Share Her Story: A journey of hard work and innovation in fish nutrition

Kyla Zatti, Sustainable Nutrition and Raw Material Lead at BioMar Group is one of our North American women who has made significant contributions to the field of aquaculture by managing raw materials for feed production and coordinating research and development activities.

Kyla’s aquaculture journey began during her undergraduate studies at the University of Saskatchewan, where she explored fish nutrition through a research project on wheat-based distillers’ grains. This experience sparked her interest and led her to present her findings in Trondheim, Norway, in 2009. Driven by her passion for fish nutrition, Kyla pursued a Ph.D. focused on enhancing highly unsaturated fatty acids in rainbow trout diets using canola, flax, and camelina oils.

In 2017, Kyla joined BioMar Global R&D, working in the Nutrition Formulation Department. This was a significant change for her and her family, as they moved from Canada to Norway, where they have been living happily for years. Kyla says that learning a new language and raising a family in a different country was challenging but rewarding.

Kyla’s contributions to the aquaculture industry are exemplified by her role as lead author of a groundbreaking paper published in 2023, which demonstrated that the total replacement of fish oil with algae oil in aquafeed is now fully feasible with no detriment to taste, fish health or fish growth. This paper has received widespread recognition and praise from the aquaculture industry and the scientific community.

Kyla is a shining example of how North American women are transforming our industry. Kyla’s message to other women who are interested in aquaculture is inspiring and empowering: “If a land-locked prairie girl from Saskatchewan can end up in Norway working in aquaculture on a global scale while learning a new language and raising a family – anyone can!”