A Nanaimo fish farm will be scaling up production thanks to a merger with a U.S. company.
Taste of B.C. Aquafarms was acquired by Miami, Fla.,-based Blue Star Foods Corp. in June and now plans to take the technology it has developed at its pilot facility since 2012 and scale it up to land-based farms that can each produce 1,500 tonnes of steelhead annually.
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B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e the only one anywhere in the world that has met their target in their pilot facility,B次元官网网址� said Steve Atkinson, managing director of Taste of B.C. Aquafarms.
The research and development facility on Jameson Road raises and sells steelhead under the Little Cedar Falls brand name and meets or slightly exceeds its production target of 100 tonnes of market-quality two-kilogram fish every 12 months. The farm even made a small profit in 2020.
The goal now is to take the technology developed over the past nine years and scale it up to a facility capable of producing 1,500 tonnes of market-grade steelhead annually.
B次元官网网址淲hat we thought would be a two- or three-year journey to get here was nine years, but weB次元官网网址檝e outlasted, probably, 100 projects worldwide that preceded or were contemporary with us and weB次元官网网址檙e the only one that has actually survivedB次元官网网址次元官网网址� Atkinson said. B次元官网网址淲e are now the oldest running salmon [recirculating aquaculture system] in the world.B次元官网网址�
The farm in Nanaimo will remain in operation as a research and development facility and likely also will research land-based farming of other Pacific salmon species.
B次元官网网址淲e now have that knowledge, and we can now build our full-scale roll-out based on good historical data B次元官网网址� We took the steps necessary to scale out with confidence B次元官网网址� and we have no debt and we have a proven system,B次元官网网址� Atkinson said.
To scale up to 15 times its current production, the company needs space for a much larger facility. Atkinson said that will most likely be in the Regional District of Nanaimo and the company is close to closing a deal on property.
A farm capable of producing 1,500 tonnes annually is actually part of a modular system that can be duplicated, space permitting, to further step up production, Atkinson said, comparing it to how poultry and swine farms increase production.
B次元官网网址淥ur new farm will have four individual modules that each will produce 375 tonnes and then weB次元官网网址檒l also have a two-module hatchery, so weB次元官网网址檒l hatch on site. WeB次元官网网址檒l have 1,500 tonnes of production and then we also will do primary processing B次元官网网址� WeB次元官网网址檒l be harvesting fish five days a weekB次元官网网址次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淥ur plan is to build multiple 1,500-tonne farms, all identical, all with a known outcome, so we can give investors and banks very clear, projected outcomes that are reliable.B次元官网网址�
Each 1,500-tonne farm could directly employ 12 to 15 workers and up to 150 workers indirectly. Atkinson said the first 1,500-tonne facility should be producing fish by the end of 2022.
The long-term target is to produce 20,000 tonnes of fish annually by 2028, the amount of production being eliminated in the Discovery Islands or about one-fifth of current salmon farming production in British Columbia.
B次元官网网址淪almon farming, right now, is our largest agricultural export B次元官网网址� the GDP is something like $5 billion plus, so that 20,000 tonnes will contribute probably somewhere in the range of $1 billion to the GDP, which is really significant,B次元官网网址� Atkinson said. B次元官网网址淩ight now weB次元官网网址檙e the only ones with the experience that can do land-based and [we are] choosing B.C. where the federal government is intent on eliminating net cage salmon farming.B次元官网网址�
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John Keeler, chief executive officer of Blue Star Foods, said in a press release that acquiring Taste of B.C. Aquafarms provided the talent, resources and experience to accelerate its seafood production through the recirculating aquaculture system.
B次元官网网址淚mportantly, we have achieved success at the existing facility and are positioned to leverage TBCB次元官网网址檚 proven and scalable model to develop large-scale production facilities,B次元官网网址� Keeler said.
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