Forsea achieves record-breaking cell density for cultivated seafood

November 13, 2024 - Cell-cultivated seafood innovator Forsea struck a major breakthrough in making freshwater eel farming a viable commercial reality. The start-up announced its organoid technology reached a record-breaking cell density of more than 300 million cells/ml, and with a minimal and precise use of cultured media ingredients.

Forsea Cell-Cultivated Eel by Liran Maimon

This is the highest cell density recorded in the field, moving Forsea to the forefront of cultured seafood production efficiency. The landmark technology allows for a scalable and highly cost-effective supply for the hugely popular traditional Japanese delicacy, eel (unagi)whose availability has been significantly hampered by overfishing and the destruction of aquatic ecosystems.

Eel is big in Japan

Forsea is currently focusing on manufacturing cultured freshwater eel due to the immense market potential, particularly in Japan. As the world's largest consumer of eel, Japan recorded sales of 140,000 tonnes in 2023 - 50% of total global sales. The traditional Japanese dish unagi is considered a premium delicacy, prized not only for its rich flavour and tender texture but also because of its rarity. Freshwater eel is endangered and cannot be commercially bred in captivity. Demand for eel far surpasses the industry's current supply capabilities, translating to skyrocketing prices.

Better, faster and economical

Setting a new standard for 'blue ocean' initiatives, the company created a new approach to cell cultivating fish tissues outside of their native water habitats via organoid technology. The patent-protected platform involves creating the ideal environment for animal cells to spontaneously assemble into three-dimensional tissue structures with their natural composition of fat, muscle and connective tissue. 

This method both echoes the natural growth process of the tissues in a living animal, giving it a closer-to-nature edge, and bypasses the scaffolding stage as well as being dramatically less dependent on expensive growth factors. This makes the process highly affordable and positions its cell-grown version to price parity (or potentially lower) with traditional aquafarmed eel, a key challenge the cell-based industry was desperate to overcome.

Ample affordable cultivated eel not oceans away

"The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology," exclaims Moria Shimoni, CTO of Forsea. "It's a validation of our approach to high-efficiency cultivation of seafood to meet both economic and sustainability goals at scale".

After completing its proof-of-concept continuous harvesting process, Forsea reports it is ready to take production of its cultured fish products to the next phase of commercial scale-up.

"Forsea's organoid technology requires less capital expenditure than other technologies," explains Roee Nir, Founder and CEO of Forsea. "Achieving this level of cell density with minimal resources will translate to substantial reductions in the unit of economics and will bring cultured seafood production to a cost that is actually below the traditional market price. This is major milestone for Forsea and validates our vision of making sustainable, high-quality seafood affordable and widely accessible. It also sets a powerful precedent for scaling other cultured seafood products and establishing sustainable alternative supply chains for economically sensitive species."

The cell-cultured eel is expected to ease the strain on the world's eel populations and reduce environmental impact of traditional eel farming. This encompasses reducing global warming potential, water consumption and land use and alleviated pressure on marine ecosystems by focusing on endangered species.

"Our recent industry survey shows that cultivated meat production is definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach," says Elliot Swartz, Principal Scientist Cultivated Meat, GFI. "It's encouraging to see positive data from companies showing how different methods can address challenges in cost and scale. I'm especially pleased to see a GFI research grantee, Dr Iftach Nachman, help a startup pioneer new ways of cultivating meat. This is a great example of how foundational open-access science enables and makes possible follow-on work by the private sector."

The company is preparing for commercial launch of its unagi product in 2026. Earlier this year, Forsea held a successful tasting event at the reputable 'a' restaurant in Tel Aviv, where it served the world's first cultivated unagi kabayaki - a grilled fresh eel on a bed or aromatic rice - receiving rave reviews. Among the tasters where representatives from the Japanese embassy and various Japanese food companies based in Israel.

For more information, visit HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---

Nofima research shows how to identify fish stress using light

November 12, 2024 - There is an increasing need for methods that can accurately measure stress in aquaculture species, without harming the organism. Hyperspectral imaging of biofluorescence is such a method, as it can potentially measure early signs of stress in both fish and invertebrates.

Samuel Ortega researches spectroscopy

The fish and invertebrates that exhibit biofluorescence emit lower energy coloured light when they are exposed to higher-energy blue light. This strong fluorescence is not visible to the naked eye, but it can be measured with hyperspectral imaging.

"Fish may exhibit welfare traits in ways that are invisible to the human eye, and of our objectives is to explore new technologies that can reveal this to us in real-time," says Evan Durland, Scientist in aquaculture genetics and project leader.

Welfare indicators are important because animals that experience chronic stress are vulnerable to disease, experience less growth and ultimately have a higher mortality rate. The current methods used to identify early signs of stress in marine species have certain limitations.

Glowing when stressed

Technology scientists Samuel Ortega and visiting PhD student Thomas Juhasz investigated the applications of using hyperspectral imaging of biofluorescence as a welfare indicator for marine species, particularly lumpfish, red king crab and green sea urchins.

The scientists found that lumpfish and red king crabs produced stronger fluorescent emissions after exposure to stressors. Put in simple words, the animals glowed more brightly when they experienced acute stress. They also found that sea urchins with broken spines or lesions glow brighter in the areas where they are affected.

