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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 16, 2002

Third aquaculture farm in Hawai'i is on the horizon

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Hawai'i aquaculture company plans to ask the state for an ocean lease to run what would be the third operating or proposed deep-water commercial fish farm in Hawaiian waters. It would be the first to try raising mahimahi, 'opakapaka and other species, including aquarium fish.

Kona Blue Water Farms, a division of Big Island-based pearl-oyster cultivator Black Pearls Inc., said it will apply for a lease off the Kona coast in the next few weeks, after meeting with community groups over the last 18 months and recent successes in rearing 'opakapaka, a species of pink snapper.

The company is proposing to lease 81 acres adjacent to the Keahole airport in water 150 to 200 feet deep, primarily to raise mahimahi in about eight cages up to 100 feet in diameter. The company says its cages will have little impact on the environment and may help reduce the overfishing of some species.

Kona Blue was able to rear 110 'opakapaka from eggs recently with the help of the University of Hawai'i, and is researching hatchery culture techniques for kahala (amberjack), onaga (red snapper), 'omilu (bluefin trevally), uku (green snapper), hapu'u (grouper) and species collected for aquariums such as flame angelfish.

Besides mahimahi and 'opakapaka, Kona Blue researchers said they have been able to rear kahala and flame angelfish from eggs.

"These early results are very pleasing," said Neil Anthony Sims, Black Pearls vice president and research director.

The only other company to raise fish commercially in underwater ocean cages in Hawai'i is Cates International, a Kailua-based firm that produces approximately 5,000 pounds of moi (Pacific threadfin) per week in two cages off the coast of O'ahu.

Three weeks ago, after years of operating as a pilot project, Cates obtained the first commercial ocean farm lease in the country. The 20-year agreement calls for Cates to pay the state the greater of $1,400 in annual base rent or 1 percent of gross revenues.

A second company, Hilo-based Ahi Nui Tuna Farming LLC, last month applied for an ocean lease to raise bigeye and yellowfin tuna in 200 acres of water off the Kohala Coast north of Kawaihae on the Big Island.

Black Pearls also is awaiting approval of a near-shore lease for raising pearl oysters off the Honolulu airport reef runway in an area dredged to build the runway.

Kona Blue has a lot of work ahead, but has been supported by a diverse team of experts and federal research money.

The team is headed by Australian aquaculture researcher Glenn Schipp and supported by researchers from California, Florida, the Pacific, Caribbean and Canada. Kona Blue also has won two federal research awards, $1.5 million from the Advanced Technology Program, and a $130,000 grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

To reach full commercial production, Sims said, the company needs about $1.8 million, which it will try to raise locally with the help of tax incentives, including a 100 percent state income tax credit allowed for high-tech investments.

Kona Blue is preparing a draft environmental assessment and would need a variety of permits. Sims said the company expects that it will take more than a year to obtain a lease, though he would hope one could be signed within a year.

The company said many of the concerns about the farm's potential to affect whales, dolphins, the reef, diving, boating and fishing have been studied. It found no prospects of measurable impact.

Sims said most of the species Kona Blue is studying for aquaculture are subject to overfishing that could be eased by the farming operation in offshore cages.

"Culture of these species offers the only viable alternative to continued declines in wild populations and reduced landings by the fishery, as well as providing alternative employment opportunities for commercial fishermen," the company stated.

Still, some private individuals such as Anthony Ako, who traces his Native Hawaiian roots back to Kawaihae, remain concerned about how such farms will affect coastal ecosystems and claim that the farms infringe on Native Hawaiian land rights.

Ako regards ocean fish farms as a noble idea, but controversial as to whether the state has the right to restrict use of part of the ocean and lease it to private companies.

"If you give one company the right to do this, who else is going to step in?" he said. "This thing hasn't really been well thought out, because when it comes to making money, a lot of people jump on the boat."

Dale Sarver, Black Pearls president, said he believes he has been able to reach a consensus with community members.

"People generally recognize that aquaculture is the way of the future, and that it is culturally consistent with Hawai'i's impressive history of fish farming along the coast," Sarver said in a statement.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.