This is the final step in Blue Ocean Mariculture’s transition to becoming the exclusive producer of premium, sashimi-grade Kampachi in Hawaii.
The two-year transition from Kona Blue to Blue Ocean involved recapitalizing the business and rebuilding the Hawaiian Kampachi™ biomass inventory. Blue Ocean acquired Kona Blue’s offshore mariculture lease in early 2010.
The marine finfish hatchery was acquired in January 2011, and in May, 2011, Blue Ocean completed its first larval run of Hawaiian Kampachi™, known locally as Kahala or Almaco Jack. Those fish are now being harvested and sold throughout the US.
Kona Blue officially dissolved in November 2011 and the co-CEOs, Neil Sims and Michael Bullock, did not transition to the new company, which is headed by Todd Madsen, President.
“We’ve successfully restarted the Seriola hatchery and the offshore mariculture site is now running smoothly,” said Mr Madsen. “Product quality is better than it’s ever been and we’ve had excellent response from customers over the past few months as we’ve introduced Hawaiian Kampachi™.”
Hawaiian Kampachi™ is produced in the Pacific Ocean near Kona, Hawaii. Known for its distinctive fresh clean taste, the fish is grown on a controlled, high quality diet and the fish have no detectable levels of accumulated toxins such as PCBs or mercury. Hawaiian Kampachi™ are harvested as ordered for top restaurants and markets throughout the US Blue Ocean Mariculture does not use GMO brood fish, growth hormones or preventative antibiotics in the production of Hawaiian Kampachi™.
