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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

aquaculture

Are Deep Sea Fish Farms the Future of Aquaculture? Forever Oceans Thinks So

The growth of aquaculture has been one of the big stories in the fishing industry over the past couple of decades, as fish raised in farms has grown from about 20% of captured fish in the 1990s to half of all fish caught in by 2020, according to a report issued by the United Nations.

But fish farming, while lauded by many experts as a way to relieve stress on ever-declining wild fish populations, is seen as rife with problems by others. Critics say fish farms can expose local fish populations to parasites such as fish lice, as well as antibiotics, and other chemicals. They also say farms pollute waters with unnatural amounts of concentrated fish feces emitted from farm enclosures. Farmed fish also can escape enclosures, which can pose harm to wild fish populations through interbreeding, especially if the farmed fish are genetically modified.

But a new generation of fish farming startups believe that pushing aquaculture away from the shore and into the deep sea, aided by the use of advanced technology such as sensors, automation, and artificial intelligence, will alleviate many of the problems associated with near-shore fish farming and produce a cleaner, more abundant harvest that is desperately needed to feed a growing global population.

One such company is Forever Oceans which has developed a system for farming fish miles offshore in the open ocean. The company, a spinoff of Lockheed Martin, says it can place its fish enclosures 10 miles offshore, up to 6000 thousand feet deep, and allow them to essentially drift naturally in the ocean’s current using a “patented single-point mooring.”

Forever Oceans uses sensors and cameras to monitor water quality and fish behavior, and “AI-driven” management software can make precision adjustments to feeding amount and timing and control hazards such as algae blooms. Underwater images captured by the system’s cameras are processed by what the company describes as biomass software to determine when the fish are ready to harvest. The entire process, which the company says drastically reduces the amount of human interaction with the fish population, is managed hundreds of miles away in a central operations center where a “single employee can monitor and manage our entire global network of farms via their laptop or mobile phone.”

Forever Oceans and other startups in this space believe that pushing fish farms further offshore and deeper underwater allows the fish to live in a more natural environment. Deep ocean currents, they say, can wash away pollutants and naturally clean enclosures, which keeps disease to a minimum. Proponents also believe these systems are better than land-based systems because open ocean farms utilize deep ocean tides as a natural filtration system, resulting in less energy usage and better access to naturally provided nutrients.

While it’s too soon to tell if deep-sea fish farming grows to become a significant slice of the overall aquaculture market, it definitely has momentum. Ever since the first deep-sea aquaculture project launched off the shores of Norway in 2018, a number of startups like Forever Oceans, Mowi, Innovasea, and Blue Ocean Mariculture have started to work on systems to enable fish farming in the open ocean.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this new movement for pushing fish farms into the deep ocean is not without its critics. Last fall, a coalition of environmental groups filed a legal challenge to a permit for a facility off the coast of Florida owned by Ocean Era, a company that has deployed Forever Oceans technology. They claim the EPA issued the permit without adequately vetting the facility’s environmental impact.

For its part, Forever Oceans continues to push forward, building out farm systems across the globe. Last June, the company said it would farm 2,500 tonnes of fish to be harvested over the next 12 months from their Panamanian farm and would bring on more fish capacity from farm sites being developed in Indonesia and Brazil. And this week, the company announced its farm-raised Kanpachi, a popular sushi-grade ray-finned fish, is now on the menus of  75 restaurants across the U.S, including Charlie Palmer Steak in Napa and Michelin-star Gravitas in Washington D.C.

The Kingfish Company Wants to Lead a Tech Revolution in Aquaculture

Earth’s ocean ecosystems are deteriorating. Wild fish stocks are increasingly vulnerable. And yet by the year 2050, global demand for seafood may have increased by as much as 80%, according to research from the Blue Food Assessment.

The Kingfish Company wants to help satisfy some of that demand while reducing the environmental toll of seafood production. The agtech company launched its first land-based aquaculture production facility in the Netherlands before introducing its flagship line of yellowtail kingfish products in Whole Foods Markets across the U.S. Soon, Kingfish will bring its production operations to the U.S. with a new facility in Maine.

