EXPERT TPIC

EXPERT TOPIC

COBIA
Welcome to Expert Topic. Each issue will take an in-depth look
at a particular species and how its feed is managed.

36 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | May-June 2015

EXPERT TPIC

2
1

Cobia: is it the
next big thing?
by Roy Palmer, Aquaculture Without
Frontiers, Australia

veryone wants to be in on the next

big thing, be that a speculative share,
a new technology gadget and yes,
even a new fish!

ago but in 2009 production surpassed 30,000

metric tons, with more than 80 percent in China
- the worlds largest producer - and Taiwan. A
sign that US cobia imports are increasing is that
the US International Trade Commission gave
cobia an import code (thus being able to differentiate from unspecified finfish).
As much as China has been the leading
producer of farmed cobia, many other coun-

The success of salmon has people dreaming of the new discovery that will be salmons
white fish competitor. There is a definite
demand for this. There are a number of species that have potential and one of them is
cobia (Rachycentron canadum).
In the wild, cobia is a highly valued seafood species - a very popular game fish well
regarded because of its fighting abilities and
the delicious taste. Wild cobia are rarely seen
in large groups, so only a small quantity is wildcaught and, generally speaking, professional
fishermen do not specifically target cobia; they
only harvest them incidentally when fishing for
other species.
Quality harvested aquaculture cobia
doesn't taste fishy. It's white and firm like
swordfish. It can be grilled, sauted or served
as sashimi or in a bouillabaisse.
The FAO says worldwide farmed cobia production was less than 2,500 metric tons 10 years

May-June 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 37

tries are developing technology to aquaculture

cobia, hence global production of cobia is
on the rise and it is appearing on menus
more and more. Ocean-cage operations are
under way in the Bahamas, Vietnam, Taiwan,
Indonesia and a number of Latin American
countries including Belize, Ecuador, etc. but
this article will look specifically at Brazil,
Panama and Australia.

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Brazil

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The difficulty in Brazil with cobia farming was that it was not well
recognised as a high-quality food fish in some regions, particularly in
the South. However, this scenario is changing, and first farmed cobia
productions have been well accepted by local consumers, restaurants
and fresh fish markets. The increasing demand for high quality fresh
food fish and seafood, combined with the lack of local fish production,
has driven up the price of farmed cobia. Currently, the emerging
cobia production in Southern Brazil is being sold for US$18-20/kg for
whole gutted fish.
With an increasing demand for fresh fish, an increasing production
of cobia is expected and for that reason, this promising market has
attracted the interest of medium and large entrepreneurs for cobia
cage culture. One issue holding these farmers back at present is the
lack of high quality commercial diets for marine fish. This continues to
be the biggest obstacle to development of cobia aquaculture in Brazil.
In Brazil, there are several promising marine fish species with great
aquaculture potential. In the last seven years there has been a strong
interest from the government through the Ministry of Fisheries and
Aquaculture to promote marine fish culture starting with key species
such as cobia. This native species was chosen for several reasons
including fast growth rates, good flesh quality, and well-developed
husbandry protocol that could easily be adapted to local culture
conditions. Therefore, research programs, partnerships and regional
hatcheries were created to promote marine fish culture.
Wild cobia is mainly captured on the northeast coast of Brazil,
where it is appreciated by consumers in many restaurants. The high
water temperatures in this region throughout the year allow a cer-

38 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | May-June 2015

EXPERT TPIC

tain consistency in wild cobia supply. However, wild cobia is rarely

caught in southern Brazilian waters, particularly during the winter,
as water temperatures drop below the cobias requirements. As
a result wild cobia is largely unknown in southern markets. For this
reason, cobia production was questioned due to its market potential
and the challenges of promoting an unknown fish with a nonexistent
demand.
Clearly though, having high-quality flesh in a market where there
was a lack of fresh marine fish supply and an increasing demand
enabled an opening for fresh cobia. It is now well accepted by local
consumers, restaurants and fresh fish markets. Maybe not surprisingly,
the Rio de Janeiro and So Paulo markets easily and readily absorbed
the first farmed cobia productions. Whilst this is still a minor production in comparison with the potential consumer market of these two
major centres in southern Brazil, it is a good indicator of the potential
of marine fish culture and the demand for fresh fish.
The majority of the production is absorbed by fine Japanese restaurants where cobia is served as sashimi. Due to its high-quality flesh and
favorable texture, the Japanese chefs appreciate this species. In addition, other restaurants are serving cobia in a variety of ways to attend
the consumers needs. The freshness of the final product is important,
and therefore having the culture sites close (most farms are located
less than three-four hours drive away) to the final consumers enables
efficient logistics. As a result, a fresh, high-quality product is delivered
from farms to the restaurant doors.
The high selling price is working well for the farms as they have
to deal with high operational costs including floating cages, nets and
particularly feed costs. A lack of commercially available diets for marine
fish in Brazil, especially one that meets the specific requirements of

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May-June 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 39

