2023 Commodity Classic

📍Orlando, FL (March 9 – 11)

Sustainable Kinetics (SK), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ichthus Unlimited (IU), conducted two very successful commercial demonstrations of our formulated tuna feed in Spain and Malta (2021 and 2022 respectively).

At the end of both long-term feeding demonstrations, blind sensory evaluations were conducted.  The pictorial documentations show the closing event at “CafĂ© del Mar”, a high-end restaurant in Triq it-Trunciera, Malta (October 21, 2022).

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) were fed (starting July 2023) with either baitfish or IU’s balanced feed.  Survival was 100% for both dietary treatments but, fish fed the compound feed were deemed to have better flavor and texture and better color than the baitfish fed tuna. 

Lipid deposition was the same in fish fed both diets.

Presently, baitfish feeding of tuna causes severe pollution of Malta’s premier beaches.  Tourists exposed to fish slime in the otherwise pristine waters have an awful experience while swimming.

The compound feed developed by IU makes possible for two of the main revenue-generating industries in Malta (tourism and tuna farming) to thrive in harmony with each other.     
 

The assessment was conducted first buy Japanese buyers of tuna and then by honorary guests invited to the event.

Among them, Malta’s Undersecretary of Fisheries – Alicia Bugeja, Ph.D. – endorsed the compound feed as means to harmonize the coexistence of tourism and bluefin farming in Malta.