Ocean Era/Onda

Ocean Era’s Mission: 

To be on the cutting edge of healthy, environmentally responsible seafood by discovering and commercializing ways that marine aquaculture can feed humanity and mitigate climate change.

Grant Project Goal(s):

To continue research and testing into macro-algae (PDMA) carbon-negative feed trials as a more environmentally responsible feed alternative for farmed fish.

Background:

There is growing interest in the culture of seaweeds (macro-algae) for its environmental and socio‐economic benefits. Seaweed culture requires no land area, freshwater, or fertilizer, and absorbs carbon dioxide—reducing ocean acidification, greenhouse gasses, and yielding a carbon‐ negative product.

However, expansion of seaweed culture is constrained by the limited commercial uses in animal feeds. There is an ongoing focus to reduce the environmental footprint of diets for farmed fish, but seaweed is not usually considered a feed for fish because its long polysaccharide chains are relatively indigestible.

Ocean Era (in collaboration with National Renewable Energy Laboratory ‐ NREL, and Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy ‐ ARPA‐E), has developed a process for fermentation of seaweeds to render them more digestible by fish. Ocean Era has tested partially digested macro-algae (PDMA) in tilapia diets, with encouraging results. Additional trials with shrimp and yellowtail are pending.

Immediate Objective(s):

To expand the partially digested macro-algae (PDMA) carbon-negative feed trials to include farmed Atlantic salmon (salmonids).

Key Learnings:

What’s the goal of your project?

The goal was to test two types of our PDMA (Partially-Deconstructed MacroAlgae, or fermented seaweed) at a partial (5%) inclusion in the feed of a high-value aquaculture species: Atlantic Salmon.

What challenge/need were you facing prior to receiving support from Sea Pact?

Our initial support for PDMA R&D had ended. Results from our trials with tilapia were encouraging, but to really prove the potential for PDMA, we needed to show that it could work in a high-value species.

What changed after being part of Sea Pact’s grant program? What specific outcomes can you share?

These results with Atlantic Salmon provide validation that PDMA can partially-replace other ingredients in aquaculture diets for high-value species. We can now use these results – as proof-of-concept - to garner more support from Federal agencies or foundations to extend this R&D towards commercialization.

In the long-run, the PDMA could hopefully reduce reliance on other aquafeed ingredients – e.g. wild-caught forage fish species, or terrestrial proteins and oils – and also provide a stronger commercial driver for expansion of macroalgal farming, with all of its attendant environmental and socio-economic benefits.

Are there any key learnings/takeaways that you can share that would benefit the entire industry?

Atlantic salmon that were fed with two different types of our PDMA (at a 5% inclusion level) showed growth rates and feed conversion ratios that were comparable to fish that were fed a standard control diet. There was also no difference in a range of physiological indicators. This suggests that PDMA could be fed at a higher inclusion level (10% or higher), and the salmon would be just as healthy, and as tasty, and might even grow a little faster!

Learn more at Ocean Era.

Additional funding for this research generously provided by Longo’s, a Sea Pact Gold Supporter.

 Macro-algae utilized in feed trials. Photo courtesy Ocean Era.