LATIN AMERICA REPORT

Latin America Report: Recent News and Events

By: Aquaculture Magazine Staff *

Venezuela seeks to propel national aquaculture

The government is working to make Venezuela a fishing and aquaculture power house, and in this way is aiming to optimize the distribution of seafood to the population.

To achieve these goals, President Nicolás Maduro, announced the appointment of Gilberto Pinto as Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, with the mission to boost national fish production, reports PrenzaLatina.

According to the president, Mr. Pinto, who served as Commander General of the Bolivarian Navy, as well as deputy to the National Assembly for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, will be responsible for making Venezuela a leader in fishing and aquaculture in the Caribbean.

Mr. Maduro said that the development will not only enhance fishing activity but will also promote aquaculture on a large scale in landlocked states.

Skretting invests $US6.1 million in construction of new shrimp research facility in Ecuador

The new facility, named Skretting ARC Guayas Research Station, will be located next to the recently completed Skretting Ecuador feed manufacturing plant. The new R&D facility, centrally coordinated by Skretting ARC in Norway, will comprise fully equipped laboratories and state-of-the art experimental units to carry out trials under controlled conditions. In addition, green-water tanks will ensure maximum applicability under production conditions.

“We are committed to supporting the growth of the shrimp industry globally,” says Alex Obach, Skretting R&D Director. “We also know the importance of optimal diets, combined with high post-larvae quality and professional farming practices. The development of solutions requires worldclass R&D facilities, combined with local expertise.”

Carlos Miranda, Skretting LatAm General Manager says, “In Ecuador, Skretting is recognised by our customers for our high performance diets and expert technical service, including our Skretting 360+ program. We have best-in-class feed facilities, supported by the best R&D; not to mention a world-class genetics program together with Hendrix Genetics and supported by Nutreco. However, we do not rest. We are serious about our commitment to drive the Ecuadorian shrimp industry further and help our clients deliver to the most demanding global shrimp markets.”

Skretting ARC currently has research facilities in Norway, Italy, Japan, Chile and China, and additional validation facilities around the globe. With experts in the field of shrimp research, a team of 140 highly skilled specialists and an annual R&D investment of $18 million, Skretting ARC is perfectly positioned to drive innovation in the sector even further.

“Over the years our scientists, together with our extensive research network, have contributed to the launch of important feed solutions for all the shrimp life stages,” continues Obach. “Now, we want to go further. This new world-class shrimp research facility will drive our knowledge of shrimp nutrition in Skretting and deliver new solutions to improve shrimp performance: faster growth, shorter production cycles and higher survival rates. We are excited to see where our curiosity takes us on the next part of our journey.”

OUT AND ABOUT

Welcome, Seaspiricy!

By: Salvador Meza *

This documentary has to come that shows us what people outside these industries see when they lookout, and that we no longer see.

For those dedicated to fishing and aquaculture, the first thing we should ask ourselves after watching the Netflix documentary “Seaspiricy” is: how we got into this chaos?

Because the truth is: • Yes, there is overfishing • Yes, there are commercial interests behind some certifiers • Yes, there are commercial interests behind some NGOs • Yes, there is some level of slavery or forced labor in fishing and the process of fish and aquaculture products • Yes, aquaculture farms have deforested mangroves • Yes, there is excessive use of antibiotics in aquaculture • Yes, there is a substitution of fish and shellfish in the market • People in many places buy fish and shellfish with a net weight less than they think it is

No person who is dedicated to fishing or aquaculture in the world can deny these truths.

This documentary has to come that shows us what people outside these industries see when they lookout, and that we no longer see.

Efforts have been made to seek the sustainability of fishing and aquaculture, and there are honest certifiers and NGOs that seek and support that sustainability. Still, it has not been enough, and it will not be enough for the time we have left.

In the end, it is a problem that falls on the attitude and action of each person involved in the issue, but since it is impossible to get into people’s minds and change them just like that, the problem then falls on the governance of each State, which has to issue the appropriate laws to compel all these people to comply.

But the State does not have the support of civil society to confront the inertia of economic, legal, and non-legal interests behind this whole story.

For this reason, regardless of the particular interests and inaccuracies that may Seaspiracy have, I welcome its accomplishment. I am glad that civil society’s interest, especially young people, is awakened to get involved in fish and shellfish production.

They need to take action on the matter, and they need to demand their governments to carry out genuinely sustainable management of these resources, with scientifically and technically trained personnel, and with the adequate budget to carry out successful management with tangible results.

Hopefully, behind Seaspiracy, many more documentaries will come, and more, until the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture is a reality, not just a marketing statement.

Salvador Meza is Editor & Publisher of Aquaculture Magazine, and of the Spanish language industry magazine Panorama Acuicola.

