Notes on upcoming issue of Aquaculture North America

Hello folks,

I'm working on several stories for the next issue of Aquaculture North America, due in members' mailboxes March 1st.

Looking at the ongoing effort by U.S. shrimp producers, fishermen and farmers, to petition the federal government for relief from subsidized shrimp imports from seven countries.

USDA's latest numbers on farmed Catfish and Trout production numbers for the last quarter. Expect to have continued tightening of the catfish production output as farmers continue to be squeezed by Asian imports and high feed prices.

Also covering stories in Massachusetts, California, Texas and Belize to name a few spots.

As the New Year comes and the inauguration for the second term of the Obama administration happens later this month, I thought I'd write a story for my Canadian publisher, Capamara Communications, in their trade mag Aquaculture North America on the successes the administration has had in establishing a domestic seafood farming sector int he U.S.

The article appears below:

WASHINGTON D.C.--With the Obama Inauguration for a second term in January, a look at the aquaculture policy successes of the first four years of the administration shows significant momentum in establishing new policies for the industry among other positive developments.

Under the first Barack Obama presidency the first National Aquaculture Policy (NAP) was adopted, along with the coordination of aquaculture and other marine stakeholders under the president’s National Ocean Council’s (NOC) Draft Implementation Plan, indicating a serious effort to push the domestic seafood farming sector forward, say aquaculture policy makers and industry members.

Aquaculture professionals say there has been a change in how aquaculture is perceived at least on the policy level over the last four years.

“I can see that starting to happen slowly now,” said Sebastian Belle of Maine Aquaculture Association, at the December Northeastern Aquaculture Conference and Expo.

NAP was the most significant and most headlined aquaculture development under Obama’s first term, 

Dr. Michael Rubino, the Director of Aquaculture at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, told Aquaculture North America but there were other accomplishments made on-the-ground that were important as well.

“There was a fair number of the sort of nots in bolts things that happened too,” he said. “Certainly when Jane Lubchenco was appointed as NOAA director they asked us to look at everything we are doing, stakeholders and all, on aquaculture.”

The NOAA went around the country and got input at several public meetings as well. 

“The federal government hadn’t done that in 10 years, and we got a broad economic view. NOAA policy was addressed on the kind of things we do as far as marine stewardship and engagement,” Rubino said. “Going back 40 years, there have been several commissions, all the way up to the establishment of the National Oceans Council in 2004, and others in between. They all have had aquaculture components, all saying the same thing. Aquaculture has to be done sustainably, with trade policy and good science behind it.”

It’s fair to say that the adoption of the NAP came out of all of those commissions over the years enhanced by the efforts under Lubchenco to get NOAA officials out to different regions of the country to add their voices and interests to the dialogue around framing the new policy.

In the summer of 2011, the United States National Aquaculture Policy was announced, making headlines as the first of its kind in a country that has 95,471 statute miles of tidal shoreline and 200 nautical miles from those coasts out to sea as part of the Exclusive Economic Zone, according to NOAA.

The new aquaculture policy and its components, which reflect the public comments received after draft policies were released on February 9, focus on:

• encouraging and fostering sustainable aquaculture that increases the value of domestic aquaculture production and creates American business, jobs, and trade opportunities;
• making timely management decisions based on the best scientific information available;
• advancing sustainable aquaculture science;
• ensuring aquaculture decisions protect wild species and healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems;
• developing sustainable aquaculture compatible with other uses;
• working with partners domestically and internationally; and,
• promoting a level playing field for U.S. aquaculture businesses engaged in international trade, working to remove foreign trade barriers, and enforcing our rights under U.S. trade agreements.

Policy components

“Coming out of the policy, we asked what can we do under the current funding limitations? Three things, because we are on the marine side ... oysters, clams, muscles, and fin fish. Aquaculture also works towards fishery restoration--from salmon on the pacific coast and oysters on the East,” Rubino said.

The shellfish industry came out strongly on saying they were the here in the now as far as marine aquaculture goes because so much legislative hurdles still exist until fin fish farming in marine waters can get going, he added. 

“A major component of our work is in the National Shellfish Initiative,” said Rubino. “And it must be a regional approach.”

For example, the NOAA aquaculture director said the shellfish initiative in Washington State which worked to streamline the permitting process in Puget Sound was a good example of working the federal policy on the ground to build better relationships between commercial and non-governmental-organization (NGO) shellfish interests and enhance the wild fishery.

The Washington Shellfish Initiative is an agreement among federal and state governments, tribes and the shellfish industry to restore and expand Washington’s shellfish resources to promote clean-water industries and create family-wage jobs.

