RAS Talk

The RAS industry is not for the faint of heart. The purpose of this “Lessons learned” keynote is to identify those challenges we are facing right now and sharing experiences of how to solve these problems. At RASTECH 2023, we wanted to talk about the mistakes and the setbacks, but always in the spirit of learning how to progress and develop from them.

Panelists:

• Damien Claire, chief sales and marketing officer at Atlantic Sapphire
• Per Heggelund, founder of AquaSeed, Sweet Spring Salmon and now, Andfjord Salmon
• Justin Henry, owner of Henry Aquaculture Consult and aquaculture business director at University of British Columbia
• Sylvia Wulf, president and chief executive of AquaBounty Technologies

Rodrigo Mezerhane is the senior project manager at Blue Star Foods in the United States and his latest project is an interesting venture into a unique species in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Atlantic blue crabs are cannibalistic which makes juvenile survival rates in captivity very low. This project's solution is to capture Atlantic blue crabs from local fishermen and raise the stock through its late molting stage, instead of raising it in land from its early stages. But this doesn't mean the species still doesn't come with challenges. Rodrigo shares the meticulous challenge of establishing good Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in order for the facility to raise the blue crabs to be ready and harvested for consumers. 

After cultivating his genomics expertise in the United States and in Norway, Woo-Jai Lee returns to his homeland in South Korea to start an olive flounder RAS project in Goheung. Raising olive flounder, a.k.a. Japanese halibut, in a recirculating aquaculture system has its unique challenges. BlueGen founder & CEO Woo-Jai shares the challenges and innovations of building a 1,700 MT/year facility for this flatfish marine species.

More commercial-size RAS projects are propping up in Japan. In this episode, we get an inside look at one of the largest projects with Dharma Rajeswaran, chief operations officer at Proximar Seafood. He shares about his long history in salmon farming, from traditional net pens in Norway to recirculating aquaculture in Atlantic Sapphire.

It truly takes a village to raise the next generation of recirculating aquaculture farmers. Kevin Hoffman is the instructor and program manager for Onalaska High School’s aquaculture program in Washington State, United States. Through his hands-on program, students learn many practical skills, including feeding, sampling, fish husbandry, construction and maintenance. In this episode, Kevin shares how he grew this program to what it is today and how others can do the same.

Last July, Kingfish Maine was forced to go head-to-head against an anti-aquaculture group that wanted to put a stop to all aquaculture development in Jonesport, Maine, USA. The aquaculture moratorium was put to a vote and local residents rejected the proposal 201 to 91. Now that the road is clear for the company to begin construction, Dianna Fletcher, communications consultant, shares how the company earned its social license through targeted public relations strategies.

When the island country of Singapore imports more than 90 per cent of its food supply, this new RAS project hopes to be a local solution. Esben Johnsen is the chief executive officer of Singapore RAS. Coming from Norway’s oil and gas industry, he understands the power and possibilities of land-based aquaculture.

Lago Sofia’s chief executive and general manager, Miguel Portus O., shares the company’s philosophy in making the most of all its resources, not just its recirculating water at its Atlantic salmon smolt RAS facility in Chile. For example, the company collects plastics from partner companies to use as materials to build palettes for its facility. They also collect wood from its feed pallets to create furniture for local partners. Portus also gives new insight to its first aquaponics project in the United States.

Atlantic Sapphire CEO Johan Andreassen called 2021 the company’s “Annus Horribilis.” From losing the chillers in Miami to the devastating fire in Denmark, Atlantic Sapphire made headlines for mass mortalities caused by a chain of unfortunate events. In this episode, Andreassen talks to our co-hosts, Jean Ko Din and Brian Vinci, about lessons learned from last year and how the company plans to move forward in transforming the industry’s future.

Vismar Aqua is a Ukrainian RAS design firm that built the largest RAS shrimp farm in Europe, Merman’s House. When Russia’s invasion forced the farm to close after only four months in operation, the company decided to donate its first batches of shrimp to the Ukrainian army. Founder and chief technology officer, Lubomir Haidamaka, sits down with co-hosts, Jean Ko Din and Brian Vinci, to share his story from his office in Kyiv, Ukraine.