Darden Aquafarm President Bill Herzig said the pilot farm in Semporna is up and running, with research and development now focusing on the lifecycle of the lobster. One of the parent company's restaurant chains is Red Lobster, which needs a reliable supply of& lobsters. But Asia is the initial market in mind.
"We will be doing pallete hatchery this year, get the results from that and use them to finalise the design of phase one of the hatchery. We expect it to be up and running in two years from now," he told Malaysian reporters on the sidelines of the on-going BIO International Convention 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The initial phase of the hatchery would produce roughly one million lobsters, which in turn would produce about one million kg of products annually, he said. Herzig added that Malaysia is a logical choice for the project due to its pristine waters to raise the lobsters.
"The global supply is declining and we are concerned about sustainable supply. We believe aquaculture can reverse this trend and begin to take off pressure of the wild harvest," he said. At the moment, the global market for lobsters was worth over $4 billion per year with China being the biggest consumer, accounting for $3 billion, he said.
The lobster aquaculture venture would be developed in partnership with Yayasan Sabah and another yet-to-be-identified local partner. To carry out the project, Darden Restaurants has set up two entities, Darden Aquasciences Sdn Bhd and Lobster Aqua Technologies Sdn Bhd, which has been granted BioNexus status by the Malaysian government.