On Dec. 9, 2011, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire unveiled the state wide initiative, including a $200,000 federal grant to help the state restore the native Olympia oyster. The state departments of Health and Ecology will also award $1 million to help local health carry out programs to identify, inspect and fix failing septic systems to keep pollution out of sensitive habitat areas. “Commercial shellfish and enhancement industry work together well out there,” said Rubino. “There is a similar effort in California, with commercial shellfish and restoration NGOs, and NOAA working together as they did in Washington State. On the East Coast, everyone has established oyster policies already but there are the same permitting issues.”

Rubino also points to the work NOAA has done on alternative feeds as another component of its recent efforts under the new national policy.

“On the research side we have worked on with the Soy industry to develop alternative feeds to fish meal feeds,” he explained. “Putting back together the ‘rubiks cube’ of fish feed when adding or replacing fish meal feed. We have collectively worked with the aquaculture and Soybean industries to do this. We are working with the United States Department of Agriculture on alternative feeds, and issued a report on the alternatives, often involves commingling ingredients.”

The second Initiative the Technology Transfer Initiative. 

“Milford labs have done a lot of work on probiotics and algae in shellfish hatcheries,” he said. “We are now working to push that research and technology out to the aquaculture industry.”

The third initiative, under the National Ocean Policy, is to improve the regulatory environment for aquaculture without hurting environmental stewardship, he added. “We are starting to do work on that specifically on shellfish, which is way ahead of finfish aquaculture here in the U.S.,” he explained. “Setting out with ‘who does what when,’ with permitting and applying that at the core district areas. We also want to set up one-stop-permit shops. Once we get our work done on shellfish, same people will work on fin fish, using Washington State, Hawaii and Maine as examples.”

PULL OUT BLURB:

Neil Sims, founder and executive of Oceans Stewards Institute and founder and owner of Kampachi Farms in Hawaii.

“The biggest thing accomplished over the last four years was developing a regulatory framework under the national [aquaculture] policy. NAP is a good start, but they have to go out and establish a regulatory  framework. Why has it taken four years to do this? States have offshore aquaculture regulations of their own. What have they been doing? The entire industry has been sitting here waiting. I know academics can’t get funding for their aquaculture research because they are told ‘your just gonna just ship it over seas.’ I think NAP is a start but it hasn’t turned into a regulatory framework.

“Let NOAA regulate the industry with their fish biologists. They seem to think that sustainably raised seafood will just arrive from farms over seas and without our environmental standards.”

As reported in the January/February issue of Aquaculture North America

Probiotics fighting disease fish and shellfish

My girlfriend swears by her probiotics to help maintain a healthy stomach and whole body "betterness." I take them occasionally when healthy just isn't what I'm feeling. 

But a team of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Milford Marine Labs have found that naturally-occurring bacteria isolated from the digestive glands of adult eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and northern bay scallops (Argopecten irradians irradians) may be used as potential probiotic candidates in oyster larviculture.

Two related research studies published in the Journal of Shellfish Research identify a new probiotic bacterium, designated OY15, which has been shown to significantly improve larval survival in pilot-scale trials during the first two weeks of life, the most critical stage for the organism when mortality rates are among the highest.

Known to the public for their use in yogurt and other foods to improve human digestion and health, probiotic bacteria isolated from other sources can also be used to improve survival, nutrition and disease prevention in larvae grown in shellfish hatcheries. 

With shellfish aquaculture being the name of the game on the Cape and The Islands, this sort of news should interest the shellfish farmer looking for alternatives to the usual antibiotics to fight bacterial disease.

Antimicrobial drugs approved for use in aquaculture in some countries, but not the US, have traditionally been used to treat bacterial diseases, but overuse of antibiotics can result in the development of resistant strains of bacterial pathogens. The use of probiotic bacteria has become increasingly popular for improved nutrition, healthy digestion and disease prevention and is used in human foods like yogurt and in pet foods.


Hatcheries produce shellfish seed to supplement natural seed, which is often limited by loss of habitat, contamination from pollution, climate change and other factors. Bacterial diseases caused mainly by pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio are a major cause of mortality in hatchery shellfish, particularly at the very early larval stage. This can lead to significant financial losses to commercial growers and to production of farmed shellfish, which accounts for 25 percent of the total world aquaculture product.

As demand for environmentally-friendly aquaculture grows, the use of probiotics for disease prevention and improved nutrition in shellfish aquaculture is also growing. While a number of research studies have shown promise, development of probiotics that can be used in aquaculture is a multistep process requiring fundamental research and full-scale trials, Milford Lab researchers explained.

“The objective of the first part of this study was to isolate and evaluate new probiotic bacteria which, when incorporated into foods used in shellfish hatcheries, might significantly improve larval survival,” said co-author Diane Kapareiko, a microbiologist at the Milford Laboratory, in a statement. The second part of the study was to test the new probiotic candidate on the survival of oyster larvae in pilot-scale trials during their first two weeks of life.

