James Arthur Smith @ Seatopia

Bringing Regenerative Seafood Direct To Consumers

On this episode, Kyle and Anthony speak with James Arthur Smith, Founder and CEO of Seatopia. Seatopia is supporting regenerative aquaculture by aggregating, certifying and selling seafood from artisanal, regenerative aquaculture farms. The brand aims to grow consumer demand for farmed fish done the right way and scale a regenerative seafood supply chain that can feed the planet and restore our oceans. You can purchase Seatopia’s sushi-grade salmon, halibut, yellowtail, scallops, shrimp, and more online. 

From ‘Water Baby’ To Brand Founder

A water baby from day one, it’s no surprise that James founded a brand that works to build a thriving ocean ecosystem. James was raised by a lifeguard father and a mother who worked at SeaWorld. His early exposure to the behind-the-scenes operations at SeaWorld sparked his interest in marine biology and aquaculture. James' career path took him through various roles, including volunteering at aquariums and working at aquaculture farms. The pivotal moment came when he worked at a farm in the Sea of Cortez, raising high-quality yellowtail in optimal conditions. The production methods at this farm could not be more different than conventional aquaculture, yet these fish ended up being sold into the same commodity supply chains. James realized he needed to create a sales channel that could incentivize farmers to adopt best-in-class aquaculture practices and deliver high-quality seafood to consumers. 

“We were doing low-density farming in the best potential location and raising fish using algae-based feeds, but once we got into the market and tried to sell it, we were getting lumped into the same bucket as other farms producing the same species, but with higher density farming practices, with corn and soy feeds, and with copper nets that are polluting the environment. This lack of optionality and incentive from the buyers, from the distributors and the importers was a real limitation to the ability to grow and innovate and build a financially sustainable business that was doing best in class aquaculture.” - James 

James also leveraged prior experience building an energy bar company to inform what he would and would not do with Seatopia. He started out pursuing the wholesale market through sales to high-end restaurants and then officially created Seatopia as a direct-to-consumer brand. 

Boosting The Blue Planet

While many regenerative brands are doing important work to transition land-based agriculture, James points out the incredible untapped environmental opportunities within regenerative aquaculture. Oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface. The ocean also produces over half of the world's oxygen and absorbs 50 times more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere. 

Anthony notes how kelp brands have received well-deserved attention for their ability to create markets for a sea-based crop that provides many ecosystem benefits. Seatopia expands the opportunity for ocean regeneration by creating a market for a variety of sea products and algae-based fish feed. James explains how creating a market for regenerative seafood is much like the work being done around grass-fed and rotationally grazed beef – the end product supports a farming approach that improves an entire ecosystem.

“We need to approach aquaculture in the same way that we're approaching land-based agriculture: that we are stewards of the land. Cattle farms done right are not growing cattle, what they're doing is they're growing the soil and they're growing the microbes and they're trying to create an environment that's attractive for all these different organisms from birds to badgers. We're doing that in aquaculture today in what we call integrated multi-trophic aquaculture or mixed species aquaculture.” -James

Moving To Aquaculture 3.0

Seatopia sources 100% of its seafood from aquaculture and never from wild-caught fishing operations. James explains how wild-caught fish is not bad, it’s just not sufficient to feed the world’s growing population. There is a need to scale a farming approach that produces high-quality, nutrient-dense seafood while providing ecosystem services that protect and maintain the ocean environment. 

“Should we all continue to only eat wild-caught seafood? Well, we can't. If everybody continued to just eat wild salmon, we would deplete the entire relation of wild salmon in less than a season. There's a finite supply of wild seafood and that number actually plateaued in 2002. We have not increased the quantity of seafood harvested from the ocean since 2002. There's just a finite supply.” - James

James breaks down the evolution of aquaculture and illustrates how the multitrophic or polyculture method differs from conventional:

• Aquaculture 1.0 - fish containment with natural feed. When farmers first started commercially raising fish from eggs, they created a closed environment for fish to develop and created feed from local bait fish. However, since the survival rate from eggs to fish was so much higher than in the wild, farmers soon realized they would quickly run out of naturally sourced feed. 

