USSEC recently organized and conducted the International Seminar on New Options for Water Management in Dry Seasons in Medellin, Colombia. More than 120 people representing fish producers were invited by USSEC and attended this conference. Most participants are involved in trout and tilapia production with operations around the country.
USSEC consultant Jairo Amezquita opened the seminar with his lecture, “USSEC’s Role in the Development of Aquaculture in Latin America.” He emphasized the current situation of the industry at several levels, including world, Latin America (LATAM) and Colombia; and opportunities to diversify with new species. He also talked about statistics and trial results with U.S. soybean meal (SBM), U.S. soybean protein concentrate (SPC) and isolate (IP) incorporated in fish feeds, and clarified some genetic concepts. USSEC consultant Gustavo Parada presented different themes related to water recirculation and oxygenation, where he emphasized the current necessity for the improvement of environmental conditions for the fish. At the end of his presentation, he was contacted by many participants to request more information about how to improve fair practices management and contraction of this kind of systems.
Mr. Amezquita and Mr. Parada also visited two trout production farms to provide technical service about the new technologies of water management available to improve production. They gave several recommendations about the management of oxygen levels and options to increase these levels to improve the water conditions and the growth of the trout, in order to improve the production and the profitability of the farm.