CSIRO scientists create world's first fish-free prawn food Novaq - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

CSIRO scientists create world's first fish-free prawn food Novaq - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "A team of CSIRO scientists has cracked the holy grail of aquaculture by developing the world's first fish-free prawn food.

The royalties from worldwide licensing deals for the Novaq product will earn the CSIRO tens of millions of dollars.

"The research cost about $10 million. We are very confident that this will generate a return on investment back to Australian taxpayers of many, many times the initial investment," CSIRO's Dr Nigel Preston said.

There is intense global interest in Novaq because it solves one of the farmed prawn industry's biggest problems - its reliance on wild fisheries as a core ingredient in prawn food.

But aquaculture has reached "peak fish", where demand for wild harvested fish meal now outstrips supply.

Without a solution, soaring world demand cannot be met.

"It is absolutely a critical issue for the global aquaculture industry. There's no more room to get more wild harvest fish, so we've got to find alternatives," Dr Preston said."



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