Earlier this week, The Spoon joined Kingfish founding partner and CEO Ohad Maiman on Zoom to find out more about the company’s aquaculture technology and plans for expansion.

Why land-based aquaculture?

Traditional aquaculture has raised global seafood production capacity in recent decades, but alarms have been raised recently about the industry’s environmental impacts. Traditional fish farms can create toxic algal blooms and ocean dead zones; farmed fish can also transmit diseases to already-vulnerable wild populations. In response to these concerns, Washington state banned salmon farming in 2018, and Argentina became the first country to ban the practice this year.

Kingfish aquaculture farm

Traditional aquaculture can’t solve the seafood industry’s supply bottleneck problem, which is why the Kingfish team saw the need for an alternative model. “Thinking about the next 30 years of continued growth in demand for seafood, we saw the need for a technological solution,” Maiman told The Spoon.

Kingfish aims to solve some of the problems of traditional aquaculture, the biggest of which is ocean pollution. In underwater cage farming, animal waste and uneaten feed get released into the surrounding water. In Kingfish’s system, the flow of water is more controlled: Water is cleaned on its way into the system to maintain optimal conditions, and cleaned again on its way out to the sea.

The controlled nature of Kingfish’s farm environment also allows the company to prevent parasites or diseases from entering the system, eliminating the need to administer antibiotics or other medications (another problem of traditional aquaculture).

There’s also the problem of seafood feed: Some traditional aquaculture operations use massive quantities of wild fish to feed their farmed species. The use of lower-grade feed in traditional aquaculture can also lead to less nutritious seafood products. Because Kingfish operates in the premium seafood space, the company can source higher-quality feed options and cut down on marine ingredients—replacing fish meal with insect meal, for example.

Inside a land-based fish farm

It would be counter-intuitive if Kingfish’s land-based aquaculture system involved pulling fish from the sea and ranching them. Instead, the company maintains several broodstocks of yellowtail kingfish on-site, and uses them to sustainably generate new generations of fish.

Kingfish’s system mimics the seasonal light and temperature conditions that the fish would experience in the wild. “When the light lasts longer and the water temperature rises, and they feel it’s spring, they spawn eggs,” Maiman said.

The hatchery and larval rearing phases are key for the company, as there are no commercial sources for yellowtail kingfish fingerlings or eggs. The fish spend about 15 days in this phase, at the end of which they measure about an inch in length. Then they’re transferred to the main system, where they live for up to 11 months.

Juvenile fish at Kingfish aquaculture farm

To slaughter the animals as painlessly as possible, the company uses an electric stunner. “By the time they are harvested, they are stunned,” Maiman said. “They immediately lose consciousness at that moment and then they die in cold water, but no longer feel it.”

At Kingfish’s Netherlands facility, the system that supports the animals throughout their life cycle is run using 100% renewable energy. At the planned facility in Maine, the company anticipates that they’ll be able to source about 50% of their energy from renewables. Kingfish is also seeking out partnerships with new renewables projects in the area, as the company can commit to the long-term offtake that new projects need to take off.

The future of fish farming

As a high-value, import-dependent species, the yellowtail kingfish was an ideal pilot fish for the company. “If you go to Nobu and have yellowtail jalapeno sashimi, it will typically be flown in from Japan or Australia,” Maiman said. “We are the largest local producer in Europe and are working toward doing the same in the U.S.” By offering a domestic source for yellowtail in Europe and North America, the company can both cut the product’s transportation footprint and provide fresher fish.

Kingfish began by addressing demand for yellowtail kingfish from Japanese and Italian restaurants, but the company also sells its products in grocery stores. According to Maiman, the team is aiming for a roughly 50-50 split between sales in restaurants and high-end retail stores.

The company went public in Norway last year, and is using that fundraise to grow its Netherlands production capacity. The team is also working on pre-construction and engineering for the new Jonesport, Maine facility, and scouting out future sites in southern Europe and the West Coast of the U.S.

With this expansion, Kingfish plans to boost its yellowtail kingfish capacity—and, eventually, to begin producing its next fish species. An internal group nicknamed Kingfish X is currently deciding which species that will be. Maiman couldn’t go into detail about which fish are being considered, but he did hint that the team is looking for another import-dependent, high-value species.

