Industry update News
The Black Cod Company secures Zeeland site for land-based RAS project

The Black Cod Company, a land-based farming company developed by AquaFounders Capital has secured a site in Kamperland, Province of Zeeland, Netherlands, to commence its farming activity.

The company will focus on the full-cycle production of black cod (sablefish). The fish is primarily supplied by wild catch from western North America, and small net pen farming activity in Canada. It is also imported frozen or seasonally fresh to the E.U., Japan, and the Gulf.

“It is good to be back in Zeeland and launch The Black Cod Company at an optimal site with strong support by the province and the local community, suppliers and stakeholders. We look forward to work with Seafarm’s Adri and Dave Bout that have partnered with us in the new endeavour, and are confident that we can repeat the development of The Kingfish Company with a similarly solid business case,” said Ohad Maiman, managing partner at AquaFounders Capital and founder/former CEO of The Kingfish Company. 

The site includes an existing building that the company will convert into a full-cycle hatchery and initial production volume, as well as an adjacent plot of land available for additional expansion.

The company was recently granted governmental approval by RVO to farm black cod as a new species in the Netherlands and has worked for the past year to secure the site, develop the business case, and confirm it has the in-house knowledge required for the full-cycle hatchery process. 

“Having searched across the E.U., we are very pleased with the chosen site- with access to high quality clean seawater, zoning and permits for land based farming, and professional and knowledgable suppliers and farming personnel in close proximity, and can now move to funding and conversion of the site to a hatchery and initial production,” said Thue Holm, managing partner at AquaFounders Capital and founder/former chief technology officer at Atlantic Sapphire.

“We are delighted to partner with The Black Cod Company. With our many years of experience in sustainable fish farming and the strong reputation of Seafarm, we believe that together we can build a successful and sustainable farming of Black Cod. We look forward to contributing to this development,” said Adri and Dave Bout of Seafarm.

“It is great that the initiators of The Black Cod Company have chosen Zeeland as their business location. Fishing and aquaculture are activities that belong to our province. After previous developments by Kingfish, this is an excellent new addition. We are happy to support that,” said Zeeland fisheries representative, Jo-Annes de Bat.

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