Chile: Implementation of the new sanitary requirements set up by the companies and the authority to surpass the sanitary crisis caused by the ISA virus will increase the costs for the Chilean salmon industry by 30% according to the SalmonChile’s chairman César Barros.

Barros underlined that this cost will enable the industry to be “much more sustainable in the long term”. Furthermore, he stated that thanks to the 54 sanitary measures implemented by the SalmonChile associate companies -30 of them will be enforced by the new regulation- the industry has been reducing the mortality rates caused by ISA virus and sea lice.

According to Diario Financiero within the new sanitary measures, the Chilean salmon industry will have to reduce the farming densities in order to avoid infection and spread of diseases. In addition, a production halt of three months in each site after harvest will be implemented.

Among others, the industry will also have to invest strongly in vaccination of every fish before entering the sea, adequate mortality handling and processing, and biosafe transportation between farms.

Canada: The often quoted comparison of nitrogen discharges from salmon farms with those from human settlements is questioned by an aquaculture scientist with inside industry information

When someone applies for new salmon farming sites in certain parts of the world, a lot of people and organizations get busy with the production of all kinds of material that is aimed at halting the proposed private use for profit of what is normally considered to be public property. The planned expansion of salmon farming by New Zealand’s King Salmon Company is no exception, but a government scientist with experience from the industry may shed some light on the facts of the situation and in the process reduce the overheated temperature of the debate. The long and short of it; salmon farm waste is rich in Nitrogen- human waste not so much. But farmed salmon don’t discharge most of the common pollutants coming from human settlements, making the comparison unpractical and unprofessional.

Dr. Andrew Forsythe of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric (Niwa) is quoted in a recent article by the Marlborough Express;

Linking human waste to the discharge from fish farms was “flawed” and new salmon farms planned for the Marlborough Sounds would pose a minimal environmental risk, Niwa’s top aquaculture expert says. New Zealand King Salmon’s attempt to add nine new salmon farms to its existing five has drawn fire from environmental and community groups. Leading the charge is the new group Sustain Our Sounds, which has based much of its counter-argument on likening the amount of nitrogen discharge from farms producing the final target of 30,000 tonnes a year to what’s in the sewage of half a million people. It raises the possibility of too much nitrogen resulting in toxic “red tides” and dead zones.

But the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research’s Whangarei-based chief aquaculture scientist, Andrew Forsythe, told Fairfax NZ that human waste contained a lot of noxious materials other than nitrogen, in which it was relatively low, and that the proposed scale of salmon farming was of little risk. Sustain Our Sounds also argues little is known about the quality of the water in the Sounds other than around the farms, and that no further finfish farming should be allowed until a scientific baseline is established. However, Dr Forsythe said the Crown-owned research and consultancy company had done “a great deal of monitoring” in and around Pelorus Sound.

It had also done an exercise comparing human and other natural sources to fish farm discharge in a North Island setting and the result was that “the nitrogen is minor, and in a highly mixed situation you can’t detect it more than 100 metres from the farm”. The scientist, who previously worked in salmon farming and environmental science in Canada, said most of the nitrogen waste from fish in a well-managed aquaculture facility – “and you can apply that to virtually all New Zealand farmed fish aquaculture” – was not particles falling to the bottom, but liquid in the form of ammonia. It was dispersed and ultimately converted to phytoplankton.

New Zealand was producing a premium product for white-tablecloth restaurants around the world which sought sustainable, wholesome products. “We’re pushing a very New Zealand brand. You can stuff up the environment with any type of farming, we all know that, dirt farming or water farming, but it is not in King Salmon’s or any farmer’s interest in New Zealand to farm badly.” Dr Forsythe said Norway produces about 100 times as much salmon as New Zealand from about half the coastline length, and was “a highly developed society with very acute interest in the welfare of their environment”.

Niwa research general manager Rob Murdoch also said work had been done on nutrient levels in the Sounds, with no doubt that the predominant drivers of change were that was happening in the open ocean and river flows. “Cook Strait is a very heavily mixed area so it tends to be nutrient rich most of the time, and that water does come in and out of the Sounds,” Dr. Murdoch also said. “Overall I would have thought the nutrient dynamics are being driven by much bigger processes than from a salmon farm.”  To imply that those small farms would impact on the entire nutrient dynamics of Queen Charlotte and Pelorus, if you looked at the volume statistics on their own, they wouldn’t back that up.”