The scientist has ideas for how to improve the technology:

"We want to see if we can integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into this method. The AI can analyse the biofluorescence data acquired through hyperspectral imaging, and alert us if it detects any fluorescence changes that may indicate stress in the animals. We believe that this could contribute significantly to the future of welfare measurement during aquaculture operations", said Samuel Ortega.

The research was funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program through the AquaVitae project, and by Nofima through the Deep Vision project. The research was done by Nofima in collaboration with Marie Curie PhD student Thomas Juhasz in 2022.

For more information, visit HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---

Countries unite to bolster efforts for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea

November 11, 2024 - Last week, 20 countries and the European Union made significant strides towards enhancing the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture by adopting 17 pivotal decisions, including 12 binding recommendations, during the 47th session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), held in Rome, Italy.

©FAO-GFCM/Claudia Amico

The GFCM is the regional fisheries management organisation with the authority to issue binding recommendations for fisheries and aquaculture development in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. At its annual session, GFCM members engaged in meaningful discussions to review and endorse proposals for recommendations and resolutions, all based on the best available scientific advice.

You may also be interested in:

• The GFCM’s multifaceted approach to mitigating interactions between fisheries and vulnerable species
• Boosting the sustainable growth of small-scale aquaculture in the southeastern Mediterranean

"This annual session concluded a year of intense, collaborative efforts and demonstrated the continued commitment of GFCM members to address the ever-increasing challenges facing the fisheries and aquaculture sector in our region," said Miguel Bernal, GFCM Executive Secretary.

Healthy seas and productive fisheries

The percentage of stocks experiencing overfishing in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea has dropped to its lowest level in a decade - less than 60% - but fishing pressure is still at twice the level considered sustainable, as highlighted in the GFCM flagship publication, The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries 2023. To meet this challenge, the GFCM works on all aspects relevant to sustainable fisheries management.

Decisions adopted this week include the reinforcement of measures afforesting the management of numerous GFCm priority species, including European eel, red coral, blackspot seabream, European hake, Norway lobster, European sprat, turbot, rapa whelk, piked dogfish and sturgeons.

In the Adriatic Sea, the finalisation of a rigorous management strategy evaluation process supported a landmark decision to establish single species harvest control rules and annual catch limits for sardine and European anchovy, moving away from the joint catch limits enforced until now and promoting ecological sustainability and economic stability.

Meanwhile, in the Black Sea, a small increase in catch limits was adopted for turbot - a key species which has seen a threefold decrease in fishing mortality and a threefold increase in biomass and is now approaching sustainability as a result of the adoption of a multi annual management plan in 2017. This decision aims to incentivise fishers and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, while enhancing data collection on fishing effort and discards, and identifying further technical measures to mitigate bycatch.

New fisheries restricted area in the Mediterranean

Spatial management was also in the spotlight, as countries agreed to create a fisheries restricted area (FRA) in the Ontranto Channel in the Adriatic Sea. This decision establishes a core are where bottom trawling activities are banned in order to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems formed by bamboo coral and enhance the productivity of marine living resources through the protection of essential fish habitats, such as those of deep-water red shrimps. It also delineates a buffer area, where fishing activities are regulated.

This is the 11th FRA established by the GFCM and will be comparable in size with the country of Luxembourg.

Support to the sustainable growth of aquaculture

Aquaculture was another crucial component of the discussions held this week, with countries recognising the progress made towards enhancing the sustainable development of the sector, as well as the numerous assistance programmes established across the region in the past year.

To address the fact that climate change triggers emerging diseases that threaten the sector's productivity and growth, countries agreed to set up a network for monitoring aquaculture diseases and minimising risk associated with trade.

Principles for responsible investment in aquaculture were also adopted, aimed at enhancing the sector's attractiveness to investors and highlighting its role in food security.

Advances in compliance and enforcement to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

The annual session prioritised strengthening compliance to ensure member countries effectively implement GFCM decisions, thus supporting their commitments to developing and regulating fisheries and aquaculture operations.

Important advances have taken place in recent years and the GFCM has been instrumental in the progress made by many countries in updating their national laws to specifically target IUU fishing as well as implementing GFCM measures such as the Regional Plan of Action to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the GFCM area of application.

As a result of these efforts, Albania, Algeria, the European Union and its Member States, Egypt, Montenegro, Morocco and Türkiye received GFCM compliance awards during the annual session for integrating GFCM decisions into their legal frameworks and for accurate data reporting.

Last year marked the launch of a new phase towards a more modern framework which allows for closer monitoring of countries' compliance with GFCM with the necessary means to advance rapidly on this issue. Countries highlighted that it is essential to enhance compliance assessments and advance the operationalisation of monitoring, control and surveillance tools, such as inspection schemes and sightings.

Next steps

All decisions adopted at the annual session are geared towards putting the long-term future of the region's fisheries and aquaculture sectors on a sustainable footing.

"Looking forward, I am confident we can raise the bar and together meet the challenges before us. I would also like to recognise and congratulate those who collectively contribute to our efforts, from experts and administrators to fishers and farmers, for their strides and commitment to our ever-growing work, as the ultimate beneficiaries of our decisions," said Fouad Guenatri, Head of Studies and Synthesis, Ministry of Fisheries and Fisheries Production, Algeria.

For more information, visit HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---