Atlantic Sapphire will prioritize its existing operations over continued expansion at its Miami, Florida, U.S.A. salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility, according to the company's chief sales and marketing officer, Damien Claire.
Atlantic Sapphire’s ultimate goal is to build an RAS facility capable of producing 220,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon per year, but Claire said its objective for 2023 is to optimize production in its already-built phase-one facilities before moving forward with further expansion.
Atlantic Sapphire's share price plunged in October 2022 after it issued revised revenue expectations and an announcement that “above-normal and increasing mortality in certain systems” resulted in lower harvest weights than planned. In March 2021, it experienced a mass salmon mortality at its Miami facility, as well as a mortality incident at its Denmark Bluehouse farm in July 2022, followed by a devastating fire at its Denmark facility in September. In 2020, the company was forced to initiate an emergency harvest of fish in July, and earlier that same year, the company went through a mass mortality event in Denmark.
“A focused and concerted effort is required to achieve our goals for the year," Claire said. “For the next couple of months, that means we will focus on getting phase 1 into steady-state production before we speed up again the construction efforts on phase 2.”
In 2022, Claire said the company put a strong focus on improving its processes to prevent mortalities and improve its operations.
“There have been many improvements made during 2022, a year focused on fine-tuning the infrastructure of the farm,” he said. “As with any process and growth plan, there is always room for improvement and optimization, especially in the commissioning and ramp-up phase we’ve been in. We have looked at our organizational structure and departmental responsibilities, continued to evaluate our vendor/third-party partners, and incorporated learnings from past years.”
Other factors that impacted Atlantic Sapphire in 2022 were inflation and long lead times for supply chains, Claire said.
“Construction cost and hence its timeline, was affected last year,” he said. “Some materials, for construction and operations, have also been impacted, limiting availability, but we have been able to overcome these challenges and secure resources.”
Looking forward into 2023, Claire said the company’s major focus will be optimizing its operations and reaching steady-state production.
“This year comes with significant highlights in several areas. For operations/production, we expect to reach steady state production volumes, which will be a huge milestone for the Company and allow us to expand our network of customers,” Claire said. “Additionally, our marketing and sales will continue to be strong, focused on educating consumers on the benefits of our Bluehouse Tech production, and the unique attributes of Bluehouse Salmon, across health, sustainability, and local origin.”
Photo courtesy of Atlantic Sapphire
