An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year

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An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2021

                                                                                  VOL. 45 2 SEPTEMBER 2020

An update on our
AE2020 and 2021                                                                                        CORK, IRELAND APRIL 12-15

events next year
A Norwegian Portal for
aquaculture sustainability
Phage therapy for
seabass/seabream                                                                                     Madeira, Portugal Oct. 4-7

T H E M E M B E R S ’ M A G A Z I N E O F T H E E U R O P E A N A Q U A C U LT U R E S O C I E T Y                     2nd Semester 2020
                                                                                                               Afgiftekantoor: 8400 Oostende Mail
An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
AQUACULTURE
    VOL. 45(2) September 2020                                                                                                          EUROPE

                                                                                                                                  EAS is a non-profit
                                                                                                                                  society that aims at
                                                                                                                                  promoting contacts
    From the EAS President............................................................ 4               among all involved in aquaculture. EAS was
                                                                                                       founded in 1976. Aquaculture Europe is the
                                                                                                       members’ magazine of EAS.

       FEATURE ARTICLE                                                                                 Secretariat
       EAS events in Cork and                                                                          European Aquaculture Society (EAS)
       Madeira in 2021 – an update .....5                                                              Slijkensesteenweg 4, BE-8400 Oostende, Belgium
                                                                                                       Tel. +32 59 32 38 59
                                                                                                       Email: eas@aquaeas.eu; http://www.aquaeas.eu

    The prospect of phage therapy
    in fish hatcheries.................................. 9                          Madeira Cliffs,    Board of Directors (2018-2020)
                                                                                        Portugal
                                                                                                       President: Gavin Burnell (Ireland)
    Biofloc Based Fish Farming (BFT): A new
    approach for employment generation & sustainable                                                   President-Elect: Hervé Migaud (UK)
    aquaulture in India................................................................... 14          Past-President: Bjørn Myrseth (Norway)
                                                                                                       Member: Henrice Jansen (The Netherlands)
    Aquaculture in Cuba................................................................ 18             Member: Constantinos Mylonas (Greece)
                                                                                                       Member: Bente Torstensen (Norway)
    BarentsWatch – A portal to collect, develop and share
    information about Norwegian coastal and marine areas........... 20                                 Member: Luisa Valente (Portugal)
                                                                                                       Member: Marc Vandeputte (France)
    Microalgae as an alternative ingredient for high                                                   Student Representative : Kathrin Steinberg (Germany)
    performance sustainable microfeeds......................................... 24
                                                                                                       Membership
    Where is the return on the EU’s aquaculture investment? ...... 27
                                                                                                       Membership of the EAS includes the Aquaculture
                                                                                                       Europe magazine (2 issues/year; institutional
    Tuna farming in Croatia.......................................................... 30               and corporate members receive 2 paper copies),
                                                                                                       Aquaculture Europe e-mail publication (6 issues/year),
                                                                                                       Online access to our peer reviewed journal Aquaculture
    Experiences of our “Adopt a Student”                                                               International (AQUI). Institutional members of
    mentorship programme............................................................ 34                EAS also receive one free half page advert per year
                                                                                                       in the magazine.

    “More plastic than fish…. A young entrepreneur recruits                                                                       Standard    Reduced*
    fishermen to fight against plastic pollution!”............................ 39
                                                                                                       Individual member       €90                  €60
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    Aquaculture meetings - calendar.............................................. 42
                                                                                                       Life member**          €720
                                                                                                       Student/retiree member		                  FREE

                                                                                                       *Reduced membership fees are available for:
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   Aller Aqua.......................................................Inside Front Cover                    required)
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   Aquaculture Europe 2020.......................................... Back Cover
                                                                                                       **Individual Life membership offers the general EAS
   Aquaculture Europe 2021................................Inside Back Cover                            benefits for full lifetime duration
   Biomar....................................................................................... 32
                                                                                                       See www.aquaeas.eu for more information on
   BIM........................................................................................... 26   membership categories and benefits.
   Kaeser........................................................................................ 33   Subscription to the Aquaculture Europe Magazine:
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                                                                                                       ©
                                                                                                        European Aquaculture Society, Oostende, Belgium.
On the cover:
Background Photo: Norwegian salmon farming                                                             Printed in Belgium 		             ISSN 0773-6940
Copyright Nofima/Frank Gregersen

Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

                                                                                                                                                                3
An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
FRO M TH E E AS PRES I D ENT

                               I was looking forward to handing over to Herve Migaud, the next President of EAS, at our
                               annual conference. This was to have been held in Cork this autumn. Instead the world has
                               been turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic and therefore we will now have an
                               online General Assembly on September 30th when he will take over. These are challenging
                               times for the society and one of the biggest areas for concern is the loss of revenue from
                               our annual conference. Even although this year’s event has been rescheduled for Cork in
                               April 2021 and we still have the AE2021 meeting in Madeira in October 2021, it is not yet
                               clear how attendance will be. The majority of booths at both events have however, already
                               been sold, so that is a positive sign. That of course assumes that they both take place. Most
                               airlines have taken a big hit and experts are predicting that it will be 2022 until we get some
                               degree of normality back into international travel. The same experts seem fairly confident
                               that we will get a vaccine next year and this scenario seems to be the only one that allows
                               widespread international travel and large indoor meetings to take place.

                               The EAS peer reviewed journal, Aquaculture International has recently undergone some
           Gavin Burnell       changes which I would like to highlight. Since January this year you may have noticed that
           President           we have taken on 5 Associate Editors who all bring their own expertise to the journal. In
                               no particular order they are Professor Brian Austin (Disease and Health), Professor Pierre
                               Boudry (Genetics), Professor Michael Hartnett (Engineering and Environment), Professor
                               Elena Mente (Crustaceans) and Dr Ronan Sulpice (Micro and Macroalgae). This has not
                               only considerably expanded the areas of expertise covered by the journal, but has also taken a
                               lot of the administrative weight off my shoulders.

                               Next month in the journal we will also be expanding an exciting new feature, Topical
                               Collections. The idea was to stimulate the submission of high quality papers and reviews
                               on several cutting edge topics that we had identified. After a successful 6 month trial period
                               with the topic Aquaponics (curated by Simon Goddek and Hendrik Monsee) we will
                               be extending this section to include: Innovations in disease control and diagnosis (Brian
                               Austin), Epigenetics in aquaculture (Pierre Boudry and Steven Roberts) ), and Smart agro-
                               ecological processes for crustacean farming (Elena Mente). Judging from the increase in
                               excellent aquaponics papers during the trial period we should soon be receiving quality
                               contributions on all these topics. As you can see from the following short CVs, the curators
                               of the topics are well qualified to lead the journal forward into a new more provocative era.

                               Elena Mente, Professor of aquatic animal nutrition and physiology at University of
                               Thessaly, Greece and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, UK.
                               She was awarded three competitive Fellowships, two European and one from the UK, on
                               research on aquatic animal nutrition for aquaculture. She has more than 20 years’ experience
                               in research on sustainable aquaculture, crustacean nutrition and aquatic animal gut
                               microbiome. She has authored/co-authored/edited five books (two in Greek), more than 70
                               peer-reviewed papers and ten chapters in books.

