The last edition of the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI) in Chile in 2014 questioned the status and feedback from aquaculture in America, towards a sustainable approach to its development.

1. T
he last edition of the Monaco Blue
Initiative (MBI) in Chile in 2014 ques-
tioned the status and feedback from
aquaculture in America, towards a
sustainable approach to its development.
The 2015 edition held in Monaco at
the Monaco Royal Yacht Club, on June
25-26 2015, pursued these discussions with
experts and decision-makers worldwide on
the theme: Feeding and fueling the world
through sustainable aquaculture.
Whilst it is acknowledged that seafood is
now a source of food and income for one
quarter of the world’s population there is
always pressure on the industry from the
conservation NGOs.
Today, fisheries catch remains stable but
the production of aquaculture continues to
rise.
World production of seafood from aqua-
culture has more than doubled in 12 years,
from 32 million to 67 million tonnes in
2012. With no stopping the global population
increases there is continuous pressure being
applied to ensure sustainable food production.
The MBI program covered the subjects of:
Aquaculture to feed the world?; New fron-
tiers for aquaculture; The struggle between
quantity and quality – the path to sustainable
aquaculture and MPAs and Blue Carbon -
Towards Ocean & Climate.
The program was aiming to get the del-
egates to consider the implications of the
ocean becoming an area for large-scale culti-
vation in terms of environmental protection,
regulation and collaboration.
Indeed, these new challenges once again
highlight the importance of involving scientists,
industrialists, NGOs, etc, to the establishment
of a sustainable production system and make
the best rather than the most of these new
resources.
The day started with H.E.M. Bernard
Fautrier, Plenipotentiary Minister and
CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco
Foundation and Robert Calcagno, CEO of
the Oceanographic Institute, Prince Albert I of
Monaco Foundation, introducing the program.
Moderated by François Simard (Polar and
Marine Program, International Union for the
Conservation of Nature) the first session
included panelists Roy Palmer (Association
of International Seafood Professionals); Doris
Soto (FAO - FIRA); Fabio Massa (GFCM)
the discussion focused on the fact that aqua-
culture is happening, is the fastest growing
primary industry and that the demand for
fish products has increased vastly in the last
few years.
Noting that more than one billion people
in developing countries depend on fish to
survive and 16.5 percent of global protein
consumption is from fish with that likely to
improve in the future.
In order to get an understanding about
the difference between the East and the
West in respect of aquaculture Mr Palmer
quoted Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918-2002),
founder of the International Oceans Institute.
This highlights, he said, the importance of the
industry to the Asian countries and the failure
of the West to come to grips with production.
"That aquaculture has a philosophical base
in the East and a scientific base in the West
has far-reaching implications.
"In the East, it is culture, it is life: culture to
improve life by providing food and employ-
ment. It is embedded in the social and eco-
nomic infrastructure. All that science can and
must do is to make this culture more effective.
"In the West, aquaculture is science and
technology, embodied in industry and provid-
ing profits: money. It has no social infrastruc-
ture. In this, the West has much to learn from
the East." - Elizabeth Mann Borgese (1918-
2002), Seafarm, The Story of Aquaculture,
1980
Aquaculture takes centre stage at
MONACO BLUE INITIATIVE 2015 6TH EDITION
16 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015
FEATURE
We must understand that aquaculture is already bigger than
any other land based farming, so it is important to work with it
through a shared stewardship, rather than campaign against it

2. Insufficient thought to governance
The importance of food security and nutri-
tion was seemingly lost in North America,
EU and Australia with consistent demand on
developing countries to supply the majority of
seafood for those countries.
In fact many countries have not given
sufficient thought to governance and really
understood the difference between wild fish-
ing and aquaculture. This is a failure which
clearly is holding many countries back from
getting involved in aquaculture.
Getting an understanding that the majority
of aquaculture was not about feeding ‘fish-to-
fish,’ was an important issue and was empha-
sised by Mr Palmer highlighting that world
production of Tilapia was now 4,500,000
tonnes per annum which was the equivalent
of 143kg every second of every day.
He pointed out that Tilapia is one of the
oldest species aquacultured yet, as mature as
it is, as a freshwater white flesh species it is still
very much in its infancy on its genetic potential
in comparison to Salmon and all terrestrial
proteins.
The question will be how much the indus-
try will move forward once such knowledge
has been obtained bearing in mind the vol-
umes that are already being harvested. Surely,
this will be ‘chicken’ of the 2050’s, if not earlier,
he asked
Key element in food
security and nutrition
Fish and plants grown in water are a key
element in food security and nutrition and
need to be linked more to their contribution
to reducing hunger and malnutrition and to
supporting livelihoods.
The bio-availability of fish protein is
approximately five-to-15 percent higher than
that from land plant sources. Fish contain sev-
eral amino acids essential for human health,
especially lysine and methionine. The lipid
composition of fish is unique, having long-
chain polyunsaturated fatty acids with many
actual and potential benefits for adult health
and child development.
