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Seed and Sustainability

Boston Seafood Expo 2018

Moderated by: Joel Southall

Business Engagement Manager

Anderson Cabot Center

The Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean

Life at the New England Aquarium

Our mission: To apply cutting-edge marine research, data-driven

conservation solutions, and public engagement to ensure a future for

the oceans in which resources are used sustainably, critical species

and habitats are protected, and ecosystems are managed wisely.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Solutions

We aim to protect the world’s ocean resources

by working with the seafood industry

to advance sustainable practices within

wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture operations.

Selecting for Sustainability:

Improving environmental sustainability

at the species level

Matt Thompson

Aquaculture Project Lead

Fisheries and Aquaculture Solutions

Boston Seafood Expo 2018

Wild fisheries only offer limited growth

Source: FAO (2016). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture

The growing importance of aquaculture

Source: FISH TO 2030. www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3640e/i3640e.pdf

Source: World Bank (2013). Fish to 2030

The “Sustainability Equation”

Species + Production System =Sustainability

Rating

+ =E.g., Moderate

risk or buy

+ =E.g., High risk or

don’t buy

Photo credits: www.americastilapiaalliance.org, 2.

babymarine.com/products/shrimps/vannmei-shrimp

Categorizing the drivers of sustainability

Production system factors:

• Intensity

• Farm siting

• Control of wastes

• Preventing escapes

• Biosecurity & disease

management

• Sourcing of inputs (e.g., feed

ingredients)

Species factors

• Nutritional requirements

• Disease & parasite

resistance

• Degree of impact on

wild populations

• Environmental tolerances

(including climate

change)

• Adaption to farming

environments and

practices

Market tools are readily available

Production system factors:

• Intensity

• Farm siting

• Control of wastes

• Preventing escapes

• Biosecurity & disease

management

• Sourcing of inputs (e.g., feed

ingredients)

Species factors

• Nutritional requirements

• Disease & parasite

resistance

• Degree of impact on

wild populations

• Environmental tolerances

(including climate

change)

• Adaption to farming

environments and

practices

How to improve the other half of the equation?

Production system factors:

• Intensity

• Farm siting

• Control of wastes

• Preventing escapes

• Biosecurity & disease

management

• Sourcing of inputs (e.g., feed

ingredients)

Species factors

• Nutritional requirements

• Disease & parasite

resistance

• Degree of impact on

wild populations

• Environmental tolerances

(including climate

change)

• Adaption to farming

environments and

practices

Selecting for sustainability

“Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the

process by which humans use animal breeding and plant

breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits

(characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant

males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together.”[1]

Reference: Wikipedia (2016) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding.

Photo credit: pixabay.com/en/sheep-lamb-animals-pasture-wool-1547720/, 3. M. Thompson

[2] [3]

Selective breeding is not GM

Credits:

www.centerforfoodsafety.org/issues/680/ge-animals/press-releases/1905/top-grocery-

stores-we-wont-sell-genetically-engineered-seafood#

www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/FDA-might-approve-frankenfish-

by-2014-health-risks-of-GMO-salmon.php

Opportunities from selective breeding

Traits Average genetic gain

per generation, %

No. of estimates

Body weight 12.7 61

Fillet and meat Yield 0.7 3

Survival 6.4 3

Disease resistance 12.5 7

Sustainability gains at the species level 1

Examples of known heritable traits

Sustainability gains

Specific disease

resistance

E.g., TSV/WSSV, Sea

lice, Strep.

• Reduction in veterinary drug treatments – Lows risk of pathogen

resistance

• Greater survival – More efficient FCRs and use of feed resources

(FI:FO)

• Reduced pathogen amplification effect risks to wild populations

• Economic/market: Reduced cost of veterinary drugs, greater productivity, and more consistent supply

Growth and survival rates

• Reduced risks of production challenges (weather, disease

introduction, escapes etc.)

• Greater survival - More efficient FCRs and use of feed resources

(FI:FO)

• Economic/market: greater productivity and more consistent supply

Body factors (e.g.,

body shape, fillet size)

• Greater processing yields

• Increased protein efficiency

Sustainability gains at the species level 2

Examples of

known heritable traits

Sustainability gains

Acceptance and

growth of

alternative feed ingredients

• Reduced dependence on fishmeal and fish oil

• Potential cost savings and decreased impact of antinutrients

Temperature and salinity tolerances

• Adaption necessary for climate changes

Adaption to

farming (including stress tolerance).

