Development of a domestic offshore aquaculture industry remains nearly stagnant. Only Maine and Hawai’i have food fish farms in their coastal waters. As an isolated Island State, Hawai’i is almost completely reliant on transocean imports for nearly everything, staple foods, fossil fuels (for energy and transporation ), building materials and consumer goods. With an eye to make our home more self-sufficient , while nurturing our incredible ocean resources, Ocean Era will be applying for the requisite State and Federal permits to install and operate an open ocean fish and seaweed farm off O’ahu’s south coast.
The Nation’s first open ocean fish farm (HOARP, later Hukilau Foods) was operated from 1999 - 2014, close to our proposed location. We propose to raise a variety of marine finfish that will serve our local seafood market, as well as be exported to the Continental US. The fish species that will be included in the permit application include Nenue (Kyphosus vaiginesis) , Moi (Polydactylus sexfilis) , and Kanpachi (Seriola rivoliana) . Since th e waters offshore of O’ahu at our prosed site are too nutrient poor to support seaweed growth, the seaweed lines will be added to the system after two or three cages are stocked with fish. Caulerpa lentilifera , Halymenia hawaiiana and Gracilaria parvispora are the types of seaweed under consideration for production.