Adding to this aquaculture for the poor is
such a compelling story that must not be con-
fused with the important but actually smaller
activity of farming fish like Salmon.
Size is not everything
It was stated that small fish are more
important in poorer countries for their nutri-
ents/micro-nutrients. Size is not everything
when it comes to fish.
In fact small fish consumed whole with
bones are massive for vitamins D, A + B,
minerals (calcium, phosphorous, iodine, zinc,
iron and selenium.
There was an interchange with the audi-
ence with the panelists about feed and
feeding ‘fish-to-fish’ and it was highlighted that
carnivorous fish are not carnivorous in captiv-
ity but also in the wild where such fish have
a 10:1 feed ratio where as in aquaculture this
was vastly improved.
Additionally, it was mentioned that fish,
carnivorous or otherwise, in the world have
limited chance of survival which is greatly
enhanced through aquaculture techniques.
Plastic a major challenge
for oceans
A suggestion was that there could be even
greater attention paid to stopping pollution
from land entering the oceans and plastic
was highlighted. Noting that some 3.5 mil-
lion pieces of new plastic enter the world’s
oceans daily and that six million tonnes of
rubbish every year is dumped into the world’s
oceans of which 80 percent is plastic, with an
estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic per square
mile of ocean, we should all make a conscious
effort to change our ways!
Put effort into creating more renewable
bio-degradable packaging (especially use of
algae) and promoting their use instead of
the toxic, non-biodegradable plastics that are
currently in use.
Aquaculture needs good, clean quality
water – it is land that pollutes the oceans not
the other way around!
The future is a shared stewardship but
all of us must understand that aquaculture is
already bigger than any other land based farm-
ing so it is important to work with it, rather
than campaign against it.
It was mentioned that ‘escapes’ are often
used as a deterrent about aquaculture but it
seems to be forgotten by those that use that
issue against aquaculture that one of the great
things about aquaculture is the opportunity
for stock enhancement for various species
around the world.
Enhancing stocks for the wild using the
example of 40 percent of Alaskan ‘wild’
salmon actually coming from the aquacul-
ture hatcheries and Rainbow Trout being
grown by various government hatcheries in
Australia and then released specifically for
recreational fishermen – many of whom are
paying a licence fee for the privilege to fish
the ‘escaped’ fish.
In fact the breeding of endangered species
and ensuring the future of all species is one
of the major advantages of aquaculture. This
July-August 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 17
FEATURE
The juxtaposition of the yacht harbour in Monaco, with its multi-million
dollar vessels, and a wide-ranging debate on how the oceans and
aquaculture might contribute to feeding a growing world population, was
not lost on the 120 delegates attending the 6th the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI)
in Monaco in late June. However, the reality is that the wealthy must do more to
assist those who are food deprived and the MBI, with a keen eye on sustainability
and conservation and under the guidance of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and his
foundation, is taking up that challenge and recognising aquaculture’s vital role

3. along with genetic improvements - as with all animals - by taking the
best and improving product quality and fish performance is actually
where the future of the world’s food is more likely to come from.
Reducing poverty, improving health and increasing sustainability
at the community as well as at a national level needs attention from
capacity building. A need to build capacity from within, a systems
approach based on world’s best practice.
Progress may well be assisted by new technologies but it is really
an innovation in a systems approach which engages the farmer directly
which will have the most effect.
The need to promote healthy diets from sustainable food systems
is essential.
Ending poverty and hunger is not possible unless we place agri-food
systems near the top of the priority list where research is the backbone
but development and transparency the keys to success.
Microalgae to energy
The second panel moderated by Pierre Erwes, B.I.C.A with
panellists: Roger Gilbert publisher of International Aquafeed at
Perendale Publishers; Marc Metian at IAEA; Raphaela Le Gouvello
of SterMor; Roberto Cesari from the European Commission and
Ricardo Haroun from the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria aimed to discuss issues from microalgae to energy produc-
tion to medicinal derivatives, and new and exciting uses of aqua-
culture which are coming to light in the modern age of scientific
discovery and technology.
In respect of key developments for feed Mr Gilbert stated that
much time, effort and research was going into limiting the amount of
fishmeal and fish oil needed for feed production and concepts utilising
insects, worms, algae, hemp, soybeans, and other protein sources we
well advanced.
Identifying food insecurity and where to focus our food production
focus, including fish farming, in Africa and Asia was an important ele-
ment. There’s a relationship - a benchmark if you will - between the
production of scientifically-formulated compound feed and the food
security (or insecurity) of a country, he told his audience. That figure
was 133.5kg of compound feed per head of population – which fed all
livestock including aquaculture.
Many countries had not yet sorted out their governance arrange-
ments for offshore farming, but in countries like Panama companies like
Open Blue Cobia were farming.
Their farm is located in the Costa Arriba region of Panama with the
site located over the horizon in Panama’s Atlantic Ocean, more than
seven miles offshore in the deep, blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Who would have thought we would be growing a species like Cobia
and doing that far offshore?
