USSEC’s aquaculture program sponsored 17 participants to attend the Progressus Aquaculture Nutrition AgriSchool, a five-day intensive short course on aquaculture nutrition. Readers may recall that USSEC “declared victory” on the topic of basic training in aquaculture nutrition with Progressus’ decision to create a commercial training program on this topic.

USSEC sponsored 17 of the 55 course participants

This program allows USSEC to focus the limited time of its feed nutritionists on more intensive training of key U.S. Soy-using stakeholders. Additionally this event allowed Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis to introduce the USSEC-supported International Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (IAFFD) to the participants, as well as allow them to use the database in a commercial feed formulation program (Bestmix).

It is hoped that a similar course to this, the Aquaculture Feedmilling AgriSchool, may further help USSEC to better use its time for focused events rather than general training of industry. The Aquaculture Feedmilling AgriSchool will be vetted in November of this year.

In support of the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program, USSEC Aquaculture Consultant – Americas Jairo Amezquita recently presented BAP certificates to Colombian small farmers selected to receive training and financial support.

Mr. Amezquita has been a key player in ensuring that Colombia’s farmers receive the training and financial support necessary to apply for the BAP certification to comply with local and international market requirements since USSEC and the Federación Colombiana De Acuicultores (FEDEACUA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) early this year.

The USSEC consultant presented a number of tilapia and trout producers with BAP certificates for attaining BAP certification at a celebration of responsible aquaculture organized by FEDEACUA in Bogota, Colombia, on October 11.

“The MoU signed by USSEC, FEDEACUA and GAA to train Colombia’s small farmers to achieve BAP certification represents an effective demonstration of responsible aquaculture in Latin America,” said Marcos Moya, manager of BAP supply development for GAA.

USSEC participated in the 7th Aquatech Philippines:  Aquaculture Expo & Convention in Tagaytay City on July 21. This year’s theme was “Exploring the Latest Innovations for Higher Production, Best Alternatives and Strategies for Global Marketability.”

Aquatech Philippines, for the past six years, has been gathering experts and stakeholders from the aquaculture sector. This sole technical event in the Philippines focusing in aquaculture recognizes the importance of the collection and sharing of knowledge in aquaculture activities by facilitating a comprehensive trade exhibition, technical conference, free livelihood seminars, and fellowship activities. The event aims to develop sustainable aquaculture in the country and contribute to the alleviation of poverty and was attended by nearly 150 participants from different aquaculture stakeholders in the Philippines.

USSEC Technical Manager – Philippines and Southeast Asia Demonstration Coordinator Levy Loreto Manalac presented and discussed “The USSEC Soy In Aquaculture Program’s Work on Improvement of the Philippines Milkfish Chanos chanos Industry Through Better Feed and Feeding Approaches.” USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist Hsiang Pin Lan presented and discussed “Milkfish Disease and Health Management: Observations and Findings in Philippines.”

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, discusses “Milkfish Disease & Health Management: Observations & Findings in Philippines” in Tagaytay City, Philippines on July 21

Levy Loreto L. Manalac, USSEC Philippines Technical Manager and Southeast Asia Demonstration Coordinator, presents “The USSEC Soy In Aquaculture Program’s Work on Improvement of the Philippines Milkfish Chanos chanos Industry Through Better Feed and Feeding Approaches” at the 7th Aquatech: Aquaculture Expo & Convention Philippines 2016

USSEC’s aquaculture program recently welcomed an experienced marine fish broodstock expert, Dr. Robert Vassallo Agius, to Thailand to speak primarily to the Asian sea bass hatchery industry. The target of the presentation was to highlight the importance of formulated broodstock feeds as both a biosecurity measure and for better production. Originally intended for an audience of about 40 participants, the final number swelled to over 60 as industry learned of the seminar’s content, with both commercial and government interest as well as commercial feed firms.

This topic, and another on larval nutrition and rearing, benefited from the fact that Dr. Agius is one of the leading individuals working on broodstock nutrition in Japan and Europe. It is also an important one as Thailand is a major producer of large numbers of Asian sea bass fingerlings for domestic and regional use, but not particularly high quality ones.

