Florida Organic Aquaculture expansion

The company plans to build seven additional production buildings on-site in Fellsmere, Florida, with each new production building expected to produce approximately 1.1 million pounds of shrimp every year, at full capacity. FOA plans to begin construction of the third building in the second half of 2015.

The company’s current production building is 1,200ft by 150ft and covers 180,000sq ft. It is divided into 20 individual raceways to ensure bio-security and to provide a constant supply of shrimp to FOA’s customers. Each new building will be the same size as the existing production building.

Each building will hold 4.55 million gallons of water when at full capacity – the equivalent of 250 swimming pools.

The company says that as each new production building is complete, FOA will be able to provide even more fresh, sustainable shrimp grown locally in South Florida.

“We have been overwhelmed with the support we have received for our project and we are looking forward to this expansion to be able to keep up with the increasing demand we see for our fresh, all natural shrimp”, John Billian, VP Business Development tells World Fishing & Aquaculture.

The company also announced that in late January the first broodstock of mature male and female shrimp arrived at the hatchery – which will produce the first generation shrimp raised entirely at FOA’s facility in Fellsmere.

The broodstock are comprised of 200 female and 200 male shrimp. They came to FOA from an aquaculture farm in Hawaii, and are certified as Specific Pathogen Free. This means that multiple generations of shrimp have been raised in a strictly monitored, bio-secure environment. The shrimp have also undergone testing to help ensure they are disease-free, healthy adults.

Each female shrimp can release up to 150,000 eggs per spawning.