Episode 23 of the SUT Underwater Technology Podcast features Steve Hall interviewing Lou Cooperhouse, CEO of innovative San Diego company BlueNalu who aim to be one of the first to market with sustainable, tasty, real fish meat (not a vegetarian substitute) made from cultured cells - 'Cellular Aquaculture' rather than wild-caught fish. You're making fish muscle tissue, not the head, organs, scales so it's efficient and cruelty-free.
The technology is scaleable, can be applied to many species of fish & shellfish, and will enable consumers to purchase a delicious and healthy fillet of fish, complete with omega 3 oils and other beneficial trace components, without the carbon footprint, environmental damage, or sometimes unsustainable efforts of wild fish capture. This offers the possibility for wild fish stocks to recover, for fishers to focus on small, high-value 'luxury food' catches, with the potential bulk of the market one day supplied from shore-based manufacturing plants.
The implications for sustainable use of wild ocean resources are immense, & enable projected future 9 billion-plus human population to be fed without destroying wild ecosystems.
In the interview Lou explains the technology and vision of the company, how far they are from market, and how the product is intended to help achieve the UN sustainable development goals to protect life under water, and ensure healthy food for human populations.
Find out more about BlueNalu at https://www.bluenalu.com and for their corporate responsibility programme see https://eat.blue
Find out more about SUT at https://www.sut.org, contact Steve Hall at steve.hall@sut.org
Thanks to Emily Boddy for composing & performing the podcast theme music and creating the podcast artwork, thanks to Zapslat.com for ambient ocean sounds.
We'll be back next week - please subscribe, rate and review - and contact Steve if you'd like to be featured in a future episode.