Considerable investment is being made in fish and shrimp farming technology with land-based and offshore systems currently the most in vogue, particularly in the salmon sector. And yet there is still plenty to come from the production systems that already occupy coastlines, according to Gorjan Nikolik, associate director of animal protein and seafood at Rabobank.
Featuring in the recent Aquaculture Innovation Europe conference program, Nikolik said that when it comes to innovation, coastal systems “shouldn’t be discredited” as there are many aspects that could be incrementally improved.
“Do we have to go on-land or offshore just yet, when we are nowhere near perfecting this system?”
Current R&D in this sector is being driven by biosecurity, he said, with probably the largest amount of capital being invested in dealing with the sea lice challenge faced by salmon producers.
Among the many measures taken to mitigate the lice problem, Nikolik acknowledged that some success is being achieved with thermolicers, cleaner fish, chemical treatments in well boats and vaccines. Indeed, it is probably the development of new vaccines that offers the most scope for the broader aquaculture economy.
“It’s difficult to vaccinate small fish. It works with salmon, more or less, but the real opportunity here is to create an oral vaccine and eventually move this technology out to the other species globally. Then we will see a real improvement in the industry.”
Looking at land-based farming, Nikolik reminded delegates that the sector had suffered from very high bankruptcy rates over the last 10 years, with approximately 90 percent of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) ventures failing.
“There are a lot of things that can go wrong,” he said. “But people learn from mistakes, and technology evolves. Certainly with larger salmon smolts [being produced] we are seeing gradual development. But there is also a big jump to producing the full animal in RAS."
Despite those challenges, the investment being put into RAS is substantial.
“I haven’t calculated how much capital has gone into this in the last two or three years but it is a lot – a couple of hundred million dollars at least. It’s a new wave of investment, primarily in North America and Europe," he said. "And I would say that over the next two to five years, we should watch this system. Because if the current large-scale projects turn out to be successful, with stable and low-cost production, maybe we will have a completely new direction in the industry. If they are not and they keep failing then I think this will be relegated to a niche segment.”
Offshore looks an even better prospect, said Nikolik, although he acknowledged that there is no historical evidence to forecast how such systems might perform. His reasons for the positive evaluation are the vast, unused ocean spaces that are available, as well as there being no pathogens. Consequently, the projects underway and in the pipeline are huge in scale.
He does, however, have one reservation, in that such investments, particularly in Norway, could merely be made to secure more coastal sites.
“In Norway, there is a ‘trick.’ You get experimental licenses to make these offshore projects, but if they don’t work, you can convert those licenses into very valuable coastal licenses. That’s the incentive to produce quite a lot of these projects. So I don’t know yet if they are truly viable or if they are just being produced to eventually work back into the normal licenses," Nikolik said.
While some may be using the licenses to secure coastal sites, the potential benefits of offshore aquaculture, if realized, could have major benefits in some regions of the world.
“On paper they look great, and I think that if they work, they will be a completely new area for aquaculture. I have also heard that there’s quite a good probability that if this offshore technology shows progress, we will see it maybe not in Norway and in the west, but potentially in Asia, which needs it a lot more," Nikolik said. “The demand is greater there, [and] the pollution and overcrowding on the coast and freshwater areas are much higher. And let’s face it, more than 60 percent of global aquaculture is in China – it has a big industry that needs to be improved.”
Again, Nikolik believes that the next three to five years will be crucial in determining the future of offshore farming, as well as whether it starts in Europe or China.
