Symposium in Phuket Presents Exciting New Discoveries in Aquatic Animal Nutrition The International Symposium on Nutrition and Feeding in Fish was held in Phuket, Thailand from May 3 to 6, 2004. The biannual event held for the eleventh time had more than 400 participants, a significant number of them scientists from leading research institutions worldwide. A total of 86 papers were presented orally and another 161 as posters. A number of papers were on the nutrition of crustaceans and mollusks dispelling the notion derived from the meeting’s title that it is exclusively a forum for fish nutrition research. The meeting was organized into eight sessions ranging from conventional topics such as nutrient requirements and utilization to cutting-edge topics such as food safety. Some of the interesting findings from the symposium on food safety are covered in this issue elsewhere. An exciting topic that was given prompt and due attention in the symposium was the fast strides made by scientists in understanding the molecular basis of metabolism. Aquatic animal nutrition has lagged behind terrestrial animal nutrition, but the discoveries presented at the symposium point to the fact that it would soon catch up with other animal nutrition disciplines. The ability to pinpoint genes that code for key enzymes in metabolic pathways and study their expression is helping to unravel mysteries in nutrient metabolism, as well as to meet the nutrition-related challenges in aquaculture. Scientists1 from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology reported that transgenic zebra fish that were incorporated with a salmon gene involved in fatty acid synthesis had higher levels of HUFA compared to their non-transgenic counterparts. The finding points to the possibility that we would one day have aquatic animals that do not require as much HUFA in their diets as they do today. There were several reports on the physiological and metabolic consequences of fish oil replacement that were results of studies under RAFOA, an EU funded project. Scientists2 from the Aberdeen University reported that they are attempting to use protein expression in the liver as a tool to study the response of fish to diet at the molecular level (A study undertaken under PEPPA, an EU funded project, coordinated by Dr. Sadasivam Kaushik). If their work succeeds, we will be able to very quickly understand not only the effect of a certain nutrient or ingredient on growth, but also the molecular mechanism of that effect. No doubt it will create a paradigm shift in aquatic animal nutrition and feeds research. In a rare gesture of honor, the symposium organizers presented life-time achievement awards to five outstanding researchers in fish nutrition. The recipients were Dr. Takashi Watanabe (Japan), Dr. C. Young Cho (Canada), Dr. John E. Halver (USA), Dr. Robert P. Wilson (USA) and Dr. Mali Boonyaratpalin (Thailand). At a time when there are too many conferences, symposia and workshops to choose from, the International Symposium for Fish Nutrition and Feeding stands out as a clear choice for anyone serious about aquatic animal nutrition. It is expected that the next symposium will be held at Biarritz in Southwestern France by the Fish Nutrition group of INRA in June 2006. The full papers of the present symposium are expected to be published in Aquaculture in 2005.
Recipients of life-time achievement awards with Dr. Sitdhi Boonyaratpalin, the Director General of Fisheries, Thailand (From left to right, Drs. R.P. Wilson, J.E. Halver, M. Boonyaratpalin, S. Boonyaratpalin, T. Watanabe and C.Y. Cho). Photo Courtesy: Dr. Wing-Keong Ng. Dr. Supis Thongrod
New improvements in the Alabama lab to enable nutrition research on marine species
Dr. Allen Davis
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON AQUATIC NUTRITION Dates: November 16-19, 2004 The biannual International Symposium on Aquatic Nutrition started in 1993 as a forum for topics related to shrimp nutrition, particularly with respect to Latin America. The species and regional focus has gradually expanded over the past six meetings. The forthcoming symposium aims to have a truly global focus. It will maintain the original format, where oral presentations are given by invited speakers on specific themes. This will be complimented by a poster session on original research work and an oral presentation of each poster. Simultaneous English-Spanish and Spanish-English translations will be provided. What are your favorite resources, online and offline? Write to us at victor@feedware.com. |
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Dr. Supis Thongrod is a Senior Fisheries Biologist with the Department of Fisheries in Thailand and is the Director of its Coastal Aquatic Feed Research Institute. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Fisheries Science at the Kasetsart University in Thailand and her Master’s and Ph.D. at the Tokyo University of Fisheries in Japan. Her area of research includes crustacean nutrition and development of feeds for abalone. She was instrumental in the organizational aspects of the recently concluded 11th International Symposium on Nutrition and Feeding in Fish. Dr. Thongrod can be contacted at 
The Claude Peteet Mariculture Center (CPMC) in Gulf Shores, AL, is a state research facility operated by the Alabama Marine Resources Division. Applied research is conducted in co-operation with Auburn University, Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures. This brackish water facility was originally built in 1973, but has been steadily expanding. The most recent expansion includes a new tank system and the installation of a seawater line to bring in oceanic seawater to the facility. Although the facility has worked with a number of brackish water species (e.g. hybrid stripped bass, trout, red drum, red snapper, bait shrimp, bull minnows) over the years, having a dedicated full strength seawater source will further expand the facility’s ability to rear marine species. In addition to state of the art maturation and spawning systems, one of the greatest resources of the CPMC is 35 (0.11 hectare) lined ponds that provide great potential for replicated research. Pond research allows proof of principals to be demonstrated under commercial pilot scale conditions. Unfortunately, pond production research is often quite limited because it is expensive to run more then 4-5 replicates. Due to the high inherent variability between ponds, quite often biologically meaningful trends or proof of principles are found but statistically significant difference (P < 0.1) are lacking. As expanding the number of replicates is often cost prohibitive, we have added a series of 24, 1 m3 circular tanks that have been arranged as a semi-flow through system using pond water. Such systems are often called green water systems or micro-habitats as they are intended to mimic pond systems and the natural productivity they contain but minimize the variability by standardizing water quality. The new system will be run side by side with the ponds to allow further replication with minimal increases in costs. The addition of this system is expected to not only support the results found in the production ponds but also allow for statistically valid results without excessive costs. Dr. Allen Davis and his team plan to test the system by studying the response of the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei to various levels of dietary protein fed at different feeding rates.
The newly established green water system will help in conducting field trials cost effectively.
Dr. D. Allen Davis (e-mail: 