Tag salmon

Although state-of-the-art research has led to breakthroughs in cost efficiency, productivity and sustainability, further advances will be needed to support expansion of the industry to meet growing seafood demand. The North Atlantic Seafood Forum identified challenges and proposed solutions for varied issues. 

Protein hydrolysates can be produced by acid, base or enzymatic hydrolysis processes. Acid hydrolysis produces salt that makes the product unsuitable for food and destroys some essential amino acids. An optimum process for one fish or shellfish by-product may not be optimum for another. 

Innovations in key technologies have contributed to productivity growth in salmon farming. Manual production tasks have been automated, while improvements in feed and disease management also increase efficiency. 

Oral vaccination can be done with virtually all fish sizes and is a relatively stress-free and inexpensive approach. The authors developed a novel oral vaccine delivery system that was found effective against infectious salmon anemia and salmonid rickettsial septicemia at salmon farms in Chile. 

Although not universally practiced, the potential benefits of selective breeding in aquaculture outweigh all other options for improving animal performance. The genetic potential of aquaculture animals is plastic and can be improved over a relatively short timeframe. 

Consumer perceptions regarding seafood influence consumers’ willingness to consider and purchase fish as a viable protein choice. 

A study investigated the effects of storage temperature and duration on the quality of finished fishmeal fed to juvenile shrimp. Diets with 15 percent fishmeal were stored at 4 or 30 degrees-C for six months or 12 months. 

In a survey, 500 consumers from the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany and Sweden rated salmon second overall to chicken and ahead of pork and beef. Salmon scored high in all countries for healthiness. 

A study of shrimp feeding demonstrated the digestibility of byproducts prepared from salmon livers, salmon milt, black cod viscera and arrowtooth heads and viscera from Alaskan fisheries processing plants. 

Floating closed-containment systems incorporate low-pressure pumping, oxygen supplementation, solid-waste separation and efficient feed management. 

Smolt production in Norwegian hatcheries will likely increase during the next decade to answer salmon grow-out needs. Farmers are converting existing flow-through systems to partially or fully incorporate recirculation technologies. 

If approved by FDA, fast-growing genetically modified salmon will provide a safe and nutritious product similar to other farmed Atlantic salmon. 

A research partnership focused on Atlantic salmon selective breeding aims to improve growth and resistance to amoebic gill disease in Tasmanian salmon. 

Successful non-invasive predictions of pigment and fat levels in whole salmon were demonstrated by the authors using visible and near infrared spectroscopy to study how these traits vary genetically during growth. 

Environmental and fish health problems have affected Chile’s salmon farmers since 2004. As production ramped up, 2006 saw an increase in sea lice that reduced output. In 2007, infectious salmon anemia spread across the farming region and quickly cut production.