California company recognized for its sturgeon practices

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sample a spoonful of Tsar Nicoulai caviar at the Caviar Cafe at the Ferry Building Marketplace or a high-end San Francisco restaurant such as Gary Danko or Aphotic, and you might be surprised that the salty, buttery beads melting in your mouth aren’t from Russia or anywhere near the Caspian Sea.

They’re from Wilton, Calif., a small farming community near Sacramento. On a recent summer afternoon, Duke, the farm dog, swims splashy laps in the hyacinth ponds. Duckweed swirls in the fish tanks, cooling their piscine inhabitants. And the prehistoric snout of a sturgeon breaks the surface of the water every now and then.

Tsar Nicoulai farm is part of a vanguard of sturgeon farmers that includes Sterling Caviar and The Fishery Inc., which are reshaping the future of sustainable aquaculture. These Sacramento County farms supply roughly 90 percent of the caviar produced in the United States, according to Jackson Gross, an aquaculture expert and assistant professor at UC Davis.

It’s a relatively small portion of the global market — the U.S. provided about 18 of the 380 tons of caviar produced globally in 2018, according to an EU fisheries report. [...]

Author/Source:  Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News/The Columbian

Kushiro, Hokkaido, (Jiji Press) -- Japanese fisheries minister Ichiro Miyashita on Sunday renewed the government's pledge to support the fisheries industry, which has been hit by China's all-out import ban on aquatic products from Japan.

On the day, Miyashita, who assumed the post of agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, visited the city of Kushiro, Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, and met with Kunio Abe, head of the Hokkaido Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, and other local officials.

"It's important to put into action" a package of fisheries industry support measures the government drew up on Sept. 4, the minister said at the meeting.

Miyashita told reporters after the meeting that "At first, it's important for consumption to increase" both at home and abroad.

He also stressed the need to join forces to advance measures to strengthen processing systems for scallops and other fishery products as well as to expand sales channels. Hokkaido has a thriving fishing industry.

Could seaweed farming see a big global aquaculture boom — along with helping clean up ocean waters challenged by climate change and environmental degradations via natural filtering systems?

Rafael Cuevas Uribe and Rick Zechman want to find out — and see potential on both fronts.

Zechman is associate dean of marine operations and Cuevas Uribe is a fisheries biology professor at California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt).

They are leading a new university effort to farm seaweed (bull kelp) off the far northern coast of California. They want to see if the U.S. can boost its overall production of seaweed, which serves as a natural cleaning filter for bodies of saltwater confronted by climate change and in need of environmental remediation.

Right now, the U.S. seaweed farming is concentrated in Maine, Hawaii and Alaska, according to the Cal Poly researchers.

U.S. kelp and seaweed production is barely a blip in a marketplace dominated by China, Indonesia and other Asian markets in a sector that is projected to grow to $14.3 billion by 2028, according to research firm IMARC Group.[...]

Author/Source: Mike Sunnucks/keysnews.com

Many cat owners note their pets' special affinity for tuna. However, until now it was not clear what exactly attracts them to food, which became available to them only thanks to living next to a person. Scientists from the Waltham Research Institute in the UK claim that this is due to the structure of taste buds.

According to a study published in the journal Chemical Senses , cats' taste buds respond particularly strongly to two substances that are found in high quantities in tuna. It is the alpha amino acid histidine combined with inosinic acid (IPA).

This discovery was a secondary finding from a study in which scientists were trying to determine whether cats distinguish the taste of umami (the taste of protein foods), which requires the presence of two genes, Tas1r1 and Tas1r3, to recognize. Both of these genes are present in humans, but until recently it was thought that only Tas1r3 was active in cats. A team of scientists led by Scott J. McGrane examined the receptors of a cat euthanized for health reasons and discovered a second active gene, Tas1r1.[...]

Author/Source: Ksenia Rakhmanova / vetandlife (translated from original in russian)

Yokohama Freeze Co., Ltd. (President Hiroyuki Matsubara) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new refrigerated warehouse called "Okayama Logistics Center (tentative name)" in Minami Ward, Okayama City.

Construction is scheduled for completion in spring 2025. This will be our first foray into the Chugoku region. With a storage capacity of approximately 30,000 tons, it is the largest in the Chugoku-Shikoku region, and is expected to become a key location in the region, including tie-ups with nearby logistics companies.

The planned construction site is located approximately 15 kilometers from the Okayama Interchange on the Sanyo Expressway and approximately 18 kilometers from the Hayashima Interchange on the Seto Chuo Expressway. The Okayama Loop South Road is also scheduled to open next year. The company has five bases in the Hanshin area, and by opening a new center in Okayama, it will cover a wide area from the Hanshin area to the Kyushu area, and is also looking to solve the ``24 year logistics problem.'' [....]

Author: The Suisan Keizai (translated from original in japanese)

Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation U Min Naung led a Myanmar delegation to participate in the Import and Export Food Safety Cooperation Conference and the China-ASEAN Expo in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region.

These events are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and will take place in Nanning.

The Myanmar delegation left Yangon on September 13. The Myanmar delegation, led by the union minister and the directors-general from the Department of Planning and Livestock Breeding & Veterinary Department, will attend the cooperation conference focusing on import and export food safety for countries included in BRI. Additionally, they will participate in the China-ASEAN trade fair from 14 to 17 September.

They will also sign the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). This agreement relates to the export of fishery products and farmed aquatic products to China, especially, those sourced from Myanmar’s natural water.

After recording a first harvest of 646 metric tons (MT) from the pilot pool at its Kvalnes site, Norwegian land-based salmon producer Andfjord Salmon AS is forging ahead with expansion plans that will increase its production capacity in the near future.

The planned expansion will increase production at Kvalnes on the island of Andøya to 8,000 MT of head-on gutted (HOG) fish by 2025, gradually growing to 40,000 MT HOG by 2030.

Author: Jason Holland / SeafoodSource | read the full article here

AKVA group is investing in high-quality mooring solutions. A great example is the Cargill fish farming facility in Oltesvik, Gjesdal, which uses AKVA group’s mooring system. Sea Site Manager Kjetil Frafjord states that he has complete confidence that the mooring system will ensure the stability of the facility even during challenging winter storms, changing wind conditions, and strong currents. AKVA group’s mooring provides fish farmers with a secure solution for both conventional facilities and deep farming operations.

Source: FishFocus | read the full article here

The new Minister of Production of Peru, Ana María Choquehuanca, announced her intention to prioritize “credit facilities” for the fishing sector, which has been affected by the consequences of the El Niño phenomenon and climatological factors, as one of the strategic measures of his mandate. The minister conveyed her plans to the National Association of Fishing Shipowners in a meeting in which she announced the creation of a new financial instrument, through the MYPErú Impulse Program, which will allow fishermen affected by the suspension of anchovy catches to access to credits at preferential rates.

Source: IndustriasPesqueras | Read the full article here

A relatively young Icelandic land salmon farming company has just completed a six billion ISK (£35.5m) share capital increase.

Laxey, which changed its name from Icelandic Land Farmed Salmon last week, is building a new fish farm at Viðlagafjara on Heimaey in the Westfjords region. The proposed farm would have a production capacity of 32,000 tonnes by 2031.

Construction is due to start this November with the first harvest expected within two years.

Author: Vince McDonagh / FishFarmer | read the full article here