From Deep Dive: The SeafoodSource Podcast — Practical Applications of AI in Seafood with Manolin CEO Tony Chen

What happens when El Niño tightens the supply of fish oil just as salmon markets and global shipping are already under pressure? A newly confirmed El Niño in the tropical Pacific is putting renewed attention on Peru’s anchovy fishery, one of the world’s most important sources of fishmeal and fish oil. With warmer ocean conditions, fishing restrictions, rising container costs, and salmon producers already facing margin pressure, aquaculture could be heading into a more volatile pricing cycle than past disruptions suggest on their own. The conversation breaks down why fish oil prices are climbing, why the timing matters, and how better production planning, data visibility, and risk management can help companies prepare for uncertainty they cannot control. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

This week, we’re sharing a special episode from Deep Dive: The SeafoodSource Podcast on the practical applications of AI in seafood. SeafoodSource speaks with Tony Chen, CEO and co-founder of Manolin, about where AI is already creating value in aquaculture and seafood, and how companies can separate useful tools from hype. We’re excited to bring this conversation to our listeners!-----Practical Applications of AI in Seafood with Manolin CEO Tony ChenAs AI evolves at breakneck speed, seafood companies are left to determine which technologies are actually worth adopting and which are just noise.In today’s episode, we tackle that question with Tony Chen, CEO and co-founder of aquaculture data analytics firm Manolin. We caught up with him at Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global to explore how the technology is being used within the industry today, Manolin's vision for AI in aquaculture, and what the future may hold.This episode was made possible by SeafoodSource Premium.Upgrade to a Premium Membership today using code DEEPDIVEBecome a SeafoodSource Premium Member | SeafoodSource Theme music: "Relaxed Podcast Beat" by Tunetank via pixabay.com Learn more at SeafoodSource.com or email [email protected] to share any show ideas or guest suggestions.

What if one of the most important aquaculture growth stories isn’t happening in Norway, Chile, or Ecuador but in East Africa? This episode we step into a region that’s quietly transitioning from small-scale aquaculture into something far more commercial and durable. Focusing on Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, we break down the structural forces driving growth (rising protein demand, pressure on wild fisheries, and improving feed, infrastructure, and policy support) and why Nile tilapia sits at the center of it all. From Uganda’s push into export markets to Kenya’s commercial scale-up through companies like Victory Farms, and Rwanda’s rapid transformation led by Kivu Choice, this is a look at how an entire region is beginning to industrialize aquaculture in real time. We also hear directly from Kamran Ahmad on what it takes to build a scaled fish business from scratch and what comes next. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

This week we break down what Måsøval’s strategic review and leadership change may signal for the company and for the broader aquaculture industry. We look at how production growth, rising costs, biology, and debt can move out of sync over time, and why that creates real pressure for mid-sized farming companies. Get a clearer view of the financial and operational forces behind the headlines, along with insight into what this case may reveal about acquisition potential, structural risk, and the challenge of scaling efficiently in salmon farming. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

Could a microscopic algae bloom quietly reshape Norway's salmon farming season before most of the industry even understands what's happening? This week, we're tracking the Pseudochattonella bloom spreading across southern Norway, walking through the three distinct phases of the outbreak so far, from the early mortality events at Mowi's Flekkefjord sites in early March to the second wave building near Arendal just days ago. We break down what makes this particular species behave the way it does, how it compares to the Chrysochromulina bloom that devastated northern Norway in 2019, and why Chile's catastrophic 2016 event still serves as the industry's clearest warning of what's possible when conditions align. We close with what farmers and operators should be watching in the weeks ahead, and why the difference between a contained event and a serious operational problem often comes down to how early the right signals are being read. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n' Bits blog.

What separates the salmon farms that thrived in Q4 from the ones still bleeding money and does it all come down to where they're located? This week, we break down the Q4 financial results from the publicly traded salmon companies, walking through EBIT per kilogram figures across the industry and unpacking why companies like Grieg and SalMar cleared 20 NOK/kg while others in Iceland and Scotland finished deep in the red. We also get into why Mowi's Norway division outperformed nearly everyone, yet the company still ranked third overall, a reminder that geography can make or break a balance sheet. Then, we sit down with Kaspar Coates and Nikolai Jensen, two Norwegian School of Economics graduates whose master's thesis is turning heads industry-wide, exploring how site-level factors like seawater temperature, sea lice pressure, and disease exposure directly tie to financial performance on the farm. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n' Bits blog.You can also check out Kasper and Nikolai's master thesis Investigating the relationship between site-specific biological characteristics and financial performance, in conventional open-net salmonid farming in Norway here.

If large language models are so powerful, why can they still get basic things wrong? In this episode, we take a practical look at how AI systems actually work, why hallucinations happen by design, and what’s being done to reduce them. We break down core concepts like probabilistic prediction, chain-of-thought reasoning, RAG systems, context windows, API orchestration, and cost structures. Not from a tech hype lens, but from a business one. Most importantly, we explore what this means for seafood companies integrating AI into real workflows: how to think about reliability, data access, governance, and long-term cost before plugging models into sensitive systems. This isn’t about whether AI will matter but about how to use it responsibly at scale. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

Vitamin D was long considered a compliance nutrient rather than a performance lever. In this episode, we break down what’s changed in the last couple of years, from BioMar doubling vitamin D₃ across salmon diets to new research suggesting salmon may synthesize vitamin D from sunlight, then zoom out to explain how vitamin D actually works in the body, why modern feeds increased the need for supplementation, and how the EU’s 2019 regulation opened the door to much higher inclusion rates. We also dig into what these findings could mean for different farming environments, and close with a conversation with Dr. Sebastien Rider (DSM-Firmenich) on the latest studies, open questions, and why 25-hydroxyvitamin D products like Hy-D are gaining attention. Sign up for DSM’s webinar on Vitamin D here.For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

Yes, it’s once again the time to discuss sea lice. In this episode, we take a clear-eyed look at what the last year of sea lice data is actually telling us (starting in Canada and ending in Norway) without the noise or wishful thinking. We unpack the implications of Canada’s latest court ruling in British Columbia, why the industry’s arguments around coexistence keep falling flat, and how Norway’s traffic light system continues to tighten around modeled lice exposure on wild salmon. Drawing on farm-level data, wild fish monitoring, treatment records, and temperature trends, this episode explains why 2025 became one of the most intensive treatment years on record, why that still wasn’t enough to reverse pressure, and what this means for regulation, capacity, and farm-level decision-making heading into the next cycle. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.

What if the most “predictable” part of seafood right now isn’t salmon prices or tariffs, but the quiet choke point in fish feed? In this episode, we unpack why the Peruvian anchovy season still sets the short-term rhythm for fish oil markets, even as the 2026 season already kicks off, and why that dependency keeps resurfacing as a structural risk for aquaculture. You’ll get a clear breakdown of what actually moves feed prices (and why fish oil behaves differently than every other major input), plus a grounded walk-through of the CFI 2025 State of the Algal Oil Industry findings, what it really costs to produce EPA+DHA-rich algal oil, why heterotrophic fermentation is pulling ahead, and why scaling the solution is the hard part, not the science.Centre for Feed Innovation Algae Oil ReportFor more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n’ Bits blog.