Market Opportunity

The Global Food Crisis

Seafood: The First Casualty Of The Global Food Crisis

The ocean is critical to our planet – and, therefore, our own well-being.  It is home to 90% of the world’s living creatures, with seafood serving as the main source of protein for more than one-sixth of the human population.  With over 75% of world fish stocks fully or over-exploited, we are depleting the fish and other marine life that we eat faster than their populations can replenish.

The demand for seafood is expected to soar in the coming decades, as it should. Seafood is the healthiest form of protein for humans and the most efficient form of protein production for the planet.

As wild fish supplies began to plateau three decades ago, aquaculture grew to match rising demand. Today, aquaculture supplies almost 50% of the world’s seafood and must grow to supply 100% of all new demand in the future, but current forms of aquaculture are inadequate to match growing demand. In many parts of the world, suitable farm sites are becoming more difficult to find and are increasingly competing with other stakeholders for resources. Ponds use valuable land and fresh water in sensitive estuarine ecosystems and raise fish in sub par conditions. Near shore net pens crowd fish in low energy environments close to shore leading to environmental impact and elevated disease risk. Recirculation systems are not practical to scale with rapidly growing market demand and at times require fish to be stocked at inhumane densities to be economically viable.

We are not only faced with a global seafood shortage that may lead to the starvation and malnutrition of millions of people around the world, but an environmental hurdle that must be overcome to sustainably grow our fish in the future.