The Milford scientists isolated 26 candidate probiotic bacteria from oysters and scallops of which 16 had an inhibitory effect against a known shellfish-larval pathogen (B183) of the Vibrio species of bacteria. Further screening for safe use in culturing the oyster larvae and their microalgal feed indicated which probiotic candidates would inhibit growth of the pathogen most effectively and therefore could confer a protective effect upon oyster larval survival.

Lab studies indicated that survival of two-day old oyster larvae during two-week pilot scale trials improved when supplemented with the probiotic candidate OY15 strain.  Four treatments were conducted: a larval control with no bacteria, a pathogen control with larvae and pathogen B183 only, a probiotic control with larvae and probiotic candidate OY15 only, and a combination treatment comprised of larvae and both probiotic and pathogen.

Just had surgery on my right foot.
Trying to get back to writing blog, and some stories for my editors now.
Have patience, I'll have something up by the end of the week.

E.L.

The Dream Job

As I'm always reminded during these tough economic times in America, I am blessed to be working in the job I went to college for and now, thanks to my Canadian publisher, covering the aquaculture industry I left my corporate tech news desk to do.


As I'm never one to sit on my butt and let life pass me by, I'm trying to envision my next career move, say in five years. Covering the aquaculture industry now for 4 years, I've come across several jobs I might want to end my career on over the next 20 years. One of which I'm writing about for the next issue of Aquaculture North America, due to subscribers by the end of the month.


Coral Gables, Fla.-based AquaSol is a one-stop-shop for aquaculture consulting services. The company has consulted and offered project management services to clients in New Caledonia, Oman, The Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Suriname, Switzerland, Vietnam, Uganda, Turks & Caicos, United States, and Venezuela.


While working at a shellfish hatchery on Martha's Vineyard island in Massachusetts, geting my hands dirty in the industry I wanted to write about, I was told by hatchery manager Rick Karney early on that the real money is in consulting. Even back then, around 2002, I was thinking beyond just writing about the industry to actually having my hand in making aquaculture work better for the consumer, fish farmer and whole saler alike. 


Tom Frese, the CEO and president of AquaSol, is essentially doing the job I would some day want to do on the media side of things. The company is staffed by folks who have varied experience in the aquaculture business. They provide a plethora of aquaculture related services, including site search & analysis, feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, social impact studies, technology transfer, marketing plans for farm-raised products, financial feasibility analysis, business plans, due diligence, project management, farm design, hatchery design, processing plant design, feed mill design, strategic planning, farm management, development of national aquaculture development plans, sustainable community-based fish farming projects. 


As I say in the story I'm currently writing, aquaculture consulting and startup management has become a niche all its own as firms look for that extra edge in an increasingly competitive international industry.

AquaSol is meeting that demand.

Another possibility I'd be most interested in is lobbying for the industry in Washington D.C. Some of that work is being done by already existing lobbying groups representing the huge Soy Feed industry which sees a huge value in aquaculture. But there is still a gap between traditional commercial fishing, environmental NGO lobbies and those that represent, solely, the aquaculture industry. One group that tried at that job was the Ocean Stewards Institute, an aquaculture advocacy group. Because of financial constraints they had to drop the law firm that was representing them in Washington D.C.

One of these days, maybe in the next five, aquaculture media consulting, or aquaculture lobbying might be something I'd dip my toe in. Until then, I am happy where I am, writing for a tested and successful publisher in aquaculture media, Capamara Communications and their two trade pubs--Aquaculture North America and Hatchery International.

New England Aquafarmer’s Best Aquaculture Stories and Notes of 2011

As I work on the second issue of Hatchery International (HI) for 2012, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on some of the aquaculture issues I wrote about for my Canadian publisher and editor Peter Chettleburgh, who has been publishing HI and the many manifestations of Aquaculture North America (ANA), previously titled Northern Aquaculture, since the 1980s. 

Some of the stories I wrote for Peter this year are described in posts here, including posts on one of the few US-based VC firms catered specifically for the aquaculture start-up community; another post had to do with one of the first and only fin-fish hatcheries in operation just in my back yard; and another had to do with refreshing page viewers on who I am and why I’m living my dream writing about this exciting global aquaculture industry.

Notes from ANA

One of the funnest and inspiring stories I wrote about this year had to do with the New York-based VC firm Aquacopia, Llc. Every industry, from the Internet/Tech boom in the 1990's to Aquaculture now, needs Venture Capital (VC) funding to push young start-ups to become commercial and to follow along, navigating the company through the first stages of its business. Aquacopia is the only VC firm focused entirely on Aquaculture. 

I had the pleasure of writing about them in the current issue of Aquaculture North America, interviewing the CEO and co-founder of the  firm, David Tze.

Aquacopia has its fingers in many pots, from alternative feed to marine pen technology and seafood distribution. For instance, Tze is excited about the opportunities at Oberon FMR, Inc., an alternative feed manufacturer in Idaho Springs, Colo.

