Kailua, Kona-based Kona Blue Water Farms announced today that it has secured funding and is proceeding with development of a second mariculture farm in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

The company said in a release that the farm will expand production of its Kona Kampachi, a premium yellowtail.
Kona Blue Water Farms currently operates an array of submersible net pens in waters over 200 feet deep and a half-mile off the Kona coast.
The company said it is planning to deploy its first net pens in the Bay of La Paz, five miles off the coast of the Baja California peninsula, later this year. The pens will be stocked with fingerlings before the end of December, 2009.
A land-based hatchery is also planned for construction. The company said this expansion to a site within easy trucking distance of the U.S. mainland is a key element in the company’s plans to increase production volumes, reduce delivery costs for the fresh product, and reduce the overall carbon footprint of the company by minimizing the airfreight requirements.
Kona Blue Water Farms said its operation in Hawaii is also currently undergoing a reconfiguration of offshore pens, replacing the submersible pens with surface pens. The company said the new pens will take advantage of the latest surface cage technology.
Because of the reconfiguration of the Hawaii site, there will be a short-term gap of market availability of Kona Kampachi over the next six months, beginning the end of November, the company said.