Aquaculture farming is nothing new. It has been a common practice since the early 1700s. As a safe and effective way to grow aquatic creatures and plants, this agricultural sector is irreplaceable. Just like any other type of farming, there are constant innovations and trends that are taking the aquaculture sector by storm. For the year 2021, there are five main trends that everyone should watch out for.
The Rise Of Self-Sufficient Ecosystems
With so many threats from overfishing, toxic waste, and ocean warming, aquaculture farms are pushing closer than ever before to creating self-sufficient ecosystems. These land-based closed farming systems are commonly referred to as recirculating aquaculture systems.
These closed systems provide many benefits, including the decreased spread of disease, lower usages of natural resources, and lowered pollution generation. The beauty of these systems is that they can be set up in a variety of ways as long as they have key foundation factors. This rise of self-sufficient ecosystems is expected to continue well throughout 2021.
Aquatech Is A Popular Investment Niche
We’re all familiar with popular investment niches like real estate. However, aquaculture is getting its very own investors. Known as aquatech, many big-name venture capitalists are starting to invest their money in this sustainable area of commerce. Some well-known ventures include Aqua-Spark, Hatch Blue, SeaFarming Systems, and InnovaSea.
The support for these programs continues to mount going into 2021. With so much money put towards innovating sustainable fish farming, it’s highly expected that groundbreaking discoveries are just around the corner. We’re all excited to see what the year 2021 will produce with so much financial backing being given to the aquaculture industry.
Blockchain Is Growing
Blockchain is a fairly new method for digital record keeping of all aquaculture products. These systems are intended to be publicly accessible and unable to be corrupted by any one entity. This new digital technology field has opened a ton of new farm jobs for those more interested in the IT side of things.
Blockchain programmers believe that this system could house a plethora of information regarding a fish, including its origin, processing, delivery, and harvest. This will allow any purchaser to track the entire history of the fish. This opens so many doors to those in the aquaculture industry and those purchasing the products that come out of this industry each and every day.
Replacing Fish Meal
The diet of most fish entails a mixture of fish oil and meal. Both are made from recycled fish parts. They’re highly nutritious and aid in the large growth of aquatic creatures. Unfortunately, overfishing has lead to a decrease in fish meal supplies. This has forced those in the aquaculture industry to come up with another feeding solution.
Many have looked towards plant-based solutions to solve this feeding dilemma. Soybean protein concentrates are one of the most utilized, with Algae coming into a close second. Both of these solutions are extremely expensive for aquaculture owners to rely on purchasing in any steady supply. For this reason, there’s a growing trend to better harvest fish food alternatives so that they can be sold to farmers at an affordable price.
Oral Vaccine Delivery
One of the biggest challenges that aquaculture farmers face is parasites. These nasty buggers can show up quickly and wipe out a whole harvest in days or weeks. Treating these conditions is traditionally done with manual injections. This requires the farmer to handle the creature to injection the vaccine solution. This tends to overstress the fish and can sometimes lead to death.
A better way to deliver vaccines to these aquatic creatures is oral delivery. Still fairly new in its innovation, oral delivery seems to be a safe and effective way to give these creatures the vaccine dosage they need. The best part is that it doesn’t stress the creatures. In addition, oral delivery vaccines can be easily administered throughout the growing life of the aquatic creatures to help increase yields and decrease mortality rates.
The year 2021 is starting off with a bang for the aquaculture industry. With new problems forcing massive innovation and tons of funding to support the research, there’s really no telling what new trends will emerge. But, the one surefire thing is that the above five trends will continue to expand throughout the year.
Autobiography
Eric Reyes is a passionate thought leader having been featured in 50 distinguished online and offline platforms. His passion and knowledge in Finance and Business made him a sought after contributor providing valuable insights to his readers. You can find him reading a book and discussing current events in his spare time.
