Investment
Smart money Fish Farmer reports on the funds investing in innovative aquaculture and the projects they are investing in
BY SANDY NEIL
B
Y 2030, the world is expected to eat 20% more fish than in 2016. This increase can only come from aquaculture because we are already exploi�ng wild fish stocks to their limits. Mee�ng the world’s growing demand for fish while simultaneously sustaining our environment will require a radical transforma�on of global aquaculture. This is why investment funds focused on innova�on in the sector, such as Dutch company Aqua-Spark, exist. Aqua-Spark, based in Utrecht, launched in 2014 with a mission to transform the global aquaculture industry into one that is healthier, more sustainable and more accessible. It invests in aquaculture companies across the value chain, spanning farming opera�ons, alterna�ve feed ingredients, disease-ba�ling technology and consumer-facing aquaculture products. Since 2015, the fund has invested in 24 complementary small and medi-
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Investing in innovation (Sandy Neil) v2.indd 30
um-sized enterprises. Thus far, Aqua-Spark has €275m (£229m) in assets under management dedicated to investment in elements of the aquaculture industry that will make fish farming sustainable. For example, there’s growing interest in seaweed farming because of its ability to absorb carbon: macroalgae such as seaweed can grow as quickly as two feet a day, sucking up CO2 much faster than trees. While some projects aim to permanently sequester that carbon by sinking seaweed to the ocean floor, algae can also be used to make products from fish feed to human food. Grown at a large scale, seaweed could replace some of the crude oil used to make jet fuel or plas�c. Up un�l now, however, it’s been so expensive to grow that it can’t compete with fossil fuels. In one project funded by Aqua-Spark, a “sea tractor” harvests and replants carbon-capturing seaweed at a series of floa�ng farms off the coast of Bali, Indonesia. The system is designed to help the �ny seaweed industry scale up. “Agriculture on the sea is in its infancy,” says Shrikumar Suryanarayan, co-founder and Managing Director of Sea6 Energy, the India-based company
Top: Sea6 SeaCombine tractor vessel Left: Sea6 seaweed farm, Indian Ocean Opposite from top: Tilapia; Lake Harvest �lapia sign; Lake Harvest �lapia harves�ng; Lake Harvest �lapia cage site
www.fishfarmermagazine.com
07/03/2022 15:39:10
