Defining Sustainable breeding goals in Aquaculture for the future
Hans Komen(1), Pierrick Haffray(2), Michael New(3) and Anna-elisa Liiamo(4)
(1)Wageningen Agricultural University, (2) SYSAAF, (3) EAS, (4) SEFABAR

Abstract

SEFABAR is a EU-sponsored thematic network that combines the expertise of over 40 scientists and business representatives in animal breeding, reproduction and socio-economics from all over Europe. The working group on aquaculture contains representatives from Belgium (Leuven University), France (INRA, IFREMER, SYSAAF), Great Britain (Stirling), Greece (Selonda), Norway (Akvaforsk, Aquagen), the Netherlands (Wageningen University), Ireland (Nutreco) Spain (CSIC) and the European Aquaculture Society. SEFABAR aims at finding sustainable, economically sound and accepted breeding scenarios for major European farm animal species, including fish. The three-year project was started in 2000.
The common principle for SEFABAR was defined as "Genetics for Future use". The main elements are quality (end-product, safety, healthiness to consumers), diversity (bio-diversity, product diversification to local markets, adaptation and robustness), acceptability (ethical aspects and animal welfare) and economic viability in the short and long term.
In aquaculture, the main priorities are economic viability (high costs of fish production), minimization of environmental impact (escapes and possible interbreeding of domesticated and wild animals) and maintenance of animal integrity (normal physiological and reproductive functions). The main option is to redefine breeding goals for fish into a wider perspective by a) producing animals with a economic productive life without giving signs of disturbed health and welfare in a specific environment and b) by optimizing input/output and feed efficiency with sustainable feed resources. In fish, biotechnologies derived from plant breeding offer exciting possibilities, but before they are implemented, and extended to new traits, good selection criteria have to be defined. Breeding schemes need to cover the wide range of production environments used in aquaculture, to be able to select animals that perform well in a wide range of production circumstances, and to select animals that are best adapted to specific farming environments.