The company’s overarching goal is to be at the forefront of a technology-driven paradigm shift in aquaculture. “Within the last year or two, this technology has crossed the rubicon from an experimental to a commercially viable technology,” Maiman said.

“At some point, any new technology becomes less of a mystery—and then it’s the first few companies that have been able to build scale and establish a market position that lead the sector.”

S2G Ventures Unveils the First Five Investments for Its Oceans & Seafood Fund

S2G Ventures has invested in five different companies as part of the inaugural investments for its $100 million Oceans & Seafood fund. The point of the new fund is to support companies and entrepreneurs building new systems, solutions, and processes geared towards the “blue economy.”

The World Bank defines the blue economy as “the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems.” In other words, it calls for a more sustainable approach to doing business when it comes to our oceans and the life within them. Multiple areas are touched by the blue economy, including maritime transport, renewable energy, fisheries, and waste management strategies. Even tourism could play a role.

Via a statement, S2G Managing Director Kate Danaher called sustainably managed ocean ecosystems “a pillar of global environmental recovery, a driver of economic growth, and a foundation for food security and human health.” The firm says its Oceans & Seafood fund is the largest in North America. It will invest in companies helping to “build marine ecosystem resilience, de-risk the ocean supply chain, maximize the value of natural resources and support animal and human health.”

Thus far, companies in S2G’s group of inaugural investments are:

ReelData. Based in Canada, the company makes software it says can increase land-based aquaculture’s profitability, sustainability, and scalability. Initial products include AI-informed feeding systems, biomass estimation and health/stress analytics.

ViAqua Therapeutics. The Israel-based biotech producer makes orally administered RNA-based treatments for shrimp to improve their resistance to disease. S2G says the company has the potential to apply its technology across “all aquaculture species and platforms where cost-effective RNA production and novel delivery systems (such as nano and micro encapsulation) are needed.”

Moleaer. U.S.-based Moleaer has nanobubble tech that can treat water systems, including removing harmful pathogens and increasing recoveries of natural resources. 

Additionally, S2G has invested in two undisclosed companies. One is an “ocean surveillance company” that will track dark vessels and illegal maritime activity. The other is a “fishmeal and oil technology company” based in the U.S. that holds proprietary zero-waste fishmeal technology that could be applied to other parts of protein production in fisheries.

The focus of the overall fund will be divided into three areas: ecosystem resillience, resource optimization, and consumer centricity. S2G said it believes focusing on these areas will improve ocean health while still “generating above average financial returns.”

Aquaculture Accelerator Hatch Raises $8.4M, Recruits Fourth Cohort

Hatch, a Norway-based accelerator program focused on aquaculture startups, announced yesterday that it had raised $8.4 million to recruit a fourth cohort and further invest in its existing portfolio (via The Fish Site). Thus far the fund has raised over $10 million in external investment thus far. It currently operates in Hawaii, Bergen (Norway), and Singapore.

Founded in 2018, Hatch launched its first three-month accelerator program, which included eight aquaculture startups, in the spring of 2018. As my colleague Jenn Marston wrote at the time:

Each team will get $30,600 (USD) in addition to mentoring, development help, office space, and the chance to make new connections in the aquaculture industry. For those companies that have “high potential,” an additional loan will be available once they complete the program.

Since then the numbers have gone up. Per the Hatch website, each startup in the accelerator program will receive a total of $130,000 ($75,000 in cash, $55,000 in kind). They’ll also receive a year of free office space, mentorship, and product development connections.

Hatch is looking for startups that are reinventing and streamlining any part of the aquaculture field, from seafood nutrition to population management to new species development. Past participants in Hatch’s program range from Algaebra, an automated shrimp hatchery, to Gaskiya, which tests tilapia for the streptococcus virus. They’ve even invested in Finless Foods, the startup growing bluefin tuna from fish cells in bioreactors.

Overfishing is a pressing problem, depleting oceans of seafood and disrupting the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Aquaculture is certainly one alternative, but it carries its own burdens: water pollution, and overuse of pesticides, to name a few. As our population — and hunger for seafood — increases, we’ll need to get more creative to make seafood cultivation more sustainable.