Oberon is an early stage, startup, company with proprietary technology capable of producing a sustainably produced protein meal. Oberon’s product serves as a fish meal replacement (FMR) or additive ingredient for animal feeds, primarily those destined for the aquaculture industry. Oberon has developed a sustainable process for generating high quality single cell protein (SCP) meal from by-products contained in the wastewater treatment streams generated by food and beverage manufacturers.  

Over at Ocean Farm Technologies (OFT), they say Aquacopia came just at the right time as the company was lacking enough dough to move their developed product into the testing stage.

For ANA, I’ve also been given my own column called FishBytes, where I combine  my former experience as a Internet tech journalist in the 90’s for CNET News.com and my love of the aquaculture industry to write about how technology and the web are streamlining and bringing efficiency to the seafood farming sector.

Notes From HI

But the most enjoyable story of the year for me was writing about the ongoing effort here on the island of Martha’s Vineyard to establish a winter flounder aquaculture fishery enhancement project. 

The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Council agreed to lease their shellfish hatchery to the Dukes County/Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Association (DCFA) for $100, allowing the association and University of NH to use the shellfish hatchery for the winter flounder project, the tribe announced in October.

Before fertilized fish eggs can be brought into the facility, it had to be refurbished as a finfish operation. Currently the work is being done to rewire the electrical system, bring in appropriate pumps and tanks for the winter flounder.

The building hasn’t run as a hatchery since before 2006. Two saltwater pumps at the facility were destroyed when the building was hit by lightning in that year. It has already been used for the raising of quahaugs, bay scallops and oysters. There is already plenty of information about the health of Menemsha Pond from work done in federally funded bay scallop restoration work by the tribe.

The partnership is part of a federally funded two-year $308,000 National Sea Grant project to find ways to restore one of the most troubled fish resources in Southern New England. The grant provides for enough funds to retrofit the facility to raise fish instead of shellfish. As much as $20,000 from the grant will be used to replace the pumps and get the place working again.

DCFA members say the first fish should be in tanks by March for the seasonal spawn period.

It turns out that 2011 turned out to be a reasonably good year for the aquaculture sector in the US, with an aquaculture policy announced by the Obama administration and several legislative efforts in Congress to establish regulations for the still small, yet, burgeoning American fish farming industry.

We also saw some of the first hatchery spawned blue fin tuna in Croatia by the Atlantic Tuna farming and coral giant Umami. The US-based company, with wild tuna corals in Mexico and the Mediterranean, saw their hatchery lab teams in Croatia successfully spawn blue fin tuna in captivity. 

Umami Croatian subsidiary Kali Tuna has made an investment growing over 1,000 young tuna into mature brood stock at its aqua farms in both its operations in Mexico and Croatia to help replenish the Bluefin tuna population. This is likely the world's largest brood stock holding, with the goal being to release hundreds of millions of fertilized eggs and fry back into the wild every year.

“Currently there is no re-stocking program, but we keep the barriers of the cages low enough for eggs to go into the wild,” Johnsson explained. “The restoration/to market ratio remains to be seen.”

This spawning event is a major step forward for the Company's hatchery project. Having a reliable and predictable supply of eggs is essential to the success of the Company's propagation programs.  

Earlier this year, Kali Tuna started work on building the world's first mobile tuna hatchery, one that will incorporate the latest equipment and technologies while being cost effective,” Johnsson explained.

It’s the companies long term goal to propagate Tuna and close the life cycle to supply the Tuna market, he added.

As a writer covering this industry, 2011 has been an exciting and inspiring year. I have started writing a book on Aquaculture in New England and how the sector fits into the region’s historical relationship with the North Atlantic ocean and the fisheries that  exist there.

Keep following me here to see how 2012 treats our fastest growing food production machine called aquaculture.

E.L.

Martha's Vineyard Finfish Hatchery, First in Region

I love my home island of Martha's Vineyard. It's a close community. The Red Stocking Fund cartons at the local grocery stores are always heaping this time of year. There's a great music scene happening, which I love as a singer-songwriter and band member. But as a journalist, covering international seafood farming it's also become a great place to see good aquaculture being done for the right reasons.

Recently I got to see something special, touring a former tribal shellfish hatchery that's been refurbished into a finfish operation, the first of its kind in the region, and being rebuilt by community grassroots effort.

I have covered the Winter Flounder Restoration Plan for Martha's Vineyard now for a little more than a year for Hatchery International as part of my job. I want to share the latest goings on wit the project as the folks behind the project get closer to their first adult winter flounder spawn next year.

After a year of field studies collecting data from two ponds on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod, University of New Hampshire (UNH) aquaculture specialists and biologists are moving into the next phase of their winter flounder restoration effort--refurbishing a tribal hatchery.

The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal council agreed to lease the hatchery to the Dukes County/Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Association (DCFA) for $100, allowing the association and UNH to use the shellfish hatchery for the winter flounder project, the tribe announced in October.

