USA.- Commercial aquaculture farmers in Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands are dependent on imported feeds to sustain their businesses, as there are currently no commercial feed mills in the region. This situation has created a huge financial burden to the farmers and has significantly limited the expansion of local agriculture and aquaculture to enhance food security and island sustainability. In an effort to address this issue, CTSA is supporting two ongoing projects to develop local feeds for tilapia and moi at the Oceanic Institute of Hawai’i Pacific University (OI) Feeds Research and Pilot Production Facility in Hilo, Hawaii.
The project “Development of Cost-Effective Aquatic Feeds Using Locally Sourced Ingredients” is aiming to produce practical extruded tilapia feeds at the newly-built feed mill in Hilo. The first steps of the project were to collect and analyze new local feed ingredients such as tuna fishmeal from America Samoa, defatted haematococcus, spirulina, corn, and coconut meal, and to procure low priced commercial feed ingredients such as soy bean meal and wheat flour. Researchers at University of Hawai’i at Hilo PACRC then utilized feed formulation software to formulate tilapia feeds based on the following criteria: 1) nutrient requirement of the target species; 2) nutritional quality of local ingredients; 3) unit price of protein and carbohydrate ingredients; and 4) requirements for practical feed processing.
More information at: http://www.ctsa.org/index.php/news/ctsa_project_update_producing_local_feed_for_tilapia_and_moi_at_the_hilo_fe
Editor at the digital magazine AquaHoy. He holds a degree in Aquaculture Biology from the National University of Santa (UNS) and a Master’s degree in Science and Innovation Management from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, with postgraduate diplomas in Business Innovation and Innovation Management. He possesses extensive experience in the aquaculture and fisheries sector, having led the Fisheries Innovation Unit of the National Program for Innovation in Fisheries and Aquaculture (PNIPA). He has served as a senior consultant in technology watch, an innovation project formulator and advisor, and a lecturer at UNS. He is a member of the Peruvian College of Biologists and was recognized by the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) in 2016 for his contribution to aquaculture.