                               Professor Brian Austin is a microbiologist with a long history of research in fish diseases,
                               emphasising the diagnosis and control of bacterial fish pathogens. He has researched the
                               taxonomy of pathogens, their diagnosis by serology and molecular methods, and control
                               by vaccines, probiotics and medicinal plant products. Until 2015, he was Director of
                               the Institute of Aquaculture and Professor of Microbiology at the University of Stirling.
                               strategies based on vaccines, probiotics and medical plant products. He has published over
                               300 scientific articles and 20 books, to date.

                               Pierre Boudry is a French geneticist working at Ifremer (National Institute for Ocean
                               Science). Since 1994, Pierre’s research is dedicated to genetics and genomics of marine
                               bivalves. Most of his research is connected with aquaculture or conservation issues and has
                               led to over 150 publications, resulting in his designation in a bibiographic analysis as the
                               most productive author in of oyster research worldwide from 1991 to 2014. Based in Brest,
                               he is leading Ifremer's Research Unit Functional Physiology of Marine Organisms and is
                               Associate Director of the joint research unit LEMAR – Marine Environmental Sciences
                               Laboratory.

                               Steven Roberts is a comparative physiologist with a particular interest in functional
                               genomics as it applies to aquaculture. For the past decade he has been studying epigenetic
                               mechanisms, primarily DNA methylation, in marine invertebrates including oysters and
                               clams. He has published over 70 scientific articles and contributed two book chapters.
                               Steven is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of the School of Aquatic and
                               Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, USA.
                                                                                                             continued on page 6

                                                                                      Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
FE ATURE ARTIC LE

                              EAS events in Cork
                              and Madeira in 2021
                                  AN UPDATE
              You will probably have seen that there will be no Aquaculture Europe event this year.
        However, EAS will organise two events in 2021. AE2020 in Cork, Ireland from April 12-15 and
      AE2021 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 6 months later from October 5-8. Here’s the latest update.

                                                                                                         Cork, Ireland
                                                                                                      April 12-15, 2021

                                                                                                        #AE20CRK

AE2020. Cork, Ireland April 12-15, 2021
There is now a momentum in all aspects of food production       The AE2020 Opening Ceremony, conference plenary and
towards a circular economy whereby we no longer regard          Student Spotlight Award will take place on Monday, April
waste as a problem to be disposed of, but instead look          12th at 6pm in the Cork City Hall. We have one plenary
for ways to make it a resource which can be re-used             at AE2020 and it will be presented by Pedro Encarnação,
- thereby closing the loop on aquaculture inputs and outputs    Director Aquacultura at Jerónimo Martins Agri-Business.
and reducing environmental impact.
                                                                His presentation
Aquaculture can take the lead in the Blue - Green Bio-          “Vertical Integration –
Economy and is well placed to lead by example with new          Securing supply, quality
technologies such as land-based marine aquaponics, large-       and sustainability: The
scale recirculating marine farms and innovative, integrated     JMA fish case” will cover
freshwater initiatives on brown field sites. When it comes      vertical integration in
to having a societal impact, recent research has shown that     the supply chain, going
aquaculture products, from seaweed to salmon, should be         from farm to the grocery
included as part of a balanced diet from the first 1000 days    store, but also projects
right through to promoting healthy ageing.                      of circular economy,
                                                                using the food waste
This conference will bring together stakeholders from           from supermarkets to
many diverse disciplines to discuss and debate cross cutting    produce insect meal that
issues such as new circular economies, life-long health and     can be used to feed fish      Pedro Encarnação
environmentally sustainable production. The conference          production. His company
parallel sessions will address the overall topic and abstract   is also focusing on locally produced fish products or placing
submission is now open at the AE2020 web site www.              production close to markets so as to increase the freshness of
aquaeas.org                                                     the fish and reduce the carbon footprint.
AE2020 will take place in Cork, at the Clayton Hotel Silver     Pedro Encarnação is an aquaculture expert with extensive
Springs Congress Centre, from April 12 to April 15, 2021.       experience around the world. He has a bachelor’s degree in
The Silver Springs is 5km from Cork city centre and shuttle     Marine Biology and a PhD in Fish Nutrition. In 2005, he
buses will be provided morning and evening to transport         moved to Asia as Technical director for Biomin (Biotech
delegates.                                                      in animal nutrition). After 10 years in Asia, he returned
                                                                to Portugal to join the Jerónimo Martins Agri-Business
                                                                                                            continued on page 7

Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
FEATU RE A RTI C LE

                                                 President's message
               STRONG ENOUGH                     continued from page 4

               TO FACE EVERYTHING!
                                                 These are not the only changes which are influencing
                                                 our journal. After 8 years as the publishing editor of
                                                 Aquaculture International, Alexandrine Cheronet
                                                 has moved to a new position within Springer Nature
                                                 and will head the Earth and Environmental Sciences
                                                 editorial group. She has done an excellent job over
                                                 the years helping to increase the Impact Factor of the
                                                 journal and many of you will have met Alex on the
                                                 EAS stand at our AE events. We wish her well in her
                                                 new appointment. She is replaced by Mariana Biojone
                                                 Brandão, who is heading Springer Nature Publishing
                                                 Development in Latin America and is based in Sao
                                                 Paulo, Brazil. She is an experienced editor who has
                                                 been working with Springer for many years. I remain
                                                 as Editor-in-Chief and look forward to working with
                                                 her.

                                                 In this issue of the magazine we have a compilation
                                                 of adopt a student testimonials, an article on phage
                                                 therapy by Pantelis Katharios who recently gave an
                                                 excellent EASTalk webinar on the subject, an overview
                                                 of sustainability indicators for Norwegian aquaculture
                                                 on a new portal and a visit by EAS staff member Ana
                                                 Viskovic to tuna farms in Croatia. That very neatly
                                                 gives me 2 relevant topics to talk about in this editorial.
                                                 First of all there is the “Adopt a Student” scheme
                                                 which I am delighted to report is gaining momentum
                                                 with 12 students currently receiving mentorship and
                                                 another 3 that have already been through the scheme.
                                                 As you will read in their testimonials their experiences
                                                 have been very rewarding so far. I should also add that
                                                 from my personal experience this is just as satisfying
                                                 for the mentors. Once again, I would encourage any
                                                 experienced aquaculturists from industry or academia
                                                 who might be interested in acting as mentors, to
              Leiber® Beta-S –                   get in contact with Alistair, Ana or myself to learn
                                                 more about what is involved. Secondly, there are the
              β-glucans for:                     webinars which have proved to be a big hit with our
                                                 members. So far Ana has organised 16 of them and they
                                                 are all available in the members’ section of our website for
                Improvement of the cellular &    you to see. Altogether, more than 1500 people have logged
                humoral defence mechanisms       on and listened to these both informative and entertaining
                                                 presentations. They are also openly available on our
                                                 YouTube channel for one month after the webinar date,
                Support of immunological         and total views of those videos total more than 3000. The
                competence in larval &           EASTalk series also includes podcasts, and to date 5 of these
                                                 have been recorded for EAS members to listen to. However,
                juvenile stages                  we need more volunteers for a webinar or podcast, so if you
                                                 have a topic that you would like to share with our EAS
                                                 community, then please get in touch with Ana.
                Improvement of feed conversion
                                                 For my final words I would just like to thank everyone
                                                 who supported and advised me during my Presidency. As
                                                 with any international organisation there is a large team
                                                 involved and in the case of our society this would include
                                                 Alistair, Linda and Ana in the office, the entire Board of
                                                 EAS and Mario and John - the conference team. Altogether
                                                 you have made EAS a very successful enterprise and I am
                                                 honoured to have guided it through the last 2 years. Over
                                                 to you Herve!
              leibergmbh.de

                                                                  Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
FE ATURE ARTIC LE

2021 update continued from page 5
division as their Aquaculture
Director to develop the
group expansion in this new
area. He is now focussing
on developing aquaculture
projects to supply the wide
group supermarket network.