EXPERT TPIC

cobia, is holding back the opportunity but effort is going into research
and development.
Farmed cobia has several characteristics that lead to a consistent
promising market, including freshness and high-quality flesh being a
good source of health-promoting omega 3 fatty acids. To establish
a niche market, it requires demand for a specific product, and more
importantly a consistent supply of high quality product. Aquaculture
exhibits the benefits of controlling the production cycle to meet consumer demands in terms of forecasting production and consistency in
size and quality of the final product. In this context, farmed cobia is a
potential candidate for a niche market; however, it is important to highlight the necessity of industry support and sustained marketing effort.
Whilst the increasing demand for fresh seafood and marine fish is
expected to continue into the future in Brazil, there is still much to be
done regarding feeds and farming techniques.
Lus Andr Sampaio from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande is
involved in a current study on the performance of juvenile cobia reared
in low salinities (three and six percent), with or without alkalinity correction in a RAS. He is presenting at WA2015 in Jeju and will highlight
that the survival rate was 100 percent at all treatments, but growth
parameters (final weight, weight gain, SRG and feed intake) decreased
significantly at salinities of six and three percent when compared with
the control. Results suggest that cobia has a limited euryhaline capacity, but they can be reared in low salinity (three and six percent) for
six weeks with no mortality. However, when reared in three percent
salinity, juvenile cobia can benefit from alkalinity supplementation and
the higher pH associated with this, in order to sustain better growth
than those reared in the low alkalinity treatment.

Australia

In Australia, cobia (previously known as black kingfish) are not often

seen in the fish markets but are a prized species for tropical recreational fishermen. They generally can be encountered near reefs and other
structures from south-western West Australia, around the north of the
country and as far south as the central coast of New South Wales. In
the wild they can grow to well over 45-50 kg and are strong fighters.
Information was filtering through to Australia from various studies
on the species. The information was exciting. The news was that cobia
was a very fast growing species - the maximum age recorded for a
1.6m, 50kg+ cobia in the Gulf of Mexico was only 11 years of age.
Juveniles grew to more than 60cm in their first year, and fish a metre
long were only around three years old. Females matured in their
second year when around 80 to 90cm, while male fish often matured
in their first year.
Scientists discovered that cobia spawned between April and
September in the northern hemisphere (that region's spring and summer) and in Australia the spawning period occurred September to
June. The size at first maturity for 50 percent of male and female cobia
in Australia was 78cm, again at about two years of age. Additionally,
cobia produce excessive numbers of eggs.
Scientists working in the Gulf of Mexico highlighted that individual
cobia spawned a number of times throughout the season. Evidence
was that the fish spawned as often as once every five to 12 days. It was
not unusual to see larger fish spawning up to 1.5 million eggs per batch,
but the average 'batch fecundity' of cobia in Australia was shown to be

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EXPERT TPIC
even higher, at 2.8 million eggs per spawning cycle, with the spawning
frequency assessed to be around seven to eight days.
Due to their high energy needs associated with their fast growth,
they were not considered prissy feeders. In the wild, dietary studies
showed that they are bottom feeders, seemingly enjoying crustaceans,
especially crabs.
The Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) created a project on cobia, which aimed to build on previous research
by Queensland aquaculture producer Pacific Reef Fisheries and the
Department for Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
(DEEDI).
During this research they discovered that the financial potential for
fish farmers is very significant, primarily because cobia can grow up to
10 kilograms within their first year - this is double the speed of barramundi and triple the speed of Atlantic salmon.
Although cobia are not fussy eaters in the wild, things are not the
same in captivity, and it was important, just like with any new farmed
species, to ensure the diet mix is right.
Other problems thwarted Pacific Reef in the early days. Heavy stock
losses due to bird predation caused some angst but this was resolved
by installing anti-predator cages for the fish to live in as fingerlings.
Additional issues were created as the fish were being grown in prawn
ponds, which was not ideal due to their shallow depth.
The CRC work also planned on developing reliable and robust
controlled spawning methods for cobia, utilising hormonal, social and/
or environmental manipulation; production of sufficient fingerlings
to enable the on-grow commercial quantities of cobia for market;
developing pilot scale cobia fingerling production by the hatchery; formulating diets designed to meet the specific nutritional and energetic
requirements of cobia and developing and field testing new farmed
cobia product(s) with high market acceptance.
Pacific Reef have shown they have the technical capability and

infrastructure to produce cobia for the marketplace and to target the

appropriate market sector (high end restaurants and sashimi) for the
product. Recently the company won accolades at the 2015 Sydney
Royal Show Fine Food Aquaculture Awards, taking the awards for
Champion Fresh Fish (Classes 7 and 8) Sashimi Grade cobia.
We want to be Australias biggest and largest aquaculture facility growing sustainable product for the Australian and the overseas
market, said Maria Mitris, Operations Manager of her familys business,
Pacific Reef Fisheries.
The company, family-owned and funded, is able to control all
aspects of their operation from the high tech hatchery at Guthalungra
to the farming operation at Ayr. Their main business is the production
of approximately 700 tonnes of black tiger prawns per annum.