There is much we can expect from aquaculture in future - in terms
of food, products and energy.
The enormous opportunity of marine ingredients is slowly awaken-
ing yet it already stated the global market for the Blue Economy is over
US$176 billion – this includes biotechnology, bio-plastic, bio-energy,
marine cosmetics and nutraceuticals.
We are only scratching the surface of what can be achieved with
renewable and sustainable products from the oceans/waters of the
world.
Wind farms in the ocean, which are ‘no go’ zones and pushing fish-
ing away from those areas, could be used for grow-outs and therefore
not wasting the space, water or heat.
Aquaculture can work arm-in-arm with energy. Anything in the
water can work with aquaculture - not wasting space or energy.
Increase in demand for aquaculture
The third panel was moderated by Oystein Lie of MarLife and the
panel consisted: John White of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council;
Giuseppe Di Carlo, WWF Mediterranean; Olivier Fourcadet, ESSEC
Business School and Tiago Pitta e Cunha a senior advisor for Marine
and Maritime Policy to the President of Portugal.
The discussions were focused about the increase in demand for
aquaculture and the issue of not sacrificing quality for quantity.
WWF and ASC dominated discussions about standards highlighting
that farmers needed to meet the standards and pay the costs in order
to engage in global business, but failed to discuss issues relating to the
subsistence farmers that relate to many poor countries and how trade
barriers may be created with standards.
Mr White said that ASC had a vision regarding systems and pro-
cesses needing to be in place to aspire all farmers to become certified.
Mr Fourcadet expressed a view that consumer associations needed
to be closer engaged, however, there was some discussion away from
the panel that few consumers are actually members of such associa-
tions.
It was discussed that in the EU young people were interested in
what they eat but that they had limited time to make choices in their
busy lives and there has been poor education on seafood, both fisher-
ies and aquaculture.
The panel expressed a view that people were prepared to pay
more for quality and environmental sustainability.
Conservation and protected areas
The last session was moderated by Sebastien Troeng of
Conservation International and consisted a panel of: Dan Laffoley,
World Commission on Protected Areas & International Union for the
Conservation of Nature; Christophe LeFebvre from the French Marine
Protected Areas Agency and Alasdair Harris of Blue Venture).
This session started with a speech from Tony Burke, Member
of Parliament in Australia. Mr Burke was the former Minister for
Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and
during his time he had created the largest MPA in the world only to see
it thrown out when his political party lost the last election.
Clearly many in the audience were disappointed with the news of
the demise of the MPA activity but likely few of them are Australian
tax payers or fishers/aquaculture farmers so would not be aware of the
costs such activities have cost the Australian public.
Mr Burke said that the good news was that the ocean is the greatest
sink, but, alas, the bad news was also that the ocean was the greatest
sink!
Created upon the initiative of HSH Prince Albert II
of Monaco, the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI) is a
platform for thought and unites International actors
(scientific, economic, political and associative)
sharing a common commitment for the sustainable
management and the preservation of the oceans.
It is co-organized by the Oceanographic Institute,
Foundation Albert I, Prince of Monaco and the
Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
18 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015
FEATURE

4. In words that only a politician could utter, he said he was deter-
mined to get the MPA model back in Australia and that ‘science must
never be the whole story in environmental decisions.’
Blue carbon
The panel discussed Blue Carbon as an interesting answer to some
of the questions of using marine resources towards climate, testing
the true resilience of marine ecosystems, and improving our under-
standing of the link between ocean
and climate.
There were concerns with the onset
of the COP21 in Paris at the end of
2015, on how to prepare for a better
tomorrow in harmony with the oceans
and the path to follow for governments
and private sectors in an efficient man-
agement of this “Blue Capital”.
Sadly, Mr Troeng highlighted
incorrect information on the carbon
footprint of shrimp farms relating to
impacts on mangrove areas (the cor-
rect information can be found at http://
www.eurofishmagazine.com/news/329-
usa-gaa-counters-scientists-calculation-
of-shrimp-farmings-carbon-footprint).
Mr Laffoley stressed his concerns
about COP21 and the need for urgent
actions but with such meetings being
very well orchestrate months out to
meet various government protocols it
would seem that major changes are
unlikely.
Mr Harris showed an inspirational
video of the work that his organisation has been involved in Madagascar
which highlighted the importance of mangrove areas and the need to
enhance them.
Following another video connection Geraldo Alckmin, Governor of
Sao Paulo, it was confirmed that following negotiations MBI 2016 would
be held in July 2016 in the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo.
The event was finalised with an address by HSH Prince Albert II of
Monaco.
Moderater François Simard of the Polar and Marine Program, International Union for the Conservation of
Nature manages the first of four panels which included panellists: Roy Palmer, Association of International
Seafood Professionals; Doris Soto, FAO - FIRA; Fabio Massa, GFCM) discussing aquaculture as the fastest
growing primary industry
July-August 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 19
FEATURE
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