A growing number of startups are getting creative with ways to solve this disconnect. Aquabyte uses machine learning to monitor in-ocean fisheries, Ynsect is developing insect farms to use for fish feed, and companies like Timberfish and BluePlanet are reinventing seafood farms altogether. There’s also a handful of companies developing cell-based seafood, which could dramatically reduce our reliance on ocean fishing and aquaculture altogether.

With seafood consumption set to increase, Hatch’s fresh funds could be chum in the water for innovative aquaculture startups.

Applications for Hatch’s newest cohort open today. If you’ve got a startup that is out to change the way we cultivate seafood, you can apply here.

Agrisea is Developing Ocean Farms to Grow Rice using Saltwater

Over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. However, only 2.5 percent of that is fresh water, and roughly 70 percent of that is used for agriculture — which also takes up approximately half of Earth’s land. With climate change and soil degradation, the amount of viable cropland is shrinking at an alarming rate.

So why not grow crops using all of that available saltwater? The short answer is salinity — most of our favorite crops can’t grow in such salty environments. But new startup Agrisea is working to change that. The company creates a floating farm ecosystem that grows crops on saltwater, using only . . . saltwater. No soil, no fertilizers, and no fresh water required. The company is currently participating in life science accelerator IndieBio which includes $250,000 in seed funding. 

“We looked at salt water, and saw a nutrient soup,” Agrisea founder Luke Young told me over the phone on a recent call. He and his co-founder Rory Hornby met while studying plant genetics and tissue regeneration, respectively, at Durham University. They united to develop a way to tap into the natural nutrients that are plentiful in oceans — which already sustain plants like algae — and apply to them to some of the world’s most popular crops.

After two years they developed salt-tolerant rice seeds that could thrive either in oceans or in paddies flooded with seawater. The seeds also don’t produce methane, which is a major climate concern for rice farming. In addition to rice, Agrisea has developed salt-tolerant kale seeds and is working on corn and soy.

Those engineered seeds go into modular floating ocean mini-farms which resemble honeycombs, each roughly a foot in diameter. Each unit contains a double layer of mesh: the top one holds in the plants, while the bottom one acts as a fish nursery. Since they’re not static, the farms can be moved if a major weather event like a hurricane is forecasted.

Initially, the company plans to license out its agriculture platform — including the modular units and salt-tolerant rice seeds — to farming companies and governments on a contract basis. Young said that areas which are experiencing saltwater flooding are, unsurprisingly, the most eager to get their hands on the technology. 

And they might be able to in as little as six months. Young said that companies in some areas struggling with flooding, like Vietnam, are ready to use the saltwater farms as soon as they’re available. However, it’ll likely be two to three years until the tech is available in the U.S., where the farms have to get approval by both the FDA and the USDA. “This is an entirely new technology,” Hornby told me. “It’s not aquaculture, so they’re working to develop a new policy around it.”

With a global population set to reach almost 10 billion by 2050 and a finite amount of land and water, companies are hustling to find more sustainable and economical ways to grow food. Some point to hydroponic farming as a panacea, but it still requires massive amounts of freshwater and energy to function — and some doubt its efficacy. Gene-edited plants (like CRISPR) can be made more drought- or heat-resistant, but they still require water and soil inputs.

That’s why Agrisea’s solution has such potential. Yes, its technology is still chiefly untested — but if successful, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Agrisea’s saltwater farms could massively impact global agriculture. Farmers would no longer have to rely on scarce resources like freshwater and land, and could cut down on methane emissions in the process. In areas that are already dealing with the disastrous effects of climate change, Agrisea’s technology could be a positive sea change for agriculture.

Avant Meats Has First Public Taste Test of Cultured Fish Maw in Hong Kong

For many Western consumers, “fish maw” is an unfamiliar foodstuff. However, in China and other surrounding regions, the ingredient, which is technically the dried swim bladders of large fish like sturgeon, is considered a delicacy. For that reason, it’s both extremely expensive and leading to extreme overfishing. There’s even a black market for the stuff.

