World's largest aquaculture facility to be built, says Atlantic Sapphire

Atlantic Sapphire, an indoor salmon farming company founded in Norway nearly 10 years ago, is on track to complete the first of three construction phases of a new facility in Miami-Dade's Redland by July, Miami Today reported last week.

Upon completion, it will be "the largest aquaculture facility in the world" at 390,000 square feet (~36,200 square metres), according to CFO José Prado, who said that the company aims to increase its investment six-fold, from US$30 million to 185 million, by mid-2020, when it expects to reach an annual production capacity of about 10,000 tonnes of fish.

According to the company, it has secured US water permits to produce nine-fold that quantity.

Phase 1 of the project includes about nine acres of a climate-controlled roof and houses with about 60 employees and three million fish in operations testing.

The company imports eggs from Iceland and Norway. The facility expects to receive two truckloads of feed daily once it's operational, with two trucks of whole fish and fillets going out at the same rate.

The fish go through a 20-month growth cycle, moving to increasingly bigger tanks to simulate their natural spawning process. Ten months after hatching in freshwater, they move to saltwater tanks, where they spend another 10 months before reaching full maturity (and harvest weight) at 10 pounds (~4.53 kilograms).

The land-based approach also reduces the county's carbon footprint, Prado said, because it reduces the need to fly in as much fresh fish daily. None of the 10 commissioners asked whether that reduced carbon footprint would be offset by planes carrying fish out of the county to other destinations.

Atlantic Sapphire's approach to indoor salmon farming isn't unique to South Florida, Prado added, noting 55 known projects across nearly every continent. Together, he said, they represent an estimated two billion pounds of production "in the outer years."

Asked by Commission Vice Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa whether the company plans to expand to China and Russia, both of which are investing heavily in the industry, Prado said that while those expansions are indeed happening, Atlantic Sapphire "at this time has made no other commitments beyond the first phase here in the county."