The Aquaculture Europe
events are all about
communication with the
sector. AE2020 will feature
a special international trade
exhibition, where Irish and
international companies will
present their latest products
and services. Standard and
Corner booths are available
and each booth is 6m2 (2x3m)
                                                                    EAS thematic groups also organise special sessions and/or
and features walls, carpet, two chairs and one table, spotlights,
                                                                    workshops within AE2020. Other industry panels will take
one power outlet, fascia identification sign and two free full
                                                                    place around the trade exhibition, and technical tours will be
delegate registrations for the conference. Additional staff can
                                                                    organised.
register through the booth contract at significantly reduced
rates.                                                              A special forum will be arranged for students attending
                                                                    AE2020 to enable networking and exchange of ideas. The
The AE Industry Forum is a place where presentations                forum will have a dedicated programme and include a special
and panel discussions focus on relevant and timely issues           student reception. Students receive the full registration
for the sector. The Industry Forum in Cork will put the             package plus the student reception. To qualify for the student
emphasis on cold water marine species and is being organised        rate, a copy of your student I.D. is required.
in cooperation with the Aquaculture section of the Irish
Farmers’ Association (IFA) and AE2020 Silver Sponsor,               A NEW FEATURE of AE2020 will be the organisation of
Bord Iascaigh                                                       a 1 day RAS@EAS workshop to be held on Monday, April
Mhara (BIM). It                                                     12th just before the main event. To complement the science
will be held all                                                    presented in the parallel sessions of the AE conference,
day on Tuesday,                                                     RAS@EAS looks to take a different approach, with the
April 13th. The                                                     emphasis on bringing together key figures from science and
programme                                                           industry to focus on key issues, present the latest knowledge
is under                                                            and share experience with different species and systems.
development.                                                        Each RAS@EAS event will focus on a specific challenge in
                                                                    RAS systems, with several sub-sessions based on interactive
Since 2019, the AE Innovation Forum looks to help                   discussion and audience participation.
accelerate new companies with innovation potential within
the aquaculture sector. EAS is teaming up again with
HATCH BLUE to organise a full day event on Wednesday,
April 14th. The event will feature short presentations
and pitches from (young) companies selected through an
application process.

As we move forward to develop the programme, we are
specifically interested in attracting applications from new
companies with innovative ideas and projects that they would
like to pitch during the Forum and hearing from investors
interested in supporting promising aquaculture initiatives.         The event in Cork takes the theme “Creating an Optimum
Applications to pitch can be sent to EAS through this               Environment”, organised in three sessions addressing these
link. The deadline is December 31 this year and successful          key questions – How do we best approach disinfection?
applicants will be informed by end January latest. The full         Where are we going with monitoring & autonomy? And
programme will be available early next year at the AE2020           What are the most problematic interactions between fish
web page.                                                           & their environment? Each session will have an introductory
The AE event is a focal point for meetings of European              presentation, followed by a moderated panel discussion.
associations, satellite workshops of EU projects and other          Registration for this event can be made separately, or included
events. We can provide options for your meeting. The                in the full AE2020 registration package.

                                                                                                                continued on page 8

Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

                                                                                                                                      7
An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
FEATU RE A RTI C LE

            Madeira, Portugal October 4-7, 2021
                                                         CONFERENCE - ae2021@aquaeas.eu
             #AE21MAD                      TRADESHOW & SPONSORSHIP - mario@marevent.com                www.aquaeas.eu

          AE2021. Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. October 4-7, 2021
           Europe faces important societal challenges arising from
           global environmental and social-economical threats. These
           include climate change, depletion of natural resources
           including water and energy, pollution, food security and
           safety and human migrations. But Europe, and particularly
           the European Union, is also in the forefront in facing these
           challenges with innovative policies regarding environmental
           protection, sustainable use of living resources, marine and
           coastal planning and leading technological developments and
           innovation.                                                       We look forward to
           Aquaculture has a clear place in securing food production         welcoming you to
           in Europe and presents “Oceans of Opportunities” for              Cork and to Madeira !
           development and investment if given the political and
           social licence to expand and develop, with public awareness/
           acceptance of its role.                                          As all our AE event, AE2021 will feature a special
                                                                            international trade exhibition, where Portuguese and
           AE2021 will take place from October 4-7, 2021 in Funchal,        international companies will present their latest products
           Madeira. Madeira is part of the archipelago with the same        and services. Standard and Corner booths are available and
           name, one of the Autonomous Regions of Portugal, and             each booth is 6m2 (2x3m) and features walls, carpet, two
           situated about 1,000 km south of Lisbon and 650 km east of       chairs and one table, spotlights, one power outlet, fascia
           the African coast. Madeira is also part of the Macaronesia       identification sign and two free full delegate registrations
           ecoregion composed of the Azores, the Republic of Cape           for the conference. Additional staff can register through the
           Verde and the Canary Islands.                                    booth contract at significantly reduced rates.

           The conference plenary and parallel sessions will address the    AE 2021 will also feature an Industry Forum, where
           overall topic and abstract submission will be available within   presentations and panel discussions focus on relevant
           the coming weeks at the AE2021 web site. We are currently        and timely issues for the sector and our AE Innova-
           working hard with our local organising committees, headed        tion Forum looking to help accelerate new companies.
           by Carlos Andrade (ARDITI, CIIMAR-University of Porto,
                                                                            The EAS thematic groups also organise special sessions
           Portugal) and Luís Conceição (Sparos, Portugal) to prepare
           this event and the AE2021 Programme Co-chairs Maria
                                                                            and/or workshops within AE2021 and there will be
           Teresa Dinis (CCMAR-University of Algarve) and Sachi             satellite workshops of EU projects and other events
           Kaushik (INRAE and EAS Past President) are finalising the        taking place around the trade exhibition. Technical and
           list of sessions for abstract submission.                        touristic tours will also be organised.

