the unfulfilled potential of a farmed tropical whitefish in European markets

Transcription

1 Tilapia and Europe the unfulfilled potential of a farmed tropical whitefish in European markets Dave Little and Francis Murray Sustainable Aquaculture Group, Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling Interested to hear your views Text me now on

2 Overview of talk tilapia..just another generic whitefish?...the global alternative Tilapia in the UK Looking across the pond Quality issues-off flavour Enhancing sustainability

3 Why tilapia..why now? Feeding low in the food chain Relatively high quality white fish Potential for contributing to European fish security Scalable, geographically widespread and low water footprint

4 One fish many systems From extensive ponds to super-intensive RAS Main systems for export intensively managed ponds and cages in reservoirs/lakes Polycultures increasingly with white shrimp- but carps and other finfish common

5 Diverse production systems from systems dependent on feed out of a bag to those entirely dependent on natural food within the system

6 Rise of cage culture?

7 Cages in tropical lakes

8 Photo Israel Snir Intensive ponds

9 Balancing fertilizer and feeds in pond systems

10 Life cycle analysis to understand global impacts Low fillet yield (30-37%) lots of by-products Higher proximate environmental impacts of cages-nutrient reuse, biodiversity, disease risks for cages compared to intensive ponds Higher energy use in intensive ponds Main impacts through feed Increasing functional carnivory -even low amounts of fishmeal and oil (3 and 1.5% respectively) have major impact At these levels of use, net fishmeal producers Overall favourable between broiler chicken and Atlantic salmon Pelletier and Tyedmers 2010 Life Cycle Assessment of Frozen Tilapia Fillets From Indonesian Lake-Based and Pond-Based Intensive Aquaculture Systems J. Industrial Ecology

11 Tilapia in the UK False dawns Little real progress Towards the local or embracing the global?

12 .history of local production Poor design of facilities leading to production failures Shared energy source failure High costs Poor returns in conventional markets This fish is a dud it tastes of mud High Fernley Whittingstall Telegraph journalist era..

13 Tilapia in barns a radical form of diversification.? The concept - warmwater fish on conventional farms Insulated farm buildings Feed on biofloc? Locally produced feeds Complexity and risk Micro-production and local food chains

14 Simple conventional recirculating systems..not biofloc

15 Local, high value markets Product placement in a competitive context; Brixham and Dartmouth gastro pub, restaurant and wholesaler Whole fish left with chefs to prepare, interviews with chefs, and customers Celebrity chef refused to serve as no farmed fish sold in his establishment- Competitive alternative to freshly caught seafish Returns most sensitive to farm gate price and energy

16 Imports Very limited in Europe (2000MT), particularly in UK Frozen Chinese whole fish (fresh markets) Long-standing whole fish imports Limited high end fillets-waitrose; fresh now frozen Competition with Pangasius and then the 2012 Olympics

17 can we learn from across the pond? [UK] consumers are very habitual and not very experimental when it comes to fish they like their cod and haddock, and won t easily adopt new species you ve got to engage the households, mainly through retailers, who themselves employ chefs and inspire menu ideas It won t be easy, it wasn t easy in America, you ve just got to grind it out. Smith of Continental Food, in part inspired by exchanges he d had with Mike Pichetti, the former Regal sales executive who was instrumental in opening up the US market to Regal s tilapia. Tallaksen 2013

18 Rapid progress in North America Fresh, high quality product from Latin America and frozen from Indonesia Major growth of tilapia as pangasius trade was limited over the last decade Now in the top 5 seafood products Led the way for influx of a wide range of qualities, especially from China

19 The fresh tilapia industry started 35 years agofromjamaica Mexico Jamaica Honduras Slide Israel Snir Costa Rica Colombia On Tilapia Sustainability and people - ISTA 9 - CHINA Israel and Yedod Snir Ecuador 19

20 Market segmentation and differentiation

21 ..a wide and increasing range of secondary processing in North America

22 A major challenge-consistent taste Off flavours an increasingly common issue-to unpredictable changes in natural organisms in culture water Can occur in any system Salmon in RAS- its an issue Shrimp its an issue Barramundi- a big issue For tilapias it has been a major factor in market development

23 Market impacts of off-flavours For importers, a bad batch may be unsellable and hurt established business relationships. For retailers and food services, a single bad experience will drastically reduce repeat business Leading to negative perceptions of the fish and can lead to reduced overall demand and Lower Price. Fitzsimmons, 2011

24 China dominating production and export Brazil, 3.80% Thailand, 7.59% Philippines, 9.63% else, 6.65% Colombia, 1.12% Honduras, 1.13% Malaysia, 1.29% Taiwan Province of China, 3.04% China 2007 Egypt Indonesia Philippines Thailand Brazil Taiwan Province of China Malaysia Honduras Colombia else China, 45.25% Indonesia, 9.91% Egypt, 10.61% More than 75% of tilapia globally traded from China

25 Where is tilapia produced in China?

26 Rapid, but recent growth

27 export growth even more recent

28 will the export rise continue?

29 Value-adding?

30 Export nodes

31 Where in Guangdong?

32 The Maoming triangle

33 Mainly ponds, cages constrained by water constraints

34 Intensified pond management

35 Engaging with Chinese stakeholders

36 Mandating taste testing across the sector

37 New entrants in Asia Thailand has a large domestic market for tilapia that has grown and diversified into multiple segments Growth has slowed but export markets need to methods that can produce competitively and without off flavour

38 Action research on off-flavour tilapia Off-flavour is limiting exports and value Quality control is good Supply of on-flavour fish limited Observe Reflect Outsider Expertise Stakeholder Experience Act Workshops with farmers Discussions with processors Pond trials at demonstration farms Plan Explore awareness along supply chain Trial pond system for reducing off-flavours

39 Standards and certification Are they providing the right levers towards greater sustainability? Full-cycle feedlot in cages in pristine tropical lakes compared to pond-based production? Towards standards that are green-water based (learning lessons from shrimp) May need marketing of cream is good

40 Research LU WFC UCPH WU DIIS KU CTU SFU BAU UOS Europe Stakeholders Asia Coordination Action UB CEFAS FAO

41 Understanding and improving sustainability Scoping and boundary setting Current Ethical issues Social and economic impacts Public health Lo impacts Contaminant modelling Life cycle analysis Local environment modelling Improved Policy implications Action research along the value chain Ethical Aquatic Food Index

42 EAFI Certification systems- to support further development Whole value chain approach-lca ++ Holistic approach weighting of values Not another standard but an interactive tool to support standards development and sustainable seafood sourcing

43 Could you use the EAFI? Contribute to the EAFI development contact Jason Weeks Check out progress at Text (on ) or us