Demand for fisheries has been growing at 6-8% a year. However, the global production of fishmeal has been steady at 5 million tonnes a year, as limited by the number of global fisheries. This divergence has put pressure on fish prices.

Similar to the way the yeast-extract sandwich spread Marmite is produced, new fish and animal feedstock FeedKind offers an alternative to conventional fish feed like fishmeal and soy protein, which can put pressure on land and wild marine fish populations. Its production uses minimal land and water and it is a non-GMO food source. It uses methane gas released from the anaerobic digestion of waste organic material.

The manufacturing process is called natural proprietary fermentation, with methane as the breeding grounds for methylococcus capsulatus, a naturally occurring single cell organism. The gas acts as their main source of carbon and energy, allowing them to grow and produce a high quality microbial bio protein that can be harvested, dried and pelletised. FeedKind aims to purchase renewable sources of gas from anaerobic digesters and landfill biogas producers. This is a more sustainable option, as the reuse of waste products is a closed loop system of materials and energy.

The potential is huge. FeedKind gained EU approval in 2011 for consumption in not only fish, but all other animal groups except humans. All going well, production will begin at the end of 2017/ start of 2018, when they hope to begin producing 80,000 tonnes of feed annually in Scotland and Norway.

Adapted from a piece by Gillian Phair for the Futures Centre.