            Important dates:                                                                        Contacts:
                                         AE2020 Cork - April 12-15, 2021
                                                                                                    General conference and EAS
                                         Abstract deadline: December 31
                                                                                                    membership: eas@aquaeas.eu
                                         Early Bird registration deadline: February 15
                                                                                                    Booth sales, exhibitor contracts,
                                         AE2021 Madeira - October 4-7, 2021
                                                                                                    sponsorship and media partners
                                         Abstract deadline: May 1
                                                                                                    mario@marevent.com
                                         Early Bird registration deadline: July 15

                                                                                                   Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
ARTIC LE

       The prospect of phage
       therapy in fish hatcheries
                                                 Bacteria and aquaculture
                                                 Aquaculture hatcheries are environments of high complexity, where the
                                                 developing larvae are in a delicate equilibrium with many different organisms,
                                                 including bacteria, microalgae and live preys, such as rotifers and copepods
                                                 provided by the fish farmers at the early developmental stages of fish. The role of
                                                 microbiota at these stages is crucial and only recently have we begun to understand
                                                 its significance. The establishment of a healthy microbiome in the developing
                                                 larvae is not only important for their survival but also for their future development
                                                 and performance during grow out. Environmental and food-borne bacteria
                                                 shape the gut microbiome of the developing larvae which will be later involved
                                                 in digestion, immune system development and subsequently growth and survival.
                                                 Recent studies have indicated vast differences between the various culture systems
                                                 (e.g. RAS vs flow-through) but also between individual larvae of the same tank
                                                 (for a review see Vadstein et al 2018). However, it is largely accepted that fast-
                                                 growing opportunistic bacteria pose the most significant threat in these systems.
                                                 Vibrio is likely the most significant genus of opportunistic bacteria associated with
                                                 disease outbreaks not only in marine fish but also in other farmed aquatic animals,
                                                 including crustaceans and bivalves.

                                                 Recent advancements in genomic sequencing technology have revealed a very big
                                                 diversity of Vibrio species that were previously misidentified or overlooked because
                                                 of the resolution limitations of biochemical tests commonly used at the diagnostic
                                                 labs. In the past, Vibrio anguillarum was acknowledged as the most devastating
                                                 member of the Vibrio genus. Now, we know that several other species can be at
                                                 least equally or even more virulent than V. anguillarum such as V. harveyi and V.
                                                 alginolyticus. Other species considered as bivalve pathogens are now increasingly
                                                 implicated in morbidity and mortality of fish larvae like V. tubiashii and V.
                                                 splendidus. And as we advance our analytical capabilities it is certain that more
                                                 species will be added in the pathogenic/opportunistic members of the Vibrio genus.

                                                 Controlling bacterial populations in the hatchery environment has for long been
                                                 recognized as critical for sustaining good health and development of fish larvae.
                                                 Many tools have been or are being used towards this direction. Water treatment
PAN T E L I S K AT H A R I OS                    through mechanical or UV and ozone filtration, is by far the most commonly
I N ST I T U T E O F M A R I NE B I OLOGY,
                                                 employed in aquaculture. In addition to water treatment, many hatcheries
BI OT E C H N O LO GY A ND                       “disinfect” live feeds before administration to fish larvae. Water treatment and
AQ UA CU LT U R E, H E LLENI C                   disinfection may seem rational, however this process destabilizes the microbial
C E N T R E FO R M A R I N E R ESEA R CH ,       ecology of the aquaculture systems, providing niche to fast-growing opportunistic
HERA K L I O N 7 1 5 0 0 , C R ETE, GR EECE      bacteria to recolonize the available surfaces (from fish mucosa to physical
AQ UAT IC B I O LO G I CA LS                     substrates of the tanks). Another widely studied tool is the probiotics, beneficial
(WW W. A Q UAT IC- B IOLOG I CA LS.COM )         bacteria that colonize the fish gut and compete pathogenic microbes. Probiotics
E M A I L : KAT H A R I OS @ H CM R .GR          have good potential, however research towards the sustained and prolonged
                                                 colonization of the fish gut and towards the use of aquatic vs terrestrial probiotic
                                                 strains is still needed for improving their efficacy. Prebiotics which are non-
                                                 digestible feed ingredients that selectively promote growth of beneficial bacteria in
                                                 the gut have also gained attention of the aquaculture industry. Lately, synbiotics
                                                 (combination of pro- and prebiotics) have also been considered as a means of
                                                 controlling bacteria in the hatchery environment.

                                                 All these tools however have one common denominator; they are not specific or
                                                 targeted. In an ideal situation, an intervention for controlling bacteria should be
                                                 targeted exclusively to the unwanted or pathogenic bacteria, leaving the beneficial ones
                                                 unaffected. Phage therapy is such a tool.
                                                                                                                     continued on page 10

Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

                                                                                                                                                   9
An update on our AE2020 and 2021 events next year
ARTI C LE

            1. A. Schematic representation of the structure of a Myoviridae bacteriophage (by Chelsea Bonnain, Mya Breitbart and Kristen N. Buck
            licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0). B. Transmission Electron Microscopy image of a Myoviridae bacteriophage showing the contractile tail
            (courtesy of Dr. Pantelis Katharios)

            Bacteriophages and phage therapy                                                                 host cell, a lytic phage will start producing its structural
                                                                                                             proteins and genetic material which will be self-assembled
            Bacteriophages or phages are viruses that exclusively infect                                     and packaged inside the host cell making up the progeny
            bacteria. They are the most abundant life entity1 in the                                         virions. After the completion of this process, the newly
            planet. Their number is astronomical; it has been estimated                                      assembled phages will secrete lytic enzymes that will degrade
            that there are approximately 1031 phages in the biosphere.                                       the bacterial cell wall from the inside resulting in a burst
            Phages were discovered more than 100 years ago; initially                                        that will release them to the external milieu. The number of
            Ernest Hanbury Hankin, an English microbiologist working                                         new virions produced in a single bacterial host cell is called
            in India made the first hypothesis of their existence before                                     the burst size and can vary significantly between different
            the end of the 19th century. In 1915, another English                                            phages but also between different types of infections. The
            microbiologist, Frederick William Twort published the                                            other type of phage is the temperate one. After infection,
            first scientific paper in the journal Lancet, describing                                         the DNA of this phage is inserted inside the chromosome
            the activity of bacteriophages. But it is Felix d’ Herelle,                                      of the bacterial hosts. Once the viral DNA is integrated in
            a French microbiologist of the Pasteur Institute who is                                          the bacterial one, the phage (now called prophage) becomes
            considered by many the discoverer (and also the name-giver)                                      “dormant” and replicates along with the bacterium until it is
            of bacteriophages. D’ Herelle published a paper in 1917                                          induced by either a DNA damage of the host or following
            describing bacteriophages as viruses parasitic on bacteria.                                      an environmental cue. When the prophage is induced, its
                                                                                                             DNA is excised from the host’s DNA and the phage follows
            Before we examine the potential of phage therapy in aquaculture,                                 the lytic cycle which was described previously to release the
            we need to discuss some basic notions of phage microbiology.                                     new virions (Figure 3). During the prophage stage (when
            Bacteriophages are the most efficient “predators” of bacteria                                    a temperate phage is integrated in the bacterial host), its
            in nature. Their ecological significance is huge as they control                                 genes may become functional genes of that host. Therefore,
            the number of bacteria in the environment. The structure                                         the infected bacterium which is called a lysogen may carry
            of phages (Figure 1) comprises a proteinaceous capsid that                                       and express new traits that originally belonged to the phage.
            encapsulates their genetic material (DNA or RNA) and                                             The problem arises when such phage genes encode toxins
            in many cases a tail which is attached to the capsid. There                                      and proteins implicated in antibiotic resistance. It is known
            are many different morphologies of bacteriophages, tailed                                        that transduction is one of the most commonly observed
            and non-tailed, but here we will mostly focus on tailed                                          ways of gene-transfer in bacteria and it is facilitated by the
            bacteriophages. Bacteriophages’ tails can be long or short,                                      temperate bacteriophages. Such an example is the cholera
            contractile and non-contractile and this character is also used                                  toxin, which is the main virulence factor of Vibrio cholerae,
            for taxonomical purposes. At the end of the tail there is the                                    encoded in a prophage integrated in the chromosome of
            baseplate on which there are the tail fibers and the spike.                                      the bacterium. Likewise, marine pathogenic vibrios like V.
            At the distal end of the tail fibers there are receptor binding                                  harveyi, V. alginolyticus, V. vulnificus and many others carry
            proteins which interact with specific surface receptors of the                                   prophage-encoded toxins which make them more virulent
            bacterial host. Spike proteins display enzymatic activity which                                  than the non-phage-infected ones. This process of acquiring
            is used for the degradation of the lipopolysaccharide layer                                      new properties that may increase the bacterial fitness or more
            of bacterial surface to facilitate binding of the phage to the                                   importantly their virulence is called lysogenic conversion.
            bacterial receptors. Once the phage is irreversibly attached to                                  And it is exactly this feature that creates the biggest
            the bacterial surface it will inject its genetic material inside                                 risk in using phages as a therapeutic tool: the accidental
            the cell (Figure 2). From this moment on, the phage, as all                                      transformation of non-virulent bacterial strains to virulent.
            viruses do, will hijack the bacterial cell machinery for its                                     It is of the greatest importance therefore to select only lytic
            own purpose which is propagation. There are at least four                                        phages and discard the temperate ones in phage therapy.
            different types of phages according to their life cycle. The                                     Moreover, nowadays a more precise selection of appropriate
            two most well-known and studied are the lytic or virulent                                        phages is based on genomic analysis. Following whole
            and the temperate. Following its DNA injection to the                                            genome sequencing we can now screen the genomic arsenal
            1
                there is an ongoing scientific debate whether viruses are nonliving or living organisms, see: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-viruses-alive-2004/

