A California aquaculture project aims to become the first in the state and one of the first in the United States to raise Yellowtail Jack, striped bass and other fish in cages in deep ocean waters, a move to help make the country less dependent upon imported product.
The Rose Canyon Fisheries Sustainable Aquaculture Project, which is led by the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) and funded by private equity fund Cuna del Mar, aims to produce 5,000 metric tons of fish annually, once it reaches full capacity. The project is similar to one that already exists in Hawaii. The company has invested more than USD 1 million (EUR 882,094) to conduct reviews to obtain permits from several state and federal agencies. Once it begins production, Rose Canyon will require a USD 50 million (EUR 44.1 million) to USD 60 million (EUR 52.9 million) investment.
The aim of the project, according to Interim CEO Don Kent (pictured, photo courtesy HSWRI), who is also president of Hubbs-SeaWorld, is to allow the United States to rely less on seafood imports and to improve San Diego’s commercial fishing economy and related businesses. He pointed out 91 percent of seafood consumed in the United States is imported. “Ten years ago, when we suggested doing this, the seafood industry attitude was, ‘we are importing from all over the world.’ Now, people are calling us, saying that they are being outbid by buyers in other countries, so they can’t buy from where they were before,” Kent said.
Rose Canyon aims to hire commercial fishermen to retrieve the fish from the cages. “San Diego used to be the tuna capital of the world. Now, only 1,000 metric tons of seafood annually is landed at three San Diego ports,” Kent said. “We need to do something to revitalize the industry.”
Rose Canyon will focus first on producing Yellowtail Jack. “It’s a species very well accepted by the sushi trade for hamachi,” Kent said.
Already, five wholesalers have asked for exclusive rights to distribute the amberjack, but it will take a few years for Rose Canyon fish to ramp up to commercial production. The company has not yet begun a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, which could take a few months to complete. If the company gets all its permits and the NEPA review approved by 2016, it expects to place its first juvenile fish in the water sometime in 2017. Then, its first harvest would likely be in 2018.
“We will produce 1,000 metric tons a year for a couple years and it will take five to six years to scale up [to the full projected 5,000 metric tons of production],” Ken said. “As we expand, we will be validating everything that we predicted in the environmental modeling we are doing.”