Canada: The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association posts a Corrections/Clarifications section to its web site. Not surprisingly, anti-salmon farming campaigner Alexandra Morton figures prominently in the first posting

There are seven pages of comments and statements made by Alexandra Morton and accompanying corrections/clarifications on the new web site of the BCSFA that calls for interesting reading. There are also a list of “Hot Topics”, such as statements regarding issues like Closed Containment, Escapes and ISA. There is also a clarifying section on the sometimes controversial subject of Atlantic salmon egg imports- a practise that has been all but halted in recent years;

During the early years of the BC salmon aquaculture industry, salmon egg imports were relied on significantly to develop farm stock. The cost of eggs and the stringent regulations on import to protect wild fish stocks however, led to companies rapidly developing their own broodstock and egg sources. That significant research and development activity has resulted in a near‐elimination of imports. When they do occur, egg imports continue to be subject to stringent regulations, including the requirement that eggs be sourced from and accepted to Department of Fisheries and Oceans‐approved facilities and that strong quarantine measures are followed. Recent changes to Canadian regulations meant that any imports have to be approved under the Health and Animals Act, which is the responsibility of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The transition of these regulations is underway and a valid Import Permit is still required.

Only eyed eggs (fertilized eggs that are about 35 days old, where the baby salmon’s eyes become visible inside the egg) are allowed to be imported, and only eight facilities have ever been approved sources. Today, Iceland is the only approved source of eggs for the limited import requirements of the industry. These regulations are important in ensuring that exotic diseases are not introduced into BC waters. Canada’s strict regulations and relatively small industry means that the level of import has never been as significant as in other jurisdictions. For example, Chile’s salmon aquaculture industry imported over 273‐million eggs between 1995 and 1999, while DFO reports the maximum import total for BC as 12 million. The BC’s industry records show 9.6 million.

In early 2011, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans posted a table reportedly providing a record by year of the maximum amount of Atlantic salmon authorized for import by the BC salmon aquaculture industry. These numbers purport to reflect the highest allowable amount, which in many cases is significantly higher than the amount actually imported by BC companies. In some cases, the table does not reflect the records maintained by our companies.

The posting of this information is part of DFO’s increased effort to share information with the public regarding aquaculture operations since they undertook the Pacific Aquaculture Regulations in December 2010. We agree that having a central location for information from our government regulators is a good initiative. This particular posting is an example however, of how information without context can be confusing.

Chile: Chilean exports of Rainbow trout totalized US$ 395 million in the first four months of 2012, representing a 6.2 percent decrease compared to the same period of 2011 (US$ 421 million). By contrast, the combined export of all salmonid products has increased 13 percent to US$ 1,210 million.

Chilean exports of Rainbow trout in April (US$ 95 million) were 13.1 percent higher than those returns obtained in the same month of 2011 (US$ 84 million) according to the Central Bank of Chile.

Considering that the combined local exports of Atlantic and Coho salmon registered US$ 815 million up to April this year, Chile exported US$ 1,210 million in salmonid products in the first four months of 2012. This result represents an increase of 13.2 percent compared to the US$ 1,069 million obtained in the same period of 2011.

Moreover, these figures show how Rainbow trout has decrease its share in the product mix from 39.4 percent up to April 2011 to 32.6 percent in the first four months of this year.

Previous studies have suggested a possible link between seafood in the diet and a lower incidence of postpartum depression (PPD). Now, researchers in the fields of nutrition and developmental psychology are starting a project in order to investigate this link further, by mapping the diet of pregnant women against the incidence of PPD.

Previous studies have shown that there may be a correlation between seafood intake and mental health. In an American study, researchers compared the incidence of PPD in 23 different countries with the intake of seafood in the same countries. The study showed that the more seafood that was eaten by the population, the lower was the number of women who were affected by PPD.

– PPD affects 10-15% of mothers in Norway. The diet is important both during pregnancy and after giving birth. Norwegian women who are at a reproductive age and pregnant consume little seafood. At the same time, it is perhaps these women who need it the most, since they are carrying a child whose nutrients comes from the mother. In addition, the mother might be breastfeeding which may reduce her nutritional status further, says Marian Kjellervold Malde.

Malde is a researcher at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) in Bergen, Norway. The project is directed by the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Uni Health. Theyt will study how the diet can affect both the mental health of the mother after pregnancy and the development of the child. There will be a close collaboration with the municipality of Fjell. In Fjell, mother`s and child`s mental health has recently been a focus of attention, and expectant mothers in the municipality of Fjell will be asked to participate in the project.