Five Digital Marketing Topics

to Watch in 2021

By: Sarah Cornelisse*

Technology, social media, and the online landscape constantly evolve, making it a business’s responsibility to stay updated on pertinent issues as those issues may not just influence but also determine the actions a business takes online.

Technology, social media, and the online landscape are ever-evolving. It can be a challenge to remain current on new and updated platform features, changing audience trends, and societal and regulatory issues. With that in mind, discussed below are five topics that businesses should consider regarding their online strategy. Social Commerce

Why look at using social commerce when you may already have an online store on your website? When surveyed, consumers consistently rank learning about and researching products as one of the top reasons they follow a business on social media. Given this, social commerce can help lower the barrier to purchase by lessening the number of steps that a customer has to go through to purchase a product featured in social media posts. Social commerce features on platforms including Facebook and Instagram allow for photo and video posts to be tagged with a link taking the customer directly to that product on an online store. The customer does not have to open a new browser page, navigate to the business’s website, find the item they saw in the post, and, depending on the e-commerce platform used; they may not need to add it to their checkout cart. These actions are bundled in one step for them.

Furthermore, consider how people shop in person. Impulse purchasing is not uncommon. Information from Statista shows that

The technology landscape is evolving to benefit once again businesses that collect and maintain their own lists for direct customer communication.

the share of purchases made on impulse ranges from 35% for those 65 and over to 49% for 18 to 24 years old. And while purchasing via social commerce is not yet widespread, surveys show that younger individuals have most often purchased via social commerce and are most interested in social commerce. So, consider the makeup of your customer base, your ideal customer segment, and their use of social media when evaluating whether to adopt social commerce.

Privacy

Privacy continues to be an important concern for consumers and businesses alike. According to the Pew Research Center, 63% know little about current privacy laws & regulations, 72% believe online activities are being tracked, and 79% are concerned about what is done with data collected on them.

Privacy concerns hit the headlines in the United States when, in 2016, Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm, was able to access private information on millions of Facebook users. This information “included details on users’ identities, friend networks, and likes” (New York Times, 2018). Then, in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enacted in the European Union in response to privacy concerns. GDPR provided EU residents with the right to know about and control the data that businesses collect and hold on them. “The minute such a business captures an email address of an EU resident with an intent to communicate with him and track his response that business becomes subject to GDPR, regardless of where the business, server, or subject is located at the time” (Arke website, 2018). Most recently, Apple has announced its intention to implement Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) to bring greater transparency to application users. According to CNBC news, the setting to opt-in to data tracking will be presented to users in a pop-up window when the app is first launched rather than providing an opt-out setting that users have to navigate to in-app on their own. User data collected by social media platforms is then used within a platform’s advertising branch by businesses to target their advertising campaigns. This has led to Facebook arguing that the likely outcome of IDFA will be an increase in app users opting out of tracking, leading to less data and, therefore, decreased ad effectiveness for small businesses that rely on that data when configuring their advertising campaigns.

The technology landscape is evolving to benefit once again businesses that collect and maintain their own lists for direct customer communication. In doing so, however, it will be crucial to highlight the business’s position on transparency and customer and follower control regarding data use.

User-generated Content

The ability of businesses to project authenticity and build trust with their online audience continues to be important. Research has shown that consumers trust recommendations from friends and family. With that in mind, businesses have increasingly turned to curating and sharing content highlighting their products or business that was created and first posted by their audience members

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MARKETING BYTES

or customers. Doing so, however, risks entrance into a potential legal minefield of content ownership. Businesses that wish to share others’ content should take steps to acquire permission from the original creator. Doing so ensures that copyright is not violated and that the creator/ owner is comfortable with and approves the content’s intended use.

Social Consciousness

Businesses have become comfortable telling their story through their online presence by sharing the business’s history, providing a look “behind the curtain,” or profiling the owners and employees – just to name a few examples – to establish a more personal connection with consumers. However, as consumers increasingly express their desire to connect with and support businesses that they identify with or that support issues important to them, sharing of business and owner values has become more important. Some of these values include the business’s own support of their local community or charities, sustainability practices, inclusiveness, and more. While a certain degree of risk comes with sharing more personal and deeply held values, done sensitively and respectfully, businesses can take advantage of consumers’ desire to connect with like-minded companies by sharing their positions on relevant topics.

