Mediterranean Fish Vaccine Market

The Mediterranean fish vaccine market size is expected to reach US$ 2,09,030.80 million by 2030 from US$ 96,323.46 million in 2022; it is estimated to record a CAGR of 10.2% from 2022 to 2030.

Consumers are becoming aware of the nutritious value of animal protein. The demand for healthy, sustainable, high-quality meat products with fewer or no drugs is also increasing rapidly. The growing demand for food products derived from aquatic animals (oil, caviar, protein powders, meat, etc.) encourages farmers to undertake vaccinations to safeguard aquaculture and attain high profitability.

Regular fish consumption is widely promoted as a part of a healthy diet. Fishes have a high protein content compared to terrestrial animal meat, which is evident through lower feed conversion rates (FCR) than land animals. Moreover, fish proteins are highly digestible and rich in essential amino acids, unlike animal-sourced proteins that have low essential amino acid content. Fish and shellfish consumption has been associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, inflammation, and arthritis through different research studies. The health benefits of fish are mainly linked to the presence of long-chain omega 3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In addition, fish proteins are enriched with bioactive peptides, which offer many health benefits if consumed in appropriate concentrations that support their optimal bioavailability within the human body. Other health benefits of fish consumption include the control of blood pressure through the inhibition of enzymes within the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS); maintenance of bone health; control of inflammation (antioxidant peptides); and maintenance of mental health through the action of opioid peptides and platelet-activating factor acetyl-hydrolase (PAF-AH) inhibitory peptides; and so on. Thus, the tremendous health benefits of aquatic animal-derived proteins indicate the need for healthy breeding of these animals, which propels the demand for fish vaccines in the Mediterranean region.

Development of Novel Vaccines: Opportunity for the Mediterranean Fish Vaccine Market

Various disease outbreaks caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites have decelerated the progress of the global aquaculture industry for several decades. Besides harming human health, emerging diseases also dramatically affect aquatic animals. Vaccination is a well-known, effective prophylactic measure employed to manage this problem. However, traditional vaccines still have several drawbacks and limitations, which has driven the focus of researchers to novel vaccines such as chimeric multiepitope vaccines. Based on the current understanding of genomics and immunoproteomics, and the presently available bioinformatics tools, researchers can now identify the potential targeted epitopes that are recognized by immune cells. Further, Fish Species with a as the cost of techniques such as whole genome sequencing continues to decline, it opens the way for species-specific vaccine development. These factors are likely to encourage the Mediterranean fish vaccine market players to invest in developing new vaccines against viral, parasitic, or bacterial infectious diseases for which vaccines are presently unavailable.

Further, the development of effective mucosal vaccines and optimization of their administration process are expected to accelerate novel vaccine development, in turn, encouraging aquaculture businesses in Mediterranean countries to regularize fish vaccination processes.  The effective use of emergency (autogenous) vaccines is anticipated to help handle emerging disease challenges and create immense opportunities for the market players to grow.

The Mediterranean fish vaccine market is segments into vaccine type, species, route of administration, clinical indication, and country. Based on the vaccine type, the market is bifurcated into inactivated vaccine, live-attenuated vaccine, toxoid vaccine, subunit vaccine, conjugate vaccine, and recombinant vector vaccine. Based on species, the Mediterranean fish vaccine market is bifurcated into turbot, European anchovy and seabass, salmon, Mediterranean sea bass, common dentex and common pandora, sea bream, rainbow wrasse, Sparus aurata, trout, Mediterranean swordfish and bluefin tuna, grouper and amberjack, and others. In terms of route of administration, the market is segmented into immersion vaccine, injection vaccine, and oral vaccine. And based on clinical indication, the market is classified as bacterial infection and viral infection. Based on the region, the market is analyzed on the basis of France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Israel, and the Rest of the Mediterranean. The growth of the market in this region is driven by the flourishing aquaculture industry and increasing initiatives to enhance research and development of vaccines. Turkey ranks ninth among the largest marine fish farming countries in the world, and it records significant aquaculture production among all European countries. Aquaculture accounts for ~44.6% of the total annual seafood production in Turkey. The country claims to have the fastest-growing food production industry in the world. Turkey has 434 operational marine aquaculture facilities, producing gilthead seabream and European seabass. Technological advancements have facilitated the rapid growth in sea bass and sea bream production in the past two decades. Thus, the country has become the world’s top producer of sea bream and sea bass, meeting ~40% of the global demand. Moreover, fish consumption in the country is rising due to the government's efforts to promote fish as a healthy product with a low carbon footprint. According to the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) estimates published in January 2021, the country’s fish production would reach 600,000 tons by 2023, accounting for exports of US$ 1.7 million (€1.6 million).  

On the other hand, managing various diseases in aquaculture and fish farms is a major challenge faced by Turkish aquaculture businesses. This challenge is handled by regular fish vaccination. Thus, the large scale of fish production in Turkey is likely to expand the demand for fish vaccines in the coming years.  

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union, Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) are a few key primary and secondary sources referred to while preparing the report on the Mediterranean fish vaccine market.