Maine aquaculture company wins grant for yellowtail, black sea bass R&D

Acadia Harvest Inc., an aquaculture technology company based in Brunswick, Maine, USA, won a National Science Foundation grant of USD 657,000 (EUR 604,000) to support its research, development and commercialization efforts. 

Acadia Harvest is working on a commercial scale, land-based, indoor marine fish culture with low to zero waste that it hopes to launch commercially by 2017 or 2018. The company, established in 2011 to develop a land-based aquafarm in Maine for marine species, has focused on two species: California yellowtail (Seriola lalandi) or hiramasa (pictured), native to the Pacific Ocean, and black sea bass (Centropristis striata), native to the western Atlantic Ocean.

“We are committed to bringing new technology to bear on the challenge of growing high quality seafood in Maine. The confidence expressed in our project by the experts at the National Science Foundation is gratifying, and we are eager to bring this technology to market as part of large scale aquafarming,” said CEO Ed Robinson. Acadia Harvest is working to arrange financing to develop a commercial scale production facility in Gouldsboro, Maine. 

The company, which has also been working with marine worms, microalgae and shellfish, has test marketed both fish species, working with distributors in Maine, Massachusetts and California. Thanks to positive feedback and strong market demand for the fish, the company is now growing a larger pilot production batch of California yellowtail and black sea bass for sales later this year.

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