WE CAN GROW OUR OWN

Two-thirds of current U.S. marine aquaculture is comprised of the cultivation of shellfish, which has been identified as the only sustainable form of aquaculture that has no negative impact on the environment.

PACIFIC OYSTER

The Pacific oyster is considered a naturalized species in California. Its large size, vitality, resilience to adverse conditions, resistance to deceases, rapid growth and reproductive capacity has been a tremendous success for cultivation making it the most widely farmed oyster species in the world.

The Mediterranean mussel is larger, faster growing and has greater meat content than the Blue mussel (50% vs. 35%) and they are more tolerant to heat and salinity.

MEDITERRANEAN MUSSEL

There are numerous advantages to farming shellfish in offshore waters: The swift currents and upwelling supply ample food to promote faster growth and longlines suspend the shellfish preventing predation and parasites that impact their cultivation in calmer shore waters. Low salinity and heavy siltation following torrential rains cause mortalities for shellfish harvested from congested and contaminated bays and estuaries leading to quality problems. 

OCEAN OCEAN SHELLFISH FARMING

Techniques and technologies have been developed over past 10 years by Santa Barbara Mariculture, the only Open Ocean shellfish farm on the West Coast of the United States.

There are over 26,000 acres in federal waters of the San Pedro Shelf surrounding the Company’s initial 100-acre shellfish ranch. While, there is sufficient ocean space, securing permits would require marine spatial planning for balancing environmental, social, and economic concerns.

A rigorous monitoring program has been developed that will be conducted by leading research institutions specializing in marine science and spatial planning.

This will provide scientific data for evaluating environmental and social impacts of offshore shellfish mariculture.

CALIFORNIA CAN “GROW ITS OWN”

California is the world’s fifth largest supplier of food commodities and has the strongest ocean economy in the nation. It has the potential to augment its land-based agriculture success with offshore shellfish aquaculture for increasing both economic development and food security

New Zealand, with a population one-tenth the size of California, has the goal to triple the value of aquaculture production to $1 billion by 2025 and in a sustainable way that preserves its pristine environment.

The “First Offshore Shellfish Farm in U.S. Federal waters” is positioned to become a positive “outlier” for the shellfish industry with the potential to bolster California’s near term economy and serve as a future model for global food security.

SUSTAINABLE SHELLFISH MARICULTURE

A Southern California Shellfish Industry would:

• Create jobs

• Put a dent in the $10 billion national seafood deficit

• Create fisheries habitat