Hawai'i aquaculture lease first in nation

By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer

Four years since the nation's first open-ocean commercial fish farm was launched here, the idea stands ready to take off, with three more such operations in development and one state official saying the industry in Hawai'i could be worth $100 million within a decade.

"In 10 years, if we have 10 successful farms I think we will be doing very well," said John Corbin, manager of the state Aquaculture Development Program. "With the kinds of farms and the expected volume, I would estimate it bringing in over $100 million a year, easy."

Only one company, Kailua-based Cates International, is in full operation. Cates raises moi in submerged cages off 'Ewa Beach, producing about 5,000 pounds of moi a week from its two cages.

Last year, the company signed a 20-year lease, the first such commercial farm lease in the country. The company pays the state the greater of $1,400 in annual base rent or 1 percent of gross revenues.

The company sells its fish to markets and restaurants locally and on the Mainland.

Moi retails for about $6 to $7 per pound.

Kona Blue Water Farms, a division of Big Island-based pearl oyster cultivator Black Pearls Inc., received state Land Board approval Friday to lease 81 acres adjacent to Keahole Airport in water 150 to 200 feet deep to raise mahimahi and other fish in eight cages.

Ahi Nui Tuna Farming LLC has applied for a lease for 200 acres of subsurface ocean along the Big Island's Kohala Coast to farm ahi for export primarily to Japan.

Both Ahi Farms and Ahi Nui plan to buy juvenile tuna from local fishermen and raise them in the net cages until they double or triple in size.

"The future for aquaculture globally is moving offshore, making the open ocean more productive," Corbin said. "We are on the cutting edge of that with Cates being the first open-ocean aquaculture lease in the nation."

It takes about a year for all needed state and federal permits to be approved, Corbin said.

Wai'anae fisherman William Aila said although the income from selling juvenile fish will be welcomed by fishermen, he worries about depleting the wild stock from coastal areas.

"I don't believe there are enough numbers of juveniles off the Wai'anae Coast and that the fishermen don't have the technology to keep those fish alive and bring them to the cage," Aila said. "They are going to have to go out to some of the seamounts and weather buoys and find a way to catch those fish and bring them back."

Aila said the 'Ewa cages have attracted other fish — also a benefit for fishermen — but he said adding too many cages before studying their effect on the fisheries would be a mistake.

"I think aquaculture is good, but too much of anything in one small area is no good," Aila said. "Each farm is going to have to come in and prove that it is not harmful to the area, and then maybe another farm can come in and we can see the cumulative impacts of two farms. The industry can grow but it has to grow slowly, methodically, while being monitored to make sure we do it right."

Ahi Farms is looking at two sites: one approximately a mile off-shore of Ma'ili Point and the second about a mile off of Kepuhi Point.

The company hopes to place up to 18 tension-leg cages in one or both of the proposed 80-acre sites. The tuna will be pellet-fed and will be marketed when they reach 100 pounds or more.

Each cage will be anchored with rope lines attached to six 1-ton concrete blocks. The cages are approximately 75 feet in diameter and 75 feet deep and are fabricated from knotted nylon netting material.

"A fish cage offshore is nothing more than taking an ancient Hawaiian fishpond and moving it offshore," Aila said. "That's what this is all about. Instead of a wall it is a cage."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.