Sustainable aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark has hired Willem van der Pijl as editor-in-chief of Aqua Insights, a new report and blog series focused on sustainable aquaculture.
Van der Pijl is the founder of the Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal (STIP) and the consulting firm Shrimp Insights, which he will continue to operate.
"As one of the aquaculture industry's leading market intelligence experts, we're honored to have Willem van der Pijl to join our team," Aqua-Spark Co-Founders Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz said in a joint statement. "After many years of relying on Willem's expertise, the timing is right for an exciting collaboration. With the aquaculture industry gaining new interest every day, we're eager to put the insights we've acquired during the last decade into a market report that is designed to galvanize support and drive new capital towards the aquaculture industry."
The first Aqua Insights report will be published during Q3 2021, with a focus on tilapia in Sub-Saharan Africa and its role in feeding Africa’s growing population.
"I'm looking forward to bringing the same level of transparency I have dedicated to the shrimp industry to other aspects of aquaculture," van der Pijl said. "I'm a strong believer in open-access industry reports. These reports can help us to encourage investors to contribute towards positive investment in aquaculture and catalyze broader recognition of the industry's potential.”
Launched in 2011, Aqua-Spark is an investment fund that has thus far invested in 21 aquaculture-related businesses, including farming operations, alternative feed ingredients, technology companies, and consumer-facing aquaculture product manufacturers. It currently has EUR 160 million (USD 191.1 million) in assets under management, and is “dedicated to investments in elements of the aquaculture industry that will make fish farming sustainable.”
“The goal of the fund is to ultimately make sustainability widespread and profitable enough that it becomes the only way to farm fish,” the firm said in a press release.
Photo courtesy of Aqua-Spark
