FIS - Worldnews - Aquaculture farm applications to be cleared

Aquaculture farm applications to be cleared

NEW ZEALAND
Monday, July 26, 2010, 08:30 (GMT + 9)

Numerous applications for aquaculture farms frozen since 2001 will be cleared to go on under the latest period of aquaculture law reforms.

Although no applications lodged since 2001 have been granted, the government said it intends to develop a framework to let the industry grow.

Aquaculture New Zealand said the industry could expand three-fold to sales exceeding NZD 1 billion (USD 720.1 million) by 2025 if the law reforms go through.

Back in 2001, a moratorium on applications for new aquaculture space was forced due to worries over the amount of lodged applications. Said moratorium expired in late 2004 when a new set of legislation was implemented, mandating the creation of Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs) to control where aquaculture farms were permitted, BusinessDay.co.nz reports.

No AMAs have been set up, however.

Some 60 applications for 8,066 ha of sea space lodged prior to the moratorium have consequently been on hold since.

On Thursday, the government announced it would do away with the AMAs, such that applications for new farms will be decided upon under the Resource Management Act, with an additional test to decide if the activities would harm wild fishing.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley said law reforms would let historical and future applications advance.

"This reform will effectively free up the bottleneck that has kept industry growth in limbo for many years," he stated.

The government also revealed it will inflict changes on the regional coastal plans in Tasman and Waikato to allow for applications for finfish farming.

Farming species like salmon is so profitable it produces at least 10 times as much money as farming mussels, which generates NZD 30,000 (USD 21,604) a ha a year.

In contrast, Wakatu Incorporation chief executive Keith Palmer said, finfish farms returned over NZD 1 million (USD 720,139) a ha and enjoy much higher demand while requiring much less water space, reports The Nelson Mail.

The cabinet had pondered lifting restrictions on areas where aquaculture is banned, Heatley said, but called it "a bridge too far".
A new fund will be set up for the costs of the planning process. It will be repaid by levies on new farms.

The government and industry have both acknowledged admitted that the existing system offered little motivation for local politicians to investigate aquaculture.

A select committee later will consider the proposed changes later this year and they will not come into effect until 2011.

Related article:

- Aquaculture reforms on the way

By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

FIS - Worldnews - Aquaculture farm applications to be cleared

Louisiana researchers cooking up a second crawfish season | thetowntalk.com | The Town Talk

Imagine tailgaters firing up pots for crawfish boils at a Louisiana State University football game.

Sound far-fetched? It's not, according to Greg Lutz, an aquaculture specialist with the LSU AgCenter.

Lutz believes an alternate crawfish species found in the Atchafalaya Basin and other waterways could provide Louisiana with a second crawfish season to supplement the one that runs from spring to early summer.

This is the first time research has been done on this population, commonly known as "shrimp crawfish" by fishermen for the way they bury themselves in the mud like a shrimp would.

Lutz said he has cooked some of them, and they peel and taste like traditional crawfish, with one difference.

"With the traditional crawfish, a lot of the weight you are paying for is in the claws and in the head," he said. "This animal has a large proportion of tail to its body, and its claws are fairly small, so you get a little more bang for your buck."

Provided they do taste like traditional crawfish, local people in the seafood business said they think people would embrace the new species of crawfish.

"I haven't heard about them, but people would eat them, I'm sure, depending on how they taste," said George Simms, owner of Robbie G's restaurant in Alexandria.

"We have people who call for crawfish year round, especially visitors who don't know exactly when the season is," said Jimbo Thiels, owner of Tunk's Cypress Inn on La. Highway 28 West. "That would eliminate that kind of situation and let those people have their crawfish. And we have local people who would certainly love to have them year round."

There are doubts that the new crawfish, even if there is a substantial market for them, will approach traditional crawfish in popularity.

Thiels acknowledged that many Louisianans "have a clock inside their head that tells them it's time to start eating crawfish," and a season that falls outside the internal clock might throw some people off. Tom Pentecost of Tom's Seafood agrees.

Louisiana researchers cooking up a second crawfish season | thetowntalk.com | The Town Talk

Hunting Creek Fisheries combines aquaculture with sustainability - The Frederick News-Post Online

Hunting Creek Fisheries combines aquaculture with sustainability
Originally published July 26, 2010


By Ed Waters Jr.
News-Post Staff

	Photo by Skip Lawrence Matt F. Klinger, right, operates the Hunting Creek Fisheries goldfish farm near Thurmont. Jim Shubert, left, is production manager.
	AT A GLANCEWHAT: Hunting Creek Fisheries WHERE: 6916 Blacks Mill Road, Thurmont CONTACT: 301-271-7475 or visit www.huntingcreek fisheries.com

If you live in Frederick County and are into koi, goldfish and golden orfe, you are probably familiar with the name Hunting Creek Fisheries. But many in the area have likely never heard of the business on Blacks Mill Road near Thurmont .