Before fertilized fish eggs can be brought into the facility, it has to be refurbished as a finfish operation. Currently the work is being done to rewire the electrical system, bring in appropriate pumps and tanks for the winter flounder.

The building hasn’t run as a hatchery since before 2006. Two saltwater pumps at the facility were destroyed when the building was hit by lightning in that year. It has already been used for the raising of quahogs, bay scallops and oysters. There is already plenty of information about the health of Menemsha Pond from work done in federally funded bay scallop restoration work by the tribe.

The partnership is part of a federally funded two-year $308,000 National Sea Grant project to find ways to restore one of the most troubled fish resources in Southern New England. The grant provides for enough funds to retrofit the facility to raise fish instead of shellfish. As much as $20,000 from the grant will be used to replace the pumps and get the place working again.

For a year now, members of the fisherman’s association, the tribe, and shellfish constables have been out surveying the waters of Menemsha Pond in Aquinnah and Lagoon Pond in Oak Bluffs and Tisbury, Massachusetts collecting data and samples, as part of the project. The first phase involved water sampling of the two ponds.

The effort now shifts to the second and perhaps most important part of the effort, raising 50,000 juvenile winter flounder in the hatchery to be released later next year into the two ponds. 

Elizabeth Fairchild, the lead marine biologist, and a professor at the UNH, said she is pleased by the 13-month partnership and appreciative of the efforts of many Vineyarders to make it a success. Having a place to raise the juvenile winter flounder, near one of the ponds being studied, is key to the success of the project, she explained.

She’s also happy with the progress of the project.

“Definitely! Warren Doty, of the fishermen’s association, has done a great job guiding the data collection process and Bret Stearns, from the tribe, brought the council and tribal community on board for the restoration program,” she told Hatchery International.

The plan

The project--the largest salt-water fish restoration and aquaculture effort in the region--will use the Tribal hatchery, located on Menemsha Pond to grow up to 50,000 juvenile winter flounder for release into the ponds, according to a recent tribe press release.

The Tribe’s Natural Resources Department has been on board for nearly one year in field studies to determine optimal release strategies for hatchery-reared winter flounder, and will continue to assist with culture, growth, and the release of the flounder.

“The retrofitting of the hatchery is going fantastic,” said Stearns in a telephone interview. “The tribal council is very excited about this. The project is a joint effort between the fishermen’s association and tribe to work together on a very unique project.”

The tour

I recently took a tour of the Aquinnah Hatchery with my uncle Jeff. He's always been interested in what I do, whether it was writing about the Internet and Technology world or now covering the international aquaculture space.

Doty showed us what he calls the "Honeymoon Tanks" where the hope is that adult flounder will spawn, making the eggs that will hatch and become the fry and then juveniles they will return to the fishery.

For now, the focus is on January and February when local fishermen will go out and catch very local winter flounder and bring them to the hatchery.

"We want to catch them as close to the jetties as possible," Doty said.

Then in March, UNH biologists and DCFA members hope to spawn and have eggs in hatchery by the end of the month.

I'll try and post some images of the hatchery here in coming days.

Investing in Aquaculture

       Every industry, from the Internet/Tech boom in the 1990's to Aquaculture now, needs Venture Capital (VC) funding to push young start-ups to become commercial and to follow along, navigating the company through the first stages of its business.
      Aquacopia is the only VC firm focused entirely on Aquaculture. I had the pleasure of writing about them in the upcoming issue of Aquaculture North America, interviewing the CEO and co-founder of the  firm, David Tze.
      Located on 28 West and 27th Streets in Manhattan, Aquacopia co-founder and managing director Tze wants to find the next best aquaculture shop, technology or alternative feed source to invest in, whether a startup or an already commercial outfit looking to change or expand.

    “The thing that caught my attention was an article in Wired Magazine a while back on open ocean mariculture and also the supply and demand dynamics of seafood moving forward; the growth rate of the world population,” Tze told me. “It all got me very fascinated and inspired.”

      The industry had also gained the attention of Jared Polis, Tze's undergraduate pal from Princeton. Polis started and sold an online greeting card company to Excite AtHome in 1999; he scored again by unloading ProFlowers, an online flower shop, to Liberty Media in 2006, according to a Forbes Magazine story on the two in 2009. 

      Tze had also worked at an online marketplace for the oil and gas industry and as well as other ventures in e-commerce. While researching the opportunities out there for aquaculture, including possibly starting their own fish farm, they both concluded that much of the research is being done at the University level in the U.S. but most of it rarely gets commercialized.

     Both concluded then that there was a need for professional investing in early stage aquaculture.

Not deterred by some of the controversial challenges facing aquaculture, like feed fishery pressures, tightly farmed marine fish inviting disease outbreaks and waste concentrations, the two went on an investment hunt for their venture capital idea.