– The study is mapping the seafood intake, in particular. We are aiming to find out whether more seafood in the diet can lead to a better nutritional status and fewer mental disorders among pregnant women, and the significance this can have for the child, says Malde.

A good nutritional status means having a certain level of nutrients in the blood which is important for good health.

– Interdisciplinary cooperation of this kind has exciting perspectives. Perhaps new approaches will be able to help explain our findings, says doctoral fellow Siv Skotheim. Skotheim is a research fellow at Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Uni Health and the project is part of her doctoral programme.

Seafood – high in health content
Seafood contains a number of nutrients which are not found in other food products in naturally high levels.

– Seafood is healthy, nutritious food that belongs in a varied diet, as fruit and vegetables. Results from several scientific studies indicate that the nutrients in seafood can contribute to an improved mental health, says Malde.

While relatively little research has been conducted on seafood itself, much has been done on the individual components in the seafood. Of these, perhaps the most well known are the omega-3 fatty acids.

– We know, for example, that seafood is rich in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. Much DHA is needed by the foetus in the last part of pregnancy and in the postnatal period in order to build up the brain. The mother gets DHA through her diet, but if this only provides a small amount, where is the child to get this nutrient from? In a situation like this the mother’s own DHA may be depleted, and one hypothesis is that this is one of the factors that can result in postnatal depression, says Malde.

– We will also be examining vitamin D, vitamin B12 and the iodine status of the pregnant women in both the prenatal and postnatal period. These are nutrients that we believe are important for the health of both the mother and the child.

– Nevertheless it is important to note that it is the effect of seafood and diet as a whole that we will be examining in this study. The individual components will serve as measurement and reference points.

Mother, father and child can participate
– Both pregnant women and father can register. We will map the food intake of the mother, the father and the child in the last trimester of the pregnancy and in the period until the infant is one year old. In addition, we will take biological samples of both the mother and the child. The mother and father will also have the opportunity to get dietary advice and qualified health personnel will do the follow up, says Malde.

– All data will be collected by the end of 2011. We hope that this study will bring us closer to determining whether seafood can prevent postnatal depression, says Malde.

Pregnant women who live in the municipality of Fjell should contact Malde if they wish to participate in the study or if they would like further information.

Target Group: All pregnant women in the municipality of Fjell, Norway, regardless of whether they have children already. It is preferable that the father also participates, but this is not a requirement. The pregnant women will be invited to participate in the study in week 24 or week 28 during the pregnancy control. In addition, the public health nurse will distribute an information brochure during the home visit two weeks after birth in order to ensure that everyone eligible to participate has received information about the project.

Collaborating partners
Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Uni Health and the municipality of Fjell

Contact person:
Marian Kjellevold Malde
Telephone: +47 40854582
E-mail: mma@nifes.no
National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES)

Canada: Environmental group goes fishing for ammunition to be used against the province’s salmon farmers, but finds little of value

What the activists don’t realize is that the relationship between two veterinarians is not much different than that between two lawyers- client confidentiality is a basic principle of importance to both professions. And in a recent article in the Times Colonist, Judith Lavoie explains that fish farmers in British Columbia have already released more information about the health of their fish than what they are legally required to do;

In the ongoing skirmishes between salmon farmers and environmental groups, fish farmers appear to have a powerful ally in the provincial government, says Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste. A Wilderness Committee freedom-of-information request to the provincial Agriculture Ministry, asking for information on disease outbreaks on salmon farms between 2010 and 2012, produced 300 pages of emails and memos, many documenting communications strategies after diseases are discovered on farms.

Emails from Gary Marty, ministry fish pathologist at the Animal Health Centre, ask company veterinarians for the go-ahead to release specific information about the outbreaks to media. “May I have permission to disclose information from the medical records about the two Mainstream outbreaks,” says an email from Marty to Mainstream Canada veterinarian Peter McKenzie. “If you want to provide partial permission, let me know and I can work around that. Otherwise, I will stick to information provided in the press releases.” “I believe the release serves as good evidence of a very concerning relationship between the Ministry of Agriculture, who are supposed to be a neutral monitoring and oversight body, and the fish farming industry,” Coste said of the information found in the FOI.

However, Mary Ellen Walling, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association executive director, said the documents show a good working relationship between the industry and government, especially after infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) was discovered at Grieg Seafood and Mainstream Canada farms. “I think those pages show a good level of co-operation, a high level of transparency and a lot of public outreach,” she said.

