honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Ocean fish farm thriving

 •  Graphic: How an offshore fish farm works

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

'EWA BEACH — After a slow start last year, an underwater moi fish farm business is thriving since its first substantial harvest in May.

Cates International, which operates two giant cage nets two miles offshore to raise the moi, is now harvesting about 5,000 pounds of fish each week for fish dealers.

The company, which leases about 28 acres of Hawai'i waters, was the first to be issued an ocean lease in the United States to operate an ocean farm.

"Now that we're in a more normal routine, we can now provide a steady supply to the fish market," said Virginia Enos, a business partner with Cates International.

And there's optimism that business may get even better.

"We're seeing a demand for the fish now by Mainland chefs," said Enos. "We'd like to double our production, and those fish would most likely go to the Mainland."

Enos said about 65 percent of their harvest goes to the local fish market, with the remainder sent to the Mainland.

The company received nationwide exposure this month when one of its raised fish was highlighted on NBC's morning show "Today"— before being cooked by Hawai'i chef Roy Yamaguchi.

"It sounds funny, but it's like seeing your child on TV; I was pointing at the screen, saying, 'Hey, that's my fish,' " said Enos, who noted that the Food Network may also showcase the company's fish on a Paradise Chef cooking competition to be filmed Aug. 3.

The underwater cages, in the shape of two wide cones connected at their flat ends, house baby moi reared on land and transplanted into the cages, where they remain until they grow to about 3/4-pound each. Hoses from the ocean surface are used to deliver fish food to the cages.

The cages — 80 feet wide and 50 feet tall with an internal volume of 92,000 cubic feet — are anchored by four weights on the ocean floor.

The farm's fish production was inconsistent at first when the company's orders for baby moi, also known as Pacific threadfin, to raise into adult fish came in sporadically, Enos said.

"We were hoping for an initial order of 100,000 fingerlings to raise, but it was more like 20,000 here and 20,000 there," Enos said.

Meanwhile, the state last week adjusted the rent it charges the company to lease the water area because of legal reasons.

The state under the previous agreement charged a rent of 1 percent of the company's gross revenues from the moi operation.

But the state attorney general's office recently told DLNR officials that the agency cannot legally charge rent solely based on a percentage of gross revenues, but instead must include a base figure to cover any state operating costs related to the operation.

Under the new agreement, the company must pay $1,400 a year or 1 percent of the gross income from the moi farm operation, whichever is greater, for the first 10 years of the 20-year lease.

Enos said the company was satisfied with the new agreement, which it said had nothing to do with the company's financial standing.

"We understand it was a legal thing they had to clear up," Enos said. "It was never something requested by the company."

Reach Scott Ishikawa at 535-2429 or at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.

• • •