By Karim Kurmaly

Our oceans are rich with biodiversity and are so vast that much of the life within the oceans has yet to be discovered and classified. That isn’t hard to fathom considering that the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. And our marine ecosystems need to work in harmony with the natural terrestrial ecosystems to help maintain balance on our planet. One key example of this is the production and harvesting of fish. Human demand for fish protein as part of a healthy, balanced diet continues to grow and has led to aquaculture industry growth of 3% per year.

The aquaculture industry has been a great success story - providing growing volumes of healthy seafood to consumers, while building a commercially strong global industry. However, our current harvesting practices make the future of the aquaculture industry and the health of our planetary ecosystems unsustainable. For decades, fish oil from wild-caught fish has been the only commercially available source of omega-3 fatty acids. Each year, 16 million metric tonnes of wild marine fish are caught solely to produce fish meal and fish oil and 80% of that fish oil goes directly to feed aquaculture fish. This is because wild-caught fish have historically been the sole source of omega-3 fatty acids.

In order to ensure healthy fish, healthy oceans and healthy food, we must embrace sustainability as key positive differentiator for our industry, rather than defensively seeing it as a threat.

Without a change of course, the demand for omega-3 will outstrip the world’s natural marine resources by 2050 when an estimated global population of ten billion will need to be fed. And although consumers are becoming more health conscious, driving fish consumption to an all-time high, a third of the world’s oceans are overfished according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Vermaris developed a natural marine algal oil to provide an innovative and sustainable solution to help conserve our oceans and marine life. Our product supplies farmed fish with the essential nutrients EPA and DHA. Those nutrients are transferred directly to consumers without disrupting marine life and marine ecosystems.

Our marine algal oil is also naturally pure and non-GMO. Because it is available with a reliable supply, it eliminates the need to damage the environment to produce more.

The global challenge that we face of how to feed a growing population without exhausting precious natural resources is an urgent one. With our product, we aim to conserve the integrity of our planet while promoting both human and animal health. Omega-3 from natural marine algae is becoming the new industry standard in animal nutrition, and by its unique design, can feed a sustainable future.

So, as our world continues to evolve through societal and environmental changes, we must evolve with it. We must continue to ensure that our planet is inhabitable for all and we must carry forth and support new solutions that will ensure the health of our planet and its ecosystems for generations to come.