"Could we make DHA without depleting fish?"
It is a company founded by a former trading-company businessman and academics from the University of Tsukuba in order to realize that idea.
Building on a proprietary algae-fermentation technology that uses unused resources, we will supply a range of nutrients from Okinawa to the world.
People say that Japan's fish have declined,
but do you know by how much?
Japan's fish catch peaked at 13 million tons, and today it is below 4 million tons. That is a decline of fully 70% in Japan's catch. Looking worldwide, the journal Science has already forecast that by 2048 wild marine fish will no longer reach the table.
Then why not just eat farmed fish?
That is a serious misconception. The reason is that farmed fish are fed wild fish. Farmed fish cannot grow without wild fish. The protein and Omega3 (mainly DHA) supplied by wild fish are essential to their growth.
Wild will not do, and farmed will not do.
Which leaves the question: will fish really disappear? AlgaleX started from that concern. If the same nutrients as fish (protein and DHA) could be supplied by a means other than fish, that might be a solution. AlgaleX was founded to make that happen.
The key to it is algae.
Fish only store DHA; they cannot produce it. In fact, it is algae that first produce DHA. If this algae could be supplied cheaply and steadily, aquaculture that does not deplete fish might one day be possible. That is why we grow algae.
But there would be no point if growing that algae depleted something else.
That is exactly why we grow our algae using unused food that is being thrown away. Growing anything always requires energy. We look for that energy in unused food that is being thrown away. What we came upon there was the discarded lees of awamori.
The algae we grow is a microalga called Aurantiochytrium, rich in high-quality lipids, DHA above all. Its drawback is that it is good for the body but not good to eat. That is a problem common to microalgae in general. Our algae, however, grown with awamori lees as its nutrient source, turned out by chance to taste good. Not only DHA, but umami too, in abundance. So we call it Umamo, and sell it as a new natural umami to follow kombu and katsuobushi.
Feed ingredients for farmed fish are a market that competes at prices below one yen. As a startup, we do not yet have the stamina or the financial base to compete there. We have, however, been creating little by little a market for "algae that becomes umami", something rare even worldwide. Beyond opening up that market, we want to achieve aquaculture that does not deplete fish.
Our goal is not to make delicious algae. It is to connect the ocean to the future with our technology.
Toward that goal, we hope to bring Umamo to as many customers as we can.
