The New Zealand government has pledged NZD 9.6 million (approx. $5.91 million) towards a five-year project to develop and investigate cultivated seafood.

The new Endeavour Fund programme will allow Plant Food & Research scientists, led by Georgina Dowd, to develop new fish cell production systems within New Zealand.

Plant & Food Research is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. Its purpose is to enhance the value and productivity of New Zealand's horticultural, arable, seafood and F&B industries. The Endeavour Fund is an initiative of New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

In the 2024 round, the fund invested a total of $236 million in 19 research programmes and 53 ‘Smart Ideas,’ aimed at catalysing and testing innovative research ideas with high potential.

The researchers hope to produce seafood and generate marine products, such as marine collagen, through cellular agriculture. They hope to develop a production system for fish is an opportunity for New Zealand to meet the global demand for new sustainable seafood and marine products.

The programme will also investigate the New Zealand social and cultural aspects associated with the acceptance of cultured fish products, including Māori views with respect to taonga species.

Taonga are species that are central to the identity and wellbeing of many Māori communities in New Zealand. Examples of taonga fish species include freshwater eels, freshwater crayfish and freshwater mussels.

Four ‘Smart Ideas’ projects from Plant & Food Research were also funded through the Endeavour Fund initiative.

One project will focus on developing methods for assessing soil vulnerability that support sustainable soil management practices. The second will investigate the microbiome of vineyards as a method of controlling grapevine trunk disease, which costs New Zealand growers $130 million a year in crop losses.

The third project aims to develop a method based on epigenetic DNA testing to support sustainable pāua fisheries management. Pāua is the Māori name given to four New Zealand species of large edible sea snails. The fourth will investigate whether compounds in silvervine, a species of kiwi, can be used as a control method for feral cat populations.

In the 2024 round, the Fund invested $236 million in 19 research programmes and 53 Smart Ideas, aimed at catalysing and testing innovative research ideas with high potential.

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