By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

RUSSIAVILLE, Ind. — The Perfect Ocean Corp., a Florida-based company seeking to build an industrial fish farm offering up to 200 jobs in a county with a 12.3 percent unemployment rate (May count), had its proposal shot down by Russiaville residents fearful of what industrial expansion would mean to their area.

“It didn’t have anything to do with the company,” Norm Schmitt, an opposition leader, told reporters. “We don’t want an industry out here.”

He and other opponents, some of whom declined to be interviewed, feared the company’s plans would decrease their property values or affect their wells and septic systems.

Russiaville, located west of Kokomo in Howard County, has a population of slightly more than 1,000, many of whom live in new or extensively remodeled homes as a result of a 1965 tornado that nearly leveled the town.

The Perfect Ocean Corp. specializes in building and managing state-of-the-art aboveground, indoor recirculating aquaculture facilities.

As part of a 10-year plan, it intends to construct and operate a worldwide network of 50-60 indoor facilities. To date, according to the company’s website, its scientists have perfected parameters required to produce daily multi-ton harvests of more than 20 of the world’s most popular fish species.

In a statement released to the press, The Perfect Ocean said, “Due to the company’s project needs, the site near Russiaville is no longer being considered.” However, both the company and opponents have said they will work together to find another location in the county.

Austin Davis, a spokesman for The Perfect Ocean, told the Kokomo Tribune his company had hesitations about obtaining land in Russiaville because of its location and lack of necessary infrastructure.

He said the residents’ responses swayed the company further, adding, “The reality of it is, we want more visibility to higher traffic areas that this site does not offer. We would have considered it later for an additional site, which would have come after we were really established.”

Location of the other sites being considered has not been disclosed.