Virtual Experiences

Over the past year, virtual events and experiences such as online tours, tasting events, and so forth have become vital to many businesses, both those that direct market and those that do not. Moving forward, it is anticipated that virtual experiences will continue to be offered at some level now that consumers and businesses are comfortable with the format. Virtual experiences, however, cannot replace the in-person experience. Therefore, it is crucial to determine objectives and identify customer expectations. When planning a virtual experience, businesses should: • Match the format of the experience and the platform used with objectives. • Ensure that customer expectations are set appropriately when marketing virtual experiences. • Consider the number of participants hosted for individual events. While offering virtual events allows a business to reach larger audiences, consider whether customer experience will be sacrificed. • Always test the technology platform and equipment that will be used. While most consumers understand technical glitches, they still expect that when businesses are offering virtual experiences, particularly for a fee, there is a reasonable knowledge of how to use the technology and equipment. • Ensure that the surroundings and the environment are conducive and appropriate for the virtual event. • Consider the length of time that the virtual experience will take. The length of time spent on an in-person activity or experience may not translate well to a virtual experience.

The technological landscape is continually changing, and with it, businesses’ options for using that technology. Social and legal landscapes evolve as well, making it a business’s responsibility to stay updated on pertinent issues as those issues may not just influence, but determine the actions a business takes online.

References cited by the author available under previous request to our editorial team.

*Sarah Cornelisse is a Senior Extension Associate of agricultural entrepreneurship and business management at Penn State University in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education. Sarah has expertise in direct marketing, valueadded dairy entrepreneurship and marketing, the use of digital and social media for agricultural farm and food business marketing, and business and marketing planning and decision making. Originally from New York State, she has a B.A in mathematics from the State University of New York at Geneseo, and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics and Animal Science, both from Penn State University. Correspondence email: sar243@psu.edu Editor’s note: references cited by the author within the text are available under previous request to our editorial team.

Dissolved Oxygen Instruments

by Amy Stone*

Dissolved oxygen levels in water are dependent on several environmental factors, including temperature, altitude (barometric pressure), and salinity. There are a variety of meter types available for use in the field these days, from the simple dissolved oxygen and temperature to the all-inclusive multi-parameter units.

Let’s talk dissolved oxygen. It is, without a doubt, one of the most important water quality parameters to follow in aquaculture systems. The technology has come a long way, from the radio box-looking analog meters that I started out using to the newer optical meters with immediate readings and require very little maintenance.

There are a variety of brands out there. However, this article will focus on the types of meters and probes that are currently available.

In the early days of aquaculture, there were not a lot of options for measuring dissolved oxygen. Readings were made via wet chemistry. As things progressed, electrochemistry meters became available such as the Model 51 from YSI. These were analog meters and were workhorses for several decades before the more modern digital meters started coming available.

Dissolved oxygen levels in water are dependent on several environmental factors, including temperature, altitude (barometric pressure), and salinity. Early versions of DO meters required manual compensation for these.

Today’s models almost always include temperature compensation and can consist of salinity and altitude compensation.

As the industry grew, so too did the investment from several companies back into better technologies for farmers and environmentalists to use.

There are a variety of meter types available for use in the field these days, from the simple dissolved oxygen and temperature to the all-inclusive multi-parameter units.

Sensor Styles

One of the factors to consider when purchasing a DO meter is what style sensor will be used. There are the older style electrochemical-based galvanic and polarographic sensors and the newer optical-based sensor.

Polarographic Sensor Style

Polarographic sensors are the original electrochemistry sensor. This style probe uses a silver metal anode and a gold metal cathode. Polarographic sensors require the user to allow the sensor to warm up or polarize. Once the sensor is warmed up or polarized, the meter’s readings are quick.

Galvanic Sensor Style

Galvanic sensors generally use a lead-based anode and silver cathode. These sensors are self-polarizing and require very little warm-up time, so they do not require a warm-up period.

Both Galvanic and Polarographic require flow past the membrane to provide accurate readings. Both style sensors use a removable membrane that the oxygen passes through to react with the sensor to determine oxygen concentration through a chemical reduction reaction.

Both styles require periodic membrane and solution changes and need to be calibrated often. Thankfully, most sensor manufacturers have adopted a screw cap membrane that is much easier to change than the oldstyle membrane and O-ring. The probe must be appropriately maintained to have accurate readings.

This includes scouring the probes’ exterior portions to remove any build-up and making sure the new membrane is completely full of the probe solution with no air bubbles.

Optical Sensor Style

These have become all the rage for some very good reasons! The optical style sensors use a phosphorescence coating on the sensor cap.

The probe emits a pulsing light that causes the sensor cap to phosphoresce based on the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water. Meters that use this style of sensor have calibration memory that requires very little calibration and doesn’t react to dissolved gases in the water source.

These are more expensive than traditional sensors, but the readings are more stable, require less calibration and maintenance, and do not require flow or the user to agitate the water around the probe. These are great options for meters that are in constant use in the field.