     Polis reportedly mustered $16 million, including his own savings and money from friends and family, before stepping aside in 2008 after winning a congressional seat in Colorado. Now Tze is Aquacopia's only full-time employee, navigating the fund, which has minority stakes in five holdings, and charges investors 2.5% on assets under management, plus a 20% cut of the capital gains, according to the Forbes piece.

    The startups Aquacopia tends to invest in are those companies most likely to meet those controversies in aquaculture that have plagued the industry since the 1980s.

    Their holdings


     Tze is excited about the opportunities at Oberon FMR, Inc., an alternative feed manufacturer in Idaho Springs, Colo.

     Oberon is an early stage, startup, company with proprietary technology capable of producing a sustainably produced protein meal. Oberon’s product serves as a fish meal replacement (FMR) or additive ingredient for animal feeds, primarily those destined for the aquaculture industry. Oberon has developed a sustainable process for generating high quality single cell protein (SCP) meal from by-products contained in the wastewater treatment streams generated by food and beverage manufacturers.  

   “We have developed ProFloc, a high quality protein source (approximately 65% protein) that can serve as a fish meal replacement,” Oberon’s president and CEO Andrew Baum said in an email. “The product is produced using the wastewater from food processing facilities and breweries.”

Baum said Aquacopia participated in the startup’s series A and B rounds and in bridge financing too.

Aquacopia also helped out in other ways as well.

    “David Tze has provided excellent strategic advice as a BOD [Board of Directors] member, and his extensive contacts in the financial and aquaculture industries have been invaluable,” Baum explained.

    Baum said Oberon hopes to go commercial in 2012.

    The VC firm also invests in commercial mariculture ocean pen maker Ocean Farm Technologies. Tze serves an advisor to the board for industry navigation and other services. In addition, the VC firm invests in Open Blue Sea Farms, an open ocean Cobia farm in Panama; Futuna Blue, a captive breeding center for Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna in Spain; and Litchfield Farms Organic and Natural’s Community Catch, an online marketplace that matches seafood buyers and fishermen, fish and shellfish farmers and suppliers.

    

    I hope my editors don't get too upset with the amount of my story I took from for this blog post before publication on Nov. 1st. But I thought it's important to share with you the only U.S.aquaculture VC firm out there. That will likely change as the country moves forward with the implementation of the new aquaculture policy released by the Obama Administration last summer. Until then, contact Aquacopia if you have a need for capital funding.

 

 

Autumnal Musings

The leaves around here are prematurely turning brown as a result of all the salt water that was blown off the ocean onto the island from Tropical Storm Irene last week. The temps have yet to get back above 80 degrees F. where they were just days before the storm. Such fall-like elements makes one believe the seasons have changed. It also doesn't help that I'm writing stories for the October issue of Hatchery International.

I live on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, known the world-wide for it's presidential and Hollywood celeb summer visitors, rather than it's young and growing aquaculture sector. But aquaculturists abound on the island, just a 45-minute ride from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

I'm a journalist with over 15-years experience in print, online, and radio broadcast news. I decided just a few years into my career that I wanted to end up writing about, what was back then, just a young, and slightly obscure, seafood production industry--aquaculture. After a long delay, due in part to a deadly car accident I survived in 2002 and the subsequent recovery, I have finally found my place in the small aquaculture journalism community.

Thanks to luck, timing, and a publisher willing to take a risk or two, I am now the single US-based writer for two specialty publications covering the international aquaculture industry--Aquaculture North America and Hatchery International. Both publications are published by Capamara Communications. OK, now that I've re-introduced myself, lets get down to business.

For the next issue of Hatchery International, I am working on nearly 10 pieces that cover hatchery news from California to New England, South Africa to Croatia and beyond. One story is about national fish hatcheries in Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia that sustained damage during the weather events surrounding Hurricane Irene. We will look at the impact of the storm on these hatcheries and what it means to the annual output of the regional hatchery system.

Another story looks at one of South Africa's largest abalone hatchery and farms--AbaGold. The company recently got an injection of $53 million in capital funding to expand its hatchery and farm operations. Abagold's existing hatchery provides a solid foundation for the cultivation of its abalone and consists of four distinct nodes. A recently completed five-year genetic project will soon see the first animals from selected families being placed on the farm.

And another piece looks at the successful spawning of Northern Bluefin Tuna eggs gathered from adults reared in holding pens in the Mediterranean Sea by the American firm Umami Sustainable Seafood, which has tuna ranching facilities and hatchery operations in North America and Croatia. Larvae hatched from eggs, collected from Kali Tuna's holding pens on July 19-21 were analyzed by Genomics Laboratory Macrogen Inc. They were confirmed to be Bluefin Tuna. Further tests conducted on the larvae's mitochondrial DNA determined that they matched their gene base, establishing that natural spawning activity had taken place within Kali's brood stock holding pens. This is the third consecutive year that natural spawning activities have taken place in Umami's Croatian commercial tuna farming facility, Kali Tuna.

