Biomar produced 1 million tonnes of salmon feed adopting microalgae omega 3s into feed diets bypass the wild fish stocks and go straight to the original source of essential omega 3s.

This month BioMar, a leading Danish company in high performance diets for more than 45 different fish and shrimp species in more than 80 countries, hit a major sustainability milestone with the adoption of microalgae omega 3s into feed diets. Marine ingredients are a finite resource and by including microalgae in aquaculture diets we can help stabilize the pressure on fish stocks. “By including microalgae in aquaculture feed diets, we can bypass the wild fish stocks and go straight to the original source of essential omega 3s. This helps to relieve pressure on our oceans while ensuring that the fish are getting the optimal nutrition required”, said Vidar Gundersen, Global Sustainability Director, BioMar Group. The innovation process began back in 2013 with the first microalgae, AlgaPrime in commercial salmon feeds realised during 2016. The first movers were Kvarøy Fiskeoppdrett with Blue Circle and Whole Foods and Scottish Sea Farms with Marks & Spencer. Not long after Ventisqueros in their coho Silverside and Lerøy in their salmon adopted microalgae in their diets. These higher volumes help it achieve commercial viability and today, the inclusion of microalgae is becoming more common in BioMar salmon feeds. “To bring something this novel to market required the support from the entire value chain. We found this among several salmon farmers and retailers that were willing to take a chance on microalgae and today’s success is owed to them all. Also, to the numerous people in BioMar production sites that found solutions to some challenging technical issues that we experienced over the years”, said Paddy Campbell, VP Salmon Division, BioMar Group.