The meter side…

All of these probes are available with several options in terms of the user interface. Some of the more economical ones are not waterproof, while the more expensive models include waterproof casings, internal memory, and optional downloads to software that help keep the trending information available, allowing for better management of aquatic systems.

Higher-end models include additional sensors such as pH, ORP, Conductivity, and other common water quality parameters. The ultimate decision on which model to choose depends on the application.

At the end of the day, it is very important that facilities have a way of tracking oxygen in their systems to help avoid catastrophic losses due to variable DO in their systems.

Amy Riedel Stone is President and Owner at Aquatic Equipment and Design, Inc. She was formerly a Manager at Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, and she studied Agriculture at Purdue University. She can be reached at amy@aquaticed.com

Are you in the box seat?

By: The fishmonger *

The world is coming through the COVID-19 impacts in various ways. Some countries are doing better than others. Some industry sectors have thrived, some have survived, and sadly many have disappeared. Seafood has had both good and bad outcomes, but the most important aspect is if you have survived the global pandemic, then you need to be getting organized for your next chapter and ensure you are in the box seat.

There is no single seafood industry COVID-19 story. The degree of exposure, impact, and recovery for sectors and businesses, whether wildcaught or farmed or where you are in the supply chain, varies from positive, neutral, negative, and in a few cases, catastrophic.

The closer you were to your market, likely the better outcome you have had. The longer the supply chain, the more you probably suffered from the logistical nightmares that were experienced. If your emphasis was on highvalued white tablecloth restaurant trade, you would have suffered more than those engaged in retail/supermarket sales.

Success stories strongly highlighted producers’ ability to be fleet of foot and be prepared to adapt and change to alternative markets. Conversely, if you were locked into only exporting live and fresh products, you would have been sucked into a negative vacuum.

In Australia, the pandemic effects on aquaculture production and value were not as harmful as they could have been as the sector has a lower exposure to live export markets and a greater focus on retail markets.

In Australia, it has been reported that those supplying domestic retail and takeaway foodservice markets, which normally compete with fresh international imports, experienced a rise in demand and, in some cases, price. As a result, the value of these types of domestically sold products generally remained relatively stable, with any decline in production volumes offset by rising domestic prices. At the opposite end of that positive scenario, we find the live and fresh export products negatively impacted due to a decline in price and volume. Noting particularly that the value of Lobster and Abalone exports declined by 45%, while live and fresh seafood exports overall declined in value by 32% compared with the five-year average for the same period.

No matter where you are on the chain, you likely experienced substantial transaction costs because of adaptation to ensure business continuity, such as new laws reacting to C-19; higher levels to ensure food safety; increased logistical costs; improving packaging; labour issues such as physical distancing and other preventative health measures including COVID-19 safety planning and biosecurity requirements for imported and exported products, etc.

Governments across the world have struggled to find perfect solutions which is not unexpected in the circumstances. Some have dug deep to implement grants/loans and programs, but it has been hit or miss, and impacts will be felt for many years.

In Australia, the pandemic effects on aquaculture production and value were not as harmful as they could have been as the sector has a lower exposure to live export markets and a greater focus on retail markets. Additionally, the production is not large by world standards, and quantities cannot be rapidly adjusted in response to disruptions. Of course, those engaged in exports such as Oyster and Abalone growers did experience interruption and impact.

Imported seafood is important to Australia’s seafood industry as they contribute approximately 65% of Australian seafood domestic consumption. China, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand (NZ) and Indonesia are the top five countries by value from which Australia imports seafood, which leads the frozen and canned sectors. Overall, both have done very well throughout the pandemic period. This is especially so in lower pricepoint fish sold by foodservice businesses, including fish and chip shops, Asian style food-court vendors, and the lower tier dine-in outlets, such as cafes, pubs, and clubs. Imports are also important in the food catering sector, which services accommodation and travel, hospitals, aged care, prisons, cruise ships, etc. These sectors rely on affordable, shelf-stable, ready to use, portion-controlled, no waste products, typically frozen cartons of processed seafood – requiring form and volumes not produced in Australia. Clearly an opportunity for future thinking in Australia.

Retailers have benefited from selling imported frozen products (thawed) at wet fish counters. Those nimble operators who invested time and effort into changing packaging to enable wholesale products intended for the food service to be split into retail-ready packs found life profitable. Being adaptable saw more versatile companies seizing new opportunities by diverting products destined for restaurants to be sold at wet fish counters, thus eliminating potential losses.

The pandemic has seen a change in direct sales from producers to final consumers, and whilst small in a proportion of total sales by volume, this may be an area for future expansion. In Australia, the market was affected by the disruption to export and competing import markets for live Australian seafood and by COVID-19 pre-

Our industry is subjected to a wide range of cost variables, many of which are not easily controlled, and the pandemic has become another of these creating ‘the perfect storm’ to deal with.

ventative health measures introduced, which affected curtailing regional tourism and visitation and thereby seafood tourism in these areas.

