• Increasing competition in global tilapia markets requires focus on quality and image building
• While having to improve its value, pangasius producers need fish selected for fast growth and resistance to bacterial pathogens
• Proposal of future development of 2-3 marine fish species selected on a holistic business analysis and consumer choices.
• Ingredient assessment and scalability of new ingredients are important for future proofing Asia’s finfish aquaculture
The 13th edition of TARS2024 on Finfish Aquaculture successfully gathered 210 stakeholders in Asia’s finfish industry, the majority from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It was a 17% increase in participation over that of TARS 2017, and exceeded expectations, as markets face an economic downturn, affecting all players in the supply chain.
This was the third in the series on finfish aquaculture, following 2013 and 2017, where TARS focused on the development of growth strategies and industrialization, respectively. This year’s theme was “Steering an Industry into Focus.”
Held in Bangkok, Thailand on August 14-15, the program featured 10 sessions with 40 international speakers, panelists and industry players who shared insights and new developments, aimed at taking the industry forward. Thailand’s industry is led by the walking catfish and tilapia and the push is for more sustainable production. In his opening address, Dr Praphan Leepayakhun, Deputy Director – General, Department of Fisheries, Thailand said, “We believe we are a leader in terms of technology in pond culture of marine fish, and in genetically selected tilapia fry export and in culture models in rivers.”
This year, the State of Industry presentations began with the US market for the tilapia, the focus for marine fish in China, the pangasius in Vietnam and moving up Thailand’s tilapia farming. Francisco Murillo, said that per capita consumption of the tilapia in the US market declined 30% over 2012-2021. Yufan Zhang, said, “In China, margins are directing growth of golden pompano production while lower margins have affected the growth of the large yellow croaker.”
“In the Interactive Breakout Roundtables, a hallmark of TARS, participants exchanged ideas and opinions on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for tilapia, pangasius and marine fish. We see this as a way for each participant to voice their concerns and contribute to solutions, and as a group, provide takeaways for the industry,” said Zuridah Merican, Chair, TARS 2024 and Editor of Aqua Culture Asia Pacific.
“The global economic environment affects Asia’s freshwater and marine fish farmers who are currently facing low farm gate prices, high costs of production and cyclic demands. The presence of many in core farming at this TARS showed a resilience and the need to network and work together to position themselves for the future growth of the industry,” added Merican.
The ABT (A Better Tilapia) group led by Salin Krishna, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, proposed on top of growth and health, genetics for more robustness, better feed efficiency, resistance to specific diseases, and flesh quality as well saline tilapia to move tilapia into ocean farming. The MMF (Mass Market Marine Fish) group (Mass Marine Fish) group led by Denny Leonardo, Pandora Aquatech, Indonesia, suggested a selection of 2-3 species based on holistic business analysis and aligning with market demands. There is a weakness with insufficient precision nutrition.
“While Vietnam’s pangasius dominates the whitefish market in Europe, bacterial diseases challenge production. Producers need fish selected for fast growth and resistance to some bacterial pathogens. Saline tolerant pangasius could counter the challenges with intrusion of saltwater in the lower Mekong Delta,’ said Romi Novriadi, MMAF, Indonesia, who led the PTS (Pangasius: Traceable and Sustainable) group.
The conversation at the Hard Talk with Business Leaders successfully running integrated pangasius, Asian sea bass and tilapia companies facilitated a global exchange in marketing, branding and sustainability. At Vinh Hoan, Nguyen Ngo Vi Tam heard the call for sustainability and since then, she has followed this path to the core. Josh Goldman, has positioned the Asian seabass just below the salmon. Francisco Murillo said that the tilapia became better known in the US market with skinless fillet imports and packaging. Branding is important with 40 seafood buyers associating branding with reliability. Providing a global perspective, Lukas Manomaitis, described how the government helped the Turkish seabass and seabream industry to dominate production in the Mediterranean.
The Industry Dialogue explored why Asia’s fish industry is considered less appealing for investment. Opinions varied from investment decisions being influenced by failures to secure consistent output, and consumers in Europe and the US’s perception of poor quality products from Asia, and a certain element of trust by Western investors on the value of Asia’s core farming. But there are investors searching for the right farms. “We have investors with noble objectives of supplying protein globally. For aquaculture, the risk is at the production level. Aside from salmon, farming other species have not yielded results,” said Haydar H. AL Sahtout.
Each TARS features technical presentations highlighting developments. There is a potential of genetics in developing sustainable and cost-effective production. According to Morten Rye, molecular tools are becoming more affordable and readily available to all. Robust juveniles directly impact survival rates, growth patterns, and overall productivity in grow-out conditions. The future is in learning from practices in Mediterranean, adapting to Asian hatcheries, and setting new standards.
An important need is to take a precision nutrition approach with requirements across fish sizes, and digestibility data of all ingredients. Understanding molecular aspects of astaxanthin is crucial for stability and bioavailability in the formulation. Taste matters and knowledge on fish taste physiology while feeding preferences allow for the development of strategies to reinforce feed attractability and palatability, said Dr Sofia Morais. In tilapia, nutritional intervention for health needs to be explored based on the farming method.
Disease mitigation requires knowledge on the progression of disease in marine fish and pathogen mapping in the tilapia. While vaccination gives better protection against major pathogens, there is only a 10% uptake on vaccinations in tilapia farms in Asia as compared to the 35-40% in South America. Start-up, Teora, has an oral solution for disease mitigation with nanopeptides.
In future proofing Asia’s finfish aquaculture, TARS 2024 covered better feed efficiency and lower environmental impact via enzymes and for future aquafeeds, volume, production processes and challenges, cost, selling price and life cycle assessment of each ingredient to determine their scalability within the aquafeed market. Strategizing food security in Singapore is an example for the region. Group registration and certification are essential to level the playing field for small scale tilapia farmers.
Fish Talk: Farmers X Technology started with two presentations on controlled production via recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) to produce juvenile groupers as well as grow-out. Next three young farmers, taking over the family businesses and have proven success in pond culture and marketing of Asian seabass and grouper fingerlings, discussed some challenges in production and marketing. They acknowledged some merits of RAS but this technology is still beyond them for adoption.
Organizers, Aqua Research PL, publisher of Aqua Culture Asia Pacific and Corporate Media Services acknowledged the hard work, insights, and dedication of all the presenters, moderators, industry panelists, roundtable and group leaders who contributed to the success of TARS 2024. Industry partners included: dsm-firminech, US Grains Council, Jefo Nutrition, Alltech, BASF and Lucta. See more details on the program at www.tarsaquaculture.com
In 2025, TARS will cover Shrimp Aquaculture. It will be held on August 20-21
