RAS Talk

Vertical Oceans is a unique recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for shrimp because it touts itself to be modular, has zero discharge and is almost 94 per cent automated by a complex algorithm. Co-founder and chief executive, John Diener, talks about how he's harnessing his team's expertise in data science and bioinformatics to solve traditional shrimp farming's environmental challenges. 

Florida is home to both red drum fish and red mangroves. Megan Sorby, CEO and founder of Pine Island Redfish, has a vision to sustainably farm both in her new 150-acre RAS project. She sits down with Jean Ko Din and Justin Henry about her experience finding an aquaculture community in the state and her hopes to bring more RAS innovation to the industry.

Viking Aqua wants to build the "next generation RAS for Atlantic salmon," planning a 33,000-ton facility in Skipavika, Norway. In this episode, Borghild Hillestad shares how she plays a key role as director of fish welfare in the early design/engineering phase. She also shares the company's plans to establish a Fish Welfare Index that will set parameters for the facility’s artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring system.

Although reconstruction in the area is over, Fukushima continues to live with the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident and its impact on its reputation. Initial ARK Inc.prototypes became a new way to revitalize the small Japanese town's seafood industry. Co-founder Yosuke Kurihara offers a unique take on recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) technology with a micro-scale unit that he hopes will be a new take on "farm to table."

Sara Rademaker is the founder and CEO of American Unagi, a glass eel recirculating aquaculture farm in Maine. She shares the journey of how she started the company from a small RAS system in the basement of her home, to an incubator startup, to now a commercial-scale farm to grow eel domestically.

Hatchery International hosted its first World Trout Culture Summit on Oct. 18, 2023. The virtual event gathered experts across the aquaculture industry to talk about environmentally sustainable trout culture and production. In this special episode of RAS Talk, we share the live recording from a panel of trout RAS experts to talk about the benefits and challenges of recirculating systems, from restocking rainbow and brown trout to commercial farms growing trending species like Steelhead. What is this technology's future role and potential for trout in both enhancement fisheries and aquaculture?

The panel was moderated by David Kuhn, associate professor at Virginia Tech.

Panelists included:

• Craig Copeland, fish culture manager at the Alberta Ministry of Environment & Parks
• John Holder, co-founder & director of technology at Gold River Aquafarms
• Thorsten N. Vammen, general manager of FREA Solutions

This episode was recorded about a month after The Center for Responsible Seafood (TCRS) hosted its inaugural Shrimp Summit (July 24-26, 2023) at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. TCRS President George Chamberlain shares his reflections on the global shrimp industry and how recirculating aquaculture technology can play a role in its future.

Sustainable Blue has captured Washington State's interest for its zero wastewater discharge system for Atlantic salmon. David Roberts, chief sustainability officer, talks about the origins of its first facility in Nova Scotia, Canada and hints at the company's plans for a new facility in the United States. Roberts says that sustainability must be incorporated into all aspects of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and in this episode, he shares how the company is working to fulfill the promise of its name while also being profitable.

Just 20 mins. from downtown Los Angeles, Steve Sutton established an indoor shrimp RAS farm with a mission to grow clean shrimp products for the U.S. market. In this episode, Steve tells the story of how shrimp farming in Thailand informed his vision for TransparentSea to become a sustainable and profitable farming operation in California.

Salmon Evolution is one of the few success stories that the RAS industry can point to and as it looks ahead to the next phase, CEO Trond Håkon Schaug-Pettersen shared some insights that led to the company’s success so far. He talked about harnessing the simplicity of a partial reuse system, bringing the lessons of Phase One to its next expansions and his confidence in the company’s future.