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                                                                                                 bacterial cell. But even after the penetration of the bacterial
                                                                                                 wall, the bacterium has mechanisms that confer resistance
                                                                                                 against phage infection. The CRISPR-Cas system is actually
                                                                                                 a bacterial “adaptive immune system” against phages. On
                                                                                                 the other side, phages also very rapidly adapt and develop
                                                                                                 counter-resistance measures. Since the ability of bacteria to
                                                                                                 develop resistance against phage infection is often related to a
                                                                                                 downregulation of receptors which are being used for nutrient
                                                                                                 acquisition or by modification of the LPS which is a virulence
                                                                                                 determinant, in many cases, resistant strains are less fit or less
                                                                                                 virulent than the wild type3. Therefore, the development of
                                                                                                 resistance has a significant cost for the bacteria. The rapid
                                                                                                 development of bacterial resistance against phages is one
                                                                                                 of the main drawbacks in phage therapy. This resistance
                                                                                                 development is almost certain to happen over a period of
                                                                                                 time. To overcome this problem, phage therapy should be
                                                                                                 carefully designed. Combination of different phages termed
                                                                                                 as “phage cocktails” is the solution. However, the use of the
2. Schematic representation of phage attachment to the bacterial
                                                                                                 correct ingredients for these cocktails requires expertise and
cell and injection of its nucleic acid (licensed under CC)                                       knowledge. In the past, phage cocktails were created with
                                                                                                 phages displaying different host ranges. Now, we know that
                                                                                                 a successful phage cocktail should ideally contain phages
of phages to discard those who have “suspicious” or unwanted                                     that use different receptors for the initial attachment to the
genes. Temperate phages for example carry “signature” genes                                      bacterial host. This is because development of resistance
like integrases required for the successful integration of their                                 from the bacteria is costly, and changes (like downregulation
DNA into the host’s DNA. Modern bioinformatics tools can                                         or mutations) in more than one or two receptors might
easily detect this type of genes if the genome of a phage is                                     jeopardize their viability. Lately, phages with very large
available.                                                                                       genomes termed as “jumbo” phages have demonstrated wide
                                                                                                 host range which is probably related to a wider diversity of
Phages are usually highly host specific. Sometimes their
                                                                                                 receptor binding proteins in their tails. These phages are also
host specificity is down to the strain level. However, there
                                                                                                 very promising ingredients of phage cocktails.
are also phages with a broad host range2 spanning most
commonly different species of the same genus. This feature                                       Phage therapy trials in aquaculture
differentiates phage therapy from all other tools we currently
have for controlling bacteria in aquaculture. Phage therapy is                                   The initial attempt to use phages against fish pathogenic
a targeted and precise treatment. Host specificity of phages                                     bacteria goes back to the 80s. The first scientific report was
depends on complex molecular interactions between the                                            from Taiwan and was published in Fish Pathology in 19814
phage and the bacterium throughout the infection cycle,                                          and regards phage therapy against Aeromonas hydrophila
which is outside the scope of this article. However, one of the                                  infection of loach. Since then, many scientific papers from
most important factors is the type and diversity of receptor                                     various countries describe phages with therapeutic potential
binding proteins found on the phage tail, which will be                                          or use phages as a means of therapy in aquaculture. The
used for the first interaction between phage and bacteria. In                                    majority of the first research trials focused on the use of
Gram-negative bacteria like vibrios, the main target of these                                    phages as a method to treat infected fish and the results
phage proteins are the components of their outer membrane                                        were variable. In the challenge tests which have been used to
like the lipopolysaccarides (LPS) which are major virulence                                      assess the efficacy of phage therapy, phages are commonly
factors, the flagella, and the porins which are receptors used                                   administered simultaneously with the infectious agent.
by the bacteria to obtain nutrients from the extracellular                                       This results in a significant decrease of the number of the
milieu.                                                                                          bacteria available for initiating the infection and subsequently
                                                                                                 in positive results. However, there are very few properly
Phages and bacteria are in a constant arms race in the                                           designed studies which would be useful to explore the true
environment. Bacteria are continuously exposed to phage                                          efficacy of phages as therapeutics. Ideally, these should use
“predation” and in order to survive they must devise strategies                                  a variety of pathogenic strains of the bacterial target and a
to resist phage infection. Bacterial resistance against phage                                    phage cocktail that would be administered after the onset of
infection may develop very fast. Usually, bacteria will sacrifice                                the infection.
the receptors to which phages are attached. This is controlled
at a molecular level and involves the downregulation of                                          The administration of the phages in aquaculture is usually
the genes which encode for the proteins of these receptors.                                      done either directly in the water or in feed. Coating of phages
Resistance can also be developed through genetic mutations                                       in feed pellets has been proven effective in studies conducted
of these proteins that will result in compatibility loss of the                                  with rainbow trout as the phages could be detected in various
phage binding receptors proteins and the receptors of the                                        organs of the experimental fish after feeding, showing the
                                                                                                 ability of the phages to survive passage through the fish
                                                                                                 stomach. Of course, there are several things that should be
2
    Host range: The taxonomic diversity of hosts a phage can infect
                                                                                                 considered when designing a proper therapeutic scheme. The
3
 a strain which prevails among individuals in natural conditions, as distinct from an atypical   first is the target bacterial pathogen and the diversity of its
mutant type                                                                                      strains. Then it is the dose, which is called Multiplicity of
4
  Wu, J.L., Lin, H.M., Jan, L., Hsu, Y.L. and CHANG, L.H., 1981. Biological control of fish      Infection (M.O.I.) in phage microbiology and it is the ratio
bacterial pathogen, Aeromonas hydrophila, by bacteriophage AH 1. Fish Pathology,
15(3-4), pp.271-276                                                                                                                           continued on page 12

