Mote Marine sells caviar production operations

Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., is selling its Siberian sturgeon and caviar production operation to Southeast Venture Holdings, LLC (Seven Holdings), the organization announced on Monday. 


“This sale marks the first major private business spin-off from Mote research and achieves a major goal for the Laboratory’s 2020 Vision & Strategic Plan,” said Dr. Michael P. Crosby, Mote President & CEO. “Mote’s strategic priorities focus on translating and transferring the information and technology produced by our diverse research enterprise in order to not only support long-term conservation and sustainable use of our marine resources, as well as to enhance ocean literacy among the public, but to also serve as a foundation for creation of new economic engines for Southwest Florida.”


Seven Holdings will integrate the fish and caviar operation into its Healthy Earth brand of sustainable foods businesses. Seven Holdings General Partner Christopher Cogan will serve as Healthy Earth’s CEO. 
“Through the domain expertise of our partners in areas such as aquaculture, aquaponics, microbiology, farm management and food distribution, we are developing responsible and commercially viable alternatives to how sustainable foods are produced and sold,” Cogan said.


The sale of Mote’s sustainable sturgeon and caviar production operation will include an agreement for research commercialization and investment into Mote’s ongoing sustainable, land-based recirculating marine and freshwater aquaculture research at the 200-acre Mote Aquaculture Park. 
The sale brings to fruition the initial research investment Mote made in sturgeon aquaculture in 2001, said Dr. Kevan Main, manager of Mote’s Marine and Freshwater Aquaculture Research Program.

“Mote made an investment in sturgeon aquaculture operations because we wanted to demonstrate that growing fish for food could be done using environmentally sound systems and practices that would also be financially feasible on a commercial scale,” she said. “Over the years, Mote has led the development of recirculating aquaculture technologies and has demonstrated that these systems are both environmentally sound and financially feasible to operate. Now, the Siberian sturgeon farm is ready for the next step in growth that this agreement with Seven Holdings will bring.”

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