On 12 September, the largest industrialized aquaculture plant in Europe will open in Poland. The most advanced facility in Europe, operated by AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies, will yield 1,200 metric tons of tilapia annually.
The plant, which took one year and about EUR 12 million to build, is spread out over 8,000 square meters. The cost of construction is expected to be recouped within five years of operation.
AquaMaof is an Israeli company that specializes in erecting and managing industrialized fish farming facilities in Israel and worldwide. The company was formed by a group of aquaculture specialists, contributing skills in a specific fields including system design and integration, machinery design and fabrication, ichthyology, project management and business management.
The group developed an innovative patent-protected technology to industrialize aquaculture procedure. The method makes it possible to breed fish under controlled temperature conditions in all types of weather, in any country and during all seasons, independently of external factors.
Although this means breeding under cover in tanks, an additional patent makes it possible to save more than 70 percent of the energy and manpower as compared to other breeding facilities in the world. This method saves production costs and produces a predetermined quantity and quality of fish under the full control of the operators of the plant.
The plant also makes it possible to produce fish of a uniform size, due to an automatic selection system that grades and counts the fish in each tank, conveying fish from tank to tank and ensuring that each tank cultivates fish of a uniform size, a technology that makes it possible to supply the client with the desired size of fish.
Currently, AquaMaof has several projects in development: a project near Moscow set to open in 2013 and produce 500 metric tons of trout annually; an additional project in Romania will breed sturgeon for caviar production.
AquaMaof has also signed agreements with several other investment groups to construct additional facilities in Israel, Africa and South East Asia, and is in negotiation with both private and public bodies to construct similar facilities in various European countries, the Far East, Africa and North America. The cost of building each industrialized fish farm ranges from EUR 4 million to EUR 150 million.