Coste, referring to the email from Marty, said he finds it alarming that ministry staff are asking for permission before releasing information that should be public. “This information pertains to disease outbreaks on private, open-net fish farms located in the ocean environment — a public entity,” he said.

“The presence of pathogens and viruses in the ocean and the discovery of these diseases by government scientists should always be public knowledge, and the fact that our scientists are seeking permission from industry to release this public knowledge is very worrisome.”

IHN, which is endemic in wild Pacific salmon but does not make them sick, can kill Atlantic salmon.

Walling said the request for permission was professional courtesy between veterinarians and the companies had already released information about the outbreaks. A statement from the agriculture ministry said the ministry works with the “federal government and aquaculture operators to monitor for all possible diseases and supports the implementation of a prompt, co-ordinated and science-based response when required.”

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for overall regulation of salmon farms. “The [agriculture] ministry has no statutory authority to compel samples from fish farms for diagnostic analysis. All submissions from the farms for diagnostic testing are voluntary,” says the ministry statement.

A leading veterinarian fears that Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) has become a permanent problem in parts of Norway.

ADG has spread from the Stavanger area along the coast to the Sognefjord.

“Lots of fish have died,” Sven Jørgen Strømmen, of K. Strømmen Lakseoppdrett AS, told NRK. “And we have already lost more then 10 million NOK.”

In Ryfylke, near Stavanger, AGD has caused mass deaths this year, accoriding to FSA’s veterinarian in Rogaland, Erling Bleie.

“This autumn we have had outbreaks in many sites. I work in Rogaland County and in our area around a third of all the sites had to treat the fish. Around 50 per cent of the salmon have been shown to have AGD,” he said. “We fear that this has become established as a permanent disease for the fish farming industry with the loss of fish and high costs of monitoring and treatment.”

Canada: Well-known First Nation Chief and official of one of three native organizations- the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs- vice president Bob Chamberlin attempted to launch a class action lawsuit against B.C. salmon farms

He is one of the most vocal and public figures in the on-going dispute by an ever-shrinking number of First Nation individuals that keep trying to get rid of the salmon farms from British Columbian waters. While most First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago- made famous by the activism of Mr. Chamberlin and anti-salmon farm campaigner Alexandra Morton- are working well with the salmon farming industry and have established working and protocol agreements with the Norwegian companies operating in the region, Mr. Chamberlin is carrying on a fight which has taken him to the board rooms and Annual Meetings of the salmon farming companies. His latest attempt through the launch of a class action that alleged that salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago were causing a decline of local salmon stocks was overturned by the courts last week.

Although the ruling could be deemed to be made based on a technicality, most professional scientists would likely agree that there is little if any grounds to support the allegations made by Mr. Chamberlin. The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association issued the following statement late last week;

A ruling yesterday by the British Columbia Court of Appeal has overturned a December 2010 decision to certify legal action launched by Chief Bob Chamberlin, Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation (KAFN), as a class action lawsuit. “Any decision that has to be made through the courts isn’t ideal for BC’s salmon farmers,” said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. “We value communication and dialogue and our members relationships with their First Nations partners are a top priority. We will continue to make ourselves available to those interested in constructive dialogue about our business.”

The certification was initially granted by the chambers judge in 2010; however, it was appealed by the Province of BC and Canada in January 2011. On May 3, 2012, that appeal was successful and the ruling granting the case class action certification was overturned. The plaintiffs alleged in this case that salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago are the cause of a decline of wild salmon stocks. BC salmon farmers disagree with these allegations. The plaintiffs commenced this action by having it certified as a class action, with a class constituting other First Nations in the area.

Madam Justice Garson disagreed with the certification of class action, saying that it was not clear what objective criteria could be used to determine whether an ‘aboriginal collective‘ would be in the class, and because ‘aboriginal collectives’  do not form a clear judicial person, they do not have the capacity to sue. Her decision was supported by the two reviewing judges. The BC Salmon Farmers Association was granted intervenor status on this case and provided information on salmon farming in the region to the judge. The BCSFA has heard no more about next steps that might be taken by the KAFN.

Another ruling regarding a judicial review application in the Federal Court by Chief Chamberlin and KAFN regarding consultation on two Broughton Archipelago salmon farm licenses was also made on May 3, 2012. This ruling stated that consultation carried out by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was adequate for the renewal of these two licenses. The BCSFA was not directly engaged in this action, though two of its members (Mainstream Canada and Marine Harvest Canada) were respondents in the case. The BCSFA cannot comment further on this case at this time.