May-June 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 41

EXPERT TPIC

Panama

You cannot mention cobia without involving the name of Brian

OHanlon.
Some regard Brian O'Hanlon as an overnight success story with his
Open Blue cobia from Panama hitting menus in the USA. Typically of
such success stories, though, it has taken many long, hard years tackling
obstacles head-on to achieve such overnight status.
Originally from Long Island, OHanlon knew from an early stage in
his life that he wanted to be in aquaculture. His father was wholesaling
fish, the family had a long history in the industry and the business got
into his blood. Even in the early stages of his career he was experimenting with a 2000-gallon tank in his parents' basement, endeavoring to
grow red snapper.
Some 17 years ago OHanlon met up with Daniel Benetti from
the University of Miami and managed to secure a position on one of
Benettis courses. This helped focus his intentions, but many years of
frustration due to prohibitive US regulations that made growth impossible ensured that he would have to work outside the USA if he was
to achieve his dream.
It was not until 2009 that OHanlon finally moved to Panama where
he acquired Pristine Oceans, another deep-ocean cobia farming venture, and created Open Blue.
Benetti is a believer in cobia in that he has often said that they are
as close to a perfect species as he has ever seen. This has been a long
quest by Benetti and he has been the reason many people have got
excited about this species.
Having finally started production in 2012, offshore cobia producer
Open Blue has been ramping up its volumes and promoting and marketing the product since then and has been offering product every
week of the year. From small beginnings, production is now very commercial, with one seafood wholesaler in New York reportedly selling
fillets direct to the public at US$16.95 per pound.
Over the years OHanlon has always been strong about not being
caught in the commodity business, so he has invested heavily in ensuring
that his fish is getting to high-end markets. Logistically, harvesting is organised to link to air transport and ensuring that the quality is consistent.
To further add value, the group have recently completed a brand
new hatchery in Panama and are hoping to expand production through
value-adding in their new factory. Additionally, they have secured
Global GAP certification, and are now considering ISO 90001 and
BRC standards.
Open Blue is ambitious: the fish is farmed eight miles from the coast,
in cages of 6,400 cubic meters. The cages are submerged 30 feet under
the sea surface, and are each anchored to a submerged mooring grid
with 40 anchors of 1.5 metric tons each. The anchors reach 220 feet
deep. To alert boats of the cages presence, the buoys are fitted with
lights and transponders which will alert any approaching ships. Each
cage can take 50,000 fish, or 130-150t, creating a pen density of 20
kilos per cubic meter.
Benetti and OHanlon are to be congratulated for their work on
cobia to date, and both of them would rather that they were able to
do this in the USA, but due to regulations and bureaucracy this is not

allowed. It is a dilemma facing many so-called developed countries, and

whilst many of them talk the talk at various world conventions they
have failed to see the opportunity that is being missed. So whilst mining
and drilling are seemingly allowed carte blanche, opportunities in the
quest for sustainable quality seafood are cast aside.
Benetti and many scientists have argued for the past several years
that such open-ocean fish-farming is the environmentally sensitive way
of saving the world's seafood demand, because from a food production
angle it creates a higher yield with a lower impact.
Feed is an important research element as, like salmon, cobia are
predators that need fishmeal in their diet and with cobia being big
fish-eating fish there is a need to have a limited impact on the ecosystem. Benetti is experimenting with a fishmeal that is part soy mix part
protein. A fact which is often forgotten when people complain about
fish feed ratios is that it takes ten pounds of wild fish to produce a
pound of large fish in nature, hence aquaculture is many times more
sustainable than nature itself.
This is why we are seeing feed organisations like the BioMar Group
recently signing a Memorandum of Understanding with leading Chinese
feed producer Tongwei Co. Ltd to establish a Joint Venture dedicated
to producing and selling high performance feed for aquaculture in China.
The product range for the new Joint Venture factory will include starter
and grower feeds for marine and fresh water species such as sea bass, sea
bream, cobia, turbot, bass, grouper, trout, sturgeon, tilapia, eel, and shrimp.
The simple question that fish farmers will always ask is about the
speed of turning their investment from an output of dollars to an input
of dollars, and clearly if you were starting a fish farm and you could
raise ten-pound fish in one year, or another fish species that takes two
years to grow one pound, the decision is obvious.
Marketing is still the key as the fish is not well known but surely it
is the dream of any good chef to find something thats reliably sourced
year-round and grows quickly and sustainably and tastes delicious!
So hopefully it is just a timing issue before it becomes a staple in all
restaurants.
One major word of caution - not every venture is going to be successful. In the USA a freshwater facility in Virginia which was producing
farmed cobia had to close. Research efforts were not enough to enhance
commercial aquaculture of freshwater cobia and demonstrate its technical and economic feasibility. The fish simply did not grow as fast as it
should have and the partnership involved closed down the operations.

References
Brazil information thanks to Artur N. Rombenso (Centre for Fisheries,
Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences and Department of Zoology, Southern
Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA), Andre
Arajo (Fundao Instituto de Pesca do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,
Angra dos Reis, Brazil) and Luis A. Sampaio (Laboratory of Marine and
Estuarine Fish Culture, Institute of Oceanography, Federal University of
Rio Grande, Brazil).
Website: http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles
/species/cobia/species_pages/cobia.htm
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA_Cn6zIb4E

42 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | May-June 2015