High quantities of high quality marine fish fingerlings are an important step to moving to industrial-scale production of marine fish in Southeast Asia and will lead to a requirement for high quality and consistent feeds for growout operations. It is in that area that USSEC expects expanded promotion of U.S. Soy products in the marine fish aquaculture industry.

Dr. Robert Vassallo Agius, broodstock nutrition expert from Malta

Photo from rear of meeting room shows a packed hall with over 60 participants, not including USSEC staff or contractors

USSEC held its second regional aquaculture investment conference in Dead Sea, Jordan from September 23 – 26. More than 70 aquaculture professionals attended the conference from 7 different countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Participants represented major aquaculture producers and aquaculture feed millers.

American Soybean Association (ASA) director Mark Jackson and United Soybean Board (USB) director Bob Metz represented U.S. soybean farmers at the event.

Several speakers from different parts of the world gave talks on processing quality aquafeed, least cost formulation, small scale aqua operation, soy global supply and demand, aquafeed safety and extrusion, advancement in preconditioning and drying of aqua feed, aquaculture systems innovation, and the aqua industry from the Middle East and other regions.

Speakers included: Jesse Chappell, Associate Professor, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Sciences, Auburn University; Ramesh G, Technical Sales Advisor, Aqua Feed Division –Worldwide, Wenger Manufacturing Inc.; Michael Martin, Regional Sales Director, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Insta-Pro International; Colby Sutter, USSEC Marketing Director – International Aquaculture / Customer Focus; Suleiman Al Qura’an, Senior Communication Officer, Jordan Investment Commission; Mian Riaz, Director, Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University; John C. Baize, President, John C. Baize and Associates; Tony Freiji, Group President and CEO, Wadi Group; and Sirri Kayhan, USSEC Consultant.

The high level of audience participation and networking was a measure of the success of the event, which comes at a time when countries throughout the region are expanding their seafood production in response to consumer demand and food security concerns.

USSEC has developed long-term relationships with Texas A&M University, Auburn University, Insta-Pro International, and Wenger Manufacturing Inc., where they cooperate to develop international soybean and soybean product markets.

Dr. Riaz gave two talks titled, “How to Make Quality Feed Using Extrusion Technology” and “Aquafeed Safety and Extrusion Processing.” In the past, Dr. Riaz has spoken on soybean processing and aquafeed extrusion at other USSEC conferences in the MENA region. USSEC has sent participants from all over the world to attend aquafeed extrusion short courses offered by the Food Protein Research and Development Center at Texas A&M.

Mr. Martin commented, “As an industry member of USSEC, Insta-Pro appreciates USSEC’s continuing commitment to grow the aquaculture market in the MENA region and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this highly effective event. Soybeans are critical to the success of aquafeed production [here] and this is clearly understood by the conference participants.”

After the conference, the USSEC delegation visited two fish farms in the Jordan Valley.

USSEC provided technical support to commercial shrimp growers in Peru by holding multiple discussions with a feedmill representative and fish and shrimp producers about modifying diet formulations for fish and shrimp by incorporating more soybean meal derived from U.S.-grown soybeans.

Visits to fish and shrimp farms and facilities by USSEC consultants Dr. John Hargreaves and Jairo Amezquita consisted of six one-on-one or small-group direct technical consultations and presentations to farm groups about pond preparation and water management of shrimp ponds to improve productivity and technical capacity. The presentation consisted of sections on sediment removal, pond drying, soil liming, fertilization, managing water transparency through water exchange, and the use of probiotics in fish and shrimp farming. Six large and prominent fish and shrimp farms in Huacho, Piura and Tumbes were visited. The presentations were made to personnel at two of the six farms visited. Mr. Amezquita also talked about USSEC’s role in the development of global aquaculture, emphasizing the advantages of using U.S. Soy in shrimp diets.

Dr. Hargreaves´s presentation focused on pond preparation and water management of fish and shrimp ponds to improve productivity. The lecture consisted of sections on sediment removal, pond drying, soil liming, fertilization, managing water transparency through water exchange, and the use of probiotics in shrimp farming. A few points were emphasized to shrimp farmers as recommendations:

1) The importance of pond drying was emphasized to oxidize accumulated organic matter. It was recommended that farmers have a production cycle with a 15-day interval between harvesting one crop and stocking juveniles for the next crop. Within this 15-day interval, there should be 7 days of bright sunshine with the pond completely exposed.