Canada: US Researchers find that reducing fishmeal hinders growth of some farmed species of fish.

Much research has been and is being conducted in order to find alternative raw materials to fish meal and fish oil in the formulation of diets for farmed fish and shrimp due to the finite supply of forage fish used to make these meals and oils. And an increasing amount of fish waste from processing plants and unwanted discards is used as valuable ingredients in various forms of fish feed. And research into the production of certain species of algae using waste products and atmospheric carbon dioxide also promises to generate future supplies of high quality fish food. Some experiments have shown that some salmonids can be produced using low levels of fish meal and/or fish oil at a quality and growth rate similar to conventional diets.

But some species of farmed fish may not respond too well to the reduction of fish meal in their diets, as this report from Phys.Org explains;

When it comes to the food used to raise fish in aquaculture “farms,” it seems that you may get what you pay for. In a new study, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) looked at the health effects of raising farmed fish on a diet incorporating less than the usual amount of fishmeal—a key but expensive component of current commercial fish food products. They learned that reduced fishmeal diets may be cheaper, but the fish were less healthy.

Commercial aquaculture is one of the fastest growing areas of food production, produces about $100 billion (~€76 billion) of revenue annually and accounts for nearly half of the world’s food fish supply. Aquafarmers currently rely heavily on fishmeal as a protein source but it’s expensive to produce and the resource from which it’s derived—fish captured in the wild—is being rapidly depleted. One proposed remedy is to substitute cheaper and more environmentally friendly foods that replace some fishmeal content with other sources of protein. SCDNR designed a study to evaluate the efficacy of diets with reduced and full amounts of fishmeal fed to cobia, a popular marine aquaculture fish, during the period when juveniles mature to adults. One diet contained 50 percent and another 75 percent less fishmeal than that found in commercial food products. A third diet contained 100 percent of the conventional fishmeal content. A fourth group of cobia ate off-the-shelf fish food as a control.

To determine whether or not the three experimental diets provided adequate nutrition for fish growth, the SCDNR teamed with NIST’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy experts at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) in Charleston, S.C. NMR spectroscopy, a technique similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) used by doctors, allows researchers to isolate and identify specific nutrients after the fish have metabolized them—a quantifiable measure of how well or how poorly the different fishmeal diets were utilized. The results showed that cobia fed the reduced fishmeal diets were metabolically different from those fed either the full fishmeal diet or the control diet. Fish fed the reduced fishmeal diets had higher levels of two metabolites linked to physical stress, tyrosine and betaine, and lower levels of a primary energy source, glucose. This suggests that these cobia were not receiving the necessary nutrition to support healthy growth.

Overall, the researchers were surprised to find that cobia on the experimental 100 percent fishmeal diet showed the most growth by the end of the 100-day study period. Along with more normal tyrosine, betaine and glucose levels, NMR spectroscopy also revealed significantly higher levels of lactate in cobia fed 100 percent fishmeal compared to fish on the other diets. This finding may be explained by the fact that the 100 percent fishmeal experimental diet has the highest percentage of the carbohydrate cornstarch, and lactate is produced by gut bacteria metabolizing carbohydrates. In turn, since efficient breakdown of carbohydrates is essential to energy production, the researchers surmise that a diet enhancing gut microflora activity might be one of the conditions needed for optimal cobia health.

Although the reduced fishmeal diets in this study did not fare well, the NIST and SCDNR researchers say that the data from the NMR-based metabolomic analysis still provide insight into what might be needed for more successful formulations. They expect that future studies will eventually lead to alternative dietary products that are more cost effective, better for the environment and lead to high yields of healthy fish. The HML is a unique partnership of governmental and academic agencies including NIST, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service, the SCDNR, the College of Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina. The HML NMR facility focuses on the multi-institutional mission of metabolomics, natural products and structural biology.

Norway: Nofima’s well established challenge models have long been used in trials on various types of virus and bacteria. These now form the basis for a challenge model against salmon lice, which will provide the opportunity for the aquaculture industry to get better remedies for lice.

By Irene Midling Andreassen:

Nofima is now in full swing making a contribution to overcoming the lice problems that have plagued the Norwegian salmon industry.

Facts
Challenge models are standardised methods in which fish are infected under controlled conditions. Uses include developing vaccines against fish diseases.

Using challenge models
Nofima’s well established challenge models have long been used in trials on various types of virus and bacteria. These now form the basis for a challenge model against salmon lice, which will provide the opportunity for the aquaculture industry to get better remedies for lice. The model can amongst other things be used to test out different feed types with active ingredients that prevent against lice infestation.

