San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PROPOSED FISH FARM COULD BE FIRST IN FEDERAL WATERS
Pacific Ocean Aquafarms wants to start project that could create jobs, create yellowtail source all year round
About four miles offshore of San Diego, a new farm could generate 5,000 metric tons of seafood each year, enough for 11 million servings.
The project, Pacific Ocean Aquafarms, would potentially be the first aquaculture project in U.S. federal waters, and would cultivate yellowtail off the coast of Southern California, said Don Kent, president and CEO of Hubbs-seaworld Research Institute.
The institute submitted a federal permit application for the project on Sept. 9, in partnership with with Pacific6 Enterprises, a Long Beach-based social benefit investment group. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will lead the environmental review of their proposal, which will take about 18 to 24 months. Construction would take about a year, and the first set of fish stocked there would be ready for market in another 18 to 22 months, Kent said.
“We’re talking about five years before people are enjoying farmed yellowtail off the coast of California,” he said. Environmental groups have opposed previous offshore aquaculture operations, arguing that they pose risks to marine life, can foul the water, and undermine wild fisheries. Kent said that the project would be cleaner than aquaculture facilities in other countries, and would be designed and located to avoid impacts to marine animals or fishermen. He said similar projects are already in operation in Mexico, but launching the operation in San Diego could enhance job creation and food security here.
“We would rather have all the economic benefit in this country here, for our people,” he said. “Since we’re buying the product said John Molina, a founder of Pacific6, which has invested in other aquaculture operations, clean energy, affordable housing and historic renovation projects. Pacific Ocean Aquafarms could be a prototype for sustainable and profitable fish production.
“One of our goals is to demonstrate that this can be done in way that investors get a fair return,” he said.
The operation would produce sushi-grade yellowtail aimed at domestic markets, officials said. There’s some taste variation between wild-caught and farmed yellowtail, but it’s really more a matter of preference than quality, said Davie Rudie, president of Catalina Offshore Products, a San Diego based seafood distributor. Farmed fish typically has higher fat content, which may be preferable for some dishes, but less desirable for others,
he said. Chefs are familiar with those differences, through farmed fish sources from other countries, Rudie said.
“The market already understands the difference in wild and farmed fish,” he said. “They’re apples and oranges in terms of taste and texture. They’re different.”
Another change would be the consistent availability of farm-raised fish, Kent said. Although fish reproduce on seasonal cycles in the wild, the organization would adjust that timing to produce hatchlings yearround.
“The fish start out as eggs that we harvest from a group of adult brood fish, that produce eggs in the spring and summer,” he said. “By controlling temperature and daylight, we can have groups of multiple adults producing eggs yearround. You stock the farm, and at different times of the year, you get a more consistent distribution of size.”
Once they reach about 30 grams in size, or four to five inches long, the fish would be transferred to floating pens, suspended in grids about four nautical miles offshore of Mission Bay, the project’s preferred site. In each pen, a 30-meter ring of durable plastic piping would hold a net hanging 14 meters down, along with netting on top to keep the fish in, and predatory birds out, Kent
said. The pens would be moored to the bottom, with fish swimming freely within the net-lined pens.
Each pen can grow 250 metric tons of yellowtail, harvested when they reach about seven to nine pounds in size. Fourteen such pens would be set within a submerged steel grid, 80 meters per side. And a second, similar grid would be set due west of the first, slightly farther offshore, Kent said. The organization would start with just four pens in order to analyze their process and results before reaching full production capacity.
The project comes amid an expansion of aquaculture activity. The federal government announced the creation of 10 planned aquaculture opportunity areas throughout the country, with the first in Southern California and Baja. The program will be overseen by NOAA, and comes under an executive order signed by President Trump in May.
In addition, Hubbs-seaworld plans to enhance its hatchery program in Carlsbad. New legislation by Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath authorizes the organization to update the program, which currently produces white seabass, to conduct research on all species of marine fish with an economic impact on California.
Environmental groups have expressed reservations about aquaculture projects, including those proposed for open waters, citing concerns