From Pest to Profit—The Potential of Shipworms for Sustainable Aquaculture

Abstract

We face a food crisis. Suboptimal diet is the biggest cause of death worldwide, food production the biggest greenhouse gas emitting sector, and by 2050 an extra 2.5 billion people need affordable nutrition. Current farming systems will fail to tackle this crisis, and there is an urgent need to diversify global food production and find effective solutions in currently underexploited food sectors. Shipworms, or shell-less Teredo clams, could prove a highly valuable component of such solutions. Historically viewed as a marine pest, they have unique physiological characteristics which make them an ideal food source, including exceptionally fast growth rates, the ability to feed on waste wood or sustainable microalgae, and a high protein and omega 3 content. Today only a select few traditional cultures in the Philippines consume shipworms, but there is considerable opportunity to develop mechanisms to farm shipworms and provide a sustainable, nutrient rich, affordable food source. This will require significant challenges to be overcome, ranging from fundamental research to industry development to food processing and marketing. Leveraging new innovations in breeding, aquaculture feeds, growth systems, food processing methodologies and consumer engagement can however offer powerful solutions, and could help turn what was once a maritime villain into a nutritional savior.

Barriers and drivers to increasing sustainable bivalve seafood consumption in a mass market economy

“…In addition, unlike for MT bivalves, disliking the taste/smell/texture of MT bivalves had little bearing on people's willingness to try HT bivalves, suggesting that these new products could appeal to the substantial proportion of consumers who currently avoid bivalves on the basis of taste/smell/texture. This concept of using HT bivalve products, such as “clam burgers” or “mussel cakes” to displace conventional HT meat products has already been suggested by other studies (Willer et al 2021; Willer & Aldridge, 2020a, b), but we still lack enough empirical evidence on the actual effectiveness of such an approach. Consumers are currently making responses on a new product they have not experienced, HT bivalves, based upon perceptions of a pre‐existing item, MT bivalves.…”

“…Meat from bivalve molluscs—namely mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops—offers great potential as a sustainable and nutrient‐rich substitute for conventional meat diets. Bivalve aquaculture has a lower environmental footprint than most protein sources, requiring minimal land and nutrient inputs (Jacquet et al., 2017a, b; Willer & Aldridge, 2020a, b). The GHG emissions and nutrient pollution potential for mussels (Tamburini et al., 2020) and clams (Turolla et al., 2020) in particular are much lower than other seafoods such as pollock and cod (Willer et al., 2021).…”

“…Nutritional benefits can also be gained from consuming bivalves. Weight‐for‐weight bivalves contain more protein than many meat items (Willer & Aldridge, 2020a, b; Willer & Aldridge, 2019) and are richer in omega‐3 fatty acids than livestock meats (Tacon & Marc, 2013) and many seafoods; for example, respective levels of eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and docosapentaenoic acid are 150%, 58%, and 144%, respectively, greater in mussels than in cod (Willer et al., 2021). Bivalves are also rich in important micronutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and selenium (Willer & Aldridge, 2019; Willer et al., 2021).…”

Microencapsulated diets using thraustochytrids and macroalgae side streams for nursery rearing of Mytilus galloprovincialis spat

“…Microencapsulated diets offer considerable potential for producing sustainable and cost-effective balanced diets that can be tailored to particular species and developmental stages (Willer & Aldridge, 2020b). Further innovations in microencapsulation offer additional opportunities for enhancement of diets with key micronutrients, vitamins (Willer & Aldridge, 2020c), and therapeutics (Willer & Aldridge, 2020a).…”

Contrasting Modes of Mitochondrial Genome Evolution in Sister Taxa of Wood-Eating Marine Bivalves (Teredinidae and Xylophagaidae)

“…Despite these negative impacts, wood-boring bivalves also play beneficial economic and ecological roles in many marine environments by converting recalcitrant wood into animal biomass that is more easily consumed by a wide range of organisms ( Petra Pop et al 2017 ; Cragg et al 2020 ). Shipworms are also considered a delicacy in several traditional cuisines ( Turner 1971 ) and have been proposed to have economic potential as a shellfishery ( Willer and Aldridge 2020 ).…”