Nofima and Tromsø Aquaculture Research Station have had large influx of requests from commercial actors in the industry wanting tests to be carried out against salmon lice.

“Consequently, we have taken steps to accommodate the industry,” says Senior Advisor Heidi Mikalsen, who is responsible for this work. “We have purchased lice from the Institute of Marine Research which we are sure are not resistant to existing lice remedies.”

Large and small lice
The scientists will test the lice in all its growth phases. Salmon in land-based tanks will be challenged to lice in the early growth phase, and depending on the water temperature the lice develop into an adult phase involving sexual maturity and eggs.

The trials are taking place at the Tromsø Aquaculture Research Station, which has various experimental facilities such trials.

“So far it looks very promising,” says Mikalsen. “We hope to move to the next stage as early as the autumn with large-scale trials.”

NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood research, Norway) is to study how the health of sterile salmon can be improved by changes in nutrition.

Sterilised salmon are regarded as a potential solution to the problem of escaped farmed fish, since they cannot interbreed with wild salmon. However, several problems remain to be solved before such fish can be produced on a large scale.

A number of research institutions are now about to try to solve these problems in the course of a three-year project run by the Institute of Marine Research and financed by the Research Council of Norway.

NIFES will look at how nutrition affects the growth and wellbeing of what are known as triploid salmon, which become sterile as a result of changes in their genetic material induced by heat and pressure treatment at the egg stage.

“We are going to study whether we can modify the salmon’s nutritional programme in order to reduce the incidence of bone deformities and cataracts, which have a tendency to occur in triploid salmon production,” says head of research Rune Waagbø at NIFES.

Previous research at NIFES has shown that the composition of fish feed plays a decisive role in the development of these pathological conditions.

NIFES’ climate research will also be brought into the project.

“We want to find out more about the preferred temperature range of triploid salmon. So far, the indications are that high sea temperatures can be challenging for them. The question then is whether this is a factor that we can do something about through nutritional modifications, or whether production of triploid salmon will have to be restricted to colder regions of the sea, such as northern Norway,” adds Waagbø.

Many hours patiently training cod produces results. Scientist Frank Kristiansen has taught wild-caught cod that dry feed is good food – and these cod have doubled their weight in three months.

It is currently difficult to receive continual supply of cod because of seasonal fluctuations in the fisheries.
However, by taking fish ashore and feeding them like other farmed fish, it is possible to offer consumers cod year-round.

Fussy cod
However, experiences show wild-caught cod are fussy about what they eat. While salmon eat large portions of dry feed, only about 20 percent of wild cod which without problems accepts prepared feed.
Trials now show cod can be trained to eat dry feed. By soaking dry feed in fresh water, the pellet becomes soft and more appetising.
Kristiansen has seen that the cod gradually eat more and more after starting with just a few pellets. After a while, the fish becomes accustomed to the taste and consistency.

Getting new habits
The trial results show that more than half the cod become used to the dry feed. The fish doubled their weight in the space of three months. Kristiansen believes it is possible to get all the fish to eat.
“As a rule, the biggest ones and the fastest learners dominate and take most of the food. Therefore, it will be an advantage to sort the fish by size to start the feeding and during the feeding process.”

Dry feed is good economics
Herring and capelin have normally been used as feed to date, but dry feed is far better economically. Producing one kilo of cod requires five to seven kilos of capelin or three to four kilos of herring. However, just one and a half kilos of dry feed is required per kilo of cod.
“Dry feed offers other advantages like longer lasting qualities and avoiding the costs for freezing which herring and capelin incur.”

This is a collaboration project between Fiskeriforskning and fishing industry firms Aker Seafoods, Båtsfjordbruket and Skrovnes AS. For more information, contact Scientist Frank Kristiansen, phone +47 94 88 50 00.

Published with permission from Fiskeriforskning

“This will enable us to find relationships between seafood and health,” says Director of Research Even Stenberg. Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge donated NOK 3 million to see how seafood can prevent disease.

An ever-increasing number of people worldwide are suffering from obesity, the lifestyle disease diabetes type 2 and heart disease. Fiskeriforskning in Tromsø has been working for several years on seafood and health.
The latest NOK 3 million donation from SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge enables the establishment of several projects with an even greater focus on the linkage between seafood and health.