2) Ponds should be routinely tested to evaluate soil pH. This is especially true for ponds located in former mangrove wetlands, which are known to have soils with low pH and a very high lime requirement. The point was emphasized that ponds will not respond well to fertilization unless soil pH is greater than 7.

3) Perhaps the most important point emphasized was that the best way to manage dissolved oxygen in ponds without aeration is to manage water transparency. By maintaining a water transparency (as indicated by Secchi disk visibility) of 30-50 cm, there should be no problems with dissolved oxygen concentration. This can be problematic in shrimp farming areas where source water is already highly eutrophic, as indicated in at least one farm visited.

Representatives from the Global Soy in Aquaculture Program attended Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2016 conference in Guangzhou, China, September 20 – 22.

USSEC Marketing Director – Aquaculture Colby Sutter and USSEC China Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang and USSEC China Freshwater Aquaculture Technical Manager Zhou Enhua were joined by United Soybean Board (USB) director Dan Farney and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Dan Roe to participate in the program focused on “Healthy Fish, Healthy People and Healthy Planet.”

Mr. Zhang’s presentation on “Trends in Intensive Pond Aquaculture,” detailing the many benefits of the Intensive Pond Aquaculture (IPA) technology introduced to China by USSEC’s aquaculture program, received immediate interest in the technology from Chinese producers as well as the many other international representatives attending the conference.

USSEC is participating in the 2016 Global Outlook on Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference in Guangzhou, China September 19-22.

GOAL is a unique, once-a-year opportunity to learn, network and connect producers and suppliers to the marketplace and is widely viewed as a must-attend conference for global aquaculture thought leaders. This year’s conference theme is “Healthy Fish, Healthy People, Healthy Planet.”

United Soybean Board (USB) director Dan Farney and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Dan Roe will represent U.S. Soy growers at the event.

USSEC Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang will present the Global Aquaculture Innovation & Leadership Award, and USSEC is sponsoring a breakfast during the event.

As a result of producing aquafeed with less fishmeal, taurine has risen in importance as an important ingredient that supplies protein.   Taurine allows animals, especially marine fish that require high amounts of protein, to achieve a balanced diet.

Vietnamese feed mills in Vietnam have been specializing in pangasius feed, and feed formulators have not yet turned their focus to taurine.

Recently, another freshwater species, snakehead, became a motivation to use taurine and lecithin in the diet. Snakehead requires high levels of protein and fat in feed (45 percent crude protein, 10 percent crude fat). The role of corn gluten meal (CGM) is also important to steady the unbalanced amino acid profile when using soy products as a main source to replace protein demand in marine fish.

The above-mentioned ingredients need to be recommended to feed formulators in order to get a suitable formulation with the lowest cost. USSEC Vietnam focuses on those specific ingredients, and taurine and lecithin will be a subject in the upcoming Asian Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (AAFFD) workshop.

USSEC’s goal is to give aquaculture feed formulators more confidence in using a soy-optimized diet. The U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) will be a key method to promote U.S. Soy products during seminars and workshops.

Working with a feed mill to promote U.S. Soy products at a feeding demonstration site in Sadec, Vietnam. (L to R): USSEC Technical Consultant Aquaculture – Philippines Levy Manalac; farm staff Kim Chung; USSEC Technical Consultant, Aquaculture – Vietnam Nguyen Vo Hoang; Viet Thang Feed R&D staff, Tuan Anh

As part of its commitment to promote sustainable marine aquaculture development, Indonesian marine aquaculture stakeholders have established a group to regularly discuss issues and challenges, along with ways to promote sustainable marine aquaculture production and marketing. The discussions are mainly held via online chats, but are sometimes live through presentations and lunch together.

USSEC Indonesia has been working with the group to encourage the development of a roadmap to allow better planning and management of Indonesian marine aquaculture development. The development of marine aquaculture will boost quality feed production in Indonesia, eventually leading to soy use in aquafeed. Marine fish feed production requires high quality ingredients (primarily soy), thus ensuring the potential absorption of U.S. Soy in aquaculture feed production.