For example, farm gate sales of products such as fresh Oysters were affected by the drop in inbound international tourism. The decline in direct sales decreased more dramatically during the lockdown phase as domestic travel restrictions reduced tourism visitation levels to regional areas while physical distancing restrictions limited the operations of farm gate retail outlets. This resulted in farm gate outlets shutting and staff lay-offs and strongly impacted revenue as farm gate prices are typically higher than wholesale.

In some States, producers’ sales of Oysters and Finfish species via home delivery or fishing ports close to metro areas increased, especially during the lockdown phase. ‘Back of the boat’ sales of Rock Lobster increased as producers were no longer able to sell the average volumes into export markets in China. This trend continued across the lockdown and initial easing phases as the price of the product into these export markets remained low even when resumed. It was reported from a survey of Tasmanians about food access and supply, 22% reported buying Rock Lobsters directly from fishers during the COVID-19 lockdown period (UTAS 2020).

A survey reported that aside from the loss of sales, employment costs were impacted. Thirty-five percent of farms reported an average of 15% increase in labor cost due to COVID-19, driven by increased safety requirements, space and equipment needed to manage excess oyster inventories, and heightened biosecurity risks. Seventy-seven percent of farms accessed government support programs.

Our industry is subjected to a wide range of cost variables, many of which are not easily controlled, and the pandemic has become another of these, creating ‘the perfect storm’ to deal with. It is even harder in our food production area as most of our stock is underwater and not in mind eye like it is in, say, the beef industry. Riding out the storm will take a lot of doing, and much can be learned from sharing information and knowledge.

The Fishmonger suggests you follow these tips: • Be nimble in your dealings – always be on the lookout for ideas, and do not be afraid to make changes to your organization to ensure you are profitable. • Look for opportunities to have quick sales to promote and move products. • Do not buy what you cannot sell – know what your customers want and plan. • Utilize social media to build loyalty and offer specials through that medium. • Take advantage of any offers of government assistance. • Avoid wastage by utilizing value-add products. • Shop around with your suppliers to get the best deal – do it in a way that makes them see you as an important client. • Make your payments on time. • Do not become a bank for your creditors – be strict on your terms. • Continue to train your staff. • Look after your staff and reward them for any initiatives. • Do not forget your local market – if you create loyalty, they will support your business in good and bad times.

Happy Fishmongering!

References cited by the author available under previous request to our editorial team.

Investing in aquaculture: a good idea or not?

“Caveat emptor”- let the buyer beware

By Stephen G. Newman Ph.D. * President and CEO, AquaInTech Inc.

Aquaculture is the farming of animals and plants that require water to be grown in. It is water-based agriculture. It is an ancient form of agriculture and has a history that stretches far into the past. It is the last major global shift from a hunting (fishing) to a farming paradigm. It encompasses hundreds of species, including fish species, many crustaceans (shrimp and crabs), other invertebrates (oysters and clams), and aquatic plants (algae). This sector has grown rapidly for decades and is expected to continue to do so for many years to come. With a current global population approaching 8 billion people and a predicted increase to more than 10 billion within the next three decades, aquaculture is held by many to be the only way to meet the demand for high-quality sustainable protein to feed the masses.

For much of history, China has been the world’s leading country for the production of protein by aquaculture, at times representing more than 50% of the total global production. Since adopting capitalism over the last three decades, their burgeoning middle class has driven huge increases in With a 6 to 8% projected annual growth rate into the foreseeable future, aquaculture will offer good investment opportunities. However, just like any other endeavor, there are some very good reasons why what some see as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is empty. There are many exciting opportunities in aquaculture globally. Approaching them cautiously and ensuring that somewhere in the evaluation process there are voices that think about the upsides and understand the potential downsides is critical.

Aquaculture is going to continue to grow for many years to come and there are going to be many good opportunities to invest.

the demand for quality seafood products. Demand for seafood is increasing globally and can only be met via aquaculture. The fishery cannot meet the demand, and there are legitimate concerns that even with tight restrictions, many fisheries are in decline. With a 6 to 8% projected annual growth rate into the foreseeable future, aquaculture will offer good investment opportunities. However, just like any other endeavor, there are some very good reasons why what some see as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is empty.

There are several important things that investors should consider before investing. Relatively few companies are in the public sector, although this is increasing as inexorable market forces drive consolidation.

Consolidation is inevitable and the more than likely the only way that sustainability can be assured in the long run. Poverty-driven farming by its very nature, i.e., seriously resourcelimited, is not a viable long-term (i.e., sustainable) production paradigm. It is unfortunate that there have been a number of highly visible problems with publicly traded companies that have created some distrust. However, I believe that there are ways to invest that will protect investments and ensure that the chances of gaining adequate returns and achieving success with your investments in aquaculture projects are maximized.

