ALBANY, Ind. — AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., a Massachusetts-based salmon producer, has bought Bell Aquaculture in Albany, Ind. for $14 million with plans to transform it into an Atlantic salmon facility.

 

The sale closed on the Central Indiana business June 22 with renovation set to begin soon, said Dave Conley, director of communications for AquaBounty, a subsidiary of Intrexon Corp. Bell Aquaculture mainly grew yellow perch but had expanded to include other product lines using state-of-the-art recirculating tanks.

“We will need to upgrade some of the water treatment equipment to enable us to farm our salmon. The facility was already growing rainbow trout and coho salmon,” Conley said.

CEO Ronald Stotish said, “This acquisition marks an important milestone and provides the company with its first commercial-scale facility in the United States for growing eco-friendly AquAdvantage Salmon. This site will enable production of healthy Atlantic salmon, which will not require vaccines or antibiotics, in a sustainable and responsible manner close to domestic consumers,” as reported in Indiana Business Monthly.

Once the management team is in place, Conley told Farm World that the company will hire qualified people from the community.

The new facility, now renamed AquaBounty Farms, will have a potential of $10 million in sales of salmon. Though that is a big number, Conley said that the U.S. imports 95 percent of its salmon. “Globally, aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of the food production industry. Currently, salmon farmers around the world produce 2.3 million metric tons …We see a huge market opportunity to displace imports with domestic production close to consumers in the U.S.,” Conley said.

Conley said that AquaBounty produces less than a fraction of 1 percent of the current import market for farmed Atlantic salmon, even after the purchase of Bell. The U.S. imports about 350,000 metric tons of farmed Atlantic salmon, primarily from Chile, Canada and Norway. The former Bell facility can produce 1,200 metric tons, Conley said.

The company currently produces 30 metric tons of salmon out of its fish farm in Panama. Between the acquisition of Bell and building a new facility on Prince Edward Island, Canada, AquaBounty will increase its output by 1,450 metric tons.

By purchasing the Albany property, AquaBounty is able to grow more quickly. “We will be able to move a little faster to commercialization by utilizing an existing facility rather than building a new facility,” Conley said.

 

The company grows “AquaAdvantage Salmon,” whichhas been genetically altered to grow to market size (8-10 pounds) in half the time as conventional Atlantic salmon. This reduces the average time from 28-34 months to 16-18 months.

The salmon eggs used by AquaBounty are produced in its hatchery in Fortune, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

“The eggs will be shipped by air-freight and truck to the facility in Albany, where they will be placed into incubation trays to hatch. Hatched fry are moved into small rearing tanks. As the fry grow they will be moved to larger tanks until they reach a size when they can be moved to the largest tanks for growing up to market size. From hatching to harvest is about 16-18 months,” Conley said.

AquaBounty expects to produce its first batch of salmon from AquaBounty Farms in the third quarter of 2019. In 2014 Bell Aquaculture in Jay County announced plans to spend $30 million for an expansion that would have included a soybean-based feed mill.

In 2015 two suppliers were award court judgments against Bell to get payment. For more on AquaBounty Technologies, see its website at www.aquabounty.com