There are many positive reasons to choose farmed fish and prawns over wild varieties:

- In many cases, wild fish stocks are threatened by overfishing, habitat loss and other changes. With aquaculture, we can respect their number.
- We know exactly what farmed fish have eaten and the level of control over the ingredients, while we have no control over wild fish or the possible contaminants they have consumed or to which they have been exposed.
- We can monitor health and welfare and, in many cases, ensure ethical collection practices.
- Wild fish stocks cannot meet the demands of our growing world population for seafood, while aquaculture offers a viable and sustainable solution to meet future food needs.

Regardless of whether it has been caught or grown, fish and shrimp are a fantastic source of high-quality protein and valuable vitamins and minerals. This food group is also the best source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which are essential to human health.

At Dibaq Aquaculture we focus on total proximity to our customers, seeking long-term strategic relationships in multiple aspects, not only related to food. In this way, thanks to our experience and our close collaboration with Derwent Engineering, we offer solutions to technical problems in the farming of fish and crustaceans. We advise on future investments facilitating the vertical integration of business and even carrying out turnkey engineering projects in both the production of fish (traditional or RAS) and feed.

Likewise, through the Animal Nutrition, Health and Welfare service, we facilitate health management for our customers worldwide.

Regulations governing the collection and processing of seafood for human consumption are among the strictest in the world. Aquaculture standards have been developed for many years and high-quality fish and shrimp feed is a prerequisite for the industry.

To minimise industry exposure to risk, at Dibaq Aquaculture we have implemented dynamic quality assurance and controls at every stage of our production cycles. These controls have been developed in such a way that all potential risks associated with the production of aquaculture feed are minimised and any irregularities are detected and acted upon quickly.

In addition to auditing all of our internal operations, all of our suppliers undergo a comprehensive evaluation and approval process to ensure the supply of resources that are renewable, responsibly managed and top quality. Thorough analysis of all approved raw materials is then carried out both at the time of delivery and throughout the formulation process and to the point where the feed is delivered to our customers.

We can also track individual batches of raw materials to the farm where they were produced. This unique concept allows our customers and end consumers to have full confidence and assurance with respect to the feed used by the aquaculture industry.

Fish and prawns are extremely efficient in converting feed into high-quality proteins.

In fact, fish are the most efficient animals to produce, since the feed conversion rate or FCR is very low (the amount of feed an animal needs to gain a kilogram of body weight). On average, farmed fish need 1.1 kg of feed to gain 1 kg of body mass, compared with 1.7 kg for poultry and 6.6 kg for livestock.

Through a comprehensive understanding of specific nutritional needs, Atlantic salmon is currently the most efficient animal to produce, with the lowest FCR. Normally, this species needs 1.15 kg of feed to gain 1 kg of body weight. Pigs need more than twice as much feed as salmon to earn 1 kg, while sheep need to eat almost six times more.

Fish also has a high crop yield in comparison to other farm animals. Crop yield is the percentage of the animal that remains after removing the inedible parts. For example, Atlantic salmon has a total yield of 86%. In comparison, chicken has a crop yield of only 47%.

The ingredients we choose to make our formulations may contain up to 60 products to ensure a complete and balanced nutritional profile. We may highlight the following:

- SUSTAINABLE wild-caught fish and crustaceans for ingredients such as fishmeal, crustacean meal and fish oil.

- Agricultural crops such as wheat gluten, corn gluten, soya bean flour, soya bean protein concentrate, rapeseed flour, sunflower flour, lupine flour and fava bean flour.

- By-products of farm land animals such as poultry meal, feather meal, blood meal and bird oil.

- By-products of fish and crustaceans caught in nature, such as fishmeal and crustacean meal.

- By-products of farmed fish and crustaceans, such as fishmeal, crustacean meal, fish oil and salmon oil.

- New ingredients such as insect meal or seaweed oil.

- Microingredients, including vitamin and mineral premixtures, probiotics, nutraceuticals and pigments

We work proactively to fully understand the complexities of all new alternatives from the following perspectives: sustainability, nutrition, quality and safety, regulatory and financial. For us, flexibility is essential.

Novel ingredients are unconventional feeds of plant or animal origin. Throughout the world, the R&D focus on these ingredients has increased with the aim of finding new protein raw materials and alternative sources of long-chain omega-3 essential fatty acids for use in aquaculture feeds.

The latest technologies include microbial and insect-based oil and protein sources. Algae oils containing EPA and DHA and high-quality proteins based on different insect species that use waste streams as resources are now commercially available.

It is important to mention that the animal feed industry is subject to extremely strict restrictions in order to ensure that food is not dangerous to human or animal health or to the environment. In aquaculture, feed is closely controlled in terms of raw materials, production conditions and other additives (including preservatives) that may be used to make the fish or prawn safer from the perspective of health and hygiene, and to improve other features. The ingredients used must comply with the laws and regulations governing their use.

Because we take the potential contamination of our feed seriously, DIBAQ AQUACULTURE has a comprehensive quality program, through which we monitor the presence of unwanted substances in raw materials and feed.

Innovation at Dibaq Aquaculture is totally focused on achieving the best economic situation for our customers throughout the production cycle. Research programs focused on feed efficiency range from the development of functional ingredients for production competition to the reduction of emissions.

Our ultimate goal is to apply the research implemented in innovative and sustainable solutions for the aquaculture industry, whether in the form of products, methodologies or improvements in production, always thinking about the benefit of our customers.