Participants in the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Alaminos, Pangasinan, Philippines on July 20

USSEC conducted the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Bolinao and Alaminos in Pangasinan, Philippines on July 19 and 20. The workshop aimed to inform milkfish cage farmers on how to manage risk in milkfish cage culture and teach health management and disease prevention to maximize profit.

Levy Loreto Manalac, USSEC Philippines Technical Manager and Southeast Asia Demonstration Coordinator, presented and discussed risk management in milkfish cage aquaculture to maximize profit including the use of quality feeds, good feeding management, and best culture management.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, presented and discussed milkfish health management and disease prevention in milkfish marine cage culture emphasizing USSEC’s low volume high density (LVHD) cage culture technologies, with proper feeding management and understanding the fish growth rate in relation to feeding levels and feed conversion ratio to minimize pollution to the environment and optimizing economic return.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, does a milkfish disease dissection and checks for microscope parasite infection and possible bacterial infection on milkfish internal organs. Milkfish growers brought diseased milkfish to the workshop for disease identification and to learn possible causes of mortalities

The participants understood and realized the value of using high quality feeds and the importance of best management practices in a risk-free and disease-free milkfish cage culture.

The two workshops were attended by 97 participants including milkfish cage operators, technicians, feed managers, staff from local government units, aqua feed miller’s staff and a cage manufacturer from Bolinao, Anda, Alaminos and Sual, all in Pangasinan and Rabon, La Union.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, discusses “USSEC Milkfish Health Management and Disease Prevention in Milkfish Marine Cage Culture” in Bolinao, Pangasinan on July 19

Participants in the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines

USSEC Vietnam Aquaculture Technical Manager Võ Hoàng Nguyên visits the INVE booth at the Vietshrimp International Fair

USSEC attended the first international fair organized specifically for Vietnam’s shrimp industry from June 24 to 26. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam and the People Committee of Bạc Liêu province co-organized the event. About 100 booths from multinational producers, chemical and equipment manufacturers, and shrimp feed companies exhibited at the event.

Shrimp extensive culture systems occupy about 70 percent of the shrimp farming area in Vietnam. Stocking density for tiger shrimp (P. monodon) is 20-30 post larvae (PL) /square meter (sqm) and for white leg shrimp (P. vannamei), 100-150 PL/sqm. In 2014, white leg shrimp represented 60.6 percent of Vietnam’s total production at 660,000 metric tons (MT) /year.

As a carnivorous animal, tiger shrimp requires a higher protein level in feed, 42 to 36 percent, while white leg shrimp are more omnivorous with protein levels at 26 to 32 percent. According to a 2012 survey, 30 to 40 percent of Vietnamese farmers still used unsuitable tiger shrimp feed for white shrimp because they believed that using higher protein feed would speed up the growth rate in white shrimp.

Vietnam has 20 shrimp feed mills that produced 500,000 to 600,000 MT of shrimp feed in 2015. The top five feed mills represent 67.6 percent of the total production. Shrimp feed are commonly viewed as pellet feed, but some companies offer extruded sinking shrimp feed, claiming better digestion. Shrimp larva pellet feed is mainly imported from two key players, INVE and Bernaqua.

Every year, Vietnam produced about 143 billion of shrimp PL. Viet Uc Company is the leader with a 28 percent market share. Stocking size is PL14, but some companies offered a PL15 for the PL14 price to gain a competitive advantage.

Thus far, USSEC Vietnam has not been active in the country’s shrimp industry. There are many issues where the industry needs technical support, including better feed and health management. The outlook of Vietnam’s shrimp industry is positive in the near future. The fact that an international fair was organized in Vietnam for specifically for the shrimp industry implies a bright future for Vietnam’s export market.

USSEC’s Intensive Pond Aquaculture Technology was the focus of a June/July 2016 article in Aquaculture Magazine.

In 2015, the Chinese government, together with private aquaculture producers, invested about $10 million for IPA technology. That investment is expected to double to $20 million in 2016.

“USSEC remains committed to working with the Chinese government and aquaculture producers to help improve the sustainability of their products with innovative technologies, while optimizing the value and utilization of U.S. soy products in feeds.”

-USSEC Marketing Director Aquaculture/ Customer Focus Colby Sutter

USSEC introduced IPA technology to China in 2013 and has been working to support the expansion of IPA in that country since that time.

