ae2015 rotterdam- october 22- diversify session
During the Aquaculture Europe 2015 conference, DIVERSIFY project had a special session day, Thursday 22th October. Major achivements in meagre culture obtained during 2014 and 2015 were presented by the species leader Alicia Estévez (IRTA), with results from the work of Neil Duncan, Cindy Campoverde, Karl Andree, Ana Roque, Enric Gisbert (IRTA), Juan Manuel Afonso, Lidia Robaina, Marisol Izquierdo (FCPCT), Costas Tsigenopoulos, Contastinos Mylonas, Nikos Papandroulakis, Pantelis Katharios, Stavros Chatzifotis, Yiannis Papadakis, Maria Ioanna Tsertou (HCMR).
Advances in Meagre (Argyrosomus regius) Research in 2014.

The advances on the culture of the species wihtin the DIVERSIFY project, are compiled in this article. It has been published in the Aquaculture Europe magazine, March issue 2015. Click here to read the full article
justification for the selection of meagre
The meagre is found in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and along the eastern Atlantic coast (Haffray et al., 2012). It has attractive attributes for the market that include large size, good processing yield, low fat content, excellent taste and firm texture (Monfort, 2010). The species also has the biological characteristics required for commercial aquaculture using well-established culture technologies (Papadakis et al., 2013). These characteristics include a fast growth of ~1 Kg per year (Duncan et al., 2013), a low feed conversion ratio of 0.9-1.2 (Monfort, 2010; Duncan et al., 2013) –which is similar to the Atlantic salmon-, relatively easy larval rearing (Roo et al., 2010; Vallés & Estévez, 2012) and established induced spawning protocols for the production of viable eggs (Duncan et al., 2012). Meagre was first produced in 1997 in a commercial hatchery in France and since then it has exhibited annual production increases as high as 7 fold (FAO, 2012). In 2010, European meagre aquaculture production was 2,387 t, mainly in Spain, with smaller quantities from France, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Croatia (FAO, 2012).
The survey of meagre producers identified four principal bottlenecks to the expansion of the industry. Firstly, variable growth rates --whose exact cause is not obvious-- are reducing greatly yield (Duncan et al., 2013). A multidisciplinary approach is required in order to examine the role of genetics, nutrition --particularly dietary requirements during weaning, pre-ongrowing and in cage culture-- feeding behaviour and grow out husbandry. Secondly, the distribution of this fish only in specific areas in the Mediterranean region has resulted in the acquisition of broodstocks from a limited number of sources (mainly a hatchery in France), resulting perhaps in a limited genetic variation of the available broodstocks. This will have significant negative implications for the future initiation of breeding selection programs, which are necessary to move the industry to the next level of efficiency and production. Thirdly, the industry must address issues in fish health, emerging diseases, parasites (Toksen et al., 2007; Merella et al., 2009; Ternengo et al., 2010; Koyuncu et al., 2012) and the wide occurrence of Systemic Granulomas (Elkesh et al., 2012), which may stem from the fact that no diets have been developed for this fish. Finally, socioeconomic factors have been identified as bottlenecks, including the need for a more expanded market and diversification of provided products (Monfort, 2010) beyond the whole fresh fish. National initiatives for meagre domestication are underway in Spain and Greece, coordinated by Partners of the consortium, and DIVERSIFY will build on the acquired information by targeting specific issues recognized as bottlenecks for further production.
The survey of meagre producers identified four principal bottlenecks to the expansion of the industry. Firstly, variable growth rates --whose exact cause is not obvious-- are reducing greatly yield (Duncan et al., 2013). A multidisciplinary approach is required in order to examine the role of genetics, nutrition --particularly dietary requirements during weaning, pre-ongrowing and in cage culture-- feeding behaviour and grow out husbandry. Secondly, the distribution of this fish only in specific areas in the Mediterranean region has resulted in the acquisition of broodstocks from a limited number of sources (mainly a hatchery in France), resulting perhaps in a limited genetic variation of the available broodstocks. This will have significant negative implications for the future initiation of breeding selection programs, which are necessary to move the industry to the next level of efficiency and production. Thirdly, the industry must address issues in fish health, emerging diseases, parasites (Toksen et al., 2007; Merella et al., 2009; Ternengo et al., 2010; Koyuncu et al., 2012) and the wide occurrence of Systemic Granulomas (Elkesh et al., 2012), which may stem from the fact that no diets have been developed for this fish. Finally, socioeconomic factors have been identified as bottlenecks, including the need for a more expanded market and diversification of provided products (Monfort, 2010) beyond the whole fresh fish. National initiatives for meagre domestication are underway in Spain and Greece, coordinated by Partners of the consortium, and DIVERSIFY will build on the acquired information by targeting specific issues recognized as bottlenecks for further production.