Boat International US Edition – June 2019

boatinternational.com• 062019

The Innovation Award

(^2019)
OCEAN
AWARDS
hether they are wild or
farmed, carnivorous fish
requireotherfishtofeedon.
Butwithaquaculturebeing
theworld’sfastest-growingfoodsector,
theneedforfeed–sustainablesourcesof
proteinthatdonotadverselyupsetthe
foodwebofmarineecosystems–is
becomingevermorepressing.“In2014,
forthefirsttime, 50 percentofseafood
consumed by humans came from
aquaculture,”saysDrAnneKapuscinski
(picturedrightandabove).“Itisgrowing
explosively.Butalotoftheprocessesin
aquacultureareunsustainable.”
AsdirectoroftheCoastalScienceand
Policy Program and professor of
environmentalstudiesatUCSC,sheand
herteaminvestigatethedevelopment
ofmicroalgae-basedfeedsthatsupport
fishgrowthandomega-3contentwithout
damaginghealthyaquaticecosystems.
Itmakesnoecologicalsensetofeed
farmedfishmealsthathavebeen“extracted
fromothersmallfishthatarecapturedin
theocean,becauseinthewildtheyserveas
foodforbiggerfishliketunaandsalmon.
They’rebeingcaughtintheoceansand
groundupintomealandoil,whichare
then sold on global markets as
acommodity.Thatrepresentsabout
25 percentoftheworld’stotalcaptureof
wildfish.Mostofthatgoesintoanimal
feed,andaquacultureusesupabout 90
percentofthat.Byabout2040,demand
willoutstripsupply.”Italso,shesays,“hurts
marinebiodiversitybecausethesefishare
averykeypartofthemarinefoodweb.So
ourmissionistoproducefish-freefeeds
[alsoknownasF3]foraquaculturethat
havenofishingredientsinthem.”
Thesolution,shebelieves,ismicroalgae,
microscopicunicellularmarineplants“at
thebaseofthe[ocean’s]foodweb,which
areveryefficientatphotosynthesisandthe
planet’smainproducerofomega-3fatty
acids.”Thefishinherlabareshowing
bettergrowthperformanceonadietofthe
fish-freefeedherteamhasdevelopedthan
those fedaconventional diet.Such
microalgae do not even needtobe
cultivatedinthesea:theycan,forexample,
begrowninwastewaterfromthebrewing
industry,whichisrichinnitrogenand
phosphorous.Thissavesbreweriesfrom
havingtofindwaystosafelydisposeof
wastebecauseclean-waterlegislationtries
tominimizethereleaseofnitrogenand
phosphorousintowaterwayswhereitcan
causealgaeblooms.Thisway,shesays,itis
“upcycledandturnedintoavaluable
resource”inwhichthemicroalgaeclean
thewaterbyremovingthenutrientsfrom
it.Inshort,awin-win.
This year, the judges felt that there was no obvious winner for this award. However, they
highlighted the work of two projects that, while using existing technologies and therefore
not sufficiently innovative, had huge potential to be beneficial to the marine environment.
As such they have been given joint recognition in the form of Highly Commended.
Dr Anne Kapuscinski
Director, Coastal Science and Policy Program and professor,
environmental studies at the University of California,
Santa Cruz, for aquaculture microalgae feed
76 W