NEW YORK – Companies like Beyond Meat Inc and Impossible Foods are seeing strong sales. Earlier this year, Target launched its own line of 30 vegan food options. Even giant Tyson Foods Inc is getting in on the act with its recent introduction of vegan bratwurst and burger patties.

Plant-based meat sales are soaring, but is there a similar appetite for plant-based seafood?
A host of small companies certainly hope so, and they’re crowding into the alternative seafood space. Sales in the sector grew 23% from 2019 to 2020, according to data from The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit whose mission is “to accelerate alternative protein innovation internationally,” according to its website. In the first half of 2021, the institute said, $116 million has been invested in the seafood space, exceeding 2020’s total of $90 million.
Plant-based seafood could help alleviate the demand for fresh-caught fish, curbing overfishing that can decrease fish populations, reduce biodiversity in the ocean and harm habitats, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. About 5 billion pounds of seafood are consumed every year in the United States, according to Molly Masterton, the group’s fisheries director, with more than 90% of it harvested, farmed, or processed in countries that lack rigorous seafood management laws.