The Tides Are Turning and Sustainable Fish Farming is Rising to the Occasion
For World Oceans Day, Aqua-Spark hosted an intimate sustainable seafood dinner for changemakers from the food and fish farming industries and ocean conservation. Over the course of the evening, our guests collectively agreed that now is the time to remind people of the essentialness of the ocean. It is our life support system and we are living on this planet because of it.
I’d heard this from marine scientists — to hear it from individuals who produced and sold fish added a new layer of urgency and hopefulness. This diverse group rallied around the idea that if a greater number of people understood the importance of the ocean’s ecosystem to life on Earth, it would lead to more educated and thoughtful consumption of fish.
Five years ago, this dinner wouldn’t have drawn the same crowd or ended in resounding agreement on ocean preservation. Now, after years of building towards it, perceptions of farm-raised fish are shifting, the seafood market is changing, and farming technology is catching up. Many of the biggest challenges associated with fish farming are rapidly being solved, and we’re ready to begin implementing and scaling these solutions.
In May, the UN released a devastating report warning that 1 million species are at risk of extinction, including fish. The warming climate is the major driver, but our sea life is collapsing due to overfishing. Today, about 30 percent of fish stocks are being farmed unsustainably, and over 70 percent are being farmed at the maximum level to qualify as sustainable. Earlier reports predict all species of wild seafood will collapse by 2050, rendering our oceans essentially fishless.
Meanwhile, we are eating more fish than ever before. Three billion people across the globe depend on seafood for their primary source of protein. Fish supply 17 percent of all the protein consumed in the world. By 2030, the world is expected to eat nearly 20 percent more fish than in 2016 — because we are already exploiting our oceans, this increase can only come from aquaculture, which is the rearing of aquatic animals or cultivating of aquatic plants.
Aquaculture has some bad news components, but the good news is that solutions exist. When it’s done responsibly, aquaculture takes the pressure off of the ocean’s wild fish stocks, uses very little water, and has one of the smallest greenhouse gas footprints of any animal protein production. We know how to farm without antibiotics, and we have systems that are fully closed off from nature and powered by alternative energy sources. Knowing the projected growth of aquaculture, we urgently need to make these good practices the norm.
From when we launched Aqua-Spark in 2014, the ocean and sustainable seafood are getting a lot more attention, but achieving large-scale, lasting change in our fish food system is non-negotiable and ongoing. As our planet grows in population, we need smarter, more efficient methods for growing nutrient-rich food.
As a driver of aquaculture solutions, Aqua-Spark is supporting companies, technologies, and inputs that are getting it right.
Feed is among the most significant areas of improvement for aquaculture. Traditionally, feed has involved everything from chicken to soy to wild-caught fish, ultimately defeating the purpose of farming fish. Which is why we’ve invested in Protix, an insect producer with the first salmon brand grown on feed that uses insect meal in place of fishmeal. Insects are a viable and low-impact protein alternative because they are resource efficient and can be reared on waste.
The use of antibiotics is another hot button issue across all animal protein farming, including aquaculture. Proteon Pharmaceuticals SA is using bacteriophages, naturally occurring organisms, as the foundation for preventing and eradicating bacterial diseases in food animals, humans, and plants. Bacteriophages offer an excellent alternative to antibiotics because, unlike antibiotics, which don’t discriminate between harmful and useful bacteria, bacteriophages are specific in their target and do not create resistance.
Aqua-Spark also invests directly in farms. Matorka is an Arctic Char farming operation in Iceland that has the potential to be the most cost-efficient, land-based Salmonid farming operation in the world. Matorka uses no antibiotics or chemicals, utilizes renewable energy, has highly efficient feed use, and makes a deliberate effort to protect the surrounding environment.
With all of our investments, AquaSpark aims for portfolio synergy. There are significant gains to be had by considering how our portfolio companies and our partners within the AquaSpark ecosystem can support one another, not only to improve business outcomes, but to accelerate sector transformation and to showcase a commercial aquaculture system that puts our planet and population’s health first.
For sustainable aquaculture to fully reach its potential as the healthiest, most resource efficient way to feed the planet, we all need to do our part. Everyone connected to the industry must demand nothing less than sustainably produced fish — retailers need to raise their standards and champion the movement of sustainable aquaculture, investors need to commit to only supporting the right kind of operations and technologies, and consumers need to demand transparency and make the right choices with their buying power.
