Seafood News - Industry Events - Seafood Market

Pacific Business News    6/04/2005 11:32:04

Kona's first open ocean fish farm has been stocked with over 30,000 juvenile Kona kampachi, a fish ideal for sashimi.

The fingerlings, stocked over the past few days, were around two inches long, but should grow quickly and be ready for consumers by September this year, company executives said this week.

Kona Blue Water Farms completed installation of the moorings and the first pair of submersible grow-out cages in mid-March. The fingerlings were reared at Kona Blue's hatchery facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii.

"The fish have adjusted easily to their new environment and are responding well to the lower densities in the cages and excellent water quality at the farm site," Chief Operating Officer Dale Sarver said. "We anticipate our first harvest of Kona kampachi this September."

The company said the cage installation was a feat of marine engineering that involved constructing a complex underwater mooring grid comprised of 14 steel embedment anchors, each 10 feet tall and weighing 7,500 pounds, with 12 submerged steel buoys, and miles of mooring lines. The submersible cages are 60 feet tall and 80 feet in diameter and encompass almost 2,600 cubic yards.

Kona Blue plans to add two smaller surface cages for nursery culture in several weeks and four more submersible grow-out cages to the mooring grid over the next year. The farm cages are designed to sit 30 feet below the surface, in waters between 200 and 220 feet deep, a half-mile offshore.

"The submerged, offshore location allows these cages to avoid high surf, minimize potential environmental impacts on shoreline reefs, and avoid conflicts with existing fishing and recreational diving activities along the shore," Kona Blue said.

Kona Blue Water Farms won the Hawaii Venture Capital Association's 2005 Venture Capital Deal of the Year award. It bills itself as the first integrated hatchery and offshore fish farm in the country.

Kona kampachi is a close relative of Japanese hamachi or yellowtail, rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The offshore farm is anticipated to eventually produce 800 tons of fish per year.

For the past two years, Kona Blue has been growing and selling Kona kampachi from its land-based farm at the Natural Energy Laboratory. Among local restaurants that have served Kona Kampachi are Alan Wong's, Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas, L'Uraku and Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar.