Increasing demand for fish has exposed the limitations of the world's fisheries, many of which have either reached their maximum production capacity or have entered a state of decline. Consequently, tight supply pressures have created exceptional opportunities for the aquaculture industry, which has experienced an annual growth rate of 11% over the last 30 years. Nevertheless, this impressive growth is itself threatened by inadequate supplies of protein for use in aquafeeds. Many industry experts agree that fishmeal, a primary source of protein, has reached its maximum production capacity of less than 7 million tonnes per annum. Even as fish meal inclusion rates in feeds have fallen, allocation of this resource has shifted largely to the aquaculture industry. As a result, many experts within the aquaculture industry, including Norway’s Aquaculture Protein Center, agree that growth of this crucial industry will cease within ten years if substantial new sources of protein are not developed:

"Trends within the [aquaculture] industry indicate an insufficient supply of protein sources in the future. Fish protein as an ingredient in fish feed is now more or less fully exploited. Alternative sources must be found."

-Norwegian Aquaculture Protein Center

Oberon has developed a proprietary and economically attractive process for producing commercial-scale quantities of high quality SCP meal from unutilized food processing by-products. As a result, Oberon is able to convert what are currently viewed as wastes into SCP products with high market value. Proof-of-concept experiments have shown that fish receiving feeds formulated with Oberon’s SCP grow as well or better than fish fed conventional diets containing fish meal. In the Spring of 2008, Oberon plans to conduct a large number of trials on fish ranging from coldwater carnivores to warmwater omnivores. Commercial scale quantities of Oberon's SCP will be available in the second quarter of 2009 with approximately 40,000 tonnes per year becoming available within 4 years.

In contrast to other protein alternatives, Oberon's SCP has the advantage of being an ingredient with which the industry has a wide range of experiences, derives from human foods, and is economically attractive to manufacturers and growers seeking to reduce costs without sacrificing performance.

By Andy Logan, Ph.D