The following is an edited transcript of Tom Martin’s interview with Gijs Rutjes, technical sales support manager at Coppens International, an Alltech company. 

Gijs Rutjes is technical sales support manager at Coppens International, an Alltech company, in Helmond, the Netherlands. He joined Tom Martin to discuss recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). The technology dramatically reduces the amount of water and space required to intensively produce seafood products.

Tom:                   Let's begin by asking you to give us a brief history of RAS farming. Why did we start growing fish on land in the first place?

Gijs:                     One of the main reasons is that this offers the opportunity to farm, for example, tropical species in cold conditions. One big example is the African catfish in Holland. This is a fish that requires about 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit). In Holland, it could never survive. Still, it's a well-valued fish in Holland. So, we have to use RAS with heated water and purification systems to farm this fish. 

                            Another reason is that you are close to the market. You can position the farm close to the market where you want to be and lower  transportation costs.  

                            It also offers you the possibility to choose a great water supply in an area where you know the borehole water to be really good.

                            Another thing is that you control the conditions for the fish. You can look after optimal conditions all the time. In the case of any     diseases, you have much more control.

                            Finally, you can prevent escapees. In cage farming, sometimes fish unfortunately do escape and can mingle with wild stocks, but  this is near impossible in a RAS farm.

Tom:                   How is this technology being received by the industry? What position does RAS farming hold in the world of modern agriculture?

Gijs:                     I think its importance is increasing. It was a rather local affair in some countries. Holland was one of the first. Denmark also had a leading position. It spread first among the expensive species, but it has become more of a mainstay across the industry because of all the advantages that it has. It has modernized aquaculture, and I'm sure it will continue to modernize because we can still improve certain purification methods and reduce the amount of water needed to produce a kilo of fish.

Tom:                   What are the key challenges for farmers who produce fish in these recirculating aquaculture systems?

Gijs:                     One of the most important things is that you keep constant optimal conditions. For example, as you feed your fish, you will always have a certain fluctuation in the feed level. As you harvest the large fish, you also put in new young fish. Therefore, the feed rates tend to fluctuate. But the biology in the filter, the response to this can be a reason for fluctuating water quality. So, it's very important for the farmer to keep his conditions optimal and constant all the time because then the fish has no reason to feel uncomfortable and it will always eat well and grow well.

Tom:                   Let's say that I'm in the business. I have a fish farm. I have a RAS system. What are three things that I'm looking for in a RAS feed supplier?

Gijs:                     That’s a very good question. I think if you would ask me for one thing, it would be consistency. I think one thing people look for is that it gives a high feed intake and consequently a good growth.

                            Assume that you can have a really good FCR. So, feed intake is one of the first things that people will mention in line with growth. The second would be a low waste load, or low in organic matter — feces, you could say — and also low ammonium production. By changing or regulating the DPDE — that’s the ratio between digestible energy over digestible protein — you can reduce the amount of ammonium produced. Therefore, you can feed more.

                            But as I said, the first important one would be the consistency. You need a consistent feed that is the same in taste and flavor and composition all the time because, otherwise, the filters will react. It's not so bad for the fish, but the filters will react, and that's not what you want.

Tom:                   What are the key challenges to achieving optimal gut health in RAS farmed fish?

Gijs:                     I think it starts with choosing high-quality ingredients that have a high digestibility and also that have a low level of antinutrients because you don't have to fix anything that you haven't damaged. Antinutrients are not good for gut health. So, that’s what we reduce in our RAS feeds.

Tom:                   Gijs, what are the benefits of RAS-produced fish over ocean-based fish farming?

Gijs:                     That’s a good question. I think the difference doesn’t have to be that big. You can produce good fish in either system. While RAS feeds need to fulfill higher requirements — you normally have a higher quality feed, perhaps with higher EPA or DHA. This could make for a higher quality fish considering the consumer demands. But you could have the same feed in a cage and produce similar fish. So, I think on the quality side, it doesn’t have to be a big difference.

Tom:                   You may have touched on this earlier in the conversation, but in recent years, there's been an issue with the occurrence of off-flavoring microorganisms in RAS systems. Has this been addressed and overcome?

Gijs:                     Yes and no. I think it's good to first outline that farms can have off-flavor because the two types of microorganisms that produce this off-flavor, geosmin and isoborneol, can live anywhere. They can live in filters — that’s where they like to live. RAS farms usually have them, but you have them in pond farms as well. So, a lot of RAS farms these days use moving bed bioreactors. That’s a place where these microorganisms do not like to live because they need a sort of fixed structure to attach themselves to. If you do have a moving bed bioreactor, by nature, they cannot attach. So, these systems normally have a very low amount of these microorganisms and often have no off-flavor at all.