Russia
The projects will have a special focus towards the Arctic and will also prepare for collaboration with Russia. The cross-border collaboration involves Fiskeriforskning, the University of Arkhangelsk and the University of Tromsø.
Knowledge and value creation
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge Group Director Olav Karlsen said, while presenting the donation to Fiskeriforskning on Friday, it is important to use funds from the donation fund for the creation of knowledge-based jobs.
“SpareBank 1 believes it is important to contribute to the raising of competence in such a topical area as this,” says Karlsen. “The research communities in Tromsø are undisputed leaders in this type of research.”

Researching across borders
Senior Scientist Asbjørn Gildberg showed fish protein, which is virtually free from fish fats.
Fiskeriforskning is producing this protein following the establishment of a collaboration agreement with LavalUniversity in Canada. This university is now studying the relationship between fish protein and diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
“Things indicate that protein and other substances in the actual fish meat can be just as beneficial for health as fish oil, but we need to first conduct scientific research,” says Gildberg.

For more information, contact Senior Researcher Asbjørn Gildberg, phone +47 77 62 90 56

Published with permission from Fiskeriforskning

What is a biomarker and what do scientists use them for? Biomarkers can tell us more about how nutrients, for instance seafood, affect our health. NIFES is currently developing methods to detect nutrients-derived biomarkers.

Biomarkers are substances that can be found in tissues, blood or urine and provide information about the health and nutritional status of our body. This may apply to substances in food which are involved in central biochemical processes in the body, or substances that are synthesized in the human body.

The marine omega-3 fatty acids present in fish, seafood, or cod liver oil are examples of biomarkers. Dietary fatty acids are used by our body for building cell membranes, improving brain function, and lowering the risk of human cardiovascular diseases. For these reasons, it is important to develop accurate methods for the determination of marine omega-3 fatty acid biomarkers in biological samples, says Pedro Araujo, researcher at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES).

New tools provide new insights
Local hormones involved in inflammatory processes such as prostaglandins can also be used as biomarkers. For instance, prostaglandins E2 and E3 (PGE2 and PGE3, respectively). PGE2 and PGE3 are derived from the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids respectively and play an important role in our immune system.

NIFES has developed a mass spectrometry method that identifies PGE2 and PGE3 and measures their levels, within a broad concentration range. The determination of the levels of PGE2 and PGE3, can reveal which type of fat we eat and its influence on the immune status of our body, says Araujo.

Why new tools?
Although immunoassays techniques are generally preferred for the analysis of prostaglandins, they are unable to distinguish between PGE2 and PGE3 . The method developed at NIFES, based on mass spectrometry, overcomes this lack of analytical discrimination. It is important to mention that discrimination between PGE2 and PGE3 is crucial due to the pro-inflammatory properties of the former and the anti-inflammatory properties of the latter. Increased knowledge about these biomarkers, and others, is imperative in the understanding of how seafood affects our health.

The first cardiovascular health study in China investigating the effect of seafood consumption on health parameters, shows a 20% decrease in disease markers in patients consuming salmon for lunch 5 times per week, for 8 weeks. The results were recently announced in a Chinese-Norwegian seafood seminar during a fisheries fair in Qingdao, China.

Globally, many countries are battling lifestyle diseases and the trend is rising, also in China and Norway. Both countries sees an increase of cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders and diabetes type II. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has highlighted the importance of nutrition as one means to combat such problems, and several scientific studies have drawn our attention to the potential health benefits from eating seafood regularly.

“The current Chinese diet has a major problem—there is too much intake of dietary fat and a relatively low ratio of omega-3 fatty acids,” said Zhang Jian, the lead Chinese researcher for the study. Professor Zhang is the Dean of Elderly and Clinical Nutrition Department, Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Compared to other kinds of foods, seafood contains a high amount of omega-3 fatty acids, most notably EPA and DHA,” explained Professor Zhang. “Based on our findings and upon the results of other studies, there is substantial evidence for the protective effect of EPA and DHA on cardiovascular system. The study results show that subjects who ate farmed salmon 5 times per week—a total of 500g per week—showed a significant improvement in fatty acid nutritional status and lowered a key cardiovascular disease risk factor by 20%. In other words, salmon is an excellent source of proteins, contain essential vitamins, minerals and trace elements and is a good and natural source of  marine omega-3 content which gives a positive  health effect.”

