To celebrate the end of the RASTECH 2025 Conference and Trade Fair, Jean Ko Din sits down with her co-host, Justin Henry, and Howard Tang, CEO of Peritus Capital to talk about takeaways from the show in San Diego, Calif. Justin was session chair of a New Projects session that showcased new innovators in recirculating aquaculture, while Howard hosted the Investors’ Forum to talk about the investment activity in RAS for the past year.

Success in RAS can come in all shapes and sizes. At RASTECH 2025 (June 9-10 in San Diego, Calif., USA), our keynote panel explores how their farms forged their own path of profitability, and on their own terms.

Our panelists:

Thorsten Vammen is the general manager of FREA Solutions, based in Denmark. FREA AS is fully recirculated facility raising rainbow trout in Felding, Denmark. Located just a few metres from FREA Solutions’ headquarters, the facility has been operating since 2014, producing over 2,800 tonnes of fish annually across two 4,000 m² buildings.

Sara Rademaker is the founder and CEO of American Unagi, a glass eel recirculating hashtag#aquaculture farm in Waldoboro, Maine. American Unagi is the first and only producer and processor in the U.S. of locally sourced and harvested American glass eel. The large-scale farm was built in 2023 to produce 240 tonnes annually and plans to double its capacity within the year.

Yosuke Kurihara is the co-founder and CEO of ARK Inc. based in London, U.K. and Tokyo, Japan. Established in 2020, the company developed a small-scale, 10-square-metre Closed Recirculating Aquaculture System (CRAS) known as "ARK" that supports off-the-grid aquaculture with solar power generation and a solar hot water supply. There are currently six units installed and in operation in cities across Japan.

Trevor Gent, director of Engineered Solutions at Alumichem, delves into the critical role of wastewater treatment in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). As a "fish poop expert," he emphasizes the importance of early planning and integration of waste management systems. He discusses various treatment options, highlighting the need for regulatory compliance and market development.

Bendik Fyhn Terjesen is the head of Land-Based Innovation and Development at Cermaq Global. He shares how one of the largest traditional salmon net pen companies became a pioneer of recirculating aquaculture technology. He provides insight on how Cermaq has grown its smolt RAS production over the years and where the company's hopes lie for future expansion.

Danish Salmon, founded in 2009, is one of the oldest RAS companies for Atlantic salmon. The company in Hirtshals, Denmark faced numerous challenges, including system failures and inefficiencies. CEO Kim Hieronymus Lyhne shares lessons from the company's financial turnaround, reporting profits for the first time in 2024 with its annual capacity of 2,300 tons.

John Hansen, a project director in the RAS industry, discussed his experience and responsibilities, including managing design and construction for land-based fish farms. He emphasized the importance of early involvement in projects to ensure constructability and avoid costly changes. He also stressed the need for simplicity in design to keep costs and timelines manageable.

Laxey's freshwater manager, Chris Malanka, manages four RAS facilities, focusing on fish health, production planning, and water quality. This RAS project in Iceland's Westman Islands aims to produce four million smolts annually, with a gradual startup plan. Public relations manager, Óskar Jósúason, also tells the story of how a local male choir's visit to the newly built growout tanks represents the company's emphasis on collaboration and community-building. 

Tommi Mäkinen, chief technology officer and head of Finnforel Technologies, talks about the company's philosophy of making each process of rainbow trout RAS production sustainable and innovative. He shares a breakdown of their new Varkaus gigafactory and the lessons they learned from its previous pilot systems to make its large-scale facility optimized from egg to packaged filet.

Fabian Rydell and Bert Wecker, the co-CEOs of Oceanloop Group, share about their German-based company raising shrimp and grouper in their unique vertical farming-style, recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). We explore the technical and operational challenges the company has overcome, as well as their ambitious plans for scaling up production across Europe.

Reflecting on the company’s first year of production, CEO Martin Rasmussen emphasizes Andfjord Salmon’s concept of combining the natural benefits of the sea with the advantages of being on land, leveraging the company's unique location near the Gulf Stream for optimal water temperature and quality.