Bringing sustainable seafood to the table
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Year after year, wild fisheries continue to fall short of feeding Earth’s growing population—with nearly 60% fished to capacity and 34% overfished. By 2030, fish farms are expected to supply nearly two-thirds of food fish worldwide—and the U.S. faces critical decisions about the future of domestic fish farming (aquaculture). Most U.S. seafood is imported, often from nations with lower standards of animal care or environmental protection. How can U.S. farmers produce enough healthy, affordable seafood while achieving the high standards of quality and sustainability that consumers and our planet need?
These questions are driving national-level discussions and action—for example, the bipartisan Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act in Congress, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) new Aquaculture Opportunity Area (AOA) Atlas for the Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2020 request for public comment on how to label seafood cultured from cells. These are a few of the many recent signs that seafood producers and regulators are striving to adapt to feed a changing world.
Mote Marine Laboratory’s aquaculture researchers know that positive change depends on the best available science—and that’s what we strive to provide. Mote Aquaculture Research Park in Sarasota County, Florida, demonstrates how to raise seafood away from the coast, while recycling 100% of the salt water—and we’ve built upon that core technology to do much, much more. Mote’s progress this year reveals how precisely our science targets urgent, pressing questions in our national conversation on sustainable food.
Mote scientists advanced sustainable aquaculture directly relevant to commercial application through eight partnerships with industry professionals this year:
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Two different private companies have tapped Mote’s aquaculture scientists to develop technology for farming two new species sustainably: Florida stone crabs and Atlantic tripletail. These collaborations exemplify how Mote scientists translate and transfer our discoveries to support eco-friendly aquaculture growth.
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With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agriculture Research Service, Mote scientists continued a project this year to investigate nutrition strategies to help almaco jack—an emerging seafood species for aquaculture—produce high-quality eggs and larvae, in partnership with scientists studying other species—pompano at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and California yellowtail at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. The project partners have been testing a fish diet developed by and manufactured by a feeds company, providing the industry with valuable data on which fish species can benefit from it and which species may need other solutions.
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This project supports a broader, Mote-led effort to develop land-based aquaculture technology for the Gulf of Mexico’s native almaco jack, which has potential for being farmed in land-based recirculating systems as well as responsible, science-based offshore aquaculture. Ocean Era, a private commercial aquaculture company that has previously earned the Stewardship Council certification for socially and environmentally responsible aquaculture production, has recently received the required Environmental Protection Agency permitting for an aquaculture demonstration project to place a single net pen approximately 45 miles offshore of southwest Florida in the Gulf. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently evaluating a concurrently required permit which, if issued, would allow the project to move forward.
Mote, which specializes in recirculating aquaculture on land, is developing sustainable hatchery technology needed to produce juvenile, Gulf-native almaco jack that will be needed for any future farming efforts, offshore or land-based, that prioritize healthy, sustainable seafood. Mote scientists have emphasized that the Ocean Era project, and any future endeavors to test offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico, should not move forward without rigorous scientific investigation, careful management and new technology to ensure they avoid the damage caused by now-outdated technologies of past decades. This means incorporating no antibiotics or growth hormones in the fish food, carefully monitoring nutrient levels to meet strict water quality standards, and prioritizing native fish like almaco jack—which are naturally found in the same offshore Gulf areas being considered for aquaculture.
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This year, Mote scientists successfully cultured cells from Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)—so that they could be reliably reproduced and cryopreserved—a source of raw material for the growing cell-cultured seafood industry. Cell-cultured (also called cultivated or cell-based) seafood—a hot topic covered this year in The New York Times, Forbes and other national and international media—is an up-and-coming method for producing seafood without harvesting any fish. Multiple companies are developing methods to combine microscopic fish or shrimp cells and ingredients that help them grow and multiply to generate the tasty stuff (i.e., muscle and healthy fats) rather than harvesting the same tissues from an animal. Mote’s project is funded by the Good Food Institute—a nonprofit focused on bringing alternative, sustainable protein sources into our food industry—with a goal to provide a new seafood source that does not impact wild fish populations or the environment.
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Now, with a new round of funding awarded by the Good Food Institute in September 2021, Mote scientists aim to characterize the shrimp cells’ properties and focus on helping them to differentiate into muscle cells, which comprise the shrimp meat we eat. Project partners at University of Georgia are examining how to use edible “scaffolding” to help the cells grow in a structured way, as they would in shrimp tissue. Meanwhile, Mote scientists continue working to develop cell lines from finfish.