I have been working with aquaculturists for more than 40 years in dozens of countries on many different species. This industry is one of change, and the changes keep coming. What should you be looking for to make money? Many factors can contribute to success, and these together can maximize your chances of longterm success.

Sustainability is the big catchphrase today. When and if the US government finalizes organic standards for aquaculture products, we will see a new catchphrase. The quandary is that organic is a legal definition which makes compliance relatively straightforward.

Sustainability has no legal definition, and anybody can say that their product is sustainable, and many do, even when it is not likely that the product is truly sustainable. Sustainability is actually a fairly simple concept, though, as with many other things of this nature, the devil is in the details. Farmers should be farming using techniques and technologies that minimize environmental impacts that will prevent future farmers from being as, if not more, productive.

One sentence summary: Aquaculture is going to continue to grow for many years to come and there are going to be many good opportunities to invest.

Sustainability/ Certification

Not too many years ago, certification of aquaculture operations was nonexistent. Today, many certification schemes in differing stages of evolution are being touted as paths to sustainability. These are, for the most part, largely business driven with retailers being sold on various pro-

Do your homework! Sustainability and certification are not necessarily the same thing.

grams by those who have developed the programs or by other NGOs that believe that they should advise retailers what programs actually are sustainable. Like all other activities, the process of certification has some good elements and some bad elements. Since there is no universally accepted definition of what actually constitutes sustainability, each group believes that their espoused cultural practices constitute sustainability. In reality, this is not quite true. While it is laudable that some degree of cohesiveness has been brought to the myriad of practices that constitute aquaculture, the reality is that in large parts of the world aquaculture is being driven by poverty. In those areas where this is not the case, and corporate farms exist or are becoming the norm, the wide divergence of practices does not favor one scheme over the other. Farms will choose the schemes that the retailers tell them to have. The retailers may rely on NGOs with specific biases to assist them in determining what programs are the “best”. This does not allow one to equate certification with sustainability automatically. In fact, when programs focus on non-issues such as the use of fish meal in aquaculture feeds, the use of GMO feed ingredients, etc., they stray away from sustainability and become little more than venues for interest groups to promulgate specific agendas. So do not be fooled into thinking that because a project has been “certified” that its operating practices are necessarily any better or worse than projects that have not been certified.

One sentence summary: Do your homework! Sustainability and certification are not necessarily the same thing.

Profitability

The underlying reason for any business enterprise to exist is to generate revenue (profit) above and beyond the cost of running the business. For small operations, the profit is the paycheck that the owner/operators take home.

For corporate operations, profits are typically dividends payable to shareholders, or an increase in the value of the stock. For investors, the best companies are those that generate a consistent profit.

In aquaculture operations, this is not typically the norm. Since the end product is a commodity, supply-side economics operate. Sharp deviations in supply and demand impact pricing, and even small changes can result in fluctuating prices. Production is rarely consistent from cycle to cycle, and survivals, animal quality, and the cost of inputs (specifically feed) must be considered as well. So typically, there are good and bad years, and the hope is that the good years more than adequately make up for the lean years. Historically there have been times when the price of shrimp commanded pond side was so high that even marginal farmers who can manage to get their crops to harvest can make money. This is part of a cycle and will not persist. The reasons for this consistent lack of profitability are

complex and differ from business to business although they typically boil down to a few common issues.

1.Management incompetency

Aquaculture is not as straightforward as terrestrial agriculture. The immediate production environment (water) adds a large number of variables to the culture process that can complicate matters. This includes water chemistry, animal health, stress mitigation, animal nutrition, and animal physiology, among others. Few managers have a handle on all of these. Production of shrimp (and fish) is a multistage process and starts with broodstock production and continues through the processing plant to the consumer’s hands. As an example, routinely, I see shrimp hatcheries run by experienced personnel who think that 50-60% survivals are indicative of success.

Some believe that they can justify this by arguing that it is survival of the fittest, and others cite these survivals as being normal. The truth is that a successful hatchery should be routinely getting 80% or higher survivals. Survival of the fittest has nothing to do with production and is an excuse to cover up poor management. The ability to manage variables and lessen the risks to animal health determines success, not solely whose diet is being used or how much water you push through your system, etc.

