By Johann Partridge

IF there is one thing that the pandemic has taught us, it is that our health needs to be a priority. Discussing what we put into our bodies has almost become second nature and that is why many of us are aware that a vital ingredient for good health is Omega-3.

Helping to fight heart disease, playing a protective role in reducing the risk of cancer, and aiding in the control of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and lupus, it speaks for itself as to why it’s called an essential fatty acid. Yet unfortunately we are unable to produce Omega-3s from scratch – we rely on absorbing them from our food – and oils derived from fish are the richest available source. Ironically, fish don’t have a unique ability to make these long chain fatty acids either. Instead, they accumulate them from readily available food in the sea such as micro organisms like microalgae and plankton.

Within the global food system, the aquaculture sector plays a critical role. In 2012, the consumption of aquaculture products surpassed beef and the industry looks set to double by 2030. Though currently thriving, this sector has its obstacles – the main one being that the industry relies on wild-caught fish for nutritionally-complete fish feed – which, in the long-run, is considered unsustainable. Fish farming is the largest global consumer of meal and oil from wild-caught fish globally. These natural wild stocks of oily fish are predominantly shipped from South America or West Africa and carry a heavy carbon burden. As well as this, supplies are rapidly diminishing through overfishing and climate change, so it is no surprise that the aquaculture industry is in dire need of a green solution.

But an alternative environmentally friendly solution is already out there.

At MiAlgae we are using innovation and biotechnology to lead the way. The secret behind our sustainable Omega-3 product is that it is sourced directly from the natural fatty acid producers themselves – microalgae – leaving the wild-caught fish middlemen in the sea where they belong.

We are able to tackle one of mankind’s problems with nature’s solution thanks to private investment support and grant funding recently secured through Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund. With this support, we are currently scaling our novel algal production technology at our commercial demonstrator site in Balfron, Stirlingshire.

The circular economy lies at the heart of our business, and we’re committed to Scotland’s drive toward a sustainable future. Using nutrients available in discarded co-products from the whisky industry, the plant will have the capacity to grow 400 tonnes of algae annually, bringing with it the potential to save 12,000 tonnes of fish being shipped to the UK and 18,200 tonnes of its associated carbon. Not only this but our sustainable process returns clean water and runs fully on bioenergy.

Our work means that prioritising health also means prioritising the planet so that when we’re getting our Omega-3 fix we will be boosting Scotland’s circular bioeconomy too.

Johann Partridge is Head of Operations at MiAlgae