Krill is a popular aquaculture feed ingredient for its nutritional benefits and use as an attractant that enhances palatability and fish growth.
Why replace krill?
Demand for krill as a feed ingredient is growing as fish farmers look for new sources of attractants that also provide nutritional benefits. As fishmeal and fish oil are replaced with alternative ingredients not naturally found in the diets, the need for attractants and palatants is growing. The commercial krill fishery located in the Antarctic has steadily increased production over the last decade from a high of 200,000 tons in 2010 to 450,000 tons in 2020. The rapidly expanding industrial fishery raises important sustainability concerns, especially due to climate change.
A wide variety of marine life depends upon these tiny shrimp-like crustaceans at the base of the marine food chain including whales, penguins, and commercially important wild fisheries like salmon, rockfish, squid, and sardines. Sharp declines in Antarctic krill densities have occurred in recent years, which are thought to be the result of climate-induced changes in ocean temperature, currents, acidification and regional overfishing.
A 2021 report in the journal Communications Biology (https:// www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021- 02159-1) showed a 50 percent decline in krill abundance over the last 60 years across the North Atlantic Basin associated with the region’s warming climate. Other recent studies found that increased fishing activity coupled with the impacts of climate change resulted in a decline in penguin population sizes (https://link.springer.com/article/10.100 7/s13280-020-01386-w) and fewer humpback whale pregnancies ( https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 111/gcb.16559) in Antarctica.
Krill, which concentrate in massive swarms that can be seen from space, also play an important role in climate mitigation by locking up carbon in the deep ocean.
Reducing the dependence on wild- caught marine ingredients such as krill can help future-proof the aquaculture feed industry from supply chain disruptions and help ensure resiliency of marine ecosystems.
About the challenge
The F3 Krill Replacement Challenge is to spark innovation for a more sustainable substitute for krill. The contest will incorporate each competitor’s krill replacements into a plant-based feed that will be fed to Atlantic salmon for 12 weeks. The krill replacement that results in the best growth, feed consumption and survival will win the USD $100,000 prize.
Who can participate?
The contest is open to 10 companies or teams that are either the owners or licensees of the rights to distribute the distinct formulation of the feed additive, attractant, or other feed enhancing product, which may be used as a krill replacement in aquaculture feeds. F3 invites innovators from the feed additive, ingredient, synthetic biology, and all other relevant sectors to enter their products in the challenge. (https://krill.f3challenge.org/resources/ F3_Krill_Replacement_Challenge_ Competitor_Information_Packet_FINAL .pdf)
All Entrants must fill out the registration form and submit their sample for qualification before this deadline. There may be a possible extension to October 31 if spots are still open – August31, 2023.
Submission Begins
Qualified entrants can begin to submit entry materials to the F3 Team as described in the Official Rules by November 01, 2023
Submission Ends
All entry materials must be received before this date – January 19, 2024
Challenge Trial Begins
Let the challenge begin! F3 Krill Replacements will compete in a feeding trial for Atlantic salmon starting on March 01, 2024
Challenge Trial Ends
That’s a wrap! F3 Scientific Advisory Committee and Judges will review the trial data to determine a winner by May 24, 2024
Challenge Winner(s) Announced
The F3 Krill Replacement Challenge winner will be announced at an industry conference in October. October 31, 2024