• Aquaculture 2.0 - grain-based feed and sterilization. The industry began to create and use corn and soy-based feed to relieve pressure on bait fish. This feed enabled fish to grow but caused inflammation in the fish and made them more susceptible to disease. This then led to a proliferation of the use of antibiotics. The result was fatty fish with little nutrient value.

• Aquaculture 3.0 - optimizing for fish and environmental health. Seatopia supports farms that feed directly on microalgae and protein-rich feed created from soldier flies and other insects. These farms also cultivate a habitat for multiple types of fish and shellfish that thrive on a balance of nutrients. 

“It’s about creating environments that can grow kelp and shellfish and pairing those with a fish farm. All of a sudden you have nutrients and you have upcycling and you have the filter feeders that are cleaning the water. When done right you create structures that can actually act as habitat structures that build biodiversity. By following nature's model and fostering the ecosystem services, some of these different organisms can symbiotically work together.” - James

Bringing Certified-Clean & Sushi-Grade Seafood Direct-To-Consumer 

Seatopia supports farms to adopt multi-trophic aquaculture by putting in the work to aggregate, certify, market, and sell their high-quality, nutrient-dense seafood to a premium market. Seatopia delivers individually-portioned, nitrogen-frozen, sushi-grade seafood direct to customers’ doorsteps. 

Despite the amazing work Seatopia does to support regenerative aquaculture, it’s not what drives sales. Seafood cleanliness and nutrition are what their customers care about, so Seatopia has been focusing on quantifying the cleanliness and nutrient value of the seafood. They lab test all of their seafood for mercury and microplastics and require third-party sustainability certification from Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), or Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). Each package is delivered with a QR code that leads to a dedicated farm page with a description of the certifications, nutrition facts, and information on the farm’s regenerative practices. In the future, they hope to be able to prove and claim that their fish has more omega-3s than other leading brands or wild-caught fish. 

Anthony compares Seatopia’s work to communicate what’s not in their seafood to what the USDA Organic certification has done for land-based agriculture. Focusing on what is not in their seafood – no micro-plastics, mercury, antibiotics, hormones, etc – by certifying their products as “clean” sends a clear and easy-to-understand message for the consumer. 

Ultimately, Seatopia aims to convert 1% of US seafood consumption to regenerative. To achieve this goal, James and his team will continue to work on quantifying and communicating the nutritional value of their products in the hopes of growing consumer demand for regeneratively farmed fish. They may also explore additional products that support whole-fish utilization, such as products containing fish heart and liver or fish broth.

“There are some people who are willing to pay for quantifiably cleaner, more nutrient-rich foods, and that is enough to catalyze farms to make these investments and for us to build our little supply chain of farms that want to be part of this movement. And, hey, if we keep doing this over time, it will scale. The potential is there to be bigger but it’s an early chapter in a very long, journey.” - James

50% Market Share 4 Regen

In James’ opinion, expanding market share for regen brands will take a combination of supportive policy, increased consumer education, and improved technology for nutrient quantification. On the policy end, he is keeping his eyes on a US aquaculture act currently in Congress and hopes that government support for local food production and food sovereignty can lead to policies that promote regenerative aquaculture. To create more consumer demand, James believes we need to have the technology to be able to clearly demonstrate the higher nutritious value of regenerative foods to not only educate consumers but convince them to select regenerative products over conventional ones. 

“It’s about trusting that doing things right by the earth has some sort of karmic, symbiotic, catalytic response, right? As we support other players in this ecosystem and we continue to create this culture, it has this flywheel effect. And I'm optimistic in that regard.” - Jake 

This ReGen Recap was written by Katey Finnegan

You can check out the full episode with James Arthur Smith @ Seatopia HERE

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