By setting its sights on building a land-based fish farm in Jonesport, a Dutch firm is hoping to be the first to cultivate yellowtail at a commercial scale in the United States.
Kingfish Zeeland, founded in 2015, has successfully cultivated yellowtail in Kats, Netherlands, in Europe, where in April 2018 it opened a land-based, recirculating aquaculture system that produces approximately 500 metric tons or 1.1 million pounds each year.
By building a similar facility in Jonesport that can produce 6,000 metric tons — or 13.2 million pounds — the company hopes to carve out a bigger share of the United States’ $1.24 billion aquaculture market. According to the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. ranks 16th worldwide for fish and shellfish production from aquaculture (China, with a $144 billion annual aquaculture industry, is by far the leader), but more than half of the seafood imported and consumed in the U.S. is cultivated rather than wild caught.
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