Akaroa is first king salmon producer to adopt BioMar’s Blue Impact feed

New Zealand’s Akaroa King Salmon has become the first king salmon producer globally to adopt the innovative Blue Impact feed program developed by BioMar. This initiative supplements wild-caught fish in their formulations with cultivated algal oil, fish trimmings, and insect meal.

The new approach, BioMar said, significantly reduces the impact on wild fish stocks while utilising clean, sustainable sources of Omega-3 to produce the healthiest fish possible.

As an early adopter of this technology, Akaroa Salmon trialled the algal oil, achieving outstanding results with their salmon that led to them winning the Seafood NZ “Future Adaptation” award in 2023. Building on this success, the company’s partnership with BioMar now includes using novel ingredients like insect meal and fish trimmings sourced from pelagic fish in their feed.

This initiative will see Akaroa King Salmon become a net- positive fish producer, committed to lowering its carbon footprint while incorporating regenerative and circular feed ingredients.

Akaroa King Salmon is a 100% New Zealand owned partnership that includes Ngāti Porou, Ōnuku Runanga – the indigenous “mana moana” (or guardians) of Akaroa Harbour – and the founding Bates Family. The company says its operations are based on a “whakawhanaungatanga” (relationship) based around intergenerational sustainability, aiming to provide local employment and healthy seafood for today and future generations.

Duncan Bates, founder and Managing Partner of Akaroa King Salmon, said: “When I first started farming salmon in Akaroa Harbour, almost four decades ago, the feed ingredients essentially relied on wild caught fish as the raw material, and we fed up to 3kg of wild fish to grow 1kg of farmed salmon. Clearly, this wasn’t a sustainable practice.”

“With the introduction of Blue Impact, Akaroa King Salmon have started our journey to become a positive fish protein producer, a far cry from those days long ago and a testament to our ongoing aspiration to become a truly sustainable food producer. I am particularly excited to use novel ingredients like insect meal, utilising waste streams previously going to landfill.”

Mike Thomson, Commercial Director, BioMar Australia commented: “Companies like Akaroa who are dedicated to sustainability and utilising more circular and restorative ingredients are necessary for future-proofing the aquaculture industry. Using sustainable novel ingredients is essential for decoupling feed and food supply chains and provides novel ingredient producers the confidence to invest in R&D, upscaling, and commercialisation, increasing the availability of these ingredients industry-wide.”