Learning and evaluating production processes of artificial diets for the implementation on Norwegian aquaculture species as cod and halibut.

A large effort has been made world wide to culture marine species for aquaculture. Live feed production is a significant cost for the Norwegian halibut and cod farming, but one has not succeeded replacing live feed with a formulated diet. The lack of a w ell functional formulated diet for marine larvae is also the major bottle neck in nutritional studies on marine larvae. NIFES has for several years had a well functional scientific group working with larvae nutrition, and in 2003 Andreas Nordgreen was eng aged as a PhD fellow (NFR nr 14768/120) to focus on formulated diet processing and how different feed processes affect the nutritional quality of the different nutrients. The evaluation and investigation of formulated diets on a scientific level is of a major necessity for further development in the production of cod and halibut. To establish knowledge and collaborators within this field is problematic due to the link between feed technologies and commercially partners. The industrial companies are not interested in getting their diets openly discussed, analysed and compared in the scientific community. Prof Langdon at the State university of Oregon has been working with formulated diets and feeding of marine organisms for marine larvae for over 20 years and has been one of the central contributors to scientific literature within this field. He has a wide experience with producing formulated diets with several different technologies. Andreas Nordgreen has been invited for a three month stay at his lab to learn to produce different formulated diets. This is a good opportunity for Andreas and NIFES to establish a scientific contact and the possibility for further collaboration within a scientific field that both NIFES and the Norwegian aquaculture i ndustry need more knowledge, to move further in the field of larvae nutrition.