2. Ownership complacency

Owners are not always farmers (except for smaller privately held farms). They are typically businessmen. While they may understand the nature of business and the need to generate a profit, they typically place a lot of faith in the biologists in charge of their farms and at times do not provide adequate support to ensure that managers do not find themselves in catch 22 situations. Managers typically blame others for problems when they may be the underlying cause of the issues themselves. I could write a book about this, but one anecdote serves to make my point. A few years ago, I was asked to audit a farm under construction financed jointly by locals in South America (Surinam), a Canadian company with local interests and a branch of an international bank (South African). There were significant cost overruns in the early stages of construction, and part of what I was asked to do was to determine what was happening and advise the investors. Management was in place, but it was recognized that a third party might see things differently.

During the course of my operational audit, I noted that the broodstock to be used in the project were being sourced from the wild. While this is not a preferable practice, the logistics and nature of the project dictated this. I inquired as to the degree of testing being done on the adults prior to using them as a source of seed for the farm. I was told that statistical sampling had been done and that they were evidently free of any of the viruses that are typically thought to be potentially problematic. To the manager, a knowledgeable and experienced individual, this appeared to be adequate. After all, the broodstock were being held in quarantine for a month prior to being spawned. As an individual who thinks outside of the box, I voiced the concern that the animals needed to be tested individually and not as a group (statistical sampling relies on random sampling of the population at levels that have been determined to provide a 90 to 98% chance of finding a specific pathogen being looked for but only if the testing technology is 100% reliable-which it cannot be and the sample is really “random”). The cost of this was brought up as an objection until I explained that the cost of not doing it would be much greater if they introduced a virus into their population and wiped the farm out from the start. The animals were screened individually, and testing showed that they were carrying, albeit at a very low level, a virus that could have easily damaged productivity from the start. This could have killed the project and resulted in losses of more than 20 million dollars. Just about the same time, I was made aware of a project in Africa that was being decimated by viral diseases where the staff and support failed to conduct adequate (any?) testing of wild broodstock and basically wiped out a $30 million investment. One project was stopped before it reached the point of a blowout, and the other caused severe financial damage. The management team for this latter project dispersed to the wind and many of them are working on projects where their role in the failure has been minimized and even denied.

3. The Science of Aquaculture

I tell my clients that aquaculture is half art and half science and that if you get one right and do not get the other right, you can still lose your crop.

Sort of like the person who has a green thumb and who can keep plants alive no matter how much he abuses them contrasted with the person who has a black thumb who will kill crops just by thinking about them. In reality, much of what goes on is sciencebased. It is just that we do not always fully understand or appreciate the science involved.

An example is the role of stress in productivity. Dogmatic approaches towards production are all too common and unfortunately, often the norm. Yet, in many ways, failure to question these approaches can result in catastrophes.

For many years managers and owners touted that shrimp could tolerate low levels of oxygen and that even when there were anoxic events (shrimp would be at the surface gasping for air) that the shrimp could handle it. They justified this from observations and from economics. Observing that there were no apparent untoward effects on the shrimp in the days following the event meant that it was not a problem. The cost of additional aeration equipment and the infrastructure required to produce the electricity required to run the equipment all would add to production costs. When the animals seemed to be OK, why bother? For years, scientists have known that stress from low dissolved oxygen levels has a dramatic impact on animal physiology and weakens animals in many different ways. Cumulative stressors result in slower growth rates, higher feed costs because of poorer utilization of nutrients, and increased disease susceptibility. Many farms who believe that low dissolved oxygen levels are inherent parts of production routinely have survivals that are under 60%, and staff cannot identify the underlying reason for even the death of a single shrimp! Farms that understand this and that invest in the needed tools to maintain oxygen levels at five parts per million or higher at all times are much more likely to have fewer problems. Shrimp grow better, feed conversion ratios are lower (less feed per shrimp) and survivals are higher. All of this equates with higher profits. I have seen farms that thrive, yet the staff do not know the basics.

They know to stock, feed, watch and harvest. When problems occur, they are usually the farms that have the worst problems. This is a single example. In fact, this is not even the tip of a vast iceberg.

Pseudoscientific practices are common, and farmers are easy prey. Managers are sold on technologies where their arrogance and ignorance are exploited, and in many countries, their incomes are supplemented by the purveyors of these technologies. So, when there are problems, they are not going to tell the boss that the company that is giving them a kickback is selling them a product that does not do what it claims. They will find someone to blame, and rarely is it actually who is responsible.

4. Disease

By far, the largest impact on productivity is disease. In fact, bacterial prob-

lems due to commonly occurring bacteria are a cause of significant losses at all stages of culture.

This is unfortunate as a large number of these deaths are preventable by following a few sample strategies. Nothing could be clearer regarding this than the current problems with a strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus that is causing what has been characterized as Early Mortality Syndrome or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis. This bacterium is wreaking havoc in many production areas.