Aquaculture Magazine is a U.S. publication serving the national and global aquaculture industry with more than 5,000 subscribers in over 100 countries.

Click here to read the article.

As of April 2016, Indonesia continues to lead in the production of certified shrimp for the international market. Trends show that markets are increasingly demanding certifiably produced shrimp. About 70 percent of Indonesian shrimp is exported to the U.S.

Most aquaculture certifications including Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), and Global GAP require that at least 50 percent fish meal and fish oil for feed production must be derived from certified sources. Soy is favored as the main ingredient for aquafeed. Research shows that soy has replaced fishmeal as a greater percentage of aquafeed, and so it is believed that the demand for sustainable, responsibly produced soy will continue to increase.

USSEC has an excellent opportunity to continue to promote U.S. Soy as consistent, high quality and responsible produced for the aquaculture industry through support for certified product development.

USSEC conducted an aquaculture seminar, Floating Feed Feeding Management in Cage Aquaculture, for the staff and managers of Southeast/Sahara Feeds Corp. Cage Farm in Taal Lake, Talisay, Batangas, Philippines on June 11.

USSEC Philippines Technical Manager – Aquaculture Levy Manalac discussed the proper use of extruded floating feed and good feeding management with extruded floating feeds in cage culture. These tips will help milkfish and tilapia cage farmers to reach more efficient, better production and profitability and will also help improve water quality in the area by having lower feed conversion ratios (FCR)FCR, better contributing to continuous fish farming. The goal of this seminar is to ensure continuous, and even increasing, demand in U.S. Soy products in aquafeed manufacturing.

34 participants, including technicians, feed managers, office staff and warehouse staff attended the seminar.

USSEC Philippines Technical Manager-Aquaculture Levy Manalac presents the USSEC Floating Feed Feeding Management in Cage Aquaculture to the managers, farm technicians and feed managers of Southeast/Sahara Feeds Corp. Cage Farm in Taal Lake, Talisay, Batangas, Philippines

In May, USSEC visited and investigated the offshore marine fish cage aquaculture industry in Malta to evaluate whether it would be a suitable replacement for the recently cancelled (due to ongoing security concerns) team tour to the offshore industry in Izmir, Turkey.

USSEC Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis worked with a local expert, Dr. Carmelo Agius, to get an overview of Malta’s marine fish cage aquaculture industry. Based on this trip, USSEC is confident that it will be able to bring a team to Malta later in 2016 to replace the cancelled tour in Turkey. Because Malta lacks a large hatchery facility, a trip to a suitable hatchery in Sicily is also being planned.

Marine fish aquaculture is particularly attractive for U.S. Soy products because marine fish require ingredients that are of high quality and very consistent.

Harvest activity of European sea bream at P2M’s offshore site in Malta

USSEC Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis poses with offshore cages in the background near Malta

USSEC recently organized a tour trip to Shanghai, China to visit intensive pond aquaculture (IPA) sites.

The group of 40 visitors came from Egypt, India and Vietnam and attended an IPA seminar on the first day. Dr. Jesse Chappell of Auburn University introduced participants to the principle and concept of IPA. USSEC Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang and USSEC Technical Manager Zhou Enhua provided information about China’s aquaculture industry and the implementation of IPA in China.

The first site visited was a state-owned farm, Maotian Wetland Eco-Agri Investment Co., Ltd., located to the west of Shanghai. Maotian has a total area of about 100 ha. In 2014, Maotian constructed two units of IPA cells in a four ha pond. After the first year’s economic success and efficiency (production increased 20 percent with a 75 percent lower labor cost), the farm manager added two more cells to each IPA unit to create five-cell units. Feed used is mainly USSEC-formulated feed with a U.S. Soy-optimized diet that contains more than 50 percent of U.S. Soy product.

On the second day, participants visited Yancheng Zheng Rong Fisheries Ecological Co., Ltd. This is a private company farm located in Hengji Town, Jianhu of Jiansu province and is currently the largest IPA farm with a 52-cell unit in a 27 ha pond, constructed in 2015. Due to the success of 2015 production (ROI 40 percent, 200 percent increase in production, lower labor cost, especially the flesh quality of fish living in a moving water environment), another IPA system is under construction with a 28-cell unit. In total, Yancheng Zheng Rong built 80 cells for its two IPA units.