At Dibaq Aquaculture, we focus on driving sustainable, nutritional, health and farm-related solutions with an integrated value proposal for our customers. We validate our hypotheses, and we are in tune with the global forces driving change on our planet.

By expanding our innovation capabilities, we have pioneered an innovation movement that inspires all of our colleagues to use innovation methodology in their daily work.

We collaborate with many research centres in many countries around the world, from government institutions to leading universities. Our collaborations are one of the links between industry and academia, and they promote intensive research, resulting in new insights for the development of high-performance nutritional solutions and services.

As a result of innovation and continuous improvement, at Dibaq Aquaculture we have developed a new product line, Dibaq AquaSafe ®, on which we have been actively working. It is an internal quality seal to differentiate our high-value products. We have launched AquaSafe for customers who seek to maximise the production capacity of their facilities and generate the maximum possible value in their production, better performance, better animal welfare, increased productivity and respect for the environment and sustainability.

Dibaq Aquaculture’s hallmark has always been that of a valuable company, specialised in the production of special and differentiated products, using high-quality raw materials, micronutrients and functional components. However, as a result of the innovation and needs of our global market, we have been able to go further and improve the quality of our nutrients, additives and formulas in our products with this new seal that aims to bring value and differentiation to our customers and to achieve maximum performance in their production.

Aquasafe can combine up to 5 new main properties depending on the type of product, size, target species and type of production:

1. Nutraceuticals: Nutraceuticals are products derived from natural extracts whose nutritional and functional characteristics provide benefits, contribute to improving health and, therefore, reduce the risk of disease and increase yield. These substances help to maintain the balance of the intestinal microbiota and have a favourable impact on the health and immunity of fish, something that Dibaq Aquaculture considers very important and that is why we give priority to these compounds, available in different formats and combinations.

2. Antiparasitic activity: In addition to stimulating immunity, they are effective products against internal and external parasites. Their activity provides a complete defence against a wide variety of pathogens. The binding of both products is effective against parasites such as Myxosporidia in the intestine (leei) and monogens in gills, making our new AquaSafe line especially recommended for water temperature changes.

3. Sustainability: It focuses on compensating for the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is made up of three pillars: economic, environmental and social.

At Dibaq Aquaculture we have adopted this environmentally responsible philosophy by including fishmeal and fish oil from sustainable fisheries, which makes the FIFO we get in our products historically low, which, together with the inclusion of alternative proteins to fishmeal, allows us to be a potential generator of protein for the world’s population.

Last but not least, our production method is environmentally friendly by minimising and reusing waste and using 100% recyclable bags.

4. Improvement and expansion of micropellets in hatchery products through the inclusion of 0.6 and 0.8 mm extrusions. Using a new improved micronisation system, we achieve an extremely fine grinding grade that allows micropellets to be produced afterwards with the assurance that each one includes all the raw materials that make up the formula. It is a very specific and highly technological process through which perfectly standardised micropellets of physical and nutritional quality are obtained.

The size of the individual particles of a granule and therefore the degree of grinding of a feed have an important effect on the digestibility of feed raw materials, increasing digestibility and, consequently, improving production results. Having obtained our new line of Microbaq AquaSafe segmented and adapted for different species is especially beneficial for carnivorous fish having a short digestive tract, and for larvae and fingerlings.

5. Digestive and functional activity: It is summarised in an improvement in the nutritional quality of the feed by means of special natural additives that optimise its use in the digestive tract. In addition, they allow a correct intestinal health in high vegetable flour diets, reducing costs for the customer and improving the production yield of the fish.

As an aquaculture feed company with a global presence, Dibaq Aquaculture is ideally positioned to contribute to the development of more sustainable feed production.

By 2050, the world’s population will have grown to nearly 10 billion people. At the same time, rising urban areas and rising incomes are changing dietary preferences and there is an increasing demand for animal protein. Through our purpose of feeding the population of the future, we are committed to producing feed that provides food safety in a sustainable manner. At Dibaq Aquaculture we are highly focused on reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact.

The final quality of fish is a major concern for most members of the aquaculture industry. Obtaining a rich and nutritious fish fillet involves the entire production chain: From a careful selection of raw materials to produce feed for the fish, through the production stages to an adequate strategy for the final consumer. Thanks to these efforts, today we see that fish farming is developing under the best conditions, through optimal nutrition and an adequate cultivation strategy, achieving the production potential of the fish, ensuring efficient but at the same time sustainable production. To achieve this, the industry is working on improvements at all levels, ensuring a product with better cost efficiency, also focusing on the perception of a more complete experience for the final consumer.

RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems) systems consist of closed-circuit aquaculture production systems in which the contribution and output of inputs and waste are fully controlled. In these systems, the water is mostly reused (between 90 and 99%), renewing only the part necessary to maintain ideal conditions for fish development.

RAS systems are made up of pumping and filtration elements to maintain optimal physical and biological parameters in the water. They are normally composed of mechanical, biological and UV filters plus equipment to maintain the temperature, O2 and CO2 in the optimum range.

As our colleagues at Derwent Engineering point out, the key benefits of these advantages are:

- Optimal crop conditions.

- Management optimisation, not dependent on external factors.

- Sanitary safety, being in a fully controlled environment.

- Low environmental impact. Water consumption, contamination by excrement or excess feed.

- Ability to produce feed in different locations regardless of weather conditions