fish farming company in southeast Nigeria, which produces 560 tonnes of African catfish from 100 earth ponds each year.

While the slow intensification of shrimp farming appears to be working in Latin America, Ecuadorian producers should be wary of the Asian example, where even heavy investments in new technologies have failed to counter problems caused by historic overstocking.…

Two of Kenya's most progressive women-led aquaculture companies – Rio Fish and Great Lakes Feeds – have each received KES 56,000,000 ($384,000) grants this year, in a bid to advance the economic empowerment of women in Kenya’s growing blue economy.

Saudi Arabia is set to host its largest ever exhibition related to sustainable seafood production on 4-6 February, with over 12,000 visitors due to attend.

Frank Foolen, general manager of leading Dutch catfish producer Claresse, explains how his family’s self-taught approach and long-term commitment have helped to create a successful and profitable RAS operation.

Dr Hamada Elkady, executive director of Delta Farm, believes that the Egyptian desert has the potential to be a successful shrimp producing region.

Jennifer Bushman senses encouraging trends in investment and innovation in – as well as acceptance of – aquaculture, but adds that challenges include the urgent need for the salmon farming industry to work together to address ongoing environmental issues.

While 2023 might have resulted in a number of impressive achievements for Hatch, its co-founder has been underwhelmed by the pace at which the aquaculture industry has been adopting innovation and believes it will be up to five years before many of the most ex…

New insights into the habitat benefits of seaweed and shellfish farms in temperate ecosystems are emerging from a unique study initiated by The Nature Conservancy on opposite sides of the globe: New Zealand and the Gulf of Maine.

The Asian shrimp market has had its fair share of negative news throughout 2023, but Rizky Darmawan, CEO at Delta Marine Group, in Indonesia, offers a glimmer of hope as he reflects on the year.

Investment in seaweed production – not processing – urgently needs to be prioritised, according to leading industry analyst and Phyconomy founder Steven Hermans.

The last 12 months have proved testing for Malaysia’s shrimp and crab farmers, with a number of new entrants going out of business, but a pivot towards the live market has provided a lifeline for Yit Tung, founder of RAS Aquaculture.

After just over a year as CEO of Aqua-Spark, Lissy Smit reflects on the highs and lows of the fund’s portfolio companies and the wider trends affecting investment in aquaculture innovation.

Despite a challenging year for the majority of the world’s shrimp farmers, Willem van der Pijl notes that a number of positives to have emerged over the last 12 months, which could help to strengthen the sector’s long-term resilience.

Libyan-based Dr Jamila Rizgalla, head of the Department of Aquaculture at the University of Tripoli, talks about her journey into the aquaculture sector and how she is working to progress aquaculture development in her country

Ghana’s tilapia farmers have been promised a share of the $40 million pledged by the government to alleviate the issues caused by the recent flooding in Lake Volta, but some experts argue that a radical overhaul of the country’s aquaculture strategy is what's …

Professor Kevin Fitzsimmons believes that there are plenty of positives to be taken from the last 12 months in aquaculture and has an optimistic outlook for the sector in 2024 – but mention the fisheries and marine ingredients lobbies to him at your peril.

Nitrite is both toxic and inevitably present in all closed aquaculture systems, so it’s essential for farmers to understand where it comes from and how it can be managed.

After gaining her master’s in aquaculture in Gran Canaria, Nourhan Ali has gained an impressive range of farming experience in Egypt and is now a consultant for the Saudi Aquaculture Society.

Next generation sequencing technologies and metagenomics are proving their worth among early aquaculture adopters – in particular RAS operators – according to Matthew Pope, founder and managing director of Esox Biologics.

Living Seas Aquafeeds is using local ingredients, including farmed seaweed and mangrove leaves, as a functional addition to standard feeding regimes, improving water quality, FCRs and shrimp growth, according to Timothy Hromatka, founder of the Indonesian star…

Pierrot Kokou Akakpovi, CEO of Togo’s largest organic tilapia farm, has ambitions – both for himself and the country’s aquaculture sector in general – to grow substantially in the coming years.

Lake View Fisheries, which is situated on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, is ramping up its production and distribution of tilapia to diverse regions across Kenya, despite the unique challenges posed by its remote location.

With the aquaculture sector outperforming land-based protein producers on ESG risks – as reported in the recent Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index – fishmeal and fish oil use in aquafeeds continue to play a critical role in contributing to sustainable protein…

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.

Kal Bahadur Gurung, 40, ditched his taxi business in the Indian state of Sikkim in favour of rainbow trout farming and now earns around $30,000 per year.

After more than a decade of raising eels, Sara Rademaker, the founder of American Unagi, sees New England’s eel farming sector as having a much greater chance of acceptance – and success – than many of the high profile plans for land-based farms that are curre…

GreenWave – a non-profit co-founded by Bren Smith in 2014 – recently launched a new app called Seaweed Source to facilitate forward contracts and build value chain relationships between growers and buyers in the North American seaweed sector.

A rash of lawsuits against retailers who make contentious claims about the sustainability of their products, including farmed seafood, suggests that both the retailers themselves, and the third party certification providers, need to do more to ensure their cla…

China’s shift towards an increasingly Western pattern of seafood production and consumption – one that relies on imports from countries with greater natural capital per capita – appears to be gaining momentum.

Despite its isolated desert location, Naqua – which produces shrimp and barramundi in Saudi Arabia – is in the process of securing sufficient funding to more that double its output to 250,000 tonnes of seafood each year by 2030.

An Egyptian team has succeeded in developing a smart device to estimate the feed intake required for each tank on a fish farm, helping improve productivity and water quality.

Although monodon production is now dwarfed by vannamei farming, the species is tipped to make a comeback, with many Asian farmers realising that it could be a lucrative low density alternative to intensive vannamei production.