Industry update News post-smolt
AquaBounty reports good sales and expanded water access for Ohio RAS facility

AquaBounty, the Massachusetts-based aquaculture company that pioneered the production of genetically engineered (GE) salmon, released upbeat reports on sales and positive prospects for its first large-scale commercial recirculating aquaculture system facility in Pioneer, Ohio.

In its 2022 third quarter report, the aquaculture firm said that in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2022, product revenue totaled $2.7 million, a year-over-year increase of 255 percent compared to $0.8 million in 2021. Net loss in the third quarter totaled $5.4 million, as compared to $6.9 million in the third quarter of 2021.

“Throughout the third quarter, AquaBounty continued to see strong demand for our salmon from seafood distributor customers,” said Sylvia Wulf,  chief executive officer of AquaBounty. “We once again sold everything we could produce, which combined with improvements in our yields, drove a 44 percent year-over-year increase in third quarter revenues to $653,000.”

She said better understanding of the interaction of between salmon biology and the RAS environment enabled increased production efficiency and reduce mortality rate at its Indiana facility where GM salmon is being grown.

Their understanding of the interaction between salmon biology and the RAS environment in which our fish grow has enabled us to begin to increase our production efficiency and reduce mortality risk at our Indiana farm, which is realized through increased harvest yields.

Construction activities for the Pioneer, Ohio farm site is still in progress. The company also recently secured a new Withdrawal and Consumptive Use Permit. This development enables expanded water access to support future farming operations, a press release from AquaBounty said. The facility is expected to have an annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons of genetically-modified Atlantic salmon. Commercial stocking of salmon eggs are expected to begin in late 2023.

“…we are pleased with construction progress to-date and we achieved another critical milestone during the quarter with the receipt of a new Withdrawal and Consumptive Use Permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. This key water permit authorizes water withdrawal of up to 5.25 million gallons per day, providing the expanded water access needed to fully support the farm’s future operations,” Wulf said.

The company had earlier feared that rising inflation rates would bring the cost of construction up. Following an evaluation of the project, AquaBounty now estimates that the current design of the farm will “will require more than $320 million to construct,” according to Wulf.