Fish and shrimp feed manufacturer BioMar has announced CALM, its new product to help manage stress and improve performance, for fish feeds.

BioMar has introduced CALM the latest offering to complement the SmartCare range of products in salmon feeds. The firm noted that made from natural ingredients, ‘Calm’ can be added to both grower diets and used in addition to other already well-established SmartCare products.
With the increasing need of mechanical and other forms of treatment to help with the challenge of sea lice, salmon are subjected to numerous stress events such as crowding and general handling. This has a knock-on effect to the fish due to lost feeding days, reduced growth potential, and the increased risk of secondary infections potentially resulting in a lower final harvest weight and reduced quality.
According to the firm, SmartCare Calm, recommended to be used strategically before and immediately after any planned stress event, can be a useful addition to the feed for the farmer to help mitigate these risks to welfare which will help them maintain the expected level of performance.
“Calm is a great addition to the SmartCare range of products that we already have. Whilst the need to treat fish for sea lice to remain within the regulatory limits is a necessity, we also understand that these types of stress events can bring with them other challenges that can have a prolonged negative impact. The introduction of Calm can alleviate some of these production pains,” said Torunn Forberg, SmartCare Product Marketing Manager at BioMar.
SmartCare Calm has been developed with the current production methods in mind, BioMar sated. Research has shown it to have a positive effect on feed intake, growth, and pigmentation leading to better results for the farmer at harvest, the firm added.