In Hong Kong, startup Avant Meats is finding a more sustainable way to feed hunger for fish maw by growing it outside the animal. The company got one step closer to that goal last month, when they did the first public taste test of their cultured fish maw at the Future Food Summit at Asia Society Hong Kong.

The fish maw, grown from cells from a croaker fish, was embedded in a potato ball which was then deep-fried. Obviously we didn’t get to taste it ourselves (sadly), but in a video sent to The Spoon taste testers noted the ball’s chewy, gelatinous texture, a hallmark of fish maw. Texture is one of the biggest hurdles for cell-based meat, so if Avant Meats has indeed nailed it that could serve them well as they head to market.

When I spoke with Avant Meats co-founder and CEO Carrie Chan back in March, she explained that they had decided to focus on fish maw as their first product because of it’s simple composition, which allows them to speed up R&D, scale quickly, and come to market at a lower price point. Another reason they chose to focus on fish maw is because of its popularity with consumers in China and Hong Kong, their initial target demographic. However, according to a press release sent to The Spoon, their next product will be a fish filet that is intended for both Eastern and Western menus.

This year has been a busy one for cultured meat companies in Asia. Back in March Shiok Meat debuted its cell-based shrimp in the startup’s home country of Singapore, and Japan-based Integriculture recently did a taste test of cultured foie gras.

American companies like Memphis Meats, JUST, and Wild Type have also done several tastings of their own cell-based products, some on significantly larger scales. However, since cell-based (cultivated?) meat will likely debut in Asia, it’s exciting to see the increase in cultured meat and seafood activity in the area — especially for products developed specifically to appeal to Asian palates.

Avant Meats has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round and has a team of five in its Hong Kong HQ. They’re hoping to reach pilot production by late 2022/early 2023.

Shiok Meats Nets $500K Investment from Agronomics for Cultured Shrimp

Yesterday Agronomics, a company which invests in animal product alternatives, announced that it had completed a subscription of $500,000 in the form of a convertible loan to cell-based seafood company Shiok Meats (h/t StockMarketWire). Agronomics stated that on conversion, the subscription is expected to own a roughly 2.3 percent share in the Singaporean startup. The loan will convert to shares upon completion of a Series A funding round of $10 million by Shiok Meats.

The Singaporean company raised $4.6 million in April of this year. This latest round of investment brings its total funding to $5.3 million.

Founded in 2018, Shiok Meats is developing seafood — specifically crustaceans — outside of the animal using a technology called cellular aquaculture. Its first product is cell-based shrimp. The company did the first public taste test of its crustaceans back in March, to reportedly positive reviews.

Shiok Meats is one of several companies developing cultured seafood. Wild Type is developing cell-based salmon, BlueNalu has chosen mahi-mahi as its first cultured seafood product, and Finless Foods has stated it will bring its cell-based bluefin tuna to market over the next few years.

However, Shiok Meats is unique in two ways. Firstly it’s focusing on shrimp, which is one of the most widely consumed kinds of seafood in the world (and the number one most consumed in the U.S.) They’re also one of the few cell-based meat (or seafood) companies based in Asia, despite the fact that that’s the area of the world where cultured meat will likely make its market debut.

When I spoke with Shiok Meat’s CEO Dr. Sandhya Sriram back in January, she told me that the company is still likely 3-5 years from commercializing its first product. But with an additional half a million in its pocket, the startup is edging a lot closer to that goal.

BluePlanet Ecosystems’ Aquaculture System Mimics Nature to Grow Fish Sustainably

Globally, the U.S. gets over one half of all its seafood from aquaculture. The process is meant to give some relief to overfished ocean stocks and create a more reliable seafood source, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

“The problem is that the production method is still connected to the oceans,” said Paul Schmitzberger, CEO and co-founder of BluePlanet Ecosystems, over the phone. He explained that farmed fish are often fed small fish caught from oceans, and the smaller fish might contain mercury or microplastics. And even when fish farms use soy for their animal feed, it comes with an environmental cost all its own.

But what if the aquaculture farms could produce their own food and repurpose their own waste, just like in natural ecosystems? Schmitzberger and his team at BluePlanet Ecosystems, which was incorporated in 2018, set out to do just that.

