Aquaculture to feed the world

"Almost 55% of the fish that we consume comes from aquaculture"

"IRTA has a strategic aquaculture research program"

The increased demand for seafood products can no longer be sustained by traditional fisheries. The seas are close to their production capacity and we want more. The population is increasing, an extraordinary effort is being made so that we can guarantee that food reaches everyone in the world in the upcoming years. And the only way of guaranteeing this food is through a process we call aquaculture. Aquaculture is thus contributing to guaranteeing safe, healthy and sustainable products which are respectful to the environment.

We have to work hard on creating new diets, incorporating new principal ingredients, new forms of nourishment, and new raw materials, all in a sustainable manner.

Xavier Córdoba, Director of Animal Nutrition, Bioibérica 

A few years Bioibérica started developing natural ingredients such as nucleotides and hydrolysed proteins to be able to help animals which have recently been growing on farms, such as fish and crustaceans, to overcome the problems that their immune and digestive systems have in order to resist the stress due to the new environment and to the new diets they are exposed to.

Ecuador's Mar y Cielo fishery is the third largest shrimp exporter in the world

Jorge Vizcaíno, production manager of the Mar y Cielo fishery  

We're also concerned about providing good feed. As such we have sought out partnerships with Bioibérica where they have given us a product which at the moment is providing great results: Nucleotides. We started with tests on the raceways to see how the animals expressed themselves or what response they gave us by including nucleotides. At the start, the results were very good, both due to an improved digestive tract, an improved lipid quality, and a much more formed animal, while in the same period of time, we gained an extra size compared to their brothers.

Cristóbal Aguilera, Aquaculture Innovation Manager of IRTA

Through nutrition and managing all the productive parameters, we improve animal health, we make them healthier, more resistant, and stronger, so that they can better withstand the conditions.