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            3. The lytic and lysogenic life cycle of phages. Lytic or virulent bacteriophages follow exclusively the lytic cycle, whereas temperate
            bacteriophages follow the lysogenic cycle and are integrated in the bacterial chromosome as prophages. Once induced they will be
            excised from the bacterial chromosome and will follow the lytic cycle. The diagram is a modification of a diagram licensed under CC.

            of phage particles to bacteria. This is determined in the lab                                  that biofilm might enhance their survival. This is a very
            during the characterization of the phage. A high M.O.I.                                        important finding since it suggests that phages can survive
            suggests that a large number of phages should be used for                                      the water treatment processes of RAS and can be used
            treatment which of course is directly related to an increased                                  prophylactically in those systems to control unwanted
            production cost. Another important parameter is the location                                   pathogenic bacteria in a targeted way.
            of the target pathogen (water, mucosa, internal organs,
            intracellular, etc.).                                                                          However, it is the use of phages as a means of controlling
                                                                                                           bacteria in the hatcheries that has the greatest potential.
            Phage therapy is very attractive for aquaculture.                                              Even though modern marine hatcheries are areas of increased
            Bacteriophages are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment.                                      biosecurity, pathogenic bacteria continue to find their way
            The aqueous nature of the water facilitates their diffusion                                    into the fish rearing tanks causing morbidity, mortality,
            and increases the likelihood of colliding to the target bacteria.                              and inconsistency in the production performance. The
            Moreover, phages in the water can pass through the gills                                       administration of live feeds is the vehicle for their entrance.
            and stomach (marine fish drink water) into the blood flow                                      As stated at the beginning of this article, the disinfection
            and may reach the internal organs. Since phages are natural                                    of the live feeds will have an impact on the much-needed
            inhabitants of the aquatic environment, their medicinal                                        healthy colonization of the fish gut by beneficial bacteria.
            use could be compatible with organic farming. Phage will                                       A recent use of phages proposed by our group is the use
            not leave residues as it is in the case of antibiotics and are                                 of phages as a “smart disinfectant” of live feeds. We have
            completely harmless to fish, humans, and the environment.                                      developed and used wide host range phage cocktails that can
            Phages are viruses which are self-replicating agents and in                                    selectively reduce vibrios in the live feeds. We have shown
            theory, phage therapy would not require multiple dosing.                                       that following a single administration of vibriophages during
            Moreover, the high host specificity of phages makes                                            the enrichment process of live Artemia for four hours, a
            them the ideal solution of controlling bacteria in sensitive                                   reduction of 93% was observed in the vibrio load of the
            environments like the fish hatcheries and the RAS. Finally,                                    treated group vs the untreated one. We are developing phage-
            phages can be used at the early developmental stages of fish                                   based disinfectants against vibrios of the Harveyi clade like V.
            where vaccination cannot be applied because the immune                                         harveyi, V. owensii, V. alginolyticus etc. which include serious
            system is not mature.                                                                          opportunists commonly found in live feeds. These pathogens
                                                                                                           are linked to the larval enteritis of gilthead seabream which
            In a recently published research conducted in Finland5,                                        results in mass losses in many Mediterranean hatcheries. One
            phages of Flavobacterium persisted for 14 days in the tanks                                    of the benefits of this method is that the treatment is done in
            of a RAS following single administration. Moreover, the                                        the batch cultures of live feeds, thus significantly reducing the
            persistence of phages was longer in the biofilters suggesting

            5
              Almeida, G.M., Mäkelä, K., Laanto, E., Pulkkinen, J., Vielma, J. and Sundberg, L.R., 2019. The fate of bacteriophages in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)—towards developing
            phage therapy for RAS. Antibiotics, 8(4), p.192.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/8/4/192

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chances of bacteria to develop resistance against the phages.                                    that significantly differentiates their licensing process from
Such innovative products as the phage “smart disinfectant”                                       the accepted norm. More importantly, the ingredients of a
are developed by Aquatic Biologicals6, a spin-off company of                                     phage therapy product should be revised and replaced often
the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research which was recently                                       to overcome resistance issues. Since every single element of
established to develop innovative aquaculture health products.                                   a pharmaceutical product should be extensively tested for
                                                                                                 safety and efficacy before allowing it as a new component
Similar actions have been documented for salmon hatcheries                                       of a licensed product, it is more than evident that licensing
where bacteriophages have already been used as a biocontrol                                      of phages will be impossible for the pharma industry.
agent for Yersinia ruckeri. This pathogen is responsible for                                     Furthermore, the production of phages as pharmaceuticals
Enteric Red Mouth disease or Yersiniosis. A Norwegian                                            at GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) level is more
company, ACD Pharmaceuticals has developed and licensed                                          than challenging and of course extremely costly. There is a
for Norway a commercial phage product that could be used                                         strong lobby pushing the regulatory authorities for adjusting
prophylactically to control Yersinia in salmon tanks.                                            the legislation in a way that phage therapy will become an
                                                                                                 economically feasible and safe option especially in the era
Challenges of phage therapy
                                                                                                 of antimicrobial resistance where alternatives are urgently
Although it is more than a century of phage research, phage                                      needed.
therapy faces significant challenges before it is widely adopted
                                                                                                 On the other hand, licensing phage products not as
as a treatment/prevention method at an industrial scale.
                                                                                                 pharmaceuticals but rather as biocontrol agents or water
Culot, Grosset and Gautier, researchers of INRA, France,
                                                                                                 quality enhancers might be a more viable solution for the
have recently provided an excellent review of the challenges of
                                                                                                 time being. Companies like ACD Pharmaceuticals have
phage therapy for commercial aquaculture7.
                                                                                                 already followed this path and a commercial product based on
The results of phage therapy are still inconsistent. This is                                     phages under the trade name CUSTUS is already available in
mainly due to the improper design of the phage therapy                                           Norway as a biocontrol agent of Yersiniosis in salmon.
products and application schemes. An extremely important
prerequisite for efficacious and safe phage therapy is the
                                                                                                 Acknowledgements
thorough characterization of the phages. The elements of                                         Dr. Katharios has received funding to develop innovative
phage microbiology which were presented previously in this                                       phage therapy methods for marine fish hatcheries by the OP
article need to be studied at the laboratory very carefully.                                     Fisheries and Maritime 2014-2020 Innovative measures,
Knowledge of the burst size, the host range, the life cycle and                                  Innovation 2019 co-funded by Greek and EU funds.
the genetics of any candidate phage will dictate not only how
suitable the phage is as a therapeutic agent but also the best                                   Further reading
way of its application (how much to give, when, etc.)
                                                                                                 Readers seeking more information on the topics developed
A very big challenge is to overcome the resistance                                               in this article may refer to the selected literature below (open
development from the side of bacteria. As explained in this                                      access articles freely accessible for the public):
article, resistance development is the outcome of coevolution
of phages and bacteria and it is a natural phenomenon. Phage                                     Vadstein, O., Attramadal, K.J., Bakke, I., Forberg, T.,
cocktails will provide the solution, however the formation                                       Olsen, Y., Verdegem, M., Giatsis, C., Skjermo, J., Aasen,
of potent cocktails is still challenging and requires advanced                                   I.M., Gatesoupe, F.J. and Dierckens, K., 2018. Managing
knowledge and analytical skills.                                                                 the microbial community of marine fish larvae: a holistic
                                                                                                 perspective for larviculture. Frontiers in microbiology, 9,
Mass production of phages is also a very big challenge for the                                   p.1820.
pharma industry. Production of phages in bioreactors is not
an easily standardized process. Moreover, in the case where                                      Kalatzis, P.G., Castillo, D., Katharios, P. and Middelboe,
phages are to be used as a therapeutic agent, specific quality                                   M., 2018. Bacteriophage interactions with marine pathogenic
standards should be met, like the absence of endotoxins                                          vibrios: implications for phage therapy. Antibiotics, 7(1),
which are released after the lysis of the Gram-negative                                          p.15.
bacterial hosts. Although this is technically feasible, it
                                                                                                 Kalatzis, P.G., Bastias, R., Kokkari, C. and Katharios,
significantly increases the production cost.
                                                                                                 P., 2016. Isolation and characterization of two lytic
The biggest challenge, however, is the regulatory barriers                                       bacteriophages, φSt2 and φGrn1; phage therapy application
found in many countries including the EU and USA.                                                for biological control of Vibrio alginolyticus in aquaculture
Licensing of phage products as pharmaceuticals is a                                              live feeds. PloS one, 11(3), p.e0151101.
nightmare. Phages are unconventional pharmaceuticals, a fact

