November 5, 2018

Hawaii, US starts programme to develop West Hawaii's aquaculture sector
 

The US state of Hawaii has revealed a plan to bring in big ideas and significant investment to West Hawaii through aquaculture, Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

A partnership between several state agencies had already begun, with the objective of creating an aquaculture accelerator programme - coupled with a complementary investment fund - which would be based at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

This initiative was described by Karl Fooks, president of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation, as a move to affirm Hawaii's focus to develop the state's aquaculture sector "and to focus entrepreneur and investor interest on Hawaii as a location for globally relevant aquaculture companies."

The state hopes to draw the attention of startups which could deliver innovative aquaculture concepts and technologies. It also intends to develop a cohort of companies, and then elevate that cohort to a place where investment is viable.

Through the project, Hawaii attempts to fulfill the goal of job creation, economic diversification and sustainability, as well as the development of technical and intellectual property.

Along with UH-Manoa, partners UH Ventures LLC, HSDC and NELHA recently released a request for information on the Hawaii state government website, the first step in a bidding process that will end with the selection of an entity to manage the venture.

The chosen entity will run the accelerator programme while working with other partners to raise capital from private investors. According to Vassilis Syrmos, vice president for Research and Innovation at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the monetary goal of the raise has a floor of US$2 million and a ceiling of US$20 million.

NELHA will host the accelerator programme, which executive director Greg Barbour said partners hope will exist for a minimum of three years and include a cohort of at least 5-10 companies. He added NELHA was the natural choice for the programme site as nothing needs to be built.

Along with an investment of US$500,000 to help a selected entity get started, NELHA will repurpose existing infrastructure for use as part of the accelerator programme.

In light of the current and projected global food climate, the accelerator is perceived by partners as potentially able to deliver massive dividends.

"People believe the sustainability aspect of global aquaculture will cause it to grow dramatically over the next 50 years," said Greg Barbour, executive director of NELHA. He added that aquaculture has been increasing steadily in protein production for years, and has surpassed production offered the wild catch of marine fish, which mostly stagnates for the past two decades.

Barbour also highlighted the aquaculture industry's efficiency as its key advantage - One gram of protein will equal one gram of seafood while six grams of protein are required to create one gram of beef.

Over half of the world's shrimp brood stock was reported to have originated from NELHA. Due to its worldwide prevalence and the positive history of NELHA, partners are especially paying attention to the shrimp industry, Syrmos said.

"I don't think we're at the forefront (of aquaculture), we're somewhere in the middle," he remarked, referencing programmes in Alaska, Maine and Norway.

Barbour added partners hope to select a managing entity by early spring and would like to open the first participating businesses at NELHA by next summer.

- Hawaii Tribune-Herald