GREENPORT, N.Y.– For the first time in history, consumers in New York City have been able to purchase mercury-safe sushi-grade Yellowtail raised locally, in 9,000 gallon tanks on land. Historically, NYC diners have almost always eaten the fish supplied from Australia, Japan or Korea, where it is often flash frozen, shipped to New York, and defrosted at the restaurant or supermarket. Now a company called Local Ocean supplies Yellowtail to New Yorkers within hours of being pulled from the water in nearby Greenport, NY. In an article on January 3, The New York Times deemed Local Ocean's Yellowtail "excellent raw" and "deliciously silky," making it the most in demand Yellowtail in New York.
"Mario Batali's restaurants Eataly and ESCA both love the product – you can't get any better than that," said Efraim Bason, CEO of Local Ocean. "My biggest problem now is that I can't supply all of the demand. My customers want this fish."
Technically, Yellowtail, also known as Hamachi, is a prized sashimi -grade fish of the tuna and jack family. The large Yellowtail industry has had three core problems historically. First is the environmental sustainability – the overseas production of Yellowtail is based principally on the capture of juveniles from the wild, an unsustainable practice. Second is consumer safety – many sources cite high mercury levels as reason enough to eliminate or severely restrict the amount of top-of-the-food-chain fish like Yellowtail in the diet – especially for pregnant women. And the third core problem has been taste, and especially texture in regards to sashimi – frozen Yellowtail is never as desirable as fresh from the water.
"Yellowtail is very hard to cultivate. We grow other fish, but Yellowtail has always been the prize," said Bason. "We created the same conditions the fish have in the ocean – but we did it on land. We used tanks, filters, pumps, aquatic plants, and a water monitoring system to create an indoor marine ecosystem. Think of it as a sealed box that takes up several acres. It's a 100% closed loop that has virtually no environmental impact.
Traditionally, land-based fish farms are roundly criticized as bad for the environment, because they discharge a certain percentage of their water into nearby waterways and oceans. The closed-loop system carries none of those risks, as it produces no wastewater.
"I have investors calling us about building new facilities in the desert near people who need a better food supply. But for now, we're just trying to get our Greenport facility producing at its maximum. This is the most sustainable Yellowtail in the world – and everyone wants it."
Local Ocean grows five other species: Gilthead sea bream, European sea bass, white sea bass, black sea bass, and striped bass. Its facility in Greenport, NY is one of the largest marine aquaculture facilities in the United States.
For more information about Local Ocean, visit www.localoceans.com
Source: Local Ocean