Aquaculture Species Diversification Workshop Sector Strategies Initiative

1
Aquaculture Species Diversification Workshop
Sector Strategies Initiative

• Species Overview The Spotted Wolffish
• February 18th, 2009

2
Biological Overview

• Longevity gt70 yrs
• Age at maturity 4-5 yrs
• Age at commercial size (aquaculture production)
  
• 5 Kg in 3-4 yr (European market)
  
• 1-2 Kg in 2-3yrs? (North American market)
• (Age X4 for fishery data)
• 
  

3

• The Anarhichadidae is a small family of primarily
  demersal marine fish species found in the North
  Atlantic and the North Pacific oceans and
  inhabiting shallow to deep cold-waters.
• - N-Atlantic A. denticulatus gt A. minor gt A.
  lupus.

?Depth, feeding tº preferences Strong overlap
(hybridation in the wild) Reciprocal hybrids
(A.minor A. lupus) are produced at our
facilities (Gaudreau et al. 2008)
4

• Global status
• Absence of large concentration of wolffishes
  qualifies their fisheries in Canadian waters as
  accidental or by-catch.
• USA market supply for that niche market product
  is dependent on wild-stocks mostly from Iceland.
  
• Wolffish species of the east of Canada are under
  a Strategic Recovery Plan (DFO, 2008) due to
  unexplainable 93 drop in stocks despite absence
  of targeted fisheries. Wild harvest is
  prohibited.
• USA are currently considering adding A. lupus on
  the list of threatened species (NOAA meeting,
  Boston 24th of march 2009)

5

• Aquaculture

RD Russia , Norway A. lupus (1986) ? A. minor
(1990) Iceland and Canada (QC and NL) (1998) ?
A. minor (aquaculture) but A. lupus and hybrids
are also evaluated.
Commercial activities Norway Troms Steinbit
A/S ? Tommamarinfisk A/S (in operation) Québec
a pilot-scale operation is planned in 2009.
Photoperiodically controlled domestic
broodstock held at CAMGR available for
a juvenile on-growing trial at the IML facilities
(15g-1.2Kg ½ ton)
(SODIM-PCRDA-MAPAQ-UQAR-MDEIE and Biodôme de
Montréal) Private partners will
participate in the steering committee
6

• Main outstanding RD requirements
• 15g-1 to 2 Kg on-growing trials (Canadian pop.)
  (2009-2012)
• Optimal density _at_ given size(Tremblay-Bourgeois
  et al. 2008 Jonassen et al., 2002)
• Adapted feed and feeding protocols
• Optimal temperature _at_ given size (Imsland et al.
  2006 Lamarre et al. 2008)
• Optimal salinity (Le François et al., 2004 Foss
  et al. 2001)
• ? Production cost analysis with real-time
  data.
• Broodstock/gamete quality issues
• Initiation of a genetic selection program
• Up-scaling of operations
• Marketing issues

7
RD impediments Lack of funding for RD Only
marine fish species under radar in QC we did
our own prioritisation exercise (Le François et
al. 2002 Motnikar et al. 2007). Principally due
to its climatic conditions (similar to West coast
of NL), QUÉBEC is a late-comer in marine fish
cultivation. Concerted and targeted RD was
initiated in 1998 (UQAR/MAPAQ, MPO and SODIM).
AQUANET was largely responsible for our rapid
achievement of pilot-scale operations. It
allowed us to initiate strategic 3yrs research
initiatives that covered critical life stages,
broodstock management and economics.
8
1. (Pre)Commercialization Status in Canada

• Regional distribution
• n/a
• Scale of operations
• Research facilities with full-cycle under control
• Domestic broodstock (ngt200) 2 juvenile
  production/yr

9
2. Market Outlook

• Principal markets
• Large cities USA and Canada (mid-high end
  restaurants)
• Niche market (Johnson et al. 2002,
  Laflamme et al. 2005)
• Main product forms
• Headed whole-gutted fish, fillets
• Pricing 12-14/Kg price at the farm 5-6/kg

10
3. Operational Considerations

• Egg / Spat availability
• Availability for small-scale start-up (2 prod/yr)
• Disease / Animal health factors
• Very disease resistant species
• Disease risk very low (Espelid, 2002)
• No occurrence of disease after 10yr in our
  facilities, few reports
• of parasite infection (mainly Trichodina,
  Costia).
• Low-stress, farming-friendly species (Imsland et
  al. in press)

11

• General husbandry / hardiness
• Reproduction
• Internal fertilizers
• Low fecundity (similar to salmon 5000 eggs/ Kg
  female)
• Low sperm production
• Long contact time ( 2-3 hours)
• Established fertilization protocols (Moksness
  Pavlov 1986)
• Identification of a cryoconservation method (Le
  François et al. 2008)
• High densities and easy to manipulate
• 75-80 of captive wild females have spawn every
  year

12

• Early-stages
• Standard salmonids up-welling incubators (5-6ºC)
• Long incubation period (900-950 dd-1)
• Big eggs (5-6mm) and no larval stage juvenile at
  birth(23-28 mm)
• Ready to feed at hatching (no live prey)
• No cannibalism
• Floating feed, high protein content
• Low-level water and slow unidirectional current
• 8-9ºC better growth and survival
• Variable survival (0-90).
• Working number 35-40

13

• Juvenile on-growing
• Low-level raceways or circular tanks(Imsland et
  al. 2007)
• Seacage with shelves at 20g growth similar to
  land-based operations (Mortensen et al. 2007)
• 130-135g 7-8ºC 260-380g 6.6ºC (Imsland et
  al. 2006)
• Survival past first 30 days is very high 95
• Growth variability-hierarchy has not been
• extensively studied, available studies are
• contradictory.

14

• Ideal growing conditions
• Temperature ToptG 6.6-8ºC (Imsland et al.
  2006)
• Salinity range 7-32 (Le François et al. 2004,
  Foss et al. 2001)
• Density gt150kg/m3 for 50-300g
  (Tremblay-Bourgeois et al. 2008)
• 200-300Kg/m3 for 200g (Foss et
  al. 2004)
• Water quality Very tolerant to reduced oxygen
  concentration, chronic ammonia exposure and
  hypercapnia (Foss et al. 2003a, b,c)
• Ideal species for land-based operations (RAS)
• Farming-friendly cold-adapted species

15

• Availability of commercial diets
• Marine fish feeds for cod or halibut may be used
  (Strand et al. 1995 Halfyard et al. 2000)
• IT, CITES, SARA issues
• Wolffishes are either threatened or subject of
  concern
• No competition from the fisheries
• RD may provide physiological data useful to the
  recovery plan put forward by DFO in 2008.

• Site availability (geographic / regional
  distribution)
• Land-based or cage farming

16
4. Economic Projections

• 5 10 year projections for the following
• Potential sites x Average production per site
• Potential revenues
• Potential employment
• Essentially a niche market with limited but
  lucrative production given proper marketing.
• Exclusive species that give a competitive edge
  for extreme cold regions (land-based farming)
  with limited access to protected bays for
  cage-farming (QC, West NL)

17
5. Pro-Con Assessment

• Whats good about the species?
• Undisputable domestication attributes and
  hardiness
• Exclusive product (Best New Product Boston
  Seafood 2000)
• Adapted to extreme environments (QC and NL)
• Niche market species- Closeness to US market
• Main challenges that need to be overcome
• Pilot-scale operations full production costs
  evaluation
• GO or NO GO.

18
Roundtable Discussion

• Is this species ready for commercialization?