Marking a decade of copepod innovation

In wild ecosystems, almost all fish larvae diets are based on copepods. When feeding with copepods, essential fatty acids, such as DHA and EPA, and essential amino acids are easily assimilated by the larvae improving fish growth and feeding behavior and reducing skeletal anomalies. However, in aquaculture hatcheries, live feeds have been traditionally based on rotifers and Artemia with no affordable options for sourcing copepods.

The Norwegian-based company, CFEED, is now offering copepods as feeds for the early stages of aquaculture hatcheries. Currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, the company is primarily serving the Nordic and European markets together with a few, selected clients in Asia. CFEED aims to significantly expand its reach to larger clients and
global markets in the coming years as it simultaneously increases its production capacity.

The beginnings

It all began in the early 2000s with scientists at SINTEF Ocean. “They were analyzing the value chain in marine fish farming, particularly the early stages of farming and the challenges faced by hatcheries. Many farmed species around the world were experiencing high mortality rates, slow growth, and deformities, leading to significant costs not just in hatcheries but also in the grow-out stages until harvest. The scientists began to explore what fish fry consume in the wild as their first feed and why it works well in nature,” said Tore Remman, CEO of CFEED.

“This led them to Acartia tonsa, a type of plankton that we now breed and produce eggs from. It quickly became apparent that it could address many of the issues associated with traditional hatchery feeding. However, it took nearly 15 years of R&D to reach the point where we could establish a company and build the first pilot. This demonstrates just how challenging it is to farm plankton,” Remman explained.

Performance

With a strong R&D background, CFEED copepods have been tested in several species with positive results. “The strength of our product lies in its consistent performance across various species. It helps reduce mortality, increase growth, and decrease deformities—often all at once. However, the most significant highlight is the improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR), which ultimately reduces overall feed costs for farmers. Since feed costs are the largest expense for fish farmers, this is a substantial benefit,” Remman stated. “Imagine significantly reducing your feed costs, cutting down the expenses of sorting out deformed fish, and possibly even achieving an extra production cycle per year. This is what you could gain in the long run by using the right feed from the start. We simply provide the ‘mother's milk’ for the fry industry.”

Hatcheries are increasingly receptive to incorporating new live feeds into their procedures, recognizing the value and proven effectiveness of our products. “This evolving mindset is creating new opportunities for introducing our solutions, even in the most established and traditionally cautious markets,” Remman said. “New species, as well as those with traditionally low survival rates or high deformity challenges, are eagerly adopting our product. While established farmed species tend to be more selective, we are confident that the significant improvements we have demonstrated in feed conversion ratios (FCR) will soon encourage these markets to embrace our solution as well.”

“From a sustainability perspective, this is also massive. Although fish  farming is far more sustainable than producing red meat, about 70% of CO2  emissions from fish farming are related to feed and feed production. Looking  at the global feed production, and knowing that more food needs to be farmed  in the oceans, the result we gain in using our product is massive,” said  Remman.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary

CFEED is celebrating 10 years and the journey was not without challenges. “Over the years, the challenges have evolved, but since I joined in 2016, a major shift has been building a culture focused on production rather than just research and innovation. Coming from the labs at SINTEF, this was challenging, particularly as we needed to scale up and commercialize our operations. At that time, we also lacked significant experience in how to use our product and fully understand its core benefits. We therefore launched an extensive testing regime, passing over 25 species and 40 commercial trials. This has greatly improved our understanding of both our markets and the strengths of our product, leading to a high demand for it, which is a major achievement,” Remman said.

“Additionally, we have successfully attracted new investors in recent years, providing us with a solid foundation for further expansion. This was not only a significant financial achievement but also allowed us to strengthen an already excellent team,” said Remman.

Looking forward

In the coming years, the company aims to triple its production capacity, which will provide CFEED with a robust business for further expansion into new markets. “We are currently following our strategy closely in terms of market expansion, and now we just need to deliver more products to meet market demand,” Remman concluded.