India approves 1 billion USD in aquaculture infrastructure development

India has joined the growing list of countries that are supporting the growth of the aquaculture industry. It was announced today that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved an amount of Rs7,522cr (roughly 1 billion USD) towards the creation of special fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure development fund (FIDF).

These funds can be allocated as loans to the aquaculture industry that have a maximum repayment period of 12 years, and will aid in achieving India’s goal of 15 million tons of aquaculture production by 2020.

Seaweed and cow gas

Cows have gotten a lot of attention lately as they were found to be one of the largest producers of methane in the USA. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than CO2 in it’s ability to heat the atmosphere, and the entire population of cows contributes just as much as cars to climate change. Cows digest their food by fermentation in their gut. Fermentation leads to gasses, which are then mostly belched out of the cow’s mouth.

This has lead many animal nutritionists to investigate alternative feed ingredients that could mitigate the amount of methane produced by cows. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, found that methane emissions were reduced by 24 to 58 percent in cows that ate a type of red seaweed.

While this tech is very promising, the bottleneck is currently the lack of red algae production. Land based aquaculture is costly, while offshore aquaculture comes with more regulatory hurdles. To have seaweed integrated into feeds, massive large scale aquafarming needs to become a reality.

It's national seafood month. Let's not forget seaweed.

It’s national seafood month!

When most people think of seafood the mental image of fish, lobster, and crab jump into their heads.

While fish are the number one ranking seafood by tons/year, this mental image is missing the second largest seafood market on the planet: seaweed. Did you know that global seaweed cultivation is more than twice the amount of crustaceans farmed and captured by weight? (FAO 2016). Over 31 million tons of seaweed is produced annually. Red seaweeds make up most of the global production (18.4 million tons), followed by brown seaweeds (10.5 million tons), and the rest is green seaweeds.

Red seaweeds are cultivated at the highest rates due to some industrial extracts (see carrageenan post) and valued flavor. We are all familiar with the taste of some red algae; nori is a commonly used red seaweed in the making of sushi rolls.

So next time you hear the word seafood, don’t forget the second largest seafood group: seaweeds.

The Russians are investing in aquaculture while the USA is standing by

In the last few years the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations have been showing global reports that aquaculture is on the rise. For the last decade the aquaculture industry has grown at a pace of 8% annually and has huge potential for future gains. The FAO report on global aquaculture lists the largest seaweed producers as China, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea, and Japan. The United States didn’t even make it to the top 15 producers (neither did Russia). While the top countries haven’t seen big production gains in the last decade the market is still growing leaving plenty of room for other countries to grow.

Today an article caught my attention in Seafood-Source “investments in Russian aquaculture on the rise”. The article speaks of the Russian government supporting the industry with the goal of tripling aquaculture output to 700,000 metric tons by 2030. While the output figure includes fish and other aquaculture species, they also plan on expanding seaweed production. Clearly the Russians are trying to establish themselves in this expanding market.

Why is the USA not joining the race? With an expansive coastline and nutrient rich waters, the USA is positioned to make a real contribution to global seaweed production. Many point the finger at government, citing that it can take over 10 years to attain a permit, if it’s ever approved. With such long lag times and uncertainty, attaining investments can also be challenging.

It’s clear more and more countries are willing to invest in the aquaculture/ seaweed industry. What is unclear is, if and when, the USA is willing to invest.

How will we feed 9.6 billion people in 2050? The solution is within the ocean

The population is estimated to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. The FAO has reported that mankind will need to produce 70% more food than it did in 2009. Agriculture has had over a hundred years of industrialization to surpass global food supply expectations. Yet, we have become a population dependent on GMO mono-crop culture. With agriculture already at it’s maximum efficiency, where will the extra 70% of food come from?

While the land has had tremendous science and technologies invested in crop cultivation, we are still essentially hunting in the oceans. The oceans make up 70% of the earth surface and we have yet to realize it’s full potential in attaining food security.

Here is a recent article in Quartz about the future of ocean farming