Beth Rush, Managing Editor, Body+Mind
The seafood industry’s future is rosy. Projections say it will sustain the momentum gained since the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain its upward trajectory over the next 10 years. If you’ve been a decision-maker in the food processing business long enough, you’d know about its long-term growth — but what about near-term trends?
These five headlines can help you better understand the blue-food producers’ challenges and the solutions technology presents in 2024.
Consumption Rises as Inflation Eases
Seafood sales can correlate with inflation. Fish and shellfish should stay on most people’s plates as long as prices go down or move steadily. In 2024, it’s so far, so good. From January to April, inflation figures averaged 3.78 — 2.58 and 1.62 percentage points below 2023’s first and second halves, respectively.
Industry stakeholders benefit significantly from the sustainability movement. Seafood has become a desirable protein for health-conscious and green-minded consumers. Advancements in ecosystem-based fisheries management have paved the way for more eco-friendly practices.
Regional fisheries management organizations employ data-driven harvest strategies to set regular fishing limits based on the status of specific species’ populations. They empower seafood interests to react accordingly and swiftly to changes in ecosystem conditions, prevent overexploitation of marine resources and help build fishery resilience.
Managers use a science-based framework to evaluate harvest strategies under scenarios involving solid and insufficient data about the subject species. Stakeholders collaborate to factor in various risks and trade-offs when assessing plans.
This approach allows leaders to consider as many variables as possible to offset the unknowns ever-changing environmental conditions bring and meet goals. It protects wild stocks while maximizing catch.
Seaweed Cultivation Gains Traction in the West
North Americans and Europeans have developed a taste for seaweed. The food sector has acknowledged its health merits, viewing it as a nutritious addition to popular dishes or a substitute for less green conventional ingredients. Dietary supplements made with this algae are rich in vitamins and antioxidants — essential for urbanites usually exposed to various external toxin sources, like car exhaust fumes.
You can use this superfood as a nourishing base for healthy drinks or follow the lead of some wineries and breweries that have also made liquors with it.
Some caffeine lovers use kelp powder — dried, processed and powdered seaweed — to enhance their cups of java. You can use this magic ingredient to roll out a new coffee flavor and tap this niche. Kelp tea is traditional in the East but virtually unheard of in the West. This canned seaweed product idea can be a winner in the burgeoning North American, European, Australian and Kiwi vegan markets. The clamor for this sustainable commodity in the West has diverted capital toward domestic farmers to localize the supply chain and keep prices low, which is critical for mainstream adoption.
However, seaweed farming in North America and Europe is one of the emerging seafood industry trends not mainly fueled by gastronomy. Many question this blue food’s ability to graduate from an obscure ingredient to a staple. Experts believe most farmed seaweed demand over the long term will stem from non-human-food applications, such as animal feed, textile and personal care. If you’re an ancillary food packaging supplier, you can create sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic with this material.
AI Reinvents Seabed Harvesting
Environmentally conscious governments have closed fisheries in light of practices disrupting marine ecosystems. Norway prohibited scallop harvesters in the Barents Sea due to dredging activities — which indiscriminately destroy marine habitats and the mollusks themselves — since the ‘90s until a tech company made it reconsider.
This startup leverages AI and cameras to develop a precision fishing solution to harvest target seabed dwellers without interrupting other creatures and the marine floor. The tech enables commercial vessels to tell seashells apart at the bottom of the sea and determine whether the area has what they want. It hovers over the seabed and lifts scallops into a basket through a pump.
After test runs under the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research’s supervision, the fishing company got the nod from the Nordic nation to harvest Arctic scallops in the fishery — the first to do it in over 30 years. This event can start a domino effect — you can adopt this tech to build fishing equipment optimized for other shellfish to convince governments to reopen restricted fisheries.
Indoor Farming Hangs in the Balance
Land-based blue-food farms haven’t found their groove. On paper, these tech-powered enterprises enjoy several advantages over their traditional counterparts. However, many American and European indoor aquaculturists have failed to meet financial targets.
Most indoor farms use recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) to biologically and mechanically filter out contaminants and aid the healthy development of high-density fish species, mollusks or crustaceans. They control the environment, optimize conditions to produce specific aquatic species like mussels and repurpose waste to create byproducts.
The problem is that land-based aquaculture facilities are expensive and challenging to operate due to their capital-intensive, sophisticated equipment. Various operating errors and technical issues have kept many from becoming profitable. RAS manufacturers should note common user problems and extend training to help technologically challenged indoor seafood farmers get their act together. Neutralizing the changes in the sea’s properties rides on their commercial viability.
Ocean warming is a grave concern. Many fish and shellfish prefer cold water because it allows them to survive without consuming more food. Cool conditions positively impact egg-hatching success. Warmer fisheries can shrink marine populations, forcing some species to migrate to colder areas and abandon their historical habitats.
Rising sea surface temperature is a global concern due to climate change, but some bodies of water have it worse. For instance, the Gulf of Maine has become warmer faster than 99% of the global ocean, pushing lobster populations deeper and toward Canada.
Acidification, which occurs when the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide, also pressures marine life. It may decrease fish larvae’s survival rates and render bodies of water less saturated with calcium carbonate — a compound many aquatic organisms use to build shells.
Deoxygenation — the decline in oxygen levels in coastal and oceanic waters — kills marine creatures and creates dead zones.
Cellular Aquaculture Joins the Fray
Food insecurity has fueled many seafood industry trends. Stem cell biology is no different, except it aims to keep everyone fed when freshwater and saltwater environments become too contaminated to host enough blue foods.
Scenarios of doom and gloom due to global warming, overfishing and contaminants, including antibiotics, heavy metals, microplastics and pathogens, drive down the seafood supply. Global consumption could increase by 80% by 2050, forcing the world to live off lab-grown fish. Cellular aquaculture does more than hedge the food sector’s bets. Using animal cells, it can cultivate less farmable endangered species — such as albacore, swordfish and yellowfin tuna — in bioreactors.
Thanks to generous funding, cell-cultured seafood manufacturers have begun commercial production and will make it available for sale sooner rather than later, if they aren’t already. Early leaders in the space target Asia for three reasons:
- World’s largest protein-eating consumer base
- A voracious seafood appetite
- Friendly regulatory environment
Sales performance in the Singaporean, Malaysian, Japanese and South Korean markets will be a litmus test for lab-grown seafood. Still, Asian success doesn’t guarantee similar North American and European outcomes. Cellular seafood manufacturers would want to call their products seafood, even though they’re alternatives to wild-caught and farmed blue foods. However, the United States FDA’s labeling regulations may give them headaches.
Traditional seafood producers may argue that lab-grown seafood cultivators should avoid using the term to avoid misleading consumers, as they accuse plant-based seafood makers of doing. The sale of cellular seafood is not permitted on U.S. soil. Premarket consultation with the American food regulator has been ongoing for years with no end in sight. Some states jumped the gun and banned cultivated meat and seafood, which has moved federal legislators to follow suit.
Which of These 2024 Seafood Industry Trends Will Persist?
Only some of these trends have a prospect of persistence. The others have to sail through rough seas and risk not realizing their potential due to financial, cultural, legal and ethical factors. Still, they’ve made waves for a reason. Whatever the future may hold, you should study and learn from them to steer your company and, by extension, the industry toward greater profitability and sustainability.
