Aquatech

Poseidon works to pursue the development of sustainable aquaculture methods. The following are technologies developed through Poseidon’s network of research operations.

• Culture of Spiny Lobsters. Spiny lobsters are harvested from the wild in many countries worldwide and are especially popular in oriental cuisines. Over-harvesting of natural populations in the wild has decimated natural stocks, driving up the cost of lobsters. Poseidon has developed a technology for the culture of lobsters from post-larval stages (pueruli), plus the artificial feeds necessary to grow lobsters to commercial size in totally artificial systems. » More about Lobsters.

• Culture of Eels. Fresh water eels are consumed by the hundreds of thousands of tons in Asia. In Southeast Asia, the availability of glass eels (baby eels) to support consumer demand is limited and, although a number of species are plentiful, they are currently not being harvested in commercial quantities. Applied research has enabled us to identify the best eel species for culturing, plus the support technologies for sorting, artificial feeds, etc. to successfully culture indigenous eel species. More about Eels.
Angulas is a Spanish delicacy comprised of baby eels cooked in olive oil and herbs. The delicacy is expensive in Europe and soon also subject to harvesting constraints because of environmental concerns. Poseidon has developed the ability to culture Pacific eels to the correct size needed to meet the demands of this growing specialty gourmet industry.

• Culture of Tropical Abalone. Another expensive delicacy in the Orient is abalone. In Southeast Asia, this abalone is also being obliterated by over-harvesting to satisfy epicurean demands in China and Japan. Temperate species require five to seven years to reach commercial size but tropical abalone, Haliotis asinina, requires only one year to culture. To take advantage of this growing market, Poseidon has developed effective hatchery technologies for commercial production of abalone. More about Abalone.

Background on Aquaculture
More than one billion people throughout the world rely on fish as a major source of protein. A significant number of this fish is raised on aquaculture farms.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted that aquaculture’s contribution to global fisheries (excluding aquatic plants) increased to 27 percent in 2000 from 3.9 percent in 1970. In 2001, aquaculture accounted for nearly 38 million tonnes (a value of US$ 55.7 billion) of the world’s 130 million tonnes of fish produced. Aquaculture’s contribution was up from 35.5 million tonnes in the previous year. On the other hand, environmental factors caused the decline of fish caught in the wild to 92.4 million tonnes in 2001, from 95.4 million tonnes a year ago.
The FAO’s projections of world fishery production are bleak, showing that capture of fish by traditional fisheries will stagnate in the next 30 years. “Aquaculture is really the only way to meet the gap between supply and the growing world demand for fish to eat,” said Jiansan Jia, chief of FAO’s Inland Waters and Aquaculture Service at the FAO’s meeting on Aquaculture in Norway in 2003.
Projection of World Fishery Production in 2010
Projections of world fishery production in 2010 (see table below) range between 107 and 144 million tonnes, of which about 30 million tonnes will probably be reduced to fish meal and oil for non-food use. Estimated quantities which will be available for human consumption range between 74 million tonnes and 114 million tonnes. Most of the increase in fish production is expected to come from aquaculture which is growing rapidly. The contribution from capture fisheries will depend on some further development and also on the effectiveness of fisheries management. Improved management of currently overfished stocks could provide an increase of between 5 and 10 million tonnes, whereas continued overfishing will lead to declining production, as reflected in the pessimistic scenario in the table.

Links:

FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture –
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y7300e/y7300e00.htm