In December, the New England Aquarium and SeaAhead, a public benefit corporation that supports sustainable innovations that benefit ocean environments, released their joint whitepaper on “Aquafeed Innovation: Investment Opportunities for Responsible Aquaculture.”
The paper highlights the potential for and necessity of developing new technologies to serve the aquafeed needs of the aquaculture industry. As noted in the paper’s executive summary:
Over 70% of global animal aquaculture production uses aquafeed, including farmed shrimp and salmon, which dominate the US market. However, aquafeed has been in the crosshairs as it is responsible for making up the single largest cost associated with farming, acts as the main contributor to aquaculture’s greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., CO2), and creates a market bottleneck as the production of traditional ingredients, such as fishmeal and fish oil (largely sourced from wild fisheries and fish processing byproducts) has plateaued, while demand has
continued to rise.
Fishmeal and fish oil are critical for aquafeed production, in part because they are rich in omega-3s. As noted in the whitepaper by Katrina Benedicto, Nuseed Nutritional’s Sustainability Director, “Reducing omega-3 oils in fish feeds reduces omega-3 content in fillets, therefore reducing the health benefits of eating seafood… fish oil alternatives support fish health, human health, and ocean health.”
Ensuring that farmed fish, shrimp and other seafood are fed optimal diets containing adequate omega-3 not only ensures the health of aquaculture, but the industry’s consumers as well.
We offer our gratitude to the New England Aquarium and SeaAhead for acknowledging Aquaterra Advanced Omega-3 canola oil as a key scaling technology that can bridge the gap between growing demand for omega-3 oils and the limited supply of marine sources.
Read the Aquafeed Innovation whitepaper to see how Nuseed and other innovators are developing and scaling production of novel feed ingredients, and revolutionizing aquafeed as a whole.