Researchers Successfully Replace Fishmeal, Fish Oil in Farm-Raised Carnivorous Fish
Best performing “fish-free” diet contains an algae oil rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids.
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii—Researchers in Kona, Hawaii, have made a breakthrough in the quest to develop a cost-effective “fish-free” feed for farm-raised Kampachi, or almaco jack, a carnivorous marine fish prized for its rich, buttery flavor.
The ability to replace fishmeal and fish oil currently used in carnivorous marine fish diets will have important implications for ocean sustainability and meeting the growing demand for seafood around the world.
The trial results are detailed in a technical article in the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Advocate.
“This is the first time – to our knowledge – that fishmeal and fish oil have been totally eliminated from the diet of a marine carnivorous fish, with no deleterious consequences,” said Neil Anthony Sims, CEO of the Hawaii-based mariculture company, Ocean Era, where the trial was conducted. “Kampachi are a fast-growing, sashimi-grade fish, so this a significant breakthrough for the sustainability and scalability of marine fish farming.”
Ocean Era’s “fish-free” diet comprised of an algae oil rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids.
Aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector, consumes more than 70 percent of the world’s fish oil and fishmeal, which are derived from forage fish like sardines, anchovies and menhaden. Roughly 20 percent of the global wild catch, or 18 million tons of fish each year are converted into fishmeal and fish oil for use in animal feed.
During the three-month trial funded by a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 480 juvenile Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) were fed one of four diets. Two of the diets contained no fishmeal, and one of these also contained no fish oil. Fishmeal replacement relied primarily on poultry meal, from up-cycled poultry trimmings. Fish oil replacement was achieved using Veramaris® natural marine algal oil, which contains high levels of two critical omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. A fishmeal and fish oil diet was used as a control, together with an additional commercial control diet. The fish were stocked into sixteen tanks for the comparative grow-out trial.
The fish that were fed the zero fishmeal / zero fish-oil diet performed as well as the fish fed with the fishmeal and fish-oil diet. Performance was evaluated in terms of growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR), fillet yield and survival. FCR is the ratio of the amount of feed it takes to grow one kilogram of fish.
Juvenile Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) being stocked into tanks for the F3 trial.
The fish fed the zero fishmeal / zero fish-oil diet also had a more desirable taste compared to the fish fed the commercially available control diet.
“The results clearly show that algal oil can replace fish oil 100 percent without any reduction in growth of this marine fish,” said Rick Barrows, a fish nutrition expert with Aquatic Feed Technologies and co-principal investigator of the study.
The feed formulations used in this trial are available as open source formulae through the F3 Feed Innovation Network (F3 FIN) for anyone working to replace wild-caught fish ingredients in animal feed. F3 FIN encourages sustainable innovations in fish-free aquaculture feed ingredients by sharing experimental protocols, testing facilities and ingredient providers.
Algae oils have been shown to contain twice the amount of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids as fish oil, both of which are important for maintaining fish health and imparting heart and brain health benefits to humans.
“Development of diets that use these upcycled ingredients and microalgal oils is critical to the long-term scalability of marine fish culture, and therefore to our ability to sustainably feed a planet of nine billion people with heart-healthy seafood,” said Sims.
The project, titled “Developing cost-effective fishmeal-free and fish oil-minimized diets for high market value U.S. marine fish aquaculture,” was funded through NOAA’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program (NA18NMF4270208). The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service provided feed milling support for the trial. Anthropocene Institute and Ka'upulehu fishponds were collaborating partners on the NOAA grant.
The Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program funds projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.
A video about the study can be viewed on YouTube.
Ocean Era, LLC (formerly Kampachi Farms, LLC) is a Kona, Hawaii, based R&D company, dedicated to softening humanity’s footprint on the seas, by expanding production of the ocean’s living resources.
Media Contact:
Annie Reisewitz
annie@marcom.llc
858-228-0526
Hawai’i offshore R&D company re-brands as “Ocean Era, LLC”
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii –The Kona, Hawai’i-based offshore R&D company – formerly known as “Kampachi Farms, LLC” - has announced that the company will now be known as “Ocean Era, LLC”. The re-branding initiative better positions the company to address broader opportunities, and more expansive challenges facing aquaculture, and the planet.
The company membership and management structure will remain unchanged, with a total of 11 employees.
Company co-founder and CEO, Neil Anthony Sims, said that the change was driven by a growing awareness of the global imperative for expansion of offshore aquaculture, and the deeper understanding that the need is not just about one species of fish.
“We love our kampachi. It’s a beautiful fish!” said Sims, “But there are multiple issues that now beset the earth – the global climate crisis; ocean acidification; the limitations of fresh water, fertilizers and land-use; and the need to feed 9 billion people by 2050. The oceans are increasingly seen as not so much a victim of these perils, but as part of the solution.“
Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) inside an aquapod used for our Velella projects.
Ocean Era continues to work on a number of research and development projects with kampachi (Seriola rivoliana, or Almaco Jack), at its Kona, Hawai’i land-based facility. These projects include a selective breeding program for faster-growing, healthier fish, along with trials to accelerate broodstock maturation to amplify the results of the breeding program. In addition, Ocean Era continues to develop alternative feedstuffs for kampachi and other marine fish.
However, Sims said that the company “is already engaged in several other programs that are pursuing innovations for culture further offshore, and lower down the food chain”.
Nenue (chubs or rudderfish) on ice post feed trial and pre sashimi fest.
These include trials with high-value herbivorous reef-fish, such as the rudderfish, or chubs (Kyphosus vaigiensis).
“This is a fish that eats seaweed,” said Ocean Era’s Research Manager Lisa Vollbrecht. “Herbivorous fish offer the opportunity for aquaculture to not just grow fish, but also grow the feed for the fish, potentially without reliance on wild-caught forage fish or terrestrial proteins and oils. It could be a great opportunity for fish farm expansion, particularly for small-scale farms in less-developed countries.”
Three of the Hawaiian seaweeds being tested in the Blue Fields project: Halymenia hawaiiana, Caulerpa lentillifera, and Gracilaria parvispora.
Ocean Era is also working with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) on the “Blue Fields” project, to develop offshore macroalgae culture systems and identify seaweed species for cultivation for food, feed, fertilizers and fuels. A second ARPA-E project, in collaboration with leading Hawaii and mainland research institutes, is striving to adapt the microbiome of the seaweed-eating Kyphosus to improve the biodigestion of seaweeds.
Ocean Era also continues to pursue the Velella Epsilon project, pioneering the permitting for offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. Funded largely by the National SeaGrant Program, through University of Florida SeaGrant, this project builds on the prior Velella Beta-test (an unanchored net pen) and the Velella Gamma-test (a single-point mooring net pen operated by remote command-and-control) in Kona. The goal for Velella Epsilon is to obtain the permits for a demonstration-scale single net pen, to be sited around 40 miles offshore of Tampa-Sarasota, on the Florida Gulf Coast.
Dennis Peters, Velella Epsilon Project Manager, said “The intention is to allow the local Florida fishing and boating community to recognize that offshore aquaculture can be a boon. The earlier Velella projects in Kona were phenomenal Fish Aggregating Devices.” The company is presently in the process of obtaining the remaining permits from EPA and US Army Corps of Engineers for this demonstration.
About Ocean Era, LLC:
Ocean Era, LLC (formerly Kampachi Farms, LLC) is a Kona, Hawaii, based R&D company, dedicated to softening humanity’s footprint on the seas, by expanding production of the ocean’s living resources.