The 8-week cardiovascular health study, mainly funded by the Research Council of Norway began in August 2007 in Beijing and was conducted on men aged 35 to 70 years that have mild cardiovascular disease symptoms. The men were divided into three groups. The first group ate 500g of farmed salmon per week, the second group consumed 500g of two or three types of local seafood per week, and the third group followed a normal diet. The results showed a 20% decrease in blood lipids in the group eating salmon, which imply a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes.

Research project leader Prof. Livar Frøyland, National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (Norway), stressed the positive health news the China-Norway cardiovascular study has provided to consumers: “This research project is extremely relevant to consumers, not only in China, as it demonstrates the close connection between regular seafood consumption and health. Recent international risk-benefit reports on seafood consumption all conclude that seafood is an important part of a varied and balanced diet. Seafood, particularly fatty fish rich in very long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids seems to protect against cardiovascular disease and is beneficial for brain development and functioning. Salmon also has a high level of protein, vitamins, minerals and is rich in antioxidants which are good for overall health and positive for skin health as well as fat metabolism. In addition, lean fish has been shown to prevent the development diabetes type II in humans. Thus, in order to have a varied and balanced diet providing the best health potential it is important to include both fatty fish and lean fish—marine and freshwater food—in your regular diet.”

“This Chinese-Norwegian joint cardiovascular research project will be beneficial for people everywhere,” said Mrs. Turid Hiller, Research Council of Norway. “The connection between food, health and quality of life is an area of increasing focus in the scientific community. There is a need to increase research initiatives to document the biological and health benefits of food. Consumers must be assured of safe and healthy food of genuine quality through environmentally friendly and ethical acceptable food production.” The Research Council of Norway is Norway’s official body for the development and implementation of national research strategy and also works actively to encourage international research cooperation.

New studies of cod genes show that as much as 75% of marine proteins can be replaced by plant proteins in feed for farmed Atlantic cod without triggering stress genes.

On a global basis, fish meal resources are limited and researchers are looking for other sources of protein for use in fish feed. Plant meal is an alternative source of protein that is already widely used. Many fish feed trials have been conducted in order to establish how the farmed Atlantic salmon utilise nutrients in plant meal, but fewer studies have been carried out on farmed Atlantic cod.

Previous studies carried out by the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) indicate that cod can consume a feed consisting of up to 75% plant protein without any significant reduction in the growth. Nevertheless, new plant ingredients may cause more subtle health effects in the fish.

– Therefore, we wanted to investigate whether a high level of plant protein in the feed would affect cod health, or have any other subtle negative effects on the Atlantic cod. We therefore examined the stress gene expression. The results of our studies showed that the stress genes appeared to be unaffected, says researcher Kai Lie from the Aquaculture Nutrition Research Programme at NIFES.

Why examine stress genes?
Stress is a broad term. For instance, fish may experience stress when they are given a new feed containing a high level of plant proteins instead of fish meal.

– By studying the stress response at gene level it is possible to identify harmful effects of plant meal in the feed given to cod at an earlier stage than can be revealed by looking at parameters such as growth and survival, says Lie.

As the liver plays an important role in protein metabolism, the cod liver was examined to see if there was any evidence of changes in the genes involved in stress and the metabolism of proteins.

– Liver samples were taken from cod that had been given feed containing 75% plant protein. After testing the expression of around 500 genes we found no changes to indicate a stress response in the cod. The liver cells were apparently unaffected by the high level of plant meal, says Lie.

– We also examined genes involved in protein turnover (synthesis and metabolism) and the gene expression was lower for a few of these genes in the cod that had been fed with 75% plant protein. This shows that the cod was affected to some extent, even though the growth was normal. Whether this has any significance for growth and protein metabolism in a prolonged life periodis a matter that requires further study, says Lie.

About the cod in this study
Cod weighing around 1.7 kg were given a feed containing either 25, 50, 75 or 100% plant proteins. The remainder of the protein level in the feed was fish meal. The control group was given a feed containing only fish meal as a source of protein. Lie chose to focus on the cod group that had been given 75% plant protein as they did not show reduced growth. The cod that were given 100% plant protein showed reduced growth and were therefore not suitable for more in depth studies to establish whether cod react to stress before the stress reduces their growth.

The feeding experiment lasted for 28 weeks. Protein consists of amino acids. The composition of amino acids in the feed met the requirements set by the National Research Council, Canada, but the balance of amino acids was different between the fish meal and the plant proteins. The cod that were not given this feed were compared with cod that had been given 100% fish meal as the source of protein.

Contact person:
Kai K. Lie
Telephone: +47 95219873
E-mail: kai.lie@nifes.no