6
    www.aquatic-biologicals.com
7
    Culot, A., Grosset, N. and Gautier, M., 2019. Overcoming the challenges of phage therapy for industrial aquaculture: A review. Aquaculture, 513, p.734423.

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            Figure 1- Biofloc Fish Farming tank.

                 Biofloc Based Fish                                                                 the filamentous microorganism, or held
                                                                                                    together by electrostatic attraction. The
                                                                                                    biofloc community also includes animals

                 Farming (BFT):                                                                     that are grazers of floc, such as some
                                                                                                    zooplankton and nematodes. Large
                                                                                                    biofloc can be seen with the naked eye,
                                                                                                    but most are microscopic.
                 A New Approach For                                                                 The nutritional quality of biofloc to
                 Employment Generation &                                                            the cultured animal is good but rather
                                                                                                    variable.

                 Sustainable Aquaulture in India                                                    The dry-weight protein content of
                                                                                                    biofloc ranges from 25 to 50 per cent,
                                                                                                    with most estimates between 30 and 45
                                                     Aquaculture production depends on feed,        percent. Fat content ranges from 0.5 to
            M R DE BTA N U BA R MA N,                dissolved oxygen and maintenance of            1.5 per cent, with most estimates between
            A Q UA CO N S ULTA NT,
            FO U N D E R & CEO, A QUA D OCTOR
                                                     water quality parameters in an optimal         1 and 5 percent. There are conflicting
            S O LU T IO N S, KOLKATA ,               range. There are strong economic               reports about the adequacy of biofloc to
            W EST B EN G AL, I ND I A                incentives for aquaculture businesses to       provide the often limiting amino acids
            EM A IL : D E BTA NU0 80@G M A I L.COM   be more efficient with production inputs,      methionine and lysine. Biofloc is a good
                                                     especially feed and those required for         source of vitamins and minerals, especially
                                                     managing feed-induced water quality            phosphorus. The core advantage in biofloc
                                                     issues. High-density rearing of fish           systems is whatever the waste around
                                                     typically requires some waste treatment        from feed or faecal matter from fish
                                                     infrastructure. Bio-floc systems use a         which accounts for about 70% of the total
                                                     counter-intuitive approach to allow            energy given in feed, goes to the system
                                                     or encourage solids and the associated         as the waste. Thus at intensive culture
                                                     microbial community to accumulate in           operation maintaining water quality
                                                     the water. As long as there is sufficient      becomes a challenge. So reusing the
                                                     mixing and aeration to maintain an active      lost nutrients through floc development
                                                     floc in suspension, water quality can be       becomes a wise way for increasing feed
                                                     controlled in a better way. Managing           efficiency and the maintaining water
                                                     biofloc systems is not as straight forward     quality.
                                                     as that, however, and some degree of
                                                     technical sophistication is required for the   Dried biofloc has been proposed as an
                                                     system to be fully functional and the most     ingredient to replace fishmeal or soybean
                                                     productive.                                    meal in aquafeeds. Its nutritional quality
                                                                                                    is good, and trials with shrimps fed
                                                     Biofloc is a collection (flocs) of algae,      diets containing up to 30 percent dried
                                                     bacteria, protozoans and other kinds           biofloc show promise. Nonetheless, it is
                                                     of particulate organic matter such as          unlikely that dried biofloc could replace
                                                     faeces and uneaten feed. Each floc is          the animal or plant protein sources
                                                     held together in a loose matrix of mucus       used in commercial-scale aqua feed
                                                     that is secreted by bacteria, bound by         manufacturing because only limited

                                                                                                      Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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quantities are available. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness of
producing and drying biofloc solids at commercial scale has to
be demonstrated.

Floc stimulate immune response in fish. Its is well established
that the immune response of animal reared in the biofloc
based systems is better than the other control culture. A
possible reason is the presence of bacteria and other microbial
assemblages give specific nutraceutical and immunogenic
effects.

Heterotrophic bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licgenuformis,
Bacillus coagulus, with a mix of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas)
are required for initial floc growth, then assemblage of algae,
green algae, diatoms, zooplankton including rotifer nematodes
copepods etc also required for floc growth. In greenwater
systems, biofloc algae dominate and in brown water biofloc           Figure 2. Harvested Vietnam Koi (Anabas sps.)
bacteria dominates. Floc species show natural growth and
succession so the floc quality and water colour is monitored
and managed regularly.

Biofloc Systems and species
Biofloc technique is waste treatment method. Biofloc
provides two critical services—training waste from feeding
providing nutrition to the fish from floc consumption. Biofloc
systems can operate with low water exchange rates (0.5 to 1
percent per day). This long water residence time allows the
development of a dense and active biofloc community to
enhance the treatment of waste organic matter and nutrients.
In biofloc systems, using water exchanges to manage water
quality is minimized and internal waste treatment processes
are emphasized and encouraged. The potential benefit of
biofloc systems is the capacity to recycle waste nutrients
through microbial protein into fish or shrimp. About 20 to 30
percent of the nitrogen in added feed is assimilated by fish,
implying that 70 to 80 percent of nitrogen added as feed is
released to be to the culture environment as waste. In biofloc
systems, some of this nitrogen is incorporated into bacterial
cells that are main components of biofloc. Consumption of
this microbial protein, in effect for a second time, contributes
to growth.

The biofloc system is benifecial for the species that to be
cultured that are able derive some nutritional benefit from
the direct consumption of floc. Biofloc systems are also most
suitable for species that can tolerate high solids concentration
in water and are generally tolerant of poor water quality such
as Tilapia, Pangassius, Anabas, Magur, Singhi and Common
carp etc. Some of them like Tilapia, Common carp and
Shrimps have physiological adaptations that allow them to
consume biofloc and digest microbial protein, thereby taking
advantage of biofloc as a food resource.                             Figure 3 : Greenwater Biofloc System

Only a relatively few types of biofloc systems are used in
commercial aquaculture or have been evaluated in detail in
research. The two basic types are those that are exposed to
natural light and those that are not. Biofloc systems exposed
to natural light include outdoor, lined ponds for shrimp & fish
culture in greenhouses.

