Rhode Island’s fledgling aquaculture industry will get a boost when a Portsmouth, New Hampshire firm, Great Bay Aquafarms Inc., moves its operations to Quonset Point next year. When it does, it will be the largest land-based aquaculture operation in the United States, according to state Rep. Eileen S. Naughton, D-Warwick, chairwoman of the state aquaculture commission.
Great Bay, which now operates a commercial summer flounder hatchery, plans to build a new plant on an eight-acre site. When it is complete, the company will produce nearly two million pounds of fish per year. The project, which will be completed in two phases, will generate from 30 to 40 jobs, said George Nardi, who along with partner Chris Duffy, founded the company after graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1980.
Great Bay will sell the fish it rears at Quonset to wholesalers. It will also export.
Quonset was a logical choice for Great Bay’s expansion for several reasons, Nardi said. For one, it is an industrially zoned, coastal property. Next, the water quality there is suitable for rearing summer flounder. Duffy and Nardi were also attracted to the site’s proximity to major markets, including Providence, Boston, and New York, as well as the University of Rhode Island.
Finally, since summer flounder is indigenous to the area, the atmosphere will be conducive to fish farming.
”It was a great site for a number of reasons,” Nardi said.
In an effort to attract the company, Quonset Point offered Great Bay an agreement by which the company will pay a reduced amount on its lease payments for the first two years of its 30-year lease, said John Riendeau, director of sales development for the park.
Great Bay’s new plant will work in tandem with its Granite State operation. First, the fish will be reared from eggs to the fingerling size, two to three inches in length, at its Portsmouth hatchery. Then, the company will truck the fingerlings via a water truck or trailer to Quonset Point, where they will be reared until they reach about a quarter pound in weight.
The young summer flounder will then be transferred to a “grow-out” unit, where they will stay until they reach harvest size, which is from one and a quarter pounds to three pounds, depending on what use the buyer has in mind. One and a quarter pound fish is good for individual portions, while larger sizes may be used for fillets, for example.
The rearing process, from the time the fingerlings reach Quonset to the time they are ready for harvest, takes about 18 months, Nardi said.
Summer flounder, also known as fluke, has been the source of controversy among the numerous Atlantic Coast states that depend on the fish. Because of dwindling stocks, quotas are now in place that limit the amount of the fish that each state may land. That quota permitted the state of Connecticut to land just 2 percent of all the summer flounder that was caught commercially in 1998. Last December, the state sued to have that quota rescinded. The issue is still in dispute.
One aquaculture firm will have little effect on the limited supply of commercially available fish, Nardi said. But businesses such as his show that it is possible to produce a product that is of equal quality to what is caught at sea, he said. And since he is rearing the fish instead of catching them, he is able to provide wholesalers with a consistent supply of product, at a consistent price.
“One company, I think, would have a negligible effect. It would just be an example of the potential,” he said. But he added: “What if there were a dozen flounder farms on the East Coast?”
But several factors conspire to keep more businesses from joining the industry, he said. First, buying the tanks and filters and other equipment needed to get started is expensive. It can also be difficult to attract investors. Aquaculture entrepreneurs often say they have difficulty convincing lenders that they’re a good risk because so few companies are in the business today.
”The nature of the traditional lender is conservative,” Nardi said. “There aren’t a lot of companies like ours.”
That differs from European countries such as France, England, and Spain, where many aquaculture businesses operate. There, attracting capital is relatively easy if you have a good business plan, Nardi said. The U.S. industry has also suffered from the success of its commercial fishermen. Until recently, landings here have been solid. But in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Japan, and Korea, diminishing stocks spurred the development of aquaculture industries some 20 years ago.
The United States will soon have to follow along, said Naughton, who noted that the United Nations estimates that the global, $42 billion aquaculture industry is growing at a rate of 14 percent a year. Conversely, “Wild fisheries are barely able to sustain their level of production,” Naughton said.
Great Bay will spend $4 million to develop Quonset Point. Half of its funding is coming from lenders, the other half from private equity, Nardi said.