A fourth-generation member of the family who owns the fisheries has been named president of the business and is combining modern technology with the skills of raising high-quality fish.

"Things have slowed down. The big rush is in the spring," said Matthew F. Klinger. His great-grandfather, Frederick Tresselt, launched the business in 1924.

Klinger, along with operations manager Jim Shubert, other employees and family members, raises fish and aquatic plants on the 125-acre aquaculture site. Klinger has helped develop Hunting Creek Fisheries own line of color-enhanced, floating fish food.

"We used to ship around the world, and still do, but mostly now in the U.S.," Klinger said. "There are so many regulations for international shipping."

The tanks and ponds hold several dozen kinds of goldfish, koi and orfe, Klinger said, from "comets" (fish with longer tails) to new breeds created by Klinger such as the Apricot Blush and Lemon Metallic.

"My grandfather, Ernest Tresselt, was recognized as a leader in the aquaculture world," Klinger said. "He was really into the genetics. He put Hunting Creek Fisheries on the international map. I wish he were here to see this," Klinger said, displaying an Apricot Blush fish.

The fisheries are also among the few in the U.S. that breed the Golden Orfe.

It was the orfe that brought Winston Churchill to the fisheries during a visit with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to what was then known as Shangri-La, now Camp David.

"My grandmother showed Churchill all around. He was very interested in the orfe," Klinger said. The Frederick area once had many goldfish farms, he said, but now there are only a few.
The management passed to Klinger's parents, Raymond and Drusilla, in the 1990s, and his uncle, John Tresselt.

Klinger graduated from the University of North Carolina with an MBA and worked as a bond broker for an investment firm in Virginia. He is blending sustainable energy ideas with sustainable business insight.
"To me, sustainability means the volatility of the business. If it means reducing costs, that's financial sustainability," Klinger said. "There is a triple bottom line: financial, environmental and social."

The company has always used good environmental practices to ensure the future of the ponds, tanks and fish, he said.

Klinger has added geothermal energy to heat buildings and is working with Sustainable Energy Systems of Frederick on a hybrid heating system that uses an outdoor hydronic wood furnace and solar hot water. It will eliminate the use of an estimated 6,500 gallons of propane gas a year.

Work on the hybrid heating and solar water heating systems will begin in September. Klinger got help with the cost through a grant from EnSave, a program of the Maryland Energy Administration and agricultural agencies.

Shubert, the operations manager, has a degree in fisheries from Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. "I grew up in the country and it seemed like an interesting career," Shubert said. Last spring, he launched a blog: Jim the Fishman, about his life as a goldfish farmer.

For shipping, the fish are put in bags filled with not only water, but food and some vitamins, Klinger said. Foam is placed around the bag, especially in hot weather.

Customers are pet stores, water garden shops and individuals, Klinger said. Retail customers are welcome, but they are asked to call for an appointment.

"Like many family-owned businesses, we didn't have a line of succession worked out," Klinger said.
"My parents even considered selling the business, but that led people to think we were closing the business. I want to get the word out that we are in business."

People see the name Hunting Creek and think the business sells game fish, Klinger said.

There are other family members in the business, including Klinger's wife, Jessica, a Spanish teacher at South Hagerstown High School.

Besides the new line of fish, Klinger is planning an online store for the food line, HCF apparel and koi prints by local artist Dennis Blalock. Hunting Creek Fisheries also sells crayfish and snails.











Hunting Creek Fisheries combines aquaculture with sustainability - The Frederick News-Post Online

NOAA broadens fishing ban in the Gulf

From Soundings Today/Trade Only

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expanded the closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week to include portions of the oil slick moving beyond the area's current northwestern boundary off the Louisiana federal-state waterline.

NOAA also opened approximately 174 square miles of the closed fishing area south of Louisiana, as this area was not impacted or projected to be impacted by oil.

As of Tuesday, the closed area represents 83,927 square miles, which is approximately 35 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters.




NOAA broadens fishing ban in the Gulf

Genetically altered salmon that mature 1000 times faster than wild salmon

Do genetically modified fruits and vegetables make you uneasy? Get ready for transgenic salmon, set to become the first genetically modified animal to be approved by the FDA. AquaBounty, the company behind the salmon, claims that its AquaAdvantage salmon reaches market size twice as fast as regular salmon (16 to 18 months).

The transgenic salmon is a mash-up of Atlantic salmon, a growth hormone gene from the chinook salmon, and an "on-switch" gene from the ocean pout that triggers the fish to eat year round, according to The Olympian. AquaBounty doesn't plan to sell the actual salmon. Instead, the company will sell fish eggs to farmers.

Despite its initial frankenfish creepiness, AquaBounty's salmon has a number of advantages. By shortening the salmon growing cycle, AquaAdvantage salmon make it easiest for farmers to cash in on their bounty.....to read the full article click here