Those are just some of the stories I'll be writing about this issue of HI, which will be out to subscribers October 1st.

 E.L.

Summer is here!!!

In short, the long slog of winter is over here on the island of Martha's Vineyard and summer is in full swing. Along with that comes the on rush of main-land tourists, celebs, and politicos--like another planned first family visit in August.

All of whom, will be treated to this season's latest aquaculture ventures on the island. Most notably, the island's first dance in the fin-fish aquaculture sector with the University of New Hampshire Winter Flounder enhancement project, being conducted in the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Hatchery and several saltwater ponds and lagoon on the island.

Also, the Menemsha blue mussel aquaculture project conducted by Tim Broderick and Al Gale continues later in the summer/fall with another drop of seeded lines into ocean water surrounding the island.

More and more the island is becoming a source of aquaculture produce, from oyster, to blue mussell, to, soon, Winter Flounder fry.

Notes from NACE

Set up my booth way ahead of schedule. Didn't have to be set up until the 7 pm reception. I was set up by 5 pm. A little eager I guess. Had a long discussion with Gary Jensen, National Leader for Aquaculture at USDA over some locally farmed Tilapia and oysters from farms up and down the Cape. Martha's Vineyard's own Rick Karney was also present.

Tomorrow looks to be the biggest day of the event with a plenary session titled "A New Decade of Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Future" kicking off the day at 8:00 am with Jensen and Reginal Harrell, of the Northeast Aquaculture Center in Maryland, among others featured in the discussion.

I'll try and update as the day allows. I hope to sit in on this first session than work the booth for a few hours.

Goodnight!

EDL

                 

Driving to NACE

On the way to the Northeast Aquaculture Conference and Expo in Plymouth, MA. First conference for me representing the Canadian publishers to the North and their trade publications Aquaculture North America and Hatchery International.

Have the publication banner, the push pins, tape and extra pens. I have extra copies of our November/December issues of both pub's and I have a trusted assistant, my girlfriend Aquinnah to help set up.

I look forward to meeting likeminded aquaculture professionals and other interested folks. I guess my first responsibility is to meet and shake hands with possible advertisers and new subscribers. This is all a first for me. I've been to many conferences in my days as a staff writer for CNET news, now owned by CBS News. But then I was there to cover any news coming out of the conference not actually a participant.

I'll be setting up my booth this afternoon. I've been asked by readers to keep daily blog entries through the conference. I'll do my best to you all up to date. Who knows maybe I'll meet some of you in person at the conference.

EDL

Legislators Try to Stop All Offshore Mariculture

On this Independence Day weekend, I thought I might take the time to update my blog, after a long hiatus, with a look at the latest attempts by members of the U.S. Congress to suppress the burgeoning mariculture industry in this country.

In the past two months, two efforts before congress look to destroy any chances of any real offshore aquaculture over the next decade.

First, in May, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana sponsored a bill in the Senate that looks to establish a three-year moratorium on all offshore aquaculture until "research" is completed into the impacts the industry will have on the ocean fisheries and ecosystems.

I write about the bill in the July/August issue of Aquaculture North America.

The Research and Aquaculture Opportunity and Responsibility Act looks to provide relief to struggling marine ecosystems, including those affected by the Deep Water Horizon gulf oil spill, Sen. Vitter said in a statement.

"It's clear that the marine environment, particularly off the coast of Louisiana, can't handle any more stress as it begins its recovery from the ongoing gulf oil spill," he said. "My bill is a common sense reprieve to these vital ecosystems that would allow us to step back and asses the potential effects on native species and recreational and commercial fisheries before moving forward with any further aquaculture programs."

The bill attracted instant reaction from the industry. Ocean Stewards Institute (OSI) president Neil Simms explained that Vitter's bill will only further squash the opportunity for increasing U.S. Seafood supplies, and is another example of how America fails to take responsibility for the amount of seafood it eats. He argued that 80% of U.S. seafood is imported from over seas and that more than half of that is farmed in offshore farms.

But it seems the industrial corporate fishing and environmentalist lobbyists were just getting started.

The second attempt by anti-mariculture forces in congress was brought to my attention by OSI, an aquaculture industry advocacy group. The house is considering major energy legislation, called Consolidated Land Energy and Aquatics Resources (CLEAR).

A provision to the bill is the most blatant attempt to stop offshore aquaculture in federal waters. Sec. 704-- Offshore Aquaculture Clarification, states that the Secretary of Commerce, the Administrator of theNational Oceans and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), or the Regional Fishery Management Councils shall NOT develop or approve any fishery management plan that permits or regulates offshore aquaculture.

The provision goes on to state that any permits made and approved under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act shall be made invalid once the CLEAR act is passed.

In just two months, the chances of offshore aquaculture in the U.S. taking place over the next 10 to 20 years have become very unlikely should these measures or something like them pass in congress.