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This year Mote scientists also narrowed down four traits that can help scientists and businesses pick the best fish species for cell-based seafood. While people eat about 500 fish species worldwide, Mote’s guidelines suggest culturing cells from fish that:
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Can reproduce in aquaculture systems.
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Are marketable.
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Have been studied by scientists in ways that will support culturing their cells.
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Are overfished or imperiled in the ocean—a reason to find sustainable alternatives.
Based on Mote’s criteria, good sources of cells include certain snapper and grouper species along with red drum (redfish).
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An 8,216-square-foot aquaponics farm launched at Mote this year to demonstrate this exciting sustainable food technology at commercial scale. Marine aquaponics involves raising saltwater fish and plants together in a sustainable, closed-loop system. For years, Mote has partnered with a Sarasota-based company, Aquatic Plants of Florida, to produce edible sea vegetables and mangroves for environmental restoration through marine aquaponics.
Now, Mote’s new Ron and Marla Wolf Aquaponics Center, made possible by the generous support of The Bernard & Norton Wolf Family Foundation, is expanding these efforts through two new greenhouses, new wastewater treatment systems and a renovation of Mote’s original aquaponics building to produce fish year-round (previously, fish were produced during a few months each year). Above all, the new Center is designed to demonstrate the economic feasibility of sustainable, marine aquaponics at a scale relevant to commercial farms. That includes running the larger system cost-effectively, identifying markets for the fish and plants, and documenting the outcomes to help farmers adopt this sustainable technology successfully. -
The new Center is growing sea purslane—an edible sea vegetable that Mote has distributed to chefs at multiple southwest Florida restaurants. Recently, Mote added an experimental batch of its newest crop: kale. The research team is excited to discover if this healthy favorite could be the next green gem in the sustainable food scene.
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Six large fish production tanks are in place in their renovated home, along with their filtration systems. By mid-2022, Mote scientists expect them to be filled with red drum (redfish) and connected to the plant house, so that nutrient-rich water from the fish systems can fertilize the plants, pass through the filtration system and return as clean water to the fish.
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Mote is investigating aquaculture solutions to help shellfish farmers address red tide challenges. The shellfish farming industry has declined significantly in recent decades along Florida’s Gulf Coast, facing challenges including severe Florida red tides caused by toxin-producing Karenia brevis algae. Shellfish in red tide areas accumulate the toxins and cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning if eaten. For this reason, shellfish farmers are required by law to close their harvest areas when red tide cell counts reach a specific threshold. Closures due to red tide can cause devastating economic impacts to some of the largest shellfish fisheries in the United States. Utilizing funding awarded from the Mote-FWC Florida Red Tide Mitigation & Technology Development Initiative, USDA AFRI, and Saltonstall-Kennedy competitive grants programs; Mote scientists are working hard to provide shellfish growers with new tools and systems technologies which help producers better manage their seafood crops during red tide blooms. Work currently underway includes development of: 1) a field biosensor which can be used by farmers for detection of the red tide toxin in shellfish and in seawater; 2) land-based recirculating system designs that can rapidly remove red tide toxins from shellfish so they are safe to eat.
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Osprey Biotechnics, a Florida business recently acquired by Phibro Animal Health Corporation, works with Mote scientists to evaluate the use of probiotics in recirculating aquaculture systems. These beneficial bacteria are known to provide a whole range of benefits when it comes to animal health. As of this year, Mote has completed a series of “design for manufacturing trials, DFM” evaluating products designed to condition the water in various types of commercial aquaculture systems. So far, one of the products has been evaluated with three fish species: common snook, almaco jack, and red drum. These trials help the company with product development as they aim to maximize the benefits to a broad range of aquatic species including fish, shellfish and shrimp.
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Mote scientists recently received a grant to test products designed for aiding fish reproduction and spawning in aquaculture systems. Data collected during these research trials is under review by the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, the regulatory body that approves such products for animals.
In addition to the research efforts above, Mote staff were honored to be selected for an eeBLUE grant—funding to help educate the public about aquaculture—provided by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This grant helped Mote and Sea Grant partners develop an exciting new exhibit on sustainable offshore and deepwater aquaculture, a focus of many questions from the public in recent years. Visit the exhibit now in Mote Aquarium!