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There is mounting evidence that the soaring demand for fish (based on its widely promoted health giving nutritional qualities) will be subject to significant competition.

Growth in the aquaculture industry has been buoyant due the challenges faced by wild capture fisheries. This however does not mean that the backers of aquaculture companies will have a free ride to future prosperity or the license to print money - any time soon.

We have canvassed the subject of Omega-3 long chain fatty acids on this site through several posts.

The health-giving properties of fish oils have not gone unnoticed. The fact that there has been a sustained growth in demand for fish has been recognised by food producers from other sectors.

Due to several factors, massive budgets are being directed at the ability to produce Omega-3 long chain fatty acids from non-fish sources:

This level of activity is interesting in the world of aquaculture for two reasons:

• Firstly, the widely appreciated health giving properties of consuming oily fish is a major driver of the increasing demand for fish in human nutrition.
• Secondly, the major cost component in the aquaculture value chain is feed. The critical components of aquaculture feed include protein and suitable oils. Traditionally this has been sourced from fishmeal, but this is now unsustainable.

A series of patent documents outline a field of invention that may be part of the solution to the aquaculture feed protein and oil deficit. This deficit, derived from short supply of wild caught fish has the potential to undermine the growth of aquaculture.  

Finfish discussed the problems with the global supply of fish meal here.

Microalgae (single celled algae or phytoplankton) represent the largest, but most poorly understood, kingdom of microorganisms on the earth. As plants are to terrestrial animals, microalgae represent the natural nutritional base and primary source of all the phytonutrients in the aquatic food chain.

As the primary producers in the aquatic food chain, microalgae are the source of many phytonutrients, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) precursors for the valuable nutritional component widely promoted as Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Microalgae also represent a vast genetic resource, comprising in excess of 80,000 different species. 

Yeast, filamentous fungi, and bacteria are also in the direct food chain of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. However, only a very few of these microbes, perhaps less than 10 species, have been exploited for aquaculture feeds.

These few species have been used primarily for historical reasons and ease of cultivation. They have not been chosen on the basis of any scientific evidence of superiority as nutritional or therapeutic supplements. 

The marine environment is filled with bacteria and viruses that can attack fish and shellfish, thereby devastating aquaculture farms very quickly. Bacteria and viruses can also attack single celled microalgae, so these organisms have evolved biochemical mechanisms to defend themselves from such attacks. Such mechanisms may involve the secretion of probiotic compounds that inhibit bacterial growth or viral attachment. 

Can you point to any additional material on algae as an aquaculture food source?

What do we know about optimising the economics of production?

What wholesale cost would the feed need to be produced at in order for the major feed companies to adopt this technology as a food component for aquaculture and other intensive forms of animal production?

The patent documents which describe this endeavour can be found here.

Advance Bionutrition Corp (the assignee of the patent is hot on the trail of non fish meal derived aquaculture feed.

One of the key factors that has driven the long term trend of increasing per capita fish intake across the globe is that fish consumption is promoted by nutritionists as a very important component of a healthy diet. Current thinking has targeted the Omega-3 fatty acid content of fish oils as a major contributor to the healthy diet aspects of fish eating.

Farmed fish require feed with specific protein and oil components in order to grow. Traditionally, the lion’s share of this has been derived from wild stocks of ‘feed fish’. However, even a cursory appreciation of the numbers and what we know about today’s feed conversion ratios make it apparent that it will not be sustainable to overcome the fish production gap using wild caught fish to feed farmed fish. Does the pressure on feed fish stocks mean that there is a prospect that Omega-3 fatty acids will disappear from farmed fish? Does this mean that a fundamental limiter exists that will prevent us from ever bridging the fish production gap?

Significant efforts are being made now to overcome this limiter with efforts being put into developing high protein grain-based replacements for feed fish (soy, lupins, etc). Genetically engineered plants which produce essential omega-3 fish oils could offer a new way of improving people’s diets, scientists working on an EU project said at a conference on ‘Incorporating Omega 3 in the food chain’. Long-chain fatty acids called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), found mainly in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, provide protection against cardiovascular diseases, slow down mental decline in the elderly and are essential for the healthy development of a baby’s brain in the womb.

Whilst experts recommend a daily intake of 450mg of omega-3 fatty acids, most adults barely manage half that amount. Among teenagers, the figure drops to just 100mg a day, and intake in low-income families is around 50mg per day less than in other families.

There are no naturally occurring plant species that have the capacity to synthesise long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. EPA and DHA are normally made by microscopic marine algae which are then eaten by small fish, passing the fatty acids into the food chain. Research conducted as part of the Lipgene project took key genes from algae and inserted them into oil seed. The results show that the plants were able to synthesise omega-3 fatty acids in their seed oils.

These outcomes show promise that GM-enhanced plant sources may be suitable suppliers of both protein and Omega-3 oils in manufactured aquaculture feed and that a sustainable route to overcoming the fish gap is potentially feasible.

More information about the Lipgene Project is available here.

We provide more resources for identifying innovation components for significant aquaculture innovation. Some examples of relevant innovation components found from these sources may be reviewed here.