Industrial production of Gammaridaes as fishfeed

In 2017, the European Commission sought advice from high-level scientific advisors on increasing food and biomass from the ocean without harming future generations. The report emphasizes sustainable practices at lower trophic levels as the solution. The EU consider circular food and feed production to be crucial for meeting sustainability goals, resource efficiency, climate change mitigation, a bio-based economy, and food security. Norway's aquaculture industry aims for a 4.4% annual growth, projecting 5 million tons of salmon by 2050. This will create a significant feed deficit. Currently, feed constitutes 75% of a Norwegian salmon's carbon footprint, with over 90% of ingredients beeing imported. Geopolitical concerns necessitate shorter and more secure food supply chains. The Norwegian government emphasises the need to increase domestic animal feed production to strengthen food security, increase sustainability and develop a more climate friendly production. Developing new methods for mass production of organisms from lower trophic level is paramount to meet the requirements in the aquaculture industry. The crustacean Gammaridae is one of these. This small crustacean is unique in its ability to convert low-quality raw materials into high-value protein and omega-3 that has a unique nutritional composition well adapted as a feed raw material; phospholipids, proteins with favorable amino acid profiles, carotenoids and other antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The Research at SINTEF Ocean has shown that Gammaridaes can be cultivated on different side streams from biobased industries such as rest raw materials from agriculture and aquaculture. The SINTEF-team has developed know-how on pilot production of Gammaridae biomass. Based on our promising research results, the commercial goal is to industrialize production, thus creating a new and viable source of feed raw material in large quantities to enable the aquaculture industry to grow in a sustainable manner.