Atlantic Sapphire
Atlantic Sapphire is a Norwegian-American aquaculture company which focuses on raising Atlantic salmon in recirculating aquaculture systems.
History
[edit]Atlantic Sapphire was founded in 2010.[1]
In 2025 they signed an agreement to lease their Danish facility to Maiken Foods.[2]
Florida
[edit]Atlantic Sapphire first proposed a very large inland recirculating aquaculture system facility in the US State of Florida in 2018.[3] In April 2020 Atlantic Sapphire received a $210 million loan for the construction of a Florida facility.[4] Initial production targets were 9,500 metric tonnes annually and 222,000 tonnes annually by 2031.[5]
In 2020 Atlantic Sapphire began producing Atlantic salmon at a recirculating aquaculture system facility in Homestead, Florida. The site was chosen due to its uncommon layered geology which allows Atlantic Sapphire to pull both freshwater and saltwater from the ground as well as dispose of wastewater underground all at different depths.[6] By March 2020 three million salmon had been born at the Florida facility.[7] The company signed supply agreements with wholesalers, supermarket chains, and value added proscessors like smoke houses.[8] The facility suffered a mass mortality event in 2021.[9] In 2021 three workers fell into a salmon tank and had to be rescued.[10] Later in 2021 the facility suffered a fire.[11]
In 2023 Atlantic Sapphire took on an additional $250 million loan burden to complete the buildout of the Homestead facility. The loan package included county industrial revenue bonds.[12]
In 2023 Atlantic Sapphire convinced its feed supplier Skretting to build a factory in Florida.[13]
In 2024 the Florida facility's salmon was certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.[14]
In 2024 the company posted a net loss of 167.3 million.[15]
The Florida facility reached 300,000 pounds of salmon a week by 2025.[16] The company had improved many of its biological processes but remained limited by feed availability.[17]
Branding
[edit]In the US the company sells its fish under the brand name Bluehouse Salmon with an emphasis on its relatively small carbon footprint.[18]
Awards and recognition
[edit]Atlantic Sapphire received the Star of Innovation at the 2019 European Small and Mid-Cap Awards.[19]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Moore, Cortney. "Salmon fish farm in Florida aims to take over US market". foxbusiness.com. Fox Business. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Chase, Chris. "Atlantic Sapphire enters agreement to rent out its Denmark-based facility". seafoodsource.com. Seafood Source. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ DAHLBERG, NANCY. "Florida, the Salmon State? It could happen soon". miamiherald.com. Miami Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Bandell, Brian. "$210M loan funds construction of salmon farming plant near Homestead". bizjournals.com. South Florida Business Journal. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Gibson, Dan. "The salmon you buy in the future may be farmed on land". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ GRUNWALD, MICHAEL. "Will Your Next Salmon Come from a Massive Land Tank in Florida?". politico.com. Politico. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Dahlberg, Nancy. "Salmon fishing in Miami-Dade's Homestead - and no rod required". miamiherald.com. Miami Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ White, Cliff. "Atlantic Sapphire celebrates first harvest of Bluehouse Salmon from Miami RAS facility". seafoodsource.com. Seafood Source. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ White, Cliff. "Atlantic Sapphire suffers mass salmon mortality at its Florida RAS farm". seafoodsource.com. Seafood Source. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Huffman, Jason Huffman. "Atlantic Sapphire: Three contract workers rescued from tank weren't following safety protocols". undercurrentnews.com. Undercurrent News. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Chase, Chris. "Despite setbacks, Atlantic Sapphire still has big ambitions". seafoodsource.com. Seafood Source. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ "Salmon producer Atlantic Sapphire swims toward global primacy". miamitodaynews.com. Miami Today News. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Bowden, Marilyn. "Salmon producer Atlantic Sapphire woos its top supplier from Canada". miamitodaynews.com. Miami Daily News. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ "Copyright Notice Atlantic Sapphire becomes first US land-based salmon farm to receive ASC certification". undercurrentnews.com. Undercurrent News. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ White, Cliff. "Atlantic Sapphire posts $167.3m net loss for 2024, requires more money to fund 2025 operations". undercurrentnews.com. Undercurrent News. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Kearney, Bill. "How an enormous fish farm in Homestead hopes to change the seafood industry". miamiherald.com. Miami Herald. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ McDonagh, Vince. "Atlantic Sapphire recovery continues into 2025". fishfarmermagazine.com. Fish Farmer Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ Fabricant, Florence. "Atlantic Salmon With a Smaller Carbon Footprint". nytimes.com. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
- ^ "2019-edition". europeansmallandmidcapawards.eu. Retrieved 2022-11-06.