Shrimp producers seek feed solutions

The Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) has held the first meeting of its feed working group in Machala, Ecuador this month.

The new group aims to improve the sustainability of the shrimp farming sector and work with the wider supply chain to find and integrate future solutions. It was agreed that, as a first activity, the group will review and give comments to the draft of the feed standard of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). ASC certification is one of the requirements members need to meet the quality standards promoted by the SSP initiative; alongside zero use of antibiotics and traceability.

SSP looks to work with companies in a pre-competitive way on subjects that require joint solutions, as they believe this will drive environmental and sustainable improvements much faster than working alone.

José Antonio Camposano, SSP representative, declared: "We can improve the productivity and even the sustainability indexes of shrimp farming through animal nutrition, and at the same time strengthen the shrimp’s immune system. Feed ingredients therefore are an integral element as we look to the future sustainability of the industry, and why we have chosen this as one of our first places to start working together."

“The SSP is the first time in the shrimp industry there is a platform of producers who are looking to support innovations, support environmental improvements, and are willing to work with the supply chain to bring these into production,” commented Carlos Miranda, general manager of Skretting Ecuador. “Ecuador is a good place for this to start given our recent growth there, but we look forward to seeing SSP take this work further”.

The group brought together a group of leading companies from the aquafeed industry including Agripac, Balnova, BioMar, Inprosa, Skretting and Vitapro, and discussed how they could help achieve the SSP’s vision to provide a healthy, high quality and sustainable product while minimising environmental impact.

The meeting was sponsored by the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC), who share the group’s vision, and are also working to ensure the sustainable sourcing of feed ingredients.