                            I think it’s important to purge the fish from a pond farm, as well as from a RAS farm, and taste your fish. Just make sure that there's not even a hint of an off-flavor because that is not a nice taste, and it would really spoil the quality of your fish.

Tom:                  So, you really have to stay on top of it.

Gijs:                     Yes, always. Even if you don't have it in your farm. We have several customers that, mainly due to the moving bed bioreactors, do not have off-flavor issues, but they will still purge, even if it's for a few days, and test the fish before they sell to the market. Then the quality is always spot on. It takes only one farmer to spoil the market for all.

Tom:                   What does the future look like for RAS farming methods and aquaculture?

Gijs:                     I think RAS farming will increase and continue to improve the whole aquaculture industry. There's a very big movement toward keeping smolts onshore. It offers much more control and no issues with sea lice. So, this industry has seen that this is a big benefit to them. I think there will be more types of aquaculture that will use the RAS system.

                            RAS farming by nature is also very sustainable. You can reach a lower carbon footprint. You can use less water. You have less pollution. I think that the number of liters we require to produce a kilo of fish will reduce in the coming years.

Tom:                   Gijs Rutjes is technical sales support manager at Coppens International in Helmond, the Netherlands. Thank you for joining us.

Gijs:                     You’re welcome. Thank you very much.

Breakout sessions to focus on offshore and onshore salmon farms, fillet quality and genetic potential

[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE18), held May 20–22 in Lexington, Kentucky, will provide aqua producers with a unique opportunity to participate in a global conversation about the innovations, challenges and solutions facing their industry. Focus sessions designed to educate and inspire will allow producers to gather insights from leading aqua experts and exchange ideas with peers from around the globe.

ONE18 aqua topics:

• A Trip up the Amazon: Equatorial Aquaculture

Out of the 30,000 fish species in existence, selecting those suitable for aquaculture is challenging, as is the development of feed that meets their specific nutritional demands. Which fish species are being evaluated, and what is their potential? How do arapaima, cobia, yellowtail kingfish and pacu measure up?

• First-Rate Fillets: Consistent Quality for Premium Products

When it comes to fillet quality, consumers want to ensure they’re spending their money on a premium product. Getting it right every time, and doing so sustainably, requires expertise and innovation. How can you use nutritional solutions to protect fish fillets for a consistently premium product?

• Fish and Chips: Feeding Genetic Potential

Do you know what the gene chip means for your fish? It could unlock their genetic potential for maximum performance and productivity. How? Join us as we explore nutrigenomics.

• No Fish Makes Great Fish

As the aquaculture industry strives to manage finite fish meal supplies and fish oil resources, can we still produce a high-quality product? The solutions are out there. Learn how innovative ideas in feed development are helping aqua farmers convert to a zero fish in: fish out ratio. Come hear about Neo Green, a revolutionary trout diet from Coppens International.

• Pooling Resources for a Perfect Fish Environment

Intensive recirculation systems provide opportunities for growth in the aquaculture industry, where feeding the fish is not the only challenge. We must also maintain a complete and healthy ecosystem. From sturgeon to salmon and catfish to eels, the growth potential of this sector is enormous. Is this the future of aquaculture? Can we feed the world and maintain profitability?

• Offshore and Onshore: Wading Into the Future of the Salmon Industry

Can we provide the engineering solutions necessary for the harsh environment of the open ocean? Can we realistically produce 5 kilograms of salmon onshore in closed systems? Join Leif Rune Pederson of Norway's Erko Seafood as he dives into industry challenges and solutions.

*Topics subject to change as the schedule evolves.

Now in its 34^th year, Alltech’s conference is attended annually by nearly 4,000 people from over 70 countries. Whether producers are navigating a fundamental change within the aqua industry or just need a little inspiration, they’ll learn about real-world opportunities and solutions at ONE18.

Learn more and register at one.alltech.com for a savings of $400 before March 31. Join the conversation with #ONE18 on Twitter, and follow the ONE18 Facebook event page for updates.

2016 has been a remarkable year thus far. This past month we welcomed more than 3,000 friends from 71 countries for an unbelievable week of idea-sharing and inspiration at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference. We also grew the Alltech family through the acquisition of Keenan, a leading farming solutions manufacturer known particularly for their “Green Machine” and InTouch Technology.

Today it’s a delight to share further excitement as we welcome Coppens International, an innovative Dutch aquatic feed and nutrition company, to our family. READ the press release here. 

Coppens International is known around the world as a technical specialist that produces high-quality aquatic feeds. The Coppens International team works continuously to perfect their formulas and develop new feed to cater to market demands. They have drive, they are passionate and they care – all qualities we value here at Alltech. Coppens International’s innovative techniques provide us with a winning combination for delivering greater efficiency and profitability direct to our aquatic producers.

