Atlantic Sapphire's plans to reach 28,000 tons of salmon
The company, which farms fish on land, plans to increase its feeding capacity by 40% over a 12-month period, according to its CEO, Chilean Pedro Courard.
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In the first semester of 2024, the Florida-based land salmon producer, Atlantic Sapphire, harvested 2,395 tons, with an average weight of only 1.4 kilos.
The company reported that it will take measures to increase the fish weight, but to unleash its potential, it needs to secure financing close to US$100 million and invest it.
In this regard, the new CEO of Atlantic Sapphire, Chilean Pedro Courard, provides details on how they will improve their indices.
They have had low harvest weights, what measures, besides reducing the number of fish, are they taking to turn the situation around?
The low weights in the first semester of the year were due, in the first place, to maturity problems associated with high temperatures in early stages of cultivation and then to a larger fish stock due to low mortalities from October 2023 to date.
Temperature issues were resolved by incorporating greater cooling capacity, and the larger stock resulting from lower losses was addressed by harvesting and selecting smaller fish.
Why have they had low harvest weights and how long will it take to resolve this?
From the end of September this year, we will begin harvesting groups at reasonable weights that will allow us not only to improve quality, but also to access better prices.
What other bottlenecks are currently present and how will they be resolved?
The main constraint we currently have is feeding capacity. In a recirculation system, limitations are given by the capacity to treat and filter the water used in cultivation, and this is directly related to the metabolism of the fish. The more the biomass grows, that is, the more food is required, the more water treatment capacity is needed.
The plan we have is to increase our feeding capacity by approximately 40% over a period of 12 months, which will allow us to achieve a higher production of 8,600 tons WFE (plant weight) starting in 2026.
To increase our feeding capacity, we will invest in improving our oxygen and ozone distribution systems, degasification, and mechanical filtration among other measures.
Will an investment of nearly US$100 million be sufficient for all this?
Although our plan is ambitious, we believe that this amount of investment will allow us to achieve the proposed objective.
What is the production plan you have and when will you achieve it?
We estimate that this year we will end with a harvest of approximately 5,500 tons WFE (plant weight). Once the measures to increase our feeding capacity are implemented, we aim to reach a production of more than 8,800 tons WFE starting from 2026.
This, considering the capacity of Phase 1 currently in operation. Once we finish Phase 2, which is currently in the final design and engineering stage, the company should reach a production of approximately 28,000 tons WFE per year.