The problems that one typically hears about though, are the viral diseases. For fish in SE Asia, iridovirus and viral necrosis are big ones. For salmon, Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a disease that has been around for a long time is once again killing fish. For shrimp, there seems to be an endless cycle, and in 2010 infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) was killing large numbers of shrimp in Indonesia, and there are patterns of mortality in China and Vietnam that suggest another as of yet uncharacterized virus may be at work. You can bet that there will be another “new” virus that causes serious problems in the near future. Cultural practices in many areas are conducive to widespread viral disease outbreaks, and the diseases that are certain to affect stocks in the future are already present, waiting for the opportune time to begin the global march once again.

For every one of these problems there are a hundred (if not a thousand) snake oil salesmen, many operating with a veneer of acceptability of-

fering solutions and readily misleading owners with fancy presentations and verbose arguments. Disease poses the greatest risk to an aquaculture investment and this is not going to change any time in the near future. Moving to systems that seek to control as many of the variables as can be costeffectively controlled will, in some parts of the world, mitigate the risks. Unfortunately, in some areas the economics do not make sense, and risky cultural practices will continue. The good news though, is that using the right tools and a modicum of common sense, the impact of disease can be lessened. After all, even though diseases may be impacting animals with regularity at all phases of production, the overall trend is for production to increase, so things must be working at some level.

5. Harmful toxins

An area that is largely ignored in pondbased culture production systems is the risks to consumers from harmful algal species present in ponds or in the immediate environment. This includes toxins from fungi (mycotoxins) that might end up in feed. There are many species that produce potent toxins that are present as normal inhabitants in aquatic ecosystems. While many have been characterized, there are many more that have not. These are not routinely screened for.

A single event that is wide publicized will do an untold amount of damage to the industry. The very nature of shrimp and fishpond-based production systems is conducive to the growth of many strains that produce toxins.

Failing to take this into account, which is almost universal at this time, is the Achilles heel of the industry. The risks are the greatest in traditional production systems that totally ignore the science of aquaculture.

Often times production systems are consistent with the presence of these toxins, and there is little doubt that not only is there a huge direct effect on the farmed animals but a substantial risk to consumers in systems that are properly managed and monitored.

Summary

Many things can and do affect production that proper management can mitigate. These include failure to check on managers track records, a universal mindset that blames others for problems, a failure to understand that ignoring the science of aquaculture is not consistent with true sustainability, the intimate connection of stress and disease, and a total blind eye to the proliferation of strains (of algae and bacteria) in production systems that produce a variety of potent toxins.

Over the years, I have been asked by investors about what the steps are that they should be taking to ensure that their investment is a wise one. They want to back people who will make their investment worthwhile and increase in value for their clients. I tell them to pay attention to the basics outlined above and make sure that the people that they are investing in understand the importance and limitations.

The first thing to do is to make sure that you have an independent third party look at what is being offered or what you are planning on doing. Paying attention to detail is critical and using knowledgeable and experienced third-party trouble shooters whose role it is to find and fix problems at the behest of the investors (which prevents counterproductive interference from management) is an element of a successful strategy as well.

This should be someone who understands the risks and is honest enough to not fear the at times negative impressions that can come into play when the truth is put forth.

Take the time to have a cold hard look at what is being done. You get what you pay for. Taking shortcuts leads to problems. The business plan tells one side of the story. Avoid academics with little real-world experience (I am not saying that this is typical of all academics) and avoid yes men who will tell you what they think you want to hear.

So, I would encourage you to consider investing in aquaculture projects that make sense. Look for projects that have the elements of success and that have realistic business plans that clearly outline the risks. Install your own representatives into the process to ensure that you have the assurances that you need to be aware of problems as they occur but also to work with management to come up with productive and economically viable solutions. Be proactive about this and do not rely solely on management representations. You have little to lose from taking this approach, and in the end, stacking the deck in your favor will greatly increase the chances of success while lessening the potential of failures.

There are many exciting opportunities in aquaculture globally. Approaching them cautiously and ensuring that somewhere in the evaluation process there are voices that think about the upsides and understand the potential downsides is critical. It is rare that a project, regardless of whether it is an existing operation, one in various stages of development, or even still in the early planning stages, does not have some aspects to it that can confound the process to varying degrees.

Stephen G. Newman has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in Conservation and Resource Management (ecology) and a Ph.D. from the University of Miami, in Marine Microbiology. He has over 40 years of experience working within a range of topics and approaches on aquaculture such as water quality, animal health, biosecurity with special focus on shrimp and salmonids. He founded Aquaintech in 1996 and continues to be CEO of this company to the present day. It is heavily focused on providing consulting services around the world on microbial technologies and biosecurity issues. sgnewm@aqua-in-tech.com www.aqua-in-tech.com www.bioremediationaquaculture.com www.sustainablegreenaquaculture.com