• Reduction in veterinary drug treatments

• Greater survival – More efficient FCRs and use of feed resources

(FI:FO)

Additional beneficial traits exist: E.g., colouration, percentage of

males/females in a population, age of sexual maturity etc.

Constraints

• Small generational improvements…but the gains are

cumulative

• Time to reach sexual maturity

• Genotype vs. environment interactions

• Inversely correlated desirable traits

• Initial and ongoing management costs

• Requires large populations and technical expertise

• State of knowledge and welfare implications

• No major market recognition

• Sustainability impacts of escapes

Escapes – Impacts and business case for

control

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-

labrador/farmed-salmon-mating-with-wild-in-nl-dfo-study-1.3770864

Limiting impacts from escapes

1. Improving holding systems to prevent escapes

2. Mono-sex – where non-native

3. Sterile fish (e.g., triploids) where native

4. Business case to conserve wild genetic material

and protect investment

Key takeaways:

Environmental sustainability is evaluated across a large number of factors;

these are affected by both production system and species factors.

Tools to improve production system factors exist, such as certifications, but

tools and approaches to improve species factors have been largely

overlooked.

Improving species factors using selective breeding could play a critical

role in advancing environmental sustainability at the individual farm and

industry-wide levels by:

• Making rapid and significant advances in “species-level”

environmental and economic factors

• Improving resilience to the impacts of a changing climate

• But requires greater protection from the impact of escapes

Thank you

Matt Thompson

Aquaculture Project Lead

Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at New England Aquarium

mthompson@neaq.org

617-226-2219

Selecting for sustainability: Bioflocs and thecurrent status of selective breeding in tilapia

Sergio Zimmermannsergio@sergiozimmermann.com

1. Introduction: Tilapia x Biofloc sustainability

Biomass and energy is reducedby approx 90% for each trophiclevel. Energy upwards is spent by motion, predation, reproduction etc.

Annual prod. (ton): nx100 billion 10-20 billion 1 billionSource: Øystein Lie (2017)

• Tilapia is an herbivorous species, it has filter-feeding mechanismsenabling it to digest very low in the food-web, a primary consumer

Tilapia, the sustainable fish...

• No need of wild caughtfish, on the contrary, it cleans the environment, perfect for RAS, bioflocs, aquaponics andaquamimicry;

• maybe the only fish species economically growing in “Zero WaterExchange” recirculation system = 100% water reuse system

• Nutrient rich macroagregates of organic matter and micro-organisms(algae, bacteria, yeast, protozoa, etc.) that enhances water quality;

• In Aquaculture it is considered the most sustainable method for controling water quality, producing natural feed in situ 24hours/day;

• Allows 100% recirculation with tilapia and vannamei shrimps, usingquite high densities/productivities aand very low production costs;

• Residues are basically treating the water and being used as live feed;

• Constant/stable water quality conditions, the optimal water qualityrange is widened, more flexible; survival is tipically close to 100% (anobvious sign of animal welfare);

Biofloc, the sustainable culture system...

Tilapia

Bioflocs

Aquaponics

Aquamimicry

Shrimp CultureUrban

EffluentsAgro-Industrial

Effluents

IrrigationBiogasFertilizers

Biofloc, and the Circular Economy

2. Current status and opportunities for broodstockenhancement and selective breeding in tilapia

Private Public

China 16 5 2

Thailand 10 2 (3)

Egypt 1 1

Mexico 9 3

Brazil 6 5 1

Peru 2 2

Colombia 6 1

Ecuador 2 1

Total 52 19 4

Source: www.inocap.no / year 2014

All

programs

Family selection Hundreds of small breeding programs(“simple” mass selection or justmaintenance of lines) throughout theworld, but few are selective breedingprograms.

Genes are in free float, more oftenobtained “illegally” (taken from others).

Aid interferes with commercial business:the considered the “poor man’s fish” haslots of initiatives developing small scalefarming supported by governmentgrants, NGO’s.

10 54 320

7 000

3 500

-

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

Est. revenue potential in the tilapia value chain - USD million

• Breeding Services - very small businesssegment in the value chain, less then US$ 10million/year.