The Austrian company’s LARA (Land-based Automated Recirculating Aquaculture) is a completely turnkey system which consists of three horizontal units stacked on top of each other. The top unit uses energy from the sun to grow microalgae, the “power source” for the entire system. The microalgae is then pumped down to the second unit where it feeds tiny zooplankton. Finally, the zooplankton is moved down to the bottom unit, where it’s eaten by fish and crustaceans. Any waste from the sea life is recirculated up to the top to be used as food for the algae.

In short, it’s a completely contained system that grows seafood without the need to input any food or extract any waste.

When I first heard about the LARA, I had one question: Why had nobody else done this before? According to Schmitzberger, the answer is because it’s extremely difficult to manage. Without constant monitoring, the delicate balance of algae/zooplankton/seafood can get out of whack and ruin the whole system.

However, BluePlanet Ecosystems believes they can do what others couldn’t by adding something that nature doesn’t have: high tech. The startup uses a combination of water sensors, computer vision and machine learning to constantly monitor and optimize the dynamics of the tanks. “We’re monitoring every organism in the system,” said Schmitzberger.

For example, if the cameras notice there are too many plankton in the middle tank, the system will automatically activate a water pump to flush a portion of those plankton out to be eaten. If the software recognizes that a fish is sick, it can alert managers to look for a root cause before the rest of the population falls ill.

The LARAs can fit in 40-ton shipping containers and contain 100 cubic meters of water. They’re modular, so companies can connect multiple units together to be managed under BluePlanet’s software. The units will cost about $50,000 each plus a recurring $2,500 fee for every ton of seafood produced through the system, which Schmitzberger estimates companies should be able to recoup in four to five years. He said they hope to start constructing full-size prototypes over the next six months, with plans to deliver them at the beginning of 2021.

BluePlanet Ecosystems just signed a letter of intent with Singapore largest caterer, sats, which processes 100 tons of seafood every month. They have $250,000 in funding from IndieBio and are currently raising a seed round for $2.8 million.

Several companies are already putting parts of the LARA system in practice. TimberFish has a no-waste aquaculture system based upon brewery waste and woodchips. Aquabyte uses machine learning and computer vision to optimize fish maintenance in seafood farm pens. However, BluePlanet combines both of those value-adds into one — and promises to do it without any necessary inputs.

As of yet, LARAs are untested and expensive. But if they work as promised, we might see our farmed seafood sources become gradually more and more sustainable.

Wild Type’s Cell-Based Salmon Costs $200, But Not For Long

A few weeks ago Wild Type, the San Francisco-based startup growing salmon in a lab, did a tasting of its cultured salmon.

Sadly I was not there to taste the goods (hint hint, guys). But I did get to connect with Wild Type co-founders Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck over the phone this week to learn more about how their dinner went and what’s next for the cellular aquaculture startup.

According to the co-founders, the taste test was a critical step in their R&D process. While there are things they still want to improve on their product — tasters apparently thought the flavor was quite faint and the color wasn’t as vibrant as wild salmon — they were impressed with how the salmon adapted to a variety of dishes.

Wild Type’s salmon falls apart if it’s heated above 212°F, so for now the company is focusing on raw applications. Their first product will be a smoked salmon similar to lox. Apparently Wild Type’s scientists can already produce a thin sheet of salmon that’s 10.5 inches x 11 inches, which can then be sliced, cold smoked, and presumably put on a bagel alongside schmear and capers.

While they eventually want to sell their cell-based lox directly to consumers, the Wild Type founders first need to get their price down. Way down.

Right now, Kolbeck and Elfenbein estimated that it cost roughly $200 dollars to produce one serving of their cultured salmon. (They specifically referenced the cost of to make the eight-piece spicy salmon sushi roll they served at their recent dinner.) Though high-quality wild salmon is pricey, up to $30 a pound, Wild Type still has a ways to go before their fish is cost-competitive with the real thing. Kolbeck explained that they’re currently working on making their animal-free cell media — one of the biggest costs in cellular agriculture/aquaculture — more efficient, which would make the growth process significantly cheaper.

