Portuguese startup aims to grow meagre in a RAS farm
Portuguese startup SEAentia has secured €16m (£13.2m) in funding to develop the production of a fish that so far has never been reared in a land-based farm.
SEAentia will use a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) to raise meagre, otherwise known as corvina (Argyrosomus regius).
The investment comes from Indico Capital Partner’s Blue Fund and the Mar2030 Programme, an initiative launched by the Portuguese government in 2023 to support sectors related to the blue economy.
SEAentia was established in 2017 by academics and entrepreneurs in Peniche, a town pivotal to Portugal’s aquaculture sector. The company has been developing its own RAS system for meagre production in a pilot format, but is now ready to start moving towards commercial production.
João Rito, President of SEAentia, said: “This investment from Indico and the support from Mar2030 will enable the world’s first meagre production facility using a recirculating aquaculture system. This will allow us to meet the growing demand and export this species on a large scale with high quality.”
The RAS has been essential for SEAentia’s sustainable aquaculture development and has served as a platform for research and development, facilitating advances in meagre nutrition and welfare, the company said.
Rito commented: “Our reach extends beyond improving production of this species in intensive aquaculture systems. We also aim to explore new market opportunities for our developments, including the valorisation of by-products.”
The funding will allow SEAentia to scale up its production to 700 tonnes annually of high-quality meagre within a controlled and sustainable environment.
Stephan de Moraes, President of Indico Capital Partners, said: “It’s inevitable that the majority of fish consumed globally will come from aquaculture, much as most land-based species are farmed rather than wild. However, we must ensure that the future of aquaculture is synonymous with quality and sustainability – a standard we’ve found in SEAentia.”
SEAentia’s founders picked the corvina (meagre) as a candidate for aquaculture because of its size, good feed conversion rate and good nutritional profile – like salmon, it is rich in essential fatty acids. The company says the fish can reach 2.5kg in just 18 months.
Meagre has been farmed since the late 1990s, at a small scale, in several Mediterranean countries in net-pens.
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