Kailua-Kona, Hawaii –The Kona, Hawai’i-based offshore R&D company – formerly known as “Kampachi Farms, LLC” - has announced that the company will now be known as “Ocean Era, LLC”. The re-branding initiative better positions the company to address broader opportunities, and more expansive challenges facing aquaculture, and the planet.
The company membership and management structure will remain unchanged, with a total of 11 employees.
Company co-founder and CEO, Neil Anthony Sims, said that the change was driven by a growing awareness of the global imperative for expansion of offshore aquaculture, and the deeper understanding that the need is not just about one species of fish.
“We love our kampachi. It’s a beautiful fish!” said Sims, “But there are multiple issues that now beset the earth – the global climate crisis; ocean acidification; the limitations of fresh water, fertilizers and land-use; and the need to feed 9 billion people by 2050. The oceans are increasingly seen as not so much a victim of these perils, but as part of the solution.“
Kampachi (Seriola rivoliana) inside an aquapod used for our Velella projects.
Ocean Era continues to work on a number of research and development projects with kampachi (Seriola rivoliana, or Almaco Jack), at its Kona, Hawai’i land-based facility. These projects include a selective breeding program for faster-growing, healthier fish, along with trials to accelerate broodstock maturation to amplify the results of the breeding program. In addition, Ocean Era continues to develop alternative feedstuffs for kampachi and other marine fish.
However, Sims said that the company “is already engaged in several other programs that are pursuing innovations for culture further offshore, and lower down the food chain”.
Nenue (chubs or rudderfish) on ice post feed trial and pre sashimi fest.
These include trials with high-value herbivorous reef-fish, such as the rudderfish, or chubs (Kyphosus vaigiensis).
“This is a fish that eats seaweed,” said Ocean Era’s Research Manager Lisa Vollbrecht. “Herbivorous fish offer the opportunity for aquaculture to not just grow fish, but also grow the feed for the fish, potentially without reliance on wild-caught forage fish or terrestrial proteins and oils. It could be a great opportunity for fish farm expansion, particularly for small-scale farms in less-developed countries.”
Three of the Hawaiian seaweeds being tested in the Blue Fields project: Halymenia hawaiiana, Caulerpa lentillifera, and Gracilaria parvispora.
Ocean Era is also working with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) on the “Blue Fields” project, to develop offshore macroalgae culture systems and identify seaweed species for cultivation for food, feed, fertilizers and fuels. A second ARPA-E project, in collaboration with leading Hawaii and mainland research institutes, is striving to adapt the microbiome of the seaweed-eating Kyphosus to improve the biodigestion of seaweeds.
Ocean Era also continues to pursue the Velella Epsilon project, pioneering the permitting for offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. Funded largely by the National SeaGrant Program, through University of Florida SeaGrant, this project builds on the prior Velella Beta-test (an unanchored net pen) and the Velella Gamma-test (a single-point mooring net pen operated by remote command-and-control) in Kona. The goal for Velella Epsilon is to obtain the permits for a demonstration-scale single net pen, to be sited around 40 miles offshore of Tampa-Sarasota, on the Florida Gulf Coast.
Dennis Peters, Velella Epsilon Project Manager, said “The intention is to allow the local Florida fishing and boating community to recognize that offshore aquaculture can be a boon. The earlier Velella projects in Kona were phenomenal Fish Aggregating Devices.” The company is presently in the process of obtaining the remaining permits from EPA and US Army Corps of Engineers for this demonstration.
About Ocean Era, LLC:
Ocean Era, LLC (formerly Kampachi Farms, LLC) is a Kona, Hawaii, based R&D company, dedicated to softening humanity’s footprint on the seas, by expanding production of the ocean’s living resources.