October 10, 2008

 

Underground Fish Farm finds investor in San Francisco

 
 
A San Francisco-based business development firm is bankrolling part of startup costs for a creative business endeavor, The Underground Fish Farm. 

 

As it has connections in the distribution field, SGT Holdings should assure a ready market for the tilapia and other seafood the company Parsons and Pierce will be breeding south of Casa Grande in the city.

 

The first three underground tubes for growing the fish were being placed and rinsed out in late September. The addition of SGT Holdings means the remainder of the 70 tubes planned for the 5.5-acre site can be placed very soon and the whole operation can be up and running in the near future.

 

Parsons said SGT Holdings are international investors, they are going to put up a billion dollars in the venture and take it global, but he's going to retain the US rights.

 

The addition of SGT Holdings also ensures that The Underground Fish Farm will maintain an environmentally friendly course that Parsons has taken from the beginning. No artificial additives will be used in the food that nourishes the fish. Little water will be wasted since the tubes are underground. Byproducts like fish waste will be turned into fertilizer. Some solar power will be utilized.

 

Terry Dorsey, managing member of SGT Holdings said they're going to be building an organic product.

 

Despite the environmental leanings and hometown atmosphere, SGT Holdings brings financial backing and business acumen that should put The Underground Fish Farm on more solid footing.

 

Dorsey said the distribution will be set up, financed and built and eventually be on a global scale, starting in the US.

 

The business relationship between The Underground Fish Farm and SGT Holdings culminates an eight-month courtship in which SGT studied the concept of raising fish in underground tubes.

 

The first three tubes were placed late last month on concrete pads, reinforced with 5/8-inch rebar, 6 feet below the ground line. The tubes are 4 feet in diameter and 260 feet long. Subsequent tubes will be 5 feet in diameter. Another 70 tubes, 2 feet in diameter and 70 feet long, will be used to test if other seafood species can be grown successfully in the tubes in addition to tilapia. Among those to be tested are haddock, herring, anchovies, shrimp and sardines.

 

The tubes are made of 3-inch-thick ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, a material frequently used in drainage pipes and culverts.

 

Extensive monitoring will be done early on to acquire empirical data that will be used to refine the process. Sensors will be used to check levels of nitrites, nitrates and ammonia, and other monitoring will test for optimum current (flow) rates and water temperatures.

 

Tilapia, shrimp and other species can be grown in above-ground ponds in Arizona, but usually yield just one harvest per year. Algae and evaporation are problems, as is fish waste that settles to the bottom and eventually leaches into the surrounding soil. Growing fish in underground tubes should mitigate all those problems.

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