Industry update News Management
Atlantic Sapphire financial report calls Q1 ‘lost quarter’

Still reeling from a massive die-off at its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Florida last month, Atlantic Sapphire released its annual report which revealed mounting losses.

“The March 23 incident plus several smaller fish losses made Q1 2021 a ‘lost quarter’ for biomass gain in the U.S.,” according to the company’s 2021 first quarter operational update.

Atlantic Sapphire also said its Denmark operation’s biomass gain in Q1 2021 was “affected by poor performance on lead batches due to gill damage and fish movement issues.”

The company said it only produced 421 tons of fish from its Homestead, Florida facility and 300 tons from its Denmark facility during the first three months of 2021.

The company’s  annual report also indicated that Atlantic Sapphire suffered a net loss of US $55.2 million in 2020 compared to $13.2 million the previous year.

Revenues for 2020 were $6.3 million, up from $5.5 million in 2019.

Atlantic Sapphire has blamed flaws in its Miami RAS facility for the deaths of some 500 tons of fish in March this year.

A construction update on the Phase 1 construction in its Miami facility indicates the following:

• All phase 1 grow-out systems ready for fish
• Splitting of five out of six grow-out systems completed
• Once split, the Miami Bluehouse will have
  a total of 19 independent RAS systems
• New center drains will gradually be installed over
  the next two to three months to address design weakness
• Construction of filleting facility completed, will be in
  operation shortly, pending final permits
• Use of external filleting capacity increased Q1
  2021 processing costs