CaboRon
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Kona Blue expands to Bay of La Paz
Kona Blue Expands Open Ocean Mariculture into Sea of Cortez
2009-11-04 18:40:05 -
Kona Blue Water Farms announced today that it has secured funding and is proceeding with developing a second mariculture farm in Mexico's Sea of
Cortez to expand the company's production of Kona Kampachi®, a premium tropical yellowtail.
The company is planning to deploy the first net pens later this year at the new site in the Bay of La Paz, five
miles off the coast of the Baja California peninsula. The pens will be stocked with fingerlings before the end of December, 2009. A land-based
hatchery is also planned for construction. This expansion to a site within easy trucking distance of the US mainland is a key element in the company's
plans to increase production volumes, reduce delivery costs for the fresh product, and reduce the overall carbon footprint of the company by
minimizing the airfreight requirements.
Kona Blue's mariculture operation in Hawaii is also currently undergoing a reconfiguration of offshore pens, which will replace the submersible Sea
Stations ™ with more robust surface pens. The new pens will take advantage of the latest Norwegian surface cage technology, and will also utilize
ultra-sturdy, innovative Kikkonet material. This new net pen configuration will remain on the company's current site, and is expected to result in
considerable operational improvements and an increase in the farm's sustainability quotient.
"We're very pleased that our expansion plans are progressing," said Neil Anthony Sims, President and CEO of Kona Blue. "These improvements in Kona and
expansion into Baja California are significant steps in furthering our mission of `expanding the environmentally sound production of the ocean's
finest fish.'" Sims stated that the company will hold to the same rigorous standards of sustainability of feeds, operating procedures, and product
quality at the new location in La Paz.
Because of the reconfiguration of the Hawaii site, there will be a short-term gap of market availability of Kona Kampachi® over the next six months,
beginning the end of November, 2009. The popular sashimi-grade fish will be back on the market in May, 2010.
Kona Blue currently operates an array of submersible net pens in waters over 200 feet deep, with strong currents over a sand bottom, a half-mile
offshore from the Kona coast. The site was carefully selected to minimize potential for environmental impacts, and to avoid conflicts with existing
uses or cultural concerns. The company undertook three years of extensive community consultations and outreach before the lease was granted, in 2004.
The farm has been in operation since 2005, and produced around 500 tons of Kona Kampachi® in 2008.
Kona Blue Water Farms Kelly Coleman, 808-331-1188, ext.108 kcoleman@kona-blue.com : mailto:kcoleman@kona-blue.com www.kona-blue.com
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Bajahowodd
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I'd be interested in the opinions of scientist type about the stuff I've read about farming seafood creating a cesspool of disease. From what I've
read, fish, and other aqua creatures need far more than the confined space alloed by the tecniques cited to have a healthy habitat. It's been compared
to beef feedlots and chicken coops. I'm no expert, but I look forward to input from folks more knowledgeable than me.
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Iflyfish
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http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS190679+04-No...
Iflyfish
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dtbushpilot
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
I'd be interested in the opinions of scientist type about the stuff I've read about farming seafood creating a cesspool of disease. From what I've
read, fish, and other aqua creatures need far more than the confined space alloed by the tecniques cited to have a healthy habitat. It's been compared
to beef feedlots and chicken coops. I'm no expert, but I look forward to input from folks more knowledgeable than me. |
What's wrong with beef feed lots and chicken coops? We all have been eating beef, chicken and eggs from them for our entire life.....dt
"Life is tough".....It's even tougher if you're stupid.....
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LOSARIPES
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SOMETHING has to be wrong... it never fails
Aripes
God bless America
and Baja tambien
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Alan
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I keep my fingers crossed that these fish farms are successful. The survivability rate of the fry can be increased with the hatcheries as compared to
a wild hatch. Ideally it will become more profitable to collect seafood in this manner and reduce the devastation of the commericials on the wild
species and the resulting by-catch.
I understand the market for seafood but the devastation caused by indiscriminate fishing methods such as longlines, gill nets and seiners is too large
a price to keep paying.
In Memory of E-57
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Hook
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Alan
I understand the market for seafood but the devastation caused by indiscriminate fishing methods such as longlines, gill nets and seiners is too large
a price to keep paying. |
Not until it becomes TOO LARGE A PRICE TO PAY FISHERY OFFICIALS TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY, will it ever end in Mexico.
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Alan
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We can still all hope that one day the price of fuel, labor, maintenance and mordida will make fish farms more profitable than wild stocks.
In Memory of E-57
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wadeinthewater
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I have about a day 1/2 of research time on this one so far. Will share once I get more La Paz info.
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