A wrap-up meeting among the Vietnamese visitors was conducted by USSEC Vietnam. There was very positive feedback from the group. As a seafood export country, IPA technology could be a positive image for Vietnam to demonstrate to the export market.

USSEC tour team at a 52 raceway IPA farm in Jiangsu on May 30

USSEC Country Manager – Vietnam Tran Trong Chien talks with participants during the wrap-up meeting on May 31

USSEC recently met with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) in Diliman, Quezon City to learn their plans and program for the country’s aquaculture sector over the next five years. The head of the Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Division presented the newly approved “Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan Medium-Term 2016-2020” (CNFIDP 2016-2020) to USSEC, after months of consultation from various fisheries sectors.

This is a new development for the aquaculture industry in Philippines, as it now has a focused vision for increasing aquaculture production over the next five years. The vision of the CNFIDP 2016-2020 is a “sustainable and competitive fisheries industry” and must address the following issues: sufficient contribution to national food security; inclusive growth within the industry; sustainable, science-based fisheries and aquatic resource management practices; compliance to international laws, policies and standards, and enforcement of local laws and regulations; strengthened capacities in infrastructure, technologies, human resource, and information sharing; and resilience to environmental hazards.

To achieve these goals, targets were developed through the combination of science-based information as presented by resource persons from academic and research institutions, and actual observed situational information from industry front liners.

The CNFIDP 2016-2020 has a target aquaculture production of: a 4 percent annual increase in milkfish production; a 6 percent annual increase in tilapia production; a 10 percent annual increase in shrimp production; a 5.4 percent increase in mud crab production over 5 years; a 10 percent increase in shellfish production over 5 years; and a 25 percent increase in seaweed production over 5 years.

BFAR’s aquaculture strategies to achieve these goals are similar with those of the USSEC Soy in Aquaculture program for the Philippines with strategies that include:  secure quality fry/seed supply through coordinated investments in propagation facilities (broomstick, hatcheries, nurseries laboratories);institutionalize Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqP) for key commodities and promote sustainable aquaculture; assure quality and traceability of aquaculture inputs and outputs; invest in species with high commercial potential; optimize operation of mariculture parks; and ensure climate/disaster resilience of the aquaculture sector.

These strategies to increase production will use a lot of formulated feeds, ensuring an increase in demand for the usage of U.S. soybean meal and other soy products as the major ingredient of formulated aquafeeds.

(L-R) Levy Manalac (USSEC Philippines Technical Manager-Aquaculture); Roy C. Ortega (Head – Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources); Jeffrey Albanese (Agricultural Attaché, FAS, USDA, Manila, Philippines); Grace Soriano (Aquaculturist, DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources); and Teodoro Cortes (USSEC Country Manager – Philippines) during a visit to the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Quezon City, Philippines on March 9

USSEC recently organized the first meetings on aquafeed in Morocco. These one-on-one visits with operation managers focused on the use of U.S. soybean protein concentrates (SPC), soybean meal, and lecithin in aquafeeds.

Visit to Aqua Mdiq

USSEC consultant and aquafeed expert Tim O’Keefe presented the benefits of sound aquaculture based on sustainable feed resources, highlighting the importance of U.S. soy protein concentrate in different fish species’ diets. The nutritive value of U.S. Soy products and their advantages in feed formulation for different species were highlighted, confirming that soybean products offer the amino acids and digestible energy needed.

Several aquaculture development projects supervised by the National Agency for Aquaculture Development (French acronym ANDA) will contribute to improve resources’ sustainability; promote aqua farming, processing, and marketing; upgrade value chain components; and improve competitiveness and overall performance. The need to produce good quality aquafeed based on soy products as fish resources decrease was emphasized.

A total production of 200,000 metric tons of aqua products in Morocco is projected for 2020, contributing to sustainable economic growth and increasing its contribution to local gross domestic product (GDP). The minimum amount of soybean meal in aqua feed is projected to be an addition 40,000 metric tons (MT) by 2020, and about 60,000 to 80,000 MT, when SPC is readily available.