How sustainable squaculture will spark growth in a constrained industry; As the demand for salmon at the dinner table surges globally, so does the pressure on small ocean fish used in feeding them.
With the global aquaculture industry pegged as being a roughly $175 billion market, expected to grow to $225 billion by 2022. Salmon aquaculture alone accounts for 70% of that total and is the fastest growing food production system in the world, according to Rabobank’s recent 100 Billion Dollar Baby: How Aquaculture Keeps Growing report.
A significant drawback is that many marine stocks that aquaculture has traditionally relied on for feed are under pressure as 16 million tonnes of fish are caught solely to produce fish meal and fish oil, with 80% of the fish oil going directly to aquaculture feeds.
At the same time, demand is expected to continue to soar. Already, half of the fish for human consumption comes from aquaculture. By 2030, it will top 62%, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Experts agree that the importance of aquaculture to meet soaring human demand for healthy, balanced diets yet recognises the demands put on the marine ecosystem. That’s the challenge facing Veramaris, which is a joint venture between DSM and Evonik, in creating a new technology to provide a highly sustainable source of EPA and DHA that doesn’t affect marine life and enables aquaculture to grow.
What the joint venture between global multinationals DSM and Evonik has developed is a breakthrough innovation taking a natural marine algae that can replace the fish oil derived from wild caught fish and still provides farmed fish with the essential omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids those fish need for health and growth.
The use of Veramaris algal oil for farmed fish food not only helps to conserve marine life, but also offers a standardised way to regulate and determine the amount of omega-3 fatty acids that consumers get from farmed fish, especially salmon.
Zero-waste production
Veramaris is currently constructing a $200 million zero-waste production facility in Blair, Nebraska to be completed in 2019 which converts the sugar in nearby corn crops into food for its algae strain and resulting algal oil. The zero waste comes from the fact that the byproduct – essentially an algae mash – can be fed to local beef livestock as a nutritious source of protein and other nutrients. By the time the plant opens, it is expected to be able to produce 15% of the salmon aquaculture demand for omega-3 EPA and DHA. By Veramaris’ estimate, that equates to 1.2 million tonnes of small “feeder” fish such as anchovies and sprats.
While waiting on completion of its plant, Veramaris is already producing hundreds of tonnes of the oil at existing facilities in South Carolina and Slovakia as pilot materials for customers.
“Everyone in the value chain is acutely aware of the dependence on marine ingredients. They’re also well aware that to grow 5% or 6% per annum, they need a reliable source of EPA and DHA,” said Veramaris CEO Karim Kurmaly.
Veramaris algal oil is a premium product priced higher than competitive products in the market, separating itself from current market offerings.
However, Karim Kurmaly who is also a marine biologist, said they’re getting over any potential adoption hurdle by appealing to all stakeholders. They are working to convince stakeholders to consider passing along the expense, which he said is a “negligible amount” of 1-2% total cost by initial retail partner estimates, in order to do the right thing for marine biodiversity.
“Aquaculture continues to adopt innovation and reinvent the way it has been going. There is no planet B. There is only planet A, and we’re on it. Both DSM and Evonik share a vision with regards to people, planet and profit. We are committed to UN sustainability development goals and the bottom line in this is that we can help conserve marine biodiversity while enabling the industry to grow to meet the swift growth in the global population needing protein,” he said.
