A Key to Smart Aquaculture Investing
Bloomberg.com recently reported that, “Aquaculture is drawing entrepreneurs and investors in an overfished world with a growing appetite for healthy protein.” The article raises many questions, but offers little investment advice or specific scientific solutions.
While investors are all too familiar with “follow the money”, we would like to propose a new perspective — “follow the energy”. Production of all products requires a specific amount of energy for the task. Commercial fish farming is no different. It requires significant amounts of energy in the form of feed (chemical energy and nutrients) comprising about 40-50% of variable operating expenses, electrical energy for pumps, aeration, etc., plus transportation-related energy for workers, product, and supplies.
The Bloomberg report suggests the use of land-sourced human food such as soybeans as a replacement for fishmeal, but this seems of little benefit to world hunger, and in fact, may be downright unhealthy — for both fish and consumers.
“Follow the energy”! Where does most agricultural energy come from? If you answered “the sun”, you’re now holding the key to unlocking the puzzle. The sun is the obvious energy source driving the growth of almost all land-based, traditional farming. So why not utilize the sun for fish farming?
Why not cultivate the fastest growing, most solar efficient, high protein, and healthy plants in the world right in our own waterways, allowing these tiny solar cells to absorb and feed on the water’s excess nutrients? Well, this is close to what some algae collecting systems are trying, but the economics of fertilizing, circulating, collecting, dewatering, and often extensive further processing can be cost prohibitive — without government funding.
However, a recently refined aquaculture system developed by Superior Aquaculture, LLC, now offers a suite of integrated, unique solutions to the above issues. Its simplicity is based upon “following the energy”:
- Solar collect the sun’s energy with algae.
- Enhance its free cultivation and collection strictly as a by-product of water circulated through large, floating, and relatively inexpensive fish raceways.
- Bio-accumulate algae nutrients, including large amounts of lipids, especially omega-3’s in algae consuming zooplankton and filter-feeding finfish and shellfish — the later grown and fed (for free) both within and outside the raceways.
- Collect in sedimentation collection pods, excess algae and zooplankton, uneaten commercial feed (if fed), and feces.
- Discharge soluble nutrients from the raceway to feed younger algae cells.
- Dewater sediments collected and further process, if desired, using as feed, feed supplements, compost, or for valuable oil removed simply by pressing and gravity.
- Water flow rates, turbidity readings, dissolved air flocculation (DAF), and other mechanisms can be employed and automated to help monitor, balance, and maintain optimal pond and raceway production levels.
Sustainably produce healthier, omega-3 enriched fish and shellfish using largely on-farm produced nutrients, while maintaining or improving water quality and potentially seeing an amazing ROI.
To learn more, visit www.superiorraceways.com . Phone: 715-340-0932