What's the Problem?

Aquaculture industry's annual growth rate of 6% is projected to generate profits exceeding USD 208.9 billion by 2025. Despite the increased impact of this industry on food production, serious threats to its economic growth have emerged due to various diseases that attack farmed fish, resulting in losses of over USD 6 billion per year. To combat infection outbreaks, the industry spends an additional billion on ineffective vaccines and large amounts of antibiotics with disastrous effects on the environment and our health. Nevertheless, antibiotic consumption is expected to increase by 33% by 2030. For instance, in 2021, Chile, the second-largest salmon producer worldwide, had returns exceeding 5 billion USD. The Chilean salmon farming industry uses resources that are deemed ineffective in controlling pathogen outbreaks during the production cycle. Despite these measures, economic losses attributed to infections exceed 500 million USD, and producers continue to lose key markets due to more stringent regulations on antibiotics. There is an urgent need to develop new technologies to cope with infectious diseases in aquaculture.