Page 19 - Vol.36-No.6 issue

FISHERIES

nologies such as genome editing could
be used to introduce desirable traits,
such as disease resistance, into farmed
species, and surrogate breeding could
be employed to support production of
preferred species and also select only

troduce more farmed production. The Also the system of the potential of fish
international organizations like Global and shellfish production significantly parts of a fish desired for consump-
Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is reputed enhanced through advances in genetics tion just like if this system is applied on
in establishing certified standards for and biotechnology. The potential of fish breeding only chicken breasts or legs
“Best Aquaculture Practices (BAS)”. In and shellfish production (shrimps al- rather than the whole animal. With these
the meantime, aquaculture production is ready grown in Saudi Arabia and Egypt) and more innovations in aquaculture
expanding using un-conventional meth- to feed a growing global population may soon overtake production of sea-
ods like aquaponics (farming fish with could be significantly enhanced through food from fishing in the wild.
agriculture products), farming in the advances in genetics and biotechnology. Finally, it may be concluded that con-
arid deserts (already done in Egypt and suming seafood either wild or farmed
Saudi Arabia), marine ranching, fish fat- has many advantages to consumer’s
tening specially high value tuna species health wellbeing, to fishermen and fish
(used in sushi dishes) as well as Atlan- farmers, traders, the environment and if
tic Salmon (already exist in U.A.E.) and fishing and fish farming are practiced in
also sturgeon fish for its caviar. (A first clean and unpolluted waters, safe mar-
attempt to farm sturgeon was in U.A.E.) keting and delivery conditions and the
Other innovations include the use of ro- production is sustainably carried out
bots to run farms. should lead to consumption that satisfies
demand for seafood for present and fu-
ture generations.

Some aquaculture species can produce
offspring, and large populations with
improved genetics can be bred quickly
for improved production performance.
Species can enable careful selection of a
farming population with desirable traits,
and monitoring genomic variation will
help maintain genetic diversity as farm
populations develop. In the future, tech-
Furthermore, the latest innovation
in aquaculture production is in the ad-
vancement in aquaculture research and
development is “cellular aquaculture”
in which living cells are isolated from
fish tissue, placed into culture media for
proliferation, and then assembled into
great-tasting fresh and frozen seafood
products. This novel technology ena-
bles production of a broad array of ma-
rine species, initially focusing on finfish
including red snapper and some tuna
species like yellowtail. The technology
promises to produce same taste, tex-
ture, and performance as conventional
seafood in all cooking and preparation
methods. The developers of this innova-
tion insure public health, environmental
challenges as well as animal health.
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Vol. 36 No. 6 17