As Loca
l Ocean came to an end Tuesday with the foreclosure of its property on Route 9 in Greenport, new property owner Michael Spielman is keeping the hundreds of thousands of fish at the site for the time being.
Greenport Supervisor John Porreca said he spoke with Spielman on Wednesday, who indicated that he will continue to care for the fish while he tries to unload them while fielding inquiries by companies possibly interested in taking over the operation in some capacity.
Porreca said Spielman is trying to market the remaining fish for sale and may look to dispose of the saltwater from the production in the town’s sewage treatment plant. Porreca said he and the town’s superintendent of water and wastewater, John Mokszyski, are looking into the possibility of disposing the salt water into the plant without damaging the facility.
Two companies, Blue Water Aquaculture, of Virginia, and Blue Planet Aquaculture, of Israel, have expressed some interest in possibly taking over the company’s assets, Porreca said. Blue Planet Aquaculture helped build the Greenport facility.
Porreca met with officials from Blue Water Aquaculture on Tuesday after they visited the plant. He said they left town Wednesday.
Blue Water Aquaculture has a similar recirculation business for freshwater fish.
Local Ocean opened in 2009 as the first commercial, zero-discharge, 100 percent recirculating aquaculture system to grow and sell saltwater fish. A patent dispute was cited as one of the reasons for the company’s downfall.
However, Robert Valenti, who runs Multi-Aquaculture Systems, said he thought the company misjudged the seafood market and burned through capital too quickly.
Nineteen of the company’s workers have been laid off and another six have been working in shifts around the clock to maintain the fish, Porreca said.
Spielman was the original owner of the property. He sold the land to Local Ocean in 2009 but held the mortgage. When Local Ocean defaulted on its payments and fell behind on its local tax payments, Spielman foreclosed on the company.
The foreclosure culminated in an auction on the front steps of the temporary Columbia County Courthouse on Tuesday where Spielman bought the property for $3 million as the lone bidder to regain title of the property.
“He wants to do what’s best for the town,” Porreca said.
l Ocean came to an end Tuesday with the foreclosure of its property on Route 9 in Greenport, new property owner Michael Spielman is keeping the hundreds of thousands of fish at the site for the time being.Greenport Supervisor John Porreca said he spoke with Spielman on Wednesday, who indicated that he will continue to care for the fish while he tries to unload them while fielding inquiries by companies possibly interested in taking over the operation in some capacity.
Porreca said Spielman is trying to market the remaining fish for sale and may look to dispose of the saltwater from the production in the town’s sewage treatment plant. Porreca said he and the town’s superintendent of water and wastewater, John Mokszyski, are looking into the possibility of disposing the salt water into the plant without damaging the facility.
Two companies, Blue Water Aquaculture, of Virginia, and Blue Planet Aquaculture, of Israel, have expressed some interest in possibly taking over the company’s assets, Porreca said. Blue Planet Aquaculture helped build the Greenport facility.
Porreca met with officials from Blue Water Aquaculture on Tuesday after they visited the plant. He said they left town Wednesday.
Blue Water Aquaculture has a similar recirculation business for freshwater fish.
Local Ocean opened in 2009 as the first commercial, zero-discharge, 100 percent recirculating aquaculture system to grow and sell saltwater fish. A patent dispute was cited as one of the reasons for the company’s downfall.
However, Robert Valenti, who runs Multi-Aquaculture Systems, said he thought the company misjudged the seafood market and burned through capital too quickly.
Nineteen of the company’s workers have been laid off and another six have been working in shifts around the clock to maintain the fish, Porreca said.
Spielman was the original owner of the property. He sold the land to Local Ocean in 2009 but held the mortgage. When Local Ocean defaulted on its payments and fell behind on its local tax payments, Spielman foreclosed on the company.
The foreclosure culminated in an auction on the front steps of the temporary Columbia County Courthouse on Tuesday where Spielman bought the property for $3 million as the lone bidder to regain title of the property.
“He wants to do what’s best for the town,” Porreca said.
