Aquabench plant. (Photo: Aquabench)
Aquabench reports better productivity and low mortality in 2017
CHILE
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 00:10 (GMT + 9)
Aquabench reported an increase in productivity for the three species farmed in 2017 compared with the previous year, which was mainly associated with the reduction of mortality, better growth and, as a result, increase in harvested kilos as well as transferred smolt.
The firm pointed out that Atlantic salmon had a 13.0 per cent of accumulated mortality in closed groups in 2017, 54 per cent less than the previous year. It highlighted that the difference that can be explained mainly by the low presence of algae bloom, compared with 2016.
In the case of rainbow trout and coho salmon, accumulated mortality also reduced in 2017, reaching 9.6 per cent (versus 15.3 per cent in 2016) and 6.9 per cent (versus 13.8 per cent in 2016), respectively.
The analysis shows that 2017 productivity balance includes a total amount of dead fish equivalent to 20.7 million during the growout stage. 20 per cent of this mortality was caused by infections.
In 2017, there was an average increase of 6 per cent in smolt stocking, in relation to the previous year, reaching a total amount of 203.9 million smolt transferred to the sea compared with 191.7 recorded during 2016 for the three species farmed.
The information shows that, at the end of 2017 (December), there was an increase of 4 per cent (compared with the previous year) of the number of live fish, with an estimation of a total of 184 million fish (considering the 3 species). This positive variation can be greatly explained by Atlantic salmon, which showed an increase of 6 per cent in the number of live fish in December 2017, compared with the same month of the previous year.
Rainbow trout and coho salmon showed a slight reduction of the number of live fish, reaching 23.8 million in the case of rainbow trout and 12.9 million in coho salmon at the end of December 2017.
Regarding living biomass during the growout stage, the analysis reveals an increase of 15 per cent in relation to December 2016, with a total of 385,500 tons at the end of 2017 for the three species.
The low presence of algae bloom during 2017 was reflected in the increase of productivity in Atlantic salmon, which reached 4.23 kg (at the end of 2017) harvested per smolt transferred to the sea, amount that is 26 per cent higher than the amount registered in 2016.
In the case of rainbow trout, an improvement in productivity of 21 per cent was also observed, reaching 2.65 kg harvested per smolt, whereas for coho salmon, it increased 11 per cent, reaching 3.03 kg harvested per smolt.
The firm informed that the total biomass harvested by the whole industry for the three species in 2017 reached 732 thousand tons (WFE), amount which is 16 per cent higher than the previous year.
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