Cell Culture – The Not-So-Distant Solution to Overfishing
Capture fisheries are what we consider open-sea, industrial fishing. The media has definitively portrayed the disastrous effects of capture fishing on marine wildlife, due to overfishing the target species, capturing by-products, and damaging the seabed with trawlers. Offshore aquaculture also has numerous drawbacks, including long-term ecosystem damage along the coast and genetic contamination of local fish populations. Even the onshore technological counterpart, recirculating aquaculture systems, is not widely available due to its high costs and technical difficulties. Cell-based seafood culture, whereby fish products are produced in the lab, provides a strong alternative.
This process is similar to the method used for meat cell culture and the production of plant-based alternatives. Cultured fish meat is the ex vivo cultivation of fish cells and tissues to simulate fish fillets without ever raising or slaughtering fish. In this complex process, the animal stem cells are isolated from live animals: stem cell collection only has to occur once in the entire existence of the business for each species. From then on, there is an infinite supply of these rapidly growing cells, which are grown in large bioreactors to form muscle fibres. Plant proteins then provide a frame for the tissues to grow into a structure mimicking the natural arrangement in fish. These tissues are then processed with additional proteins and fatty acids to obtain a product more closely resembling real fish in terms of flavour and texture (Rubio Natalie 2019).
With private tasting sessions recently taking place for several firms, cellular agriculture is finally taking off as a serious, viable option. WildType, Finless Foods, and Blue Nalu, three US firms, are pushing the boundaries of the industry with their alternative fish fillets. While sales of the product are currently restricted by the FDA due to unknown risks associated with both the procedure and nature of this entirely human-designed product, funding for these firms is strong. Volumes of production are increasing, the quality of the replication of fatty-versus-lean marbling is improving, and high-end sushi restaurants are already expressing keen interest. WildType, when discussing the cost barrier, stated that they would sell their product at a loss during the initial market release to encourage adoption and reduce scepticism about the viability of the product as an alternative to real fish (Peters 2021).
But is it worth investing so much into an industry which will struggle to meet the global demand for certain fish? As this alternative to wild or farmed fish becomes more widely discussed, there may be increased pressure to reduce capture and aquaculture fisheries. Certain regions of the world are economically dependent on fishing, and judging from current indicators, most people will not be able to afford the cultured alternative. These technologies primarily exist in the US alone. Furthermore, cell culture is dependent on the genetic programming of cells, of which the long-term consequences on our health are yet unknown. Together, these issues give the impression that this fishing alternative is a fad that distracts from potential progress in more realistic solutions.
A surprising advantage of sudden interest in this field is the direct link to the generation of cell tissues for medical use. Both are essentially 3D printing of the cell tissues, guided by closely monitored extracellular conditions. Any progress being made in the food industry will directly impact the viability of cell culture to provide material for life-saving transplants.
From an ethical perspective, cell-based seafood culture may convince even vegans – the product, after several business cycles, is derived from an infinite set of cells that remove any dependence on live organisms. There is no animal suffering, and working conditions for those in labs are arguably better than those of fishermen. The reduction in food miles from the possibility of constructing these labs closer to the consumer provides further reasons to strongly envision cell culture as an alternative – but perhaps only in the food industry. A big buyer would indeed be restaurants: the waste from filleting fish is extremely high, whereas the waste from cell culture, where only the desired fillets are produced, is minimal. Finally, current experiments demonstrate that the nutritional value of the fish can be improved by producing fish that is mercury, microplastic and toxin free. So while the idea may seem far-fetched, these cell-cultured fillets may be the exact solution for being able to eat fish in the future, and it is one with the least possible impact on our planet.
Sources:
Peters, Adele. 2021. FastCompany. April 27. Accessed October 02, 2023. https://www.fastcompany.com/90629099/the-salmon-in-this-sushi-didnt-come-from-the-ocean-it-was-harvested-from-a-bioreactor.
Rubio Natalie, Datar Isha, Stachura David, Kaplan David, Krueger Kate. 2019. "Cell-Based Fish: A Novel Approach to Seafood Production and an Opportunity for Cellular Agriculture." Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.