AQUA 2012: Securing our future through aquaculture

To secure our future fish protein sources and to meet the growing need for nutritious foodstuffs "we must apply our 40 years of experience and learning in Atlantic salmon farming and production to other species."

That's the primary message Petter Arnesen, breeding director for Marine Harvest in Norway, delivered to delegates attending the opening of Aqua 2012 held in Prague Convention Centre, Czech Republic, yesterday as an industry perspective on the conference theme of 'Securing our Future'.

The three-day event which started on Sunday this year attracted over 2000 delegates, excluding exhibitors, and is co-hosted by the World Aquaculture Society and the European Aquaculture Society.

"The key to our future is to get people to accept that fish farming is here to stay and that we are an important food production system that needs production space to meet growing demand," he told International Aquafeed magazine after delivering his presentation.

He says farmed fish is now playing an increasing role in food security and has shown itself to be an increasingly important source of protein by becoming increasingly more efficient over the past two decades. For example in 1992 it took 200 fish farms to produce 100,000 tonnes of salmon. Today that has been reduced to just 30 farms. 

"By 2020 100,000 tonnes could be produced by less than 10 farms," he believes.

Efficiencies have also been achieved in feed conversion with growth rates being achieved with 25 percent less feed and months to harvest down from 40 to 20. Even fish meal usage has fallen from over 64 percent in diets to just 26 percent today.

He says it's realistic to anticipate that "farmed salmon Umay become net producers of protein in a few years."

"Is the job done? Hardly!" he says.

"Research and technology will be key to our future as will the suppliers of equipment, ingredients and services to our industry who have played an important role in our developments to date."

However, the lack of sites are a "major constraint to our industry's long-term development. We need to see a change to planning systems that at present don't favour aquaculture."