As noted above, the clear winner in this, should offshore aquaculture be stymied, is the industrial fishing industry, and of course international aquaculture businesses. But more importantly here in the US, the status quo of un-sustainably hunting the national fisheries is being maintained. If that continues to be the case, prices for seafood will increase (which fishing corporations don’t mind) and more and more Americans will be left out of the proven protein benefits of fish; more fisheries will be squeezed or depleted all together; and fishermen will work less and less hours on the sea as government fisheries management restrictions get tighter and tighter.

Offshore aquaculture in the US, if done sustainably according to NOAA guidelines and regulations, could provide a more affordable and consistent supply of seafood for the country, keeping prices of seafood reasonably affordable for more Americans. As part of a comprehensive oceans plan, aquaculture can supplement the wild stock fishing industry and help keep part-time fishermen in full-time employment on the sea. It also can break our dependency on foreign fish farms that don’t follow rules that maintain sustainable practices for the industry.

If you are an aquaculture professional here in New England, feel free to write your congressmen to support at least the current effort by NOAA, the Obama administration, to develop a national aquaculture policy for the country, which includes offshore mariculture.

Don’t allow the status-quo industrial corporate fishing lobby to decide for us.

Next issue of ANA

On deadline for Monday, scrambling to finish stories on Red Tide warnings and its impact on shellfish aquaculturists in Maine and Massachusetts; the recently launched Aquaculture Network for the Americas; the small NOAA FY2011 budget for aquaculture; Ohio-based all-in-one fin-fish aquaculture business; and update on Kona-Blue Kampachi returning to store shelves in June.

Feel free to leave comments on any of these stories. I love to get discussion going and welcome a little back and forth.

Cheers!

International Boston Seafood Show

IBSS coverage today. Interviews and press conferences from 11:45 am to 3:30 PM. Hope to squeeze in some schmooze and eating time in between official stuff.

Must do's include meeting and doing some face time with sources I usually just know through phone and email interviews.

Also looking into companies that are working to develop sustainable Aquaculture certification standards for upcoming issue of Aquaculture North America.

Deadline Met

Just finished last brief for next issue of Aquaculture North America on domestic farmed catfish prices showing slight signs of recovery.

The short snippet acts as a good side-bar for my larger story on the toughest winter in a longtime for southern catfish farmers, who face frozen ponds and fluctuating extreme temperatures and how that can lead to "winter kill."

This issue hits subscriber mailboxes March 1st, and features other stories I penned on Texas shrimp farmers diversifying into fish species like red drum, cobia, catfish, and even striped bass, in order to grow their market share beyond their traditional shrimp product. Also, I looked into Hawaiian-based Kona Blue Water Farms partnership with Kaeole Point Fish, Inc. to take over Kona's offshore operations off the Big Island. Finally, I followed up my earlier story on HR 4363, The Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2009, with a breakdown of the bill and industry reaction.

For these stories and more, turn to Aquaculture North America, "a great trade mag for a great continent."

Please fee free to send story ideas or comment on existing stories in the paper. Always willing to discuss the industry with like-minded folks.

E.L.

PDF version of debut issue of ANA

Check out the premier issue of Aquaculture North America. Martha's Vineyard pilot blue mussel farm on the front page.

New Publication Covering North American Aquaculture

Aquaculture North America has launched. I've got five stories in this issue, covering everything from the current debate over how to manage and regulate offshore aquaculture in U.S. national waters, to a blue mussel pilot program in Massachusetts, to the decision by the U.S. FDA not to ban raw oysters farmed in the Gulf of Mexico.

The new Bi-monthly trade publication is devoted to the growth of a strong, economically viable and environmentally conscious cold water aquaculture industry in North America. It covers the latest news in finfish and shellfish culture in Canada and U.S.publication.

Check here for background on some of the articles I write for the publication and to keep us informed about any news items you think should get coverage.

E.L.

A New Magazine for a New Time

As the North American aquaculture industry grows into its second generation of productivity and development a new magazine American Aquaculture, launching in January, looks to cover the ins and outs of the sector from hatchery to farm to wholesaler.

As a writer for the new publication, I am responsible for covering most of the US market. The magazine is the latest aquaculture related publication from the Canada-based folks who put out Hatchery International and Northern Aquaculture magazines.

For the first issue, I will be writing stories on the new offshore marine aquaculture policy development process now happening at NOAA; the use of ATVs and UTVs on aquaculture farms in the US; and something on a Texas shrimp farms.

Stay-tuned here for the latest on the publication and how you can subscribe.

ATV Use by Aquaculture professionals

Just starting my reporting on first assignment for Hatchery International. ATV use on aquaculture sites. If any of you have any anecdotes and use ATVs at your location please feel free to comment. I may use it in the story or not. But I would love to get a feel for what is going on out there.