Kolbeck and Elfenbein wouldn’t give a timeline for their product release, but seeing as they won’t launch until they’re at least close to price parity with traditional salmon — roughly one-tenth their current cost — it’ll likely be several years at least.

However, Wild Type does have one significant advantage over companies like JUST and Mosa Meats, which claim to be closer to bringing their cultured meat to market. Fish are cold-blooded, so the startup’s salmon cells can be grown at room temperature. Mammalian and avian cells, on the other hand, have to be grown in little ovens to stay warm. That means that cultured fish requires fewer energy inputs than cultured beef, pork, or chicken, and can also be produced more cheaply.

For now, Wild Type is focused on perfecting their product, reducing growth costs, and planning more tastings of their salmon. Maybe this writer will be able to snag an invite for the next one.

Wild Type Debuts New Cultured Salmon in Largest Tasting of Lab-Grown Meat

Last week Wild Type, the West Coast startup growing salmon in a lab, had the first large-scale taste test of its new product.

In a Medium post, the company detailed a test dinner at Portland, Oregon’s Olympia Oyster bar, which included an assortment of cell-based salmon dishes based on “a variety of culinary traditions.” Menu items included Ceviche Verde, salmon tartare, Hawaiian poke, and spicy salmon sushi rolls, all made with the cultured fish. The dinner, which the company claims was the first to feature cell-based food so extensively, wasn’t open to the public, so there’s no indication how good the cultured fish actually tasted.

Founded in 2016, Wild Type raised a $3.5 million seed round to expand its cell-based salmon R&D in 2018. The company plans to initially release minced salmon and lox and work its way up to full-size filets.

It still has quite a few hurdles to overcome. As with most cellular agriculture (or aquaculture) companies, it can only produce relatively small pieces of lab-grown meat due to scaffolding challenges and other growth constraints.

Wild Type’s salmon can also only be served raw. If it’s heated above 212°F, it will become too flaky fall apart. According to Bloomberg the company plans to debut a new version of the salmon that can be cooked in the next few months.

Pricing is also an issue. The company hopes to sell their salmon at a competitive price to real farmed Atlantic salmon: $7 to $8 per pound. As of now, they estimate that the spicy salmon roll served at the dinner cost a whopping $200 to produce. However cellular agriculture/aquaculture companies are rapidly reducing the cost it takes to make cultured meat, mostly due to improvements in growth media, so it’s likely pricing will go down soon.

Wild Type isn’t the only company trying to get in on the seafood alternative market. Finless Foods is hoping to bring its cell-based bluefin tuna to market by the end of 2019, though likely in a very limited release. In Singapore, Shiok Meats is developing cell-based shrimp (and racking up serious funding along the way), and Avant Meats is making lab-grown fish maw in Hong Kong.

It’ll still be a while until we taste any sort of cultured meat or seafood due to high costs, low production capacity, and regulatory hurdles. Wild Type has yet to release a go-to-market date for their cell-based salmon, but some speculate it’ll be as much as 10 years from now.

However, several plant-based seafood companies are already vying for our plates. Good Catch’s plant-based tuna is now available at Whole Foods, and Ocean Hugger Foods makes alternatives to raw tuna and eel out of vegetables. These options may all be better for the environment than fishing or even growing fish cells in a lab, but at least from my experience, it’s much harder to make plants taste like fish than it is to make them taste like a juicy burger.

Regardless, we have to do something about our dwindling seafood supply. Our oceans are rapidly being depleted through overfishing and aquaculture has its own set of issues. If companies like Wild Type can produce tasty fish to relieve some of the pressure from our oceans, I’m all for it. Even if I have to wait a while to try lab-grown spicy tuna sushi for myself.

Good Catch’s Plant-Based Tuna Swims into Retail

Good Catch just got one step closer to changing your tune about tuna. Yesterday the company rolled out its plant-based “tuna” products in Whole Foods, as well as through grocery subscription service Thrive Market and online grocer FreshDirect.

