Saving Seafood

Michael Rubino takes on new role as NOAA Fisheries’ senior advisor for seafood strategy

April 30, 2019 — Dr. Michael Rubino has been appointed as the new senior advisor for seafood strategy at NOAA Fisheries, the agency announced on 29 April.

Rubino, who has served as the director of the Office of Aquaculture at NOAA Fisheries since 2011, will be in charge of leading the development of markets for U.S. fisheries products and oversee the expansion of new domestic aquaculture production in his new role. With a plethora of experience in seafood production and the science behind it, Rubino is an ideal fit for the new expanded position, according to NOAA Fisheries.

“We are thrilled that Michael is stepping into this new, expanded role,” Dr. Paul Doremus, the deputy assistant administrator for operations at NOAA Fisheries, said in a press release. “He has a wealth of experience leveraging partnerships across the seafood spectrum and will now play an even bigger role in the expansion of U.S. seafood production, economic growth, and new jobs.”

There will be two major responsibilities in store for Rubino as NOAA Fisheries’ new senior advisor for seafood strategy: First being to expand U.S. aquaculture production by forming partnerships with seafood companies, fishermen, seafood famers, scientists, government agencies, tribes, and others to support the adoption of sustainable aquaculture practices nationally; and secondly, helping to develop new markets for U.S. wild-capture fisheries, the agency said. To help fulfill these core responsibilities, Rubino will work closely with the Office of Aquaculture as it continues to lead the NOAA Fisheries’ work on aquaculture, and the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, as it continues to focus on market access and international trade.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA is pro-aquaculture, but won’t weigh in on salmon farm ban

March 13, 2018 — BOSTON — Don’t look for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to challenge the recent decision by Washington state to end salmon farming off its coast. The federal government’s hands are tied, said a senior NOAA official at the Seafood Expo North America, in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sunday afternoon.

“We do have separation of powers in the United States between the federal government and the state government,” said Michael Rubino, NOAA’s director of aquaculture, when asked. “And this was largely a state government matter.”

Washington state governor Jay Inslee is expected to soon sign House Bill 2957, a bill passed by the state’s Senate, 31-16, on March 2 that would allow the leases for offshore aquaculture facilities there to expire by 2025. The state’s House voted roughly two weeks earlier to support the bill.

Washington state’s dramatic action followed the much-publicized escape, in August, of more than 250,000 Atlantic salmon from a Cooke Aquaculture facility near Cypress Island.

When asked if NOAA might weigh in, Rubino simply responded that NOAA doesn’t have a say in the matter.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Aquaculture And Marine Ingredients Video Premieres At IFFO Annual Conference

October 7, 2015 — After decades of growth, the aquaculture industry continues to expand as a crucial segment of the global seafood market, and sustainably harvested fish meal and fish oil are fueling this growth. In a new video produced by Saving Seafood and released in partnership with IFFO, the trade association representing the marine ingredients industry, and Omega Protein, aquaculture industry leaders and experts discuss the future of fish meal, fish oil and farmed seafood. The video, which premiered on 28th September at IFFO’s Annual Conference in Berlin, is also being made available to the public.

View the video, “A Closer Look at Aquaculture and Marine Ingredients,” here

“People talk about fish meal replacements; there really aren’t fish meal replacements, because no one ingredient is going to have everything that fish meal has,” said Dr. Rick Barrows, a Fish Nutritionist at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Fish Technology Center in Bozeman, Montana.

Fish meal and fish oil are irreplaceable because they are some of the best sources of the proteins and essential nutrients that are vital to healthy farmed fish. Some of these nutrients, especially omega-3 fatty acids, are an increasingly important part of human diets as well, having been linked to improved heart health and better brain function.

“You and I, like fish, need 40 essential micronutrients,” says Dr. Michael Rubino, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Office of Aquaculture. “Forage fish, in the form of fish meal and fish oil happens to be the perfect combination of those micronutrients.”

Read the full story at IFFO