New barramundi facility in Las Vegas

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk Monday this week, Cell Aquaculture announced in a press release that it has retained the services of key parties based in Las Vegas with experience in Barramundi aquaculture, new product marketing strategies and sales operations. Market research has already been conducted and resulted in initial strategies for operations, branding, promotions, sales and distribution. The plan is to establish a 100% owned, 500 plus ton per year facility and then expand in accordance with market demand. Suitable sites for the facility are currently being identified and analyzed. “Las Vegas is one of the largest consumers of seafood in the US and is a potentially lucrative location for the production and sale of Australian Barramundi,” said Paul Hopper, executive chairman of Cell Aquaculture. Cell Aquaculture has also decided to cease its small Mississippi aquaculture operation. The board considers this operation is uneconomic mainly due to its remoteness and small capacity. The combined losses and write-off of the Mississippi investment was $2.41 million which was reflected in the company’s accounts for the year ended 30 June 2007. Cell expects to re-locate and install a significant amount of the Mississippi plant and equipment to the Nevada site. In addition to established Barramundi production at Cell’s Australian based headquarters, the company has successfully built production facilities in the US, Netherlands and Bulgaria, and has now commenced establishment of large-scale production in Malaysia. Photo: Barramundi fingerlings at Cell Aquaculture’s Townsville hatchery. Caption: The first batch of fingerlings from the Townsville hatchery were produced in May 2006 and shipped to the company’s joint venture facilities in the US and the Netherlands.