CSIRO Scientists' Aquaculture Holy Grail: Fish-Free Prawn Food

An anonymous reader writes "A team of CSIRO scientists has discovered the holy grail of aquaculture by developing the world's first fish-free prawn food: Novaq. According to the article there is intense global interest in Novaq because it solves one of the farmed prawn industry's biggest problems — its reliance on wild fisheries as a core ingredient in prawn food. The Novaq formula is a closely guarded secret, but it is known that the product is based on microscopic marine organisms. Not only will the new feed introduce greater sustainability into a growth industry but prawns fed on the new diet grow 40% faster and are healthier and more robust."

Comments

Not very secret

[SuperKendall]

The Novaq formula is a closely guarded secret

Whenever anyone says that the answer is always the same...

Novaq is made out of PEOPLE!

Re:Not very secret

[SuperKendall]

Which really isn't that scandelous, since prawns are crustaceans

Er, Novaq is made out of PRAWNS!

Not quite as impactful though, probably not even to a prawn.

Re:Not very secret

[deek]

My kingdom for mod points!

Whatever this Novaq thing is, it sure sounds tasty. I say we cut the middle-prawn out, and make Novaq a spreadable condiment for toast.

Come to think of it, Australians already do consume something suspiciously similar. I believe it's called Vegemite.

Re:Not very secret

[aevan]

Dunno... nothing beats the taste of a succulent apple, still quivering on the branch...


"How do you prefer your salad?"
"Still photosynthesizing".

Bugs?

[StefanJ]

There was an interesting piece on Radiolab* last year about some guys who'd found an protein-rich insect whose larva at almost anything, including agricultural waste and pig manure. They reduced the amount of waste that had to be dealt with and result in copious quantities of nutritious bug flesh.

One of the suggested uses was food for farmed fish.

* I think . . . I'm having trouble finding the segment in the archives.

Just like food, your food itself is what it eats.

[hey!]

We think of fish is heart healthy, but fin fish don't produce omega-3 fatty acids; they bioaccumulate Omega 3s produced by the algae at the bottom of the food chain. Farm-raised fin fish may or may not have a healthy fat profile based on their diet. Grass fed beef has a healthier fat profile than grain fed beef, as well as containing useful phyotchemical (chemicals from plants) like carotenoids. Same goes for pork; lard from pasture raised pigs is relatively high in mono- and poly-unsaturated fats.

The pattern seems to be that the best thing to feed an animal is something that approximates that species' natural food in the wild. So I'm skeptical of a secret, proprietary, industrially produced feed. It's not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if it's just a matter of skipping a few trophic levels (i.e., feeding the animal something prepared from stuff that's lower on its natural prey's food chain). Aquaculture needs something like that. The world's population demands more seafood than can be wild caught. But I'm not enthusiastic about buying meat from animals raised on mystery food.

Re:An anonymous reader writes

[sjwt]

Except the CSIRO dose the actual development, its not suing ppl for having rounded corners, monetizing your invention that new is what the patent system is for