A complex mixture of algal and bacterial processes control
water quality in such “Green Water” biofloc systems (Fig:-3).
Most biofloc systems in commercial use are green water.

However, some biofloc systems (raceways and tanks) have been
installed in a closed building with no exposure to natural light.
These systems are operated as “Brown-Water” biofloc systems          Figure 4: Brownwater Biofloc System
(Fig-4), where only bacterial processes control water quality.
                                                                                                                     continued on page 16
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            Maintaining active bioflocs                                        A suspended solids concentration of 200 to 500mg/L is
                                                                               sufficient for good system functionality and will control
            Intensive turbulent mixing is an essential requirement of          ammonia without excessive water respiration. The best
            biofloc systems. Solids must be suspended in the water             increase in suspended solids concentration (250 to 500 mg/L)
            column at all times or the system will not function. Without       and the associated rapid increase in water respiration (6mg
            mixing, biofloc settle out of suspension and may form piles        O2/L per hour). This requires a five-fold increase in aerator
            that rapidly consume nearby dissolve oxygen. These anaerobic       power from 30to 150hp/ha to match the oxygen demand.
            zones can lead to the release of hydrogen sulphide, methane        Most of this increasing energy demand is required to
            and ammonia that are highly toxic to shrimp and fish. Solids       maintain biofloc in suspension.
            can be removed by periodic flushing or by pumping sludge
            from the pond centre. In intensive, green water raceways           Dynamics of Ammonia
            for shrimp, water respiration rates range from 2 to 2.5mg
            O2/L per hour, although it can be as high as 6 mg O2/L             A major goal of water quality management in any aquatic
            per hour. It is absolutely essential to providing sufficient       animal production system is maintaining ammonia
            aeration or oxygenation to meet this high oxygen demand            concentration below toxic levels. In Biofloc systems, there
            and to maintain concentration at safe levels. These high           are three main processes that control ammonia, algal uptake,
            respiration rates also indicate that the response time in the      bacterial assimilation and nitrification. The transformations
            event of a system failure is very short, often less than 1 hour.   and dynamics of ammonia in biofloc system are complex,
            Thus monitoring, alarms, and emergency power systems are           involving interplay among the algae and bacteria that
            required elements of biofloc systems.                              compete for ammonia. The relative importance of each
                                                                               process depends on many factors, among them the daily
            Floc develops gradually in this system and first, the system       feeding rat, suspended solids (biofloc) concentration,
            will abruptly transition from green water, an algal system         ammonia concentration, light intensity, and input carbon-to-
            to brown water, bacterial system. As daily feeding rate            nitrogen (C:N) ratio.
            increases from 100 to 200kg/ha (10 to 20g/m2), the water
            will appear green with the dense algae blooms. Algal uptake        In Biofloc system, a major factor that controls ammonia con-
            is the main mechanism for ammonia control. The aerator             centration is the C:N ratio. A feed with 30 to 35 per cent pro-
            power required at this feeding rate is about 25 to 30hp/ha.        tein concentration has a relatively low C: N ratio, about 9 to
            At a daily feeding rate of 300 kg/ha, there is an abrupt shift     10:1. Increasing the C:N ratio of inputs to 12 to 15:1 favours
            when the lack of light at very high algal density hinders          the heterotrophic pathway for ammonia control. The low C:N
            photosynthesis. Bacteria begin to grow and biofloc develops,       ratio of feed can be augmented by adding supplement materi-
            as indicated by feed consumption in shrimp raceway biofloc         als with a high C: N ratio. Or the inputs C: N ratio can be
            systems at an e solids concentration of 100 to 300mg/L.            increased by reducing feed protein content. Ammonia Control
            Imhoff or setting cones are a simple way to index suspended        through the heterotrophic pathway is often, more stable and
            solid concentration. The cones have marked graduation              reliable than algal uptake or nitrification.
            on the outside that can be used to measure the volume of
            solid that settles from 1 liter of system water. The interval of   For every 1kg of 30 to 38 per cent protein feed added add 0.5
            time should be standardized and convenient, usually 10 to          to 1kg of a carbohydrate source such as sugar. It is clear that
            20 minutes. Solids also can be measured with a TDS meter.          relatively large quantities of carbohydrate must be added to
            Maintaining a settleable solids concentration of 15 to 30ml/L      control ammonia concentration this way.
            will provide good functionality in biofloc systems.
                                                                               Bacterial Assimilation, nitrification and
            Alkalinity is the capacity of water to buffer or resist changes    algal uptake
            in pH in response to additions of acids or base. Water in
            biofloc systems should be maintained with sample reserve           Many of the early names for biofloc systems included the
            of alkalinity because it is constantly depleted by reaction        word “ heterotrophic”, which describes a group of bacteria
            with acid added to water. The activity of nitrifying bacteria is   that, by definition, obtains carbon from organic sources.
            responsible for most losses of alkalinity in intensive biofloc     Despite large inputs of feed to intensive systems, the growth
            systems. Over time, acid produced by nitrification wears           of heterotrophic bacteria in biofloc systems is limited by
            down the reserve of alkalinity in the water. Once alkalinity is    dissolved organic carbon. To stimulate the production of
            depleted, pH can drop steeply, inhibiting bacterial function,      heterotrophic bacteria, the C:N ratio of inputs is raised by
            including that of the important nitrifying bacteria.               adding a supplement source of carbohydrate or reducing feed
                                                                               protein level. By this manipulation, heterotrophic bacteria
            Alkalinity can be recovered in denitrification units. Nitrate
                                                                               create a demand for nitrogen(as ammonia) because organic
            accumulates in most intensive biofloc systems because of
                                                                               carbon and inorganic nitrogen are generally taken up in a
            ongoing nitrification. If unchecked, nitrate concentration
                                                                               fixed ratio that reflects the composition and requirement of
            reflects the cumulative feed loading to the system. Nitrate
                                                                               bacterial cells. Thus ammonia can be controlled by adding
            accumulation can be tempered by partial dilution through
                                                                               organic carbon to stimulate the growth of heterotrophic
            water exchange.
                                                                               bacteria.
            Solids Management and sludge treatment                             Similar to algae, ammonia is “immobilized” while packaged
            In biofloc systems, waste solids are allowed to accumulate         in heterotrophic bacterial cells as protein. Because the growth
            and additional solids are encouraged by intensive aeration         rate of heterotrophic bacteria is so much greater than that of
            and carbohydrate additions. Over time, and with sufficient         nitrifying bacteria, ammonia control through immobilization
            mixing, solids can be accumulated to undesirably high levels       by heterotrophic bacteria occurs rapidly, usually within hours
            (2,000 to 3,000 mg/L). Biofloc systems are typically operated      or days if sufficient quality of simple organic carbon(e.g. sugar
            at suspended solids concentrations less than 1,000mg/L and         or starch)is added. The packaging of nitrogen in bacterial
            the most often less than500 mg/L.                                  cells is temporary because cell turns over rapidly and release

                                                                                                      Aquaculture Europe • Vol. 45(2) September 2020

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