Middle East focus – Israel
BY IGAL MAGEN
Bridging the gap X
Aquaculture is becoming an increasing- ly important source of animal protein — and the only way to meet the grow- ing demand for fish – but while most
agricultural methods for producing protein have undergone huge technological advances and industrialisation to increase production, aq- uaculture has remained largely underdeveloped. The BioFishency team have more than 20
years’ experience in the aquaculture industry worldwide, giving us an in-depth understanding of the tremendous potential aquaculture holds for global food security and many insights into the industry. We came to the conclusion that technology was the key to leveraging the potential growth of aquaculture production, and we identified what we term as a ‘technology gap’. On the one hand, the Recirculating Aquacul-
ture System (RAS) is a fish growing method which gives very high yields (120kg/m3) and uses small land and water resources, due to very advanced, sophisticated but expensive technology.
On the other hand, the extensive and inten-
sive aquaculture methods which produce rela- tively low yields of 2-30kg/m3 (extensive-inten- sive respectively), use water and land resources inefficiently, and have had almost no technologi- cal innovation during the past decades. However, high-end technology is not available to the 70 per cent of growers without the resources to finance such expensive solutions. We were interested in examining the spec- trum between the high-end technology and the lowest tech points/edges. For most of the aquaculture in the world, which occurs in developing countries, the expensive RAS growing method is irrele- vant. Therefore, the extensive and intensive aquaculture methods need new technological
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Israeli firm hopes to export its aquaculture expertise by bringing high end technology to low cost projects in the developing world
solutions to make fish farmers more profitable and productive. We sought a simple-to-operate, cost-effective technology, which would increase yields and save resources and expenses (water and land). We defined the solution to fit small to large scale aquaculture farms. Our challenge was to develop a system with high-end technological capabilities, yet acces- sible and viable to all fish farmers, even those with limited infrastructure and resources. The BioFishency system makes use of multi- ple known water treatment methods combined together into one product: an all-in-one water treatment system. The system overcomes two key aquaculture challenges: limited water availability and build- up of toxic ammonia (excreted by the fish). The system biologically treats the water used to eliminate the ammonia build-up and oxygenates the water. This substantially cuts the amount of water needed.
By enhancing water conditions, the system
improves the overall ability of the fish to survive, grow, and reproduce, which significantly increases profitability and sustainability. At our pilot sites we have proven that our system can reduce water use by 85 per cent and increase yields by 2.5X. BioFishency’s water treatment system for land-based aquaculture addresses the challenge of developing cost-effective equipment for aquaculture production with limited or basic installed infrastructure. With BioFishency’s plug-and-play water treatment system, both extensive and intensive farms can increase yields and save water and land, with minimal investment. The Community Fish Farming Initiative This is offered by BioFishency, together with Upgrade Solutions, and offers a commercially
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;
teach a man to grow fish and you feed him for a lifetime
”
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