A private investment group is collaborating with Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute to establish an innovative fish farm in federal waters off the San Diego coast.
Rose Canyon Fisheries, a collaboration between Hubbs-SeaWorld and Cuna del Mar, has applied for permits from a series of state and federal agencies to open the first commercial operation of its kind in the United States’ exclusive economic zone.
The farm would use innovative cages to raise yellowtail jack, white seabass and striped bass in an area 4 1/2 miles west of Mission Beach.
“Globally, wild fisheries are reaching their limits,” said Don Kent, president and CEO of Hubbs-SeaWorld and acting CEO of Rose Canyon Fisheries. “With the U.S. seafood demand projected to increase by another two million metric tons within the next decade, all signs point to the need develop economically and environmentally sustainable domestic aquaculture.”
Cuna del Mar has funded five other aquaculture-related companies in the U.S. and abroad.
“The time has come to launch a new industry — commercially successful and environmentally sustainable aquaculture in the U.S.,” said Robert Orr, managing partner of Cuna del Mar and board chair of Rose Canyon Fisheries. “We expect the success of this project to provide a new paradigm for domestic seafood production and thereby catalyze nationwide development of the industry.”
Kent and Orr anticipate that permitting will take 12 to 18 months. Once permits are in place, the principals anticipate one year in construction and two years phasing in production and growing the first crop of fish.
