Israeli Company Farming Environmentally-Friendly Fish

An Israeli company is developing closed, environmentally-friendly recirculating systems to grow fish on land.  GFA (Grow Fish Anywhere) Advanced Systems Ltd. utilizes biological filtration to break down the fish-farming waste products into harmless atmospheric gases, eliminating the major environmental concern surrounding this industry.  They have teamed up with Dr. Jaap van Rijn, an aquaculture professor at the Hebrew University in Rehovot, Israel.  I met with Dr. van Rijn in 2009 when I was living in Israel and working on the fish farm at Kibbutz S'de Eliyahu, and after speaking with him about his extensive work in aquaculture biofiltration, I completely understood why he is considered one of the leading global experts on the subject.  With his guidance and input, I have no doubts that this company will be able to overcome the obstacles associated with these technologies and succeed in their mission to produce environmentally-friendly fish.

The entire article can be read here: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000617384&fid=1724

MSc Advanced Module 1- Business and Financial Management

I am back from Winter Break, which was amazing: traveling for three weeks in Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Paris!  It was the trip of a lifetime, and I enjoyed the time off, but part of me is happy to be back at work at the Institute!

The first of my Advanced Modules was Business and Financial Management, one of the courses that I was most looking forward to.  It was taught primarily by John Bostock, the Director of Stirling Aquaculture, which is the consultancy group run by the Institute of Aquaculture.  There were only four MSc students who chose to take this module, so the lectures were more like round-table discussions than formal seminars. 

The lectures covered such topics as business plans and structures, human resources, accounting, project management, and aquaculture insurance.  Because the class was so small, the entire format was very informal, allowing us to explore several in-depth case-studies and spend more time on subjects that were interesting or challenging.  Overall, it was nice not being in a large class for once!

The majority of my assessment for this course was a human resources management handbook that I created for a theoretical shrimp farm in the Basque Country, Spain.  Each student was assigned a different aspect for the same company: one looked at the financials of the company, another at risk management, and the third at project planning and management.  When all four documents came together, we had the beginnings of a business plan/ operations manual for the facility!

One fantastic aspect of this course was a bit of real-world experience that we received: John put us in touch with two MBA students from Utah who were starting a tilapia farming business in Ghana and had emailed the Institute for assistance.  The four of us had the opportunity to serve as consultants on their project, and we communicated with them via email and Skype throughout the two weeks of the module.  The two of them actually travelled to Ghana towards the end of the module, and they said that they found our input exceedingly helpful: we have plans to continue communicating in the future, even though the module is over!

The next module is Broodstock and Genetic Management, which is not a strength of mine but should be valuable nonetheless!

Closed-Containment Salmon Tanks Installed in BC

A company in British Columbia, Canada is in the process of installing and testing floating tanks to grow chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), a species that occurs naturally in these waters.  The tanks are essentially closed pens, with fresh seawater being pumped in and excess food and feces being pumped out.  These systems have vast advantages over conventional open-net pens, where wastes are allowed to enter the surrounding environment.  Additionally, the water being pumped into and out of the tanks can be filtered and treated, minimizing the risks of parasites and disease.  Overall, if proven economically viable at a commercial scale, this will be a large step towards the sustainability of the aquaculture industry!


Read the complete press release here: http://agrimarine.com/news/agrimarine-and-mbsai-complete-launch-of-first-marine-closed-containment-tank-in-bc

MSc Module 6: Aquaculture in Practice

The sixth and final module for the Foundation portion of the Masters thesis was titled ‘Aquaculture in Practice’.  The first week was spent in the field, visiting fish farms along the west coast of Scotland (see previous blog article).

The second week we spent at the Institute, receiving a variety of lectures on the economics of the aquaculture industry.  These topics included cashflows, supply and demand, marketing, and financial assessments.  The main assessed project was a complete feasibility study for a given aquaculture operation: our group chose to set up a kingfish (Seriola lalandi) facility in New Zealand.  We looked at all the aspects of starting such a farm, including capital and operating costs, markets, prices, and investment analysis.  

At the end of the week, we gave an investment pitch to a group of professors who played the part of potential investors, grilling us about where their money was going and what we were going to do with it.  When the dust settled, the operation that we designed stood up to their challenges, and we were commended for constructing such a sound business venture.

With the Foundation Modules now complete, we have a month-long break for the Holidays, during which I will be traveling in Europe.  After we return, we begin the Advanced Modules, where we are allowed to choose the courses we take in an effort to specialize our knowledge and gain specific degree outcomes.  As I will be pursuing a degree in ‘Sustainable Aquaculture Business Management’, the majority of my courses will focus on that motif.

See you in the New Year!  

4-Day Study Tour of Fish Farms in the Scottish Highlands

Gorsten Salmon Farm, Fort Williams (Marine Harvest Scotland)

 This week our MSc class had the incredible opportunity to participate in a 4-day study tour of fish farms along the west coast of Scotland.  We stayed in Fort Williams, at the base of Ben Nevis in the Scottish Highlands, and while the temperate never got above 0^o C (it was closer to -10!), the experience was nevertheless invaluable!

Due to the terrible weather conditions (extreme cold and snow), we were late leaving Stirling the first day and only arrived in Fort Williams after dark.  The second day we started early, driving 2 hours to Ardtoe Marine Labs, a commercial and research facility that often collaborates with the Institute at Stirling.  Here, the farm manager, Jim Treasurer, gave us an overview lecture of the work that the facility is doing: broodstock programs for halibut, cod, haddock, turbot, and sole; experiments with wrasse to combat sea lice in salmon cages; and the culture of sea urchins, oysters, and seaweeds for integrated aquaculture systems.  After hearing about the work, we took a tour of the facility.

Our next stop was Lochailort Salmon Farm, a small research site owned and operated by Marine Harvest Scotland where feed trails are carried out.  After that, we headed down the road to the Lochailort Smolt Facility, where Marine Harvest hatches salmon eggs and grows them to smolts before shipping them to their ocean on-growing sites.

Wednesday found us split into two groups: in the morning, our group went to the Blar Mhor Marine Harvest Processing Plant, where salmon grown in Scotland are processed and shipped all over the world.  The fish are delivered freshly killed, and in the processing plant they are gutted, cleaned, and put on ice in boxes to be shipped out.  In the afternoon, we went to the Gorsten Salmon Farm, a Marine Harvest sea-cage site.  There, we took a boat out to the cages and saw them grading fish: this process separates fish into different size-classes to make harvesting easier and more effective. 

Upon returning to the hotel, we received two lectures: the first was from Douige Hunter, the technical Services Manager of Marine Harvest Scotland, and covered overviews of the Marine Harvest production cycle, as well as the state of the global salmon market.  The second was from Dave Cockerill, a veterinarian with Marine Harvest, who spoke about fish diseases and welfare issues.

Overall the trip was a resounding success: we got to see a wide variety of aquaculture systems and operations, we had a chance to talk in-depth with several industry people, and we received lots of different perspectives from different players along the salmon value chain.  Plus, no one in the class got frostbite!!

Oyster broodstock at Ardtoe Marine Labs (Viking Fish Farms)

Lochailort Salmon Farm (Marine Harvest Scotland)

Blar Mhor Salmon Processing Plant (Marine Harvest Scotland)