Good Catch’s tuna is made of a “6-plant protein blend” which contains lentils, pea protein, soy, and chickpea flour, as well as sea algae oil for flavor. It comes in three flavors, “Naked in Water,” “Mediterranean,” and “Oil and Herbs,” all of which are packaged in pouches (not cans) and cost $4.99.  Each 3.3 ounce serving of tuna has 14 grams of protein.

When it comes to plant-based foods, there are plenty of “fish” in the sea. In addition to Good Catch’s tuna, Sophie’s Kitchen has a “toona” made out of Japanese yam, and Ocean Hugger’s ahimi is a plant-based alternative to raw tuna — both of which are also sold at select Whole Foods. Atlantic Natural Foods also recently launched a new fishless tuna product, called “Tuno.”

There’s no question that more and more people are turning to plant-based protein. But is there enough demand to support multiple brands of vegan tuna?

Maybe not now, but soon consumers might not have a choice. The price of fresh tuna is rising as stocks dwindle due to overfishing. Just last month in Japan a giant tuna sold for a whopping $3.1 million. Canned tuna might not cost anywhere near as much as fresh, but if we continue to deplete the supply eventually it might. Plus there’s the worrying levels of mercury to think about. As consumers turn away from canned tuna for health or price reasons, Good Catch & co. will be there for all their tuna melt needs.

One final note: it’s interesting that Good Catch named its product straight-up “tuna,” instead of using a similar word or a different spelling, like its competitors. As meat and dairy companies battle to keep plant-based options from using words like “meat” and “milk,” this is a pretty bold move from Good Catch. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company gets some backlash from Big Fish.

Good Catch raised $8.7 million last August. We haven’t tried its products yet, but with the number of new plant-based players trying to disrupt canned tuna, it just might be time for a taste test.

TimberFish Launches IndieGoGo to Raise Trout on Brewery Waste and Wood Chips

It’s no secret that wild-caught seafood is fraught, what with its declining supply and associations with inhumane labor practices. Many tout farmed fish as a more ethical and sustainable (not to mention cheaper) way to satisfy our seafood cravings, which is why aquaculture is the fastest growing food-producing sector. In fact, as of 2016, aquaculture produced half of all fish for human consumption.

While aquaculture doesn’t lead to overfishing of limited ocean resources, it can have other unsavory consequences. Farmed fish produce a lot of waste (AKA fish poop), and can sometimes cause chemicals to leak into our drinking water.

And then there’s the fish food. Often, farmed fish are fed pellets of corn, soy, unwanted chicken parts, or even fish meal. Sometimes people even catch smaller, less popular fish from the ocean and grind them up to feed their farmed bretheren. Obviously, it takes a lot of energy and environmental resources to create all this fish food, and even more to filter out waste from fish enclosures.

TimberFish Technologies‘ eponymous technology promises to offer a more palatable alternative to aquaculture. The company launched in 2008 and have so far raised or won $260K, which they used to build a test facility at Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing facility in Westfield New York.

There, they feed their fish not with animal parts or corn, but with a combination of nutrient-rich wastewater from food processors (such as breweries, distilleries, and wineries) and woodchips. Microbes grow on the woodchips, small invertebrates (like worms and snails) eat the microbes, and the fish eat the invertebrates. The fish poop is grub for the microbes, and the whole cycle starts again.

In addition to seafood, the TimberFish system’s only outputs are clean water and spent wood chips, which can be used as a biofuel or soil supplement. Another benefit is that TimberFish can build their aquaculture farms close to cities, shortening the supply chain and guaranteeing fresher fish.

This is obviously not as idyllic as plucking salmon from the Alaskan seas or catching trout in a mountain stream, but, as aquaculture operations go, it’s not bad. And it’s certainly cost-efficient; diverting a waste product to make it profitable.

This week TimberFish Technologies launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for their no-waste, sustainable aquaculture system. If they reach their $10,000 goal, they’ll use the funds to design plans for a larger commercial facility, which they estimate could produce 2 to 3 million pounds of fish per year.

Investment has been slow so far, but personally I hope TimberFish gets the funds it needs to keep swimming along towards its goal of creating a more sustainable agriculture.

If you’re in New England and want to learn more about blue tech and sustainable seafood, join us for our next food tech meetup in Providence, RI on July 17th!