• Sale of Breeders – average unit price isextremely low, doesn't defend it as a businessmodel. Several challenges to make it work.Global revenues from sale of breeders/breedingservices in 2018 will probably be less than USD55 million.

• Sale of Seeds - larger business, global saleswere USD 320 million in 2014 (today US$ 700million) – 5.8% of the revenues from sale of fish

• Global sales of round Tilapia in 2018 will beabout US$ 12 billion at farm gate (US$ 7 billionin 2014).

• Feed sales is about 60% of farm gate productioncosts, from about USD 3,5 billion in 2014 to thecurrent US$ 7 billion.

Source: Inocap, 2014

• GxE - issue that needs to be fully understood (especially in bioflocs);

• Tilapia farming in a variety of biological environments, production systems/technologies, and managed in a huge variety of ways.

• A Breeding Program cannot fit all environments/technologies;

• Genetics = still to become decisive needs higher production control;

• Molecular tools have just vaguely been introduced in tilapia breeds; specific disease resistance is not yet a “game changer” (Bioflocs).

3. Successful case: Biofloc Tilapia Breeding Nucleus -27th generation with zero water discharge

Veggie-Fish Program started in 1996 in the Southern most tip of Brazil using Chitralada and GIFT strains of Nile Tilapia.

2002 - introduced bioflocs (and variation) in the new greenhouse, along with other tilapia species.

Within family selection for growth (full/half-sibs); Family selection for robustness. MAS/GS (QTL) – BLUP index/Genome Editing.

Veggie-Fish Program started in 1996 in the Southern most tip of Brazil using Chitralada and GIFT strains of Nile Tilapia.

2002 - introduced bioflocs (and variation) in the new greenhouse, along with other tilapia species.

VeggieFish 2004-2008 - Several Tilapia Lines/Species• Oreochromis niloticus (lines Chitralada +

GIFT + 3 African Species:- Oreochromis angolensis, - Oreochromis andersonii, and - Oreochromis mossambicus

Aquatica Group

Veggiefish Pedigree in Bioflocos, G16 – G25 (currently = G27)

Aquatica Group

Ex: Pedigree of Male 34 (M34), Geration 24 (G24) in 2015

Aquatica Group

Heritability (h2) was multiplied by 2-4 fold for growth in Bioflocs in the latest Veggie-Fish generations (2012-2016):G22 = 0,56 (a)G23 = 0,58 (a)G24 = 0,47 (a)G25 = 0,53 (a)

Extremely high resultados, especially when comparared to the typical “0,12-0,24” such as in GIFT Program

Recently, UFMG reported h2 = 0,70 using our Biofloc Model

Tilapia + Biofloc = Veggiefish

0.0 2.0 16.0

63.0

145.0

265.0

425.0

640.0

900.0

y = 0.0000383x3 + 0.0114339x2 - 0.5165542x + 2.3544254

-100.0

-

100.0

200.0

300.0

400.0

500.0

600.0

700.0

800.0

900.0

1,000.0

1 6

11

16

21

26

31

36

41

46

51

56

61

66

71

76

81

86

91

96

10

1

10

6

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12

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13

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20

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Wei

ght

Day

Weight

Weight

Poly. (Weight)

Tilapia + Biofloc = Veggiefish

Tilapia + Biofloc = Veggiefish

VEGGIE-FISHThe Largest Hatcheries inMexicoColombia2 in the top 5 in Brazil

VEGGIE-FISHAngolaZambiaUganda

VEGGIE-FISHThe Largest Hatcheries inChina andThailand

According to INOCAP it represents 5.8% of the tilapia world productionMonthly output in Americas is 30 million fries; in Asia, 70 million.

4. Production system advantagesof RAS/Bioflocs for broodstock.

X

Heritability

Reproduction

X

Diversity

The 3 premises for evolution and breeding

• Lower 30-50% the use of artificial feeds (no need of unsustainable proteins), as well as the production costs (feed is expensive);

• Improves water quality, welfare, higher survivals, availability of live/natural feeds, better growth + boost health/immune-system;

• Breeders growing 30% faster, reproduce 30% earlier and higher yields (number/weight of eggs/larvae); repeat more frequently;

• Bioflocs in closed family tanks avoid sperm contamination in the system = very common in most (even main) breeding programs;

• Above all… Biofloc brings stability, predictability and control...

Thank you

Q & A