BIOME
RISD studio 2018
Sponsor: Ginkgo Bioworks
BIOME is a prospective company presented to Ginkgo Bioworks that uses GMO algae to recycle fish waste into fish food. Ginkgo Bioworks specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria for industrial applications.
Skills:
Research, Concept development
Problem
Currently, the majority of fish feed is made from wild low trophic level fish, such as anchovies. The expanding fish farming industry is depleting wild low trophic level fish stocks.
Uneaten fish feed, fish waste and antibiotics flowing out of offshore fish farms create massive algae blooms that oxygen from the water and creating ecological “dead zones”.
Solution
BIOME uses genetically modified algae to filter and process excess nitrogen (fish waste, uneaten fish feed) and covert it into components of nutrient rich fish feed.
By using algae to filter water and produce fish feed on site, BIOME aims reduce the operating costs of on-land fish farms and make them competitive with their off-shore counterparts.
“As the global population nears 8 billion, aquaculture is emerging as the fastest growing area of the food sector with the potential to feed the growing population. Inefficiencies in farming and poor environmental practices limit aquaculture’s ability to grow to its full potential.”
- Velings, Mike. The Case for Fish Farming, TED, 2015.
This prototype of the BIOME Investor Package was presented to teams at Ginkgo Bioworks.
AquaNNET
AquaNNet is a prospective aquaculture company that applies computer vision technology to ocean aquaculture, eliminating the need for antibiotics in fish farms.