Together we will now offer a breakthrough development in the feed industry by providing a fish feed completely derived from a sustainable and traceable fish oil replacement.  With Coppens International, we complete the cycle from a sustainable source of microalgae, rich in DHA omega-3 fatty acid, through to fish feeds and into fish products. The production of our algae is based on yeast components from which the algae gain a number of critical nutrients to grow, produce the high fat content and, even more importantly, high levels of the DHA omega-3 fatty acid. This active ingredient, as in many of our other yeast-based products, ultimately improves animal and fish health, while providing DHA-rich, functional foods that deliver a wide range of well-known health benefits to consumers. Now there is a true marriage between a unique aquatic feed manufacturer and an animal health-focused algae production facility! In fact, our plant in Winchester, Kentucky is food-grade and approaching more than 20,000 tons annually, with capacity expected to triple by year-end.

Using Alltech’s primacy in science combined with Coppens International team of researchers, we believe we will be one of the first to completely remove fish meal and fish oil from feed. We will replace these with Alltech’s FOR PLUS, which is derived from algae, and produced in our dedicated algae facility in Kentucky. We will be able to guarantee our customers a source of DHA which is traceable, sustainable and without the contamination issues of fish products. 

Just like Alltech, Coppens International is passionate about customer-centered research. In fact, they have 17 hectares of ponds devoted to research and raising specialty fish such as aquarium fish.  With two dedicated extruders, the company’s products are shipped around the world, and their capacity will increase shortly with a third extruder in the coming months. In looking to the future, Dr. Karl Dawson, chief scientific officer at Alltech, said, “We will continue sharing results of the successful use of Alltech’s FOR PLUS in all animal and fish diets. We have already demonstrated some surprising benefits for production animals. At Alltech, we remain steadfastly focused on our ACE principle of being friendly to the Animal, the Consumer, and the Environment.”

By joining Alltech, Coppens International is achieving one of its long-held ambitions - the replacement of fish oil with Alltech algae technology. Given the unsustainable global supply of fish oil, this is a true leap forward for their aquaculture nutrition program.

In fact, did you know that we own one of the only fully-operational, large-scale algae production facilities in the world? At the Alltech Algae facility in Winchester, Kentucky, we have invested heavily to develop proprietary algal technology for application in aquaculture, pet and livestock nutrition. No longer a buzzword, algae are gaining attention for their application to the feed and food industries as a highly sustainable source of DHA omega-3, and Coppens International will now be leveraging our algal technology.

We see plenty of synergies that can occur with Coppens International. Fish farms will have improved direct access to the most cutting-edge, sustainable technologies relevant to today's aquaculture industry demands.

In April this year, we launched the Alltech Aquaculture Postgraduate Program, a joint research partnership with the world-renowned University of Stirling Institute of Aquaculture in Scotland, and we are also making great progress with Alltech Aquaculture in Kentucky. Again, why? We see the opportunities ahead within the exciting sector of aquaculture.

The aquaculture sector is experiencing tremendous growth worldwide. In fact, did you know that aquaculture is the fastest growing segment of the animal feed industry? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, fish consumption now exceeds beef consumption per capita, and farmed fish now exceed wild caught. What an opportunity!

Together, Alltech and Coppens International will ensure that aquatic producers around the world can practice responsible and efficient aquaculture. Together, we will make a sustainable contribution to food production for a growing global population that demands the very best. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to work hand-in-hand on delivering aquaculture solutions.

Welcome to our family, Coppens International!

Following our annual Global Feed Survey, we decided to dive a little deeper into aquaculture this year and produce our first Aquaculture Feed Survey.

What did we find?

Similar to the overall Global Feed Survey, China ranks number one in aquaculture, producing more than 17.3 million tonnes of fish feed, far outpacing the second most productive country, Vietnam at 2.8 million tonnes.

Click here to download the chart of the top 12 aqua feed-producing countries, as well as additional survey details.

Sixty-two percent of China’s aqua feed production is for carp. For shrimp, the greatest shares of the countries’ aqua feed production were in India (66 percent), Thailand (42 percent) and Indonesia (33 percent). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the greatest shares of salmon feed production were in Norway (94 percent), Canada (86 percent) and Chile (85 percent).

How do shrimp and salmon compare overall?

Shrimp accounts for 21 percent of global aqua feed production, 82 percent of which occurs in Asia. Salmon, meanwhile, accounts for 11 percent globally, with Europe as the center of production (52 percent of global salmon feed).

The high cost of finisher feeds

The survey also examined the average cost of finisher diets. Interestingly, the top three most expensive were all within the Asia-Pacific region: Korea at $1,800; Japan at $1,700 and Vietnam at $1,333. However, nearly 50 percent of survey responses indicated average prices over $1,000.

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