Sustainable aquaculture discussed at 20th AgriTech seminar series

The Agriculture Technology Seminar Series XX: Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Aquaculture was successfully held on 4 Dec 2021 via Zoom. It was jointly organised by the Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR), Faculty of Science (FSc), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), and sponsored by Cargill Feed Sdn Bhd and Sunzen Feedtech Sdn Bhd.

Themed ‘Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Aquaculture’, the webinar kick-started with a welcome address by UTAR Vice President for R&D and Commercialisation Prof Ts Dr Faidz bin Abd Rahman. He said, “The recent Covid-19 pandemic has reformed the methods in performing aquaculture activities. During this tough period, technological advances in aquaculture have provided us with novel methods and understanding of how to produce aquatic products with more sustainable and higher yield. Findings on improved culturing, feeding and marketing methods from the recent researches had been helping farmers to solve the problems in ensuring global food sufficiency. Nevertheless, in our endeavour to increase efficiency and productivity in aquaculture today, we are still facing a few challenges in addressing the negative impacts it brings to the environment; for instance, its sustainability and biodiversity. I believe that our distinguished speakers will enlighten us with their latest findings on aquaculture. I hope this webinar will be a good platform to exchange ideas for further collaborative research projects.”

In her opening speech, Organising Chairperson Dr Teoh Chaiw Yee explained that the aim of the webinar was to bring together prominent researchers, industrialists and government agencies to share their perspectives and expertise on the recent advances in the development of aquaculture, and the coping strategies implemented by the government to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 on the aquaculture sector of Malaysia.

She added, “Aquaculture is indeed one of the fastest-growing global food production industries and it continues to intensify and diversify to meet the increasing global demand for protein and food security need. Aquaculture faces immense challenges to continue its progress on a direction toward attaining optimisation of the use of natural resources for nutrient production. Furthermore, the emergence and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have severely disrupted the market demand and the supply chain of the seafood industry. Despite this, the goal of feeding the world in a sustainable manner is achievable with the development of the industry. This leads to the aim of having this seminar as a platform for researchers, industry players and students to gain insight and updates of the most recent practices and innovations that strive for sustainable development of aquaculture.”

First speaker, Director of Aquaculture Development Division of the Department of Fisheries Malaysia Dato’ Haji Azahari bin Haji Othman enlightened participants on “Impact of Covid-19 on Aquaculture in Malaysia”. His presentation highlighted that the aquaculture sector in Malaysia has contributed about 22% of food fish production, and it is becoming among the important sectors for protein supply sources other than captured fisheries and livestock industries. He also explained that the Covid-19 pandemic has led aquaculture sector to experience problems following various sector chains that have been disconnected due to movement control order (MCO). Among the key issues faced was the increase of stockpiles due to the reduction of demand, price reduction due to dumping on the market and closing operation of restaurants, hotels and fish mills at early implementation of the MCO, at the same time farmers are facing an increased operational cost.

In ensuring that the agricultural sector can operate and ensuring continuous supply of food, participants also learnt about the immediate relief incentives and issuance of Standard Operating Procedures as agriculture sector by the government to facilitate aquaculture activities operating in the period of MCO without abandoning compliance instructions.

The second speaker was Professor of Fish Nutrition from the Department of Aquaculture of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Prof Dr Lin Yu-Hung, who spoke on “Nutritional Concept in Low Fish Meal Aquafeed: Case for Soybean Meal on Lipid Utilisation for Grouper”. His research looks into identifying and utilising cheaper and more sustainable protein sources in aquafeed. He explained that soybean meal (SBM) shows the advantages of stable yield, relatively low price, and comfortable amino acid composition, being superior to other plant feedstuffs. However, the previous studies reported that a high inclusion level of SBM reduced growth performance, antioxidative capacity, lipid metabolism and digestibility, and induced damage to the digestive tract of the grouper. He continued to elucidate that through the next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis, grouper fed with high SBM-based diet showed up-regulated cholesterol synthesis but down-regulated taurine, bile salts synthesis and lipid digestion and absorption compared with fish fed all-fish meal diet. He also emphasised that the role of SBM in the regulation of lipid utilisation and metabolism should be carefully considered.

Professor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Prof Dr Alexander Chong Shu-Chien, was the third to speak. He presented his research on “Desaturase and Elongases in Aquatic Organisms after Two Decades of Discoveries”. Participants learnt that since the discovery of the first functional desaturase gene in zebrafish 20 years ago, almost 200 papers have been published on desaturases and elongases in many fish and invertebrates species. His presentation summarised the discoveries and crafted an overview of the significance of these findings towards the science of sustainable aquaculture, adaption, and conservation. Towards the end of the presentation, he advised participants to know the fate of PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) in aquafeed for tailored aquafeed development, identify transgenic plants for new sustainable lipid sources, use fish-oil judiciously-finishing diet, and look out for invertebrates.

The fourth speaker was Asst Prof of Aquatic Science and Aquaculture, Faculty of Applied Sciences and Coordinator of Centre of Research for Advanced Aquaculture (CORAA) from UCSI University, Malaysia Ts Dr Loh Jiun Yan. He spoke on “The application of Pre- and Probiotics in Aquaculture”. He explained that aquaculture is a fast-growing animal production industry and is often challenged by the outbreak of diseases, which to a certain extent of economic losses to aquaculture operators. He spoke in-depth on the potential use of pre-and probiotics in the improvement of aquatic animal health. Participants learnt that alternative preventive or control strategies such as probiotics, prebiotics, immunostimulants, phytotherapeutics or vaccines should be adopted to reduce the use of antibiotics in fish farming activities.

The final speaker, Chief Operation Officer of SE Aquatech Sdn Bhd Malaysia Silvara Junus spoke on “The Potential and Challenges of Abalone Aquaculture as a Sustainable Business in Malaysia”. Her presentation explained that commercial abalone aquaculture for consumption purposes has been established for at least thirty years globally but is still in its conception stage in Malaysia, although one species is actually native to and abundant in Malaysian waters. It has great potential as a sustainable business in Malaysia and the native species is biologically suitable, leading a high market value as a food product, and relies on environmentally friendly culture methods for a successful production. Her presentation also enabled participants to learn further on the effects of market behaviour and the lack of technology development pertaining to production and post-harvest within Malaysia and the establishment of abalone aquaculture in the nation.

The webinar then ended with a closing remark by CAFR Chairperson Assoc Prof Dr Wong Wey Lim. He said, “The global supply chain disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic has further awakened us on the use of advanced technology and aquaculture industry is no exception. Raw material depletion, disease outbreak, limited manpower and impact on society have driven industry players and stakeholders to seek a new sustainable approach. Any newly formulated sustainable aquaculture activities will assist us to ensure the survival of the industry, make them profitable and continue the supply of aquaculture products and benefit society without harming the environment. Therefore, in this 20th seminar series, we have learned about advanced technology to solve aquaculture problems.”