Ocean Era’s prior Velella Beta-test demonstration project pioneered the permit process for aquaculture in federal waters, offshore of Kona, Hawaii. It acted as a fish aggregating device, making it popular with the Kona fishing community.

Florida fish farm demo project gets go-ahead after eight-year process

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A project to site an offshore aquaculture demonstration net pen in Florida has received its final permit in a process that has taken eight years.

The Velella Epsilon project, located more than 40 miles offshore of Sarasota, will raise a single, small batch of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) as part of a closely monitored research demonstration designed to evaluate environmental and operational performance in open ocean waters. The results will be publicly available.

The companies involved in the project - Ocean Era, Inc. and GulfStream Aquaculture, LLC. - have had to navigate through nine different federal and state laws, and engage with 12 different federal and state agencies, to reach this point.

They have also had to respond to anti-aquaculture activist appeals that were consistently rejected as baseless by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board.

Early 2027

“Barring the unforeseen, the project – supported by the National SeaGrant Program, and in partnership with University of Miami - should now be able to move forward by early 2027,” said Ocean Era’s founder and chief executive, Neil Anthony Sims, who was one of the original founders of what is now the Blue Ocean Mariculture kanpachi (Seriola dumerili) farm, offshore of Kona, Hawaii.

Neil Anthony Sims says the project's eight-year permitting process "has demonstrated with abundant clarity that regulatory reform is sorely needed".

“One of the primary goals of this demonstration project is to show the Florida fishing and boating communities that offshore aquaculture will be something that they will love. We now, finally, have our chance to do that.

“A further goal was to pioneer the permitting process for offshore aquaculture in federal waters in the Gulf. So, as a demonstration project, it has been tremendously successful, in that it has demonstrated with abundant clarity that regulatory reform is sorely needed.”

Expertise and advice

GulfStream Aquaculture – a Florida-based environmental consulting company - led the project’s permitting process, largely without charge. Dennis Peters, GulfStream’s principal, provided more than $450,000 worth of environmental and technical expertise and advice to the project over the eight years.

“I have been fishing and boating in the Gulf for almost all of my life. I have also worked in aquaculture projects throughout the Americas, and I am honoured and excited to help bring this opportunity to fruition,” said Peters.

The Blue Ocean Mariculture farm in Hawaii has been producing up to 900 tonnes per year of sashimi-grade kanpachi – also known as greater amberjack, allied kingfish, and greater yellowtail, among other names - for over 20 years. Extensive environmental monitoring has shown no significant impact on water quality, or on the seabed beneath the net pens, or the pristine stretch of coral reef located a mere half mile inshore of the farm site.

Recreational and charter fishing boats trolling and drop-lining around the submerged Velella Gamma test demonstration net pen, located six miles offshore of Kona, Hawaii. The vessel on the left hand side was attached to the net pen, to provide remote command-and-control of feeding, and remote video monitoring of the fish.

Fish aggregator

Earlier iterations of the Velella Projects were located in federal waters offshore of Kona. These proved to be spectacular fishing hot-spots, with the net pen acting as a fish aggregating device (FAD), attracting wahoo, mahimahi, tuna, and marlin. The plan for the Velella Epsilon is to now bring this experience to the Gulf fishing community.

“We want Florida folks to see for themselves, rather than have their decisions made for them by activist groups who blithely ignore the evidence in the water. That’s the whole point of a small-scale demonstration project,” said Sims, who is a supporter of the Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act currently being considered by the US Congress.

The Act would authorise the US Commerce Department’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, to proceed with permitting additional demonstration offshore projects around the US coastlines.

“This would then expand the opportunities for communities, scientists, and regulators to better understand the actual benefits that would spring from this industry, and where the real issues lie,” said Sims.

“We hope that the challenges that our Velella Epsilon project has faced will help our legislators understand the very real costs of continuing the status quo.”

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