Sustainable Aquaculture IV

Marine Biodiversity Protection

• Environmental integration: The Company’s facilities are harmoniously integrated into the Alvor Natura 2000 bird sanctuary waterway. The fishponds are old, converted salt ponds dug in the ground and built with native materials. The facilities were designed to blend with the natural environment of the estuary’s ecosystem, mindful of the local flora and fauna, including the farm’s neighbouring birds. Aerial cables were removed and replaced with under and on-ground cables. The ponds were covered with nets to keep both fish and birds safe.
• Ecosystem equilibrium: The farm’s operations promote ecosystem equilibrium. Water from all 19 of the farm’s ponds is completely renewed each day with the tidal exchange. Water released back into the estuary is rich in nutrients that promote the development of microalgae that feed the shellfish farmed elsewhere in the estuary and provide nutrients as head of a complete chain. Equilibrium is maintained by the symbiotic activity of fish and shellfish farming in the same ecosystem.
• Water quality: Ponds and waterways were designed for efficient water management and 100% water renovation every 24 hours with the tidal exchange. Critical variables such as water quality, flow, renovation, and oxygenation are actively monitored, managed, and controlled 24/7. Constant water renovation allows for dilution of excrements expelled by the fish, which at low levels of concentration are naturally used as nutrients with minimal impact on the ecosystem.
• Sustainable feed: NaturaFish has a strong commitment to the use of sustainable animal feed. In partnership with Aquasoja, the Company is leading the development of a new type of feed for improved digestibility that uses a higher percentage of fishing industry byproducts, thus minimizing waste released by its fish and avoiding the killing of wild fish to use as feed. The Company is also using vegetable sources and alternative omega-3 and fatty acids sources for feed production. In addition to supplemental feed, fish raised in the NaturaFish estuary ponds benefit from the live feed that comes in naturally with each tidal exchange, twice daily. This combination of supplemental and natural feed gives the fish superior organoleptic qualities, such as taste, texture, colour, and form.

Animals wellbeing promotion

The fish swim freely in large, one-ha ponds dug in the estuary where they grow naturally as wild. Water oxygen levels are carefully monitored and controlled. Supplemental feed (in addition to the live feed that comes in naturally with the tidal exchange) is delivered automatically, following a careful plan that takes into account various factors, such as size, lifecycle stage, climate, and growth. Different feed formulas are used in response to different pathological risks. Water quality, the main driver of disease prevention, is carefully monitored and is maintained primarily through constant renovation. Essential oils are used to treat certain health conditions and as anaesthetics to numb the fish to reduce handling stress, during sampling, for instance. Finally, special techniques are used to cause minimal stress during harvest, resulting in minimal animal suffering and release of low levels of adrenaline, as well as improved preservation of natural flavours and increased shelf life while fresh.

An alternative to the importation of fish raised in high-density cages

Europe suffers from a huge seafood supply/demand imbalance. Ninety percent of the seabass and seabream consumed in Portugal is imported, primarily from large-scale aquaculture production in Greece, Spain, and Turkey. Industrial-scale aquaculture, using high-density cages offshore, although efficient, does not meet minimum standards of sustainability and animal welfare. European seabass and gilthead seabream grow naturally in the wild in estuaries and inlets, not offshore in the open sea. NaturaFish answers to this supply/demand imbalance in a sustainable way, producing 500 tons of fish annually.

Employment promotion 

The Company will create 19 direct jobs (and many more indirect jobs) as it reaches stabilization. These are permanent, year-round jobs in a region that is highly dependent on seasonal tourism. The NaturaFish Team includes specialists in marine biology, pharmacy, nutrition, and ocean sciences. The Company is conducting R&D in partnership with various entities from industry, government, and academia, including highly skilled professionals, several of them with PhDs.

Viveiros da Espargueira Lda was founded in 2005. From that date to 2018, the company used the existing infrastructure to produce shrimps and did some tank improvements with the goal of adapting it to sea bass and bream farming. However, during this period the production was residual, and therefore the facilities ended up neglected.

In June 2018, the company started a new project with the goal of becoming a National reference in Aquaculture, NaturaFish. In that year, It developed a profound renovation of its facilities and have introduced the first alevins in September of that same year. Due to the 2-year cycle of production, the first sales occurred in June 2020.

NaturaFish was created to meet the growing global demand for natural, sustainable aquaculture by becoming Portugal’s leader in the farming of valuable local species for which demand exceeds biologically sustainable fishing levels, such as European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Its farming methods ensure animal wellbeing and create a positive environmental impact.

Location, experience, technology and innovation are success keys, working with nature, not against it.

NaturaFish’s first site is a 19-ha, salt-water, natural-pond farm in the Alvor estuary, in the Algarve southern province of Portugal. The farm is located 2.6 km from the river mouth. The farm’s ponds are part of the estuary and benefit from the natural water renovation occurring with the tidal exchange. Since there is no runoff from intensive agriculture or other industrial land uses upriver, the water quality in Alvor is excellent – clean and nutrient rich – key features in the raising of natural seabass and seabream, which feed on what the tide naturally brings with each water renovation. Salinity levels, water renovation, biodiversity, nutrition, weather, and other environmental conditions are all ideal for the farming of European seabass and gilthead seabream, which as wild fish are a part of the estuary ecosystem.

The Alvor farm is a parcel fully licensed for aquaculture inside a bird sanctuary that is part of Natura 2000, the EU network of nature protection areas. The heightened level of environmental protection that comes from being inside the Natura 2000 park ensures the long-term preservation of the environment surrounding the farm, including biodiversity and water quality, both key to the production of natural fish. Effectively, the Natura 2000 designation offers environmental insurance protection that substantially increases the value of the site.

NaturaFish’s proprietary farm management system gathers data from each pond allowing its team to remotely monitor and in some cases control water renovation, oxygen levels, temperature, feeding activity, and pathogens. The system is accessible via a proprietary mobile app allowing for 24/7 remote monitoring and management. Automatic SMS notifications inform of changes in conditions requiring the attention of a human. E.g., unusual changes in water temperature, water levels, feeding activity, or the suspected presence of pathogens.

Presets direct the system to automatically respond to changes in conditions in each individual pond without human intervention. For example, when oxygen concentration falls below a certain preset level, the system fires off the respective oxygen pumps until adequate oxygen concentration levels are restored to within acceptable limits, at which point the pumps are automatically disconnected. The system notifies the team of the occurrence – the change in conditions as well as any action taken.

The NaturaFish team has decades of experience in natural pond farming in Portugal’s clean inlets and estuaries.