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While the demand for blue foods is on the rise, rising temperatures, growing food insecurity and dwindling fish stocks require urgent collective action to strengthen climate-resilience in the blue economy. How are stakeholders forging cross-sector collaboration and accelerate solutions to drive impact at scale?
Ahead of the Blue Food Innovation Summit in London on May 21-22, leading aquaculture and blue food experts from AQUACULTURE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL, AQUA-SPARK, KVARØY ARCTIC, WWF US, and WHOLECHAIN share a taste of how they’re fostering collaboration and driving impact to overcome these roadblocks and unlock the true potential of blue foods.
How can we promote the importance of blue foods in discussions surrounding climate impact and food security?
Jennifer Bushman, CMO at Kvarøy Arctic and a long-time advocate of sustainable aquaculture and blue foods highlights, “Blue foods can radically alter how we produce food and how our food impacts the planet. This means ensuring fisheries are well managed, farms are located appropriately, using feed more efficiently, adopting precision technologies and automation, reducing reliance on air freight to transport blue food products to markets, and transitioning to renewable energy sources on boats and farms.”
WWF’s Senior Vice President for Oceans, Johan Bergenas, points out that while “aquaculture is definitely part of the solution but it can’t backfill the collapse of ocean fish populations or insulate the global economy from its consequences.” The solution, Johan indicates, is in the convergence of “climate science, oceans science and political science” for stakeholders to “prioritise and safeguard areas where crucial habitats contribute to a sustainable blue food supply.”
What role can existing policies, regulations and certifications play in establishing climate-smart practices for both fisheries and aquaculture?
Mark Kaplan, Co-Founder and Partner of Wholechain, a blockchain based traceability solution enabling transparency in blue food supply chains mentioned recent regulations such as the High Seas Treaty, EU Anti-Greenwashing policies as major milestones for climate resilience in the sector. “Policy momentum from governments and certifiers surrounding traceability is critical to rewarding (and further incentivising) fisheries and aquaculture farms that exercise responsible practices. Without traceability and transparency, markets and governments remain blind to the practices being implemented across supply chains, and are unable to verify stakeholders who merit rewards for their good practices.”
Chris Ninnes, CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council highlights how technological advancements can help with measuring and reporting of GHGs throughout production, which is increasingly required by regulators and certification bodies. On how certification can drive climate-smart practices in aquaculture, Chris notes, “The role of certification is key because we have direct access to engaged producers – providing a baseline for data and an opportunity to gather case studies and examples of climate interventions that work.”
How are stakeholders building climate-resilient strategies for maintaining the welfare and health of aquatic species?
When it comes to the biggest milestones achieved within the sector, Jennifer notes, ‘significant advancements in alternative feed models’ has been a step in the right direction. She elaborates, “Advances in alternative feed ingredients such as Corbion’s Algaprime or Innovafeed’s insect components are helping to lower fish in fish out ratios while bringing the fish the nutrition that it needs to thrive. Bi-valve hatcheries such as Pacific Hybreed with its first-of-its-kind shellfish breeding program making significant strides in disease resistance, climate resilience and improving production yield.”
“Research is a critical part of building climate-resilient strategies, since the impacts of climate change will vary across fisheries and aquaculture, species and production types”. Chris expands, “there are significant developments in technology like real time data on environmental conditions, that may be able to improve that resilience. The important role of AI here can predict stress on animals and make a difference to welfare.”
Where are the greatest opportunities for industry wide collaboration and investment in advancing sustainable blue food production?
Highlighting the investor appetite in the blue landscape, Amy Novogratz, Managing Partner at Aqua-Spark maintains an optimistic outlook for the aquaculture space, fueled by advancements in AI and growing investor interest. However, translating this excitement into “concrete action, scaling successful solutions, and shifting focus from carbon footprint to holistic ocean health” is where the greatest opportunities lie. “We just need a level of scale to show what is possible and 2024 is the year for it”.
“Blue Foods aren’t a silver bullet – they’re a strategic commodity.” Johan notes, “The geopolitics of nature is here, and it is here to stay. Blue foods, will be an important part of the dynamic, and we need to increase our appetite for identifying new and innovative solutions, and build a new generation of diplomatic collaborations that deploy these solutions at scale.”
Conversations around policy momentum, technological advancement and the need for greater investment will sit at the top of these industry experts’ minds and on the agenda at the Blue Food Innovation Summit on May 21-22.Continue these discussions with 350+ international leaders from across the blue food, ocean systems and aquaculture value chain as they come together to forge partnerships and discuss solutions for a biodiverse, stronger and more sustainable blue economy.
The two-day programme and full delegate registration are available at www.bluefoodinnovation.com.