11 minute read
Exclusive interview with CEO Ohad Maiman
Long live the kingfi sh!
The Kingfi sh Company is exporting its RAS model to Maine
BY ROBERT OUTRAM
LAST month saw another milestone for The Kingfi sh Company and its planned recircula� ng aquaculture system (RAS) project in the north-eastern United States, with an important real estate deal.
The purchase of land near Jonesport, Maine, is an important step towards making the project a reality, following the earlier approval of key permits allowing it to move ahead.
This is one of several land-based RAS projects along the US Atlan� c coast, but unlike most of the others this farm will not be producing salmon, but yellowtail kingfi sh. It will be following a model already established by the group’s European arm, Kingfi sh Zeeland, in the Netherlands.
Kingfi sh Zeeland has been in opera� on since 2018 and is currently in the process of expanding its capacity from 1,500 tonnes annually to 3,500.
Chief Execu� ve Offi cer and co-founder Ohad Maiman says kingfi sh “� cks all the boxes” for RAS farming: it enables local produc� on of a fi sh that is normally dependent on imports (for Europe and the US, kingfi sh is generally imported from Japan); it performs well in a RAS se� ng; and it is (like salmon) a high-value product.
Otherwise known as yellowtail amberjack or greater amberjack, Seriola lalandi is na� ve to the tropical and temperate oceans of the southern hemisphere. It is an established favourite in two leading cuisines; Japanese sushi and sashimi, and Italian, where it is known as ricciola. Co-founder Kees Kloet is an aquaculture veteran and pioneered the use
Above: Kingfi sh Maine site design Left: Ohad Maiman Opposite from top: Tank at Kingfi sh Zeeland; Jennie de Haan, junior hatchery specialist; Kingfi sh is popular in several cuisines
of yellowtail kingfi sh in RAS, but this is Maiman’s his fi rst fi sh farming venture. He was formerly Vice-President, Business Development, with Israeli investment company the Merhav Group.
At Merhav, Maiman had appraised a number of agro-industry projects and was par� cularly impressed by the strategic prospects for landbased aquaculture.
As he puts it: “I was hooked on the technology – excuse the pun! I saw there was a development in aquaculture that was no less drama� c than greenhouses in agriculture.”
The fact that world demand for seafood is rising while wild fi sh produc� on has been fl at since the 1990s only underlined the possibili� es.
When Merhav proved reluctance to invest heavily in rela� vely untried technology, Maiman decided it was � me to start his own venture. He teamed up with Kloet, who had already been involved with the start-up of around 30 RAS farms, and was the fi rst to trial kingfi sh in a RAS se� ng, with Silt BV.
Unlike salmon, kingfi sh lives its whole life cycle in salt water. In that sense, it is a simpler species, although the need to provide live feed for the fi sh’s early stages presents its own challenges.
Kingfi sh Zeeland started with broodstock from Kloet’s original farm. The faster-growing individuals, gene� cally screened to avoid inbreeding, have been retained and the company now has a broodstock with several hundred fi sh.
Site selec� on was also important. Key factors for The Kingfi sh Company are clean seawater, local community support and good local logis� cs, with a cold chain infrastructure suitable for transpor� ng seafood.
As Maiman explains: “For us, site selec� on starts with access to clean seawater. That is not quite as easy as people think. When you look at nice beaches they usually have hotels and the very industrial areas are too risky to locate in from our perspec� ve.”
since the 1990s only underlined the possibili� es.
Both Kingfi sh Zeeland and the Maine site strike the right balance between being remote enough to enjoy clean seas, but not too remote for the distribu� on network. In Maine, for example, infrastructure already exists to distribute the state’s famous lobsters, while in the Netherlands the site is within half an hour of one of the country’s major seafood hubs.
The appeal of bringing jobs to an area with rela� vely sparse industry is another factor in ge� ng the local community onside, and in Maine The Kingfi sh Company invested � me in town hall mee� ngs at poten� al sites, both to sell the idea and to gauge public support.
Sustainability and respect for the environment are also important to the company, Maiman says. The protected RAS environment means the fi sh can be raised without recourse to an� bio� cs and vaccines, while energy for the Zeeland facility comes from renewable sources – wind, solar and biogas – and heat exchangers transfer thermal energy from waste ou� lows to incoming water.
The company works with some of the leading aquafeed producers, including BioMar and Skre� ng, increasingly taking a proac� ve role in helping the suppliers test, develop and op� mise be� er feeds for the species.
For RAS technology, the company’s supplier of choice has been Billund, although as Maiman explains: “As we have gone through several itera� ons of expansion, we have progressively built up our own in-house design and engineering department, including exper� se in construc� on, management and installa� on.
“We s� ll work with Billund and several other suppliers, but these days we do much more design, management and construc� on in house.”
The Kingfi sh Company has been listed on the Euronext Growth Oslo stock exchange since November 2020. The fi rst half of this year saw revenue at Kingfi sh Zeeland up by 95% year on year, to almost €3.8m (£3.24m). Overall, the costs of expansion mean the group is s� ll burning cash. For H1 2021 there was an accoun� ng loss of €3.56m (£3.03m) compared with a loss of €1.29m (£1.1m) for H1 2020.
Maiman says: “We are already happy with the economics of what we’re producing. For today, the majority of the expenses that makes us not profi table are expansion expenses. We have a team of six people in Maine already… given the scale up and growth ambi� ons of the company, that is what we indicated when we listed in Oslo. We are on a fi ve-year expansion plan that should see us with several thousand tonnes more produc� on by the end.”
He adds: “If we were for some reason to stop all growth, with our current capacity we should already be a profi table business.
“But we see the opportunity, and in many ways the race to be the fi rst leader at scale in the RAS sector is an important reason to keep at full thro� le ahead.”
He is also happy with the way the company responded to the challenge He is also happy with the way the company responded to the challenge of the pandemic last year. The Horeca (hotel, restaurants and catering) of the pandemic last year. The Horeca (hotel, restaurants and catering) sector was the mainstay of the business before Covid-19 arrived. The sector was the mainstay of the business before Covid-19 arrived. The company was able to successfully pivot to supplying the retail market company was able to successfully pivot to supplying the retail market during the fi rst half of 2020, and this year has also signed deals with two during the fi rst half of 2020, and this year has also signed deals with two more leading retail chains in France and Italy. more leading retail chains in France and Italy.
Maiman says: “We are ac� ve across several European Maiman says: “We are ac� ve across several European markets and within each of these markets markets and within each of these markets there are several channels, from distributors there are several channels, from distributors to retail. So when we add capacity, it does to retail. So when we add capacity, it does not cause a shock to one single market. not cause a shock to one single market.
“For almost three years straight we have had to con� nuously limit alloca� ons have had to con� nuously limit alloca� ons to clients on fulfi lment. There are simply to clients on fulfi lment. There are simply not enough fi sh!” in southern Europe. And Maiman can’t rule out the possibility of fi nding an addi� onal species to farm, as long as it meets the criteria.
Now that the Horeca sector is reopening in many markets, The Kingfi sh Company is looking at an almost 50/50 split between Horeca and retail, Maiman says, with the possibility to go 60/40 either way.
He adds: “We saw that with the right retail partners, who are interested in the sustainability and environmental aspects of our opera� on and who are willing to support the product from a marke� ng point of view, retail could become a very important part of our addressable market.”
The company’s capital investment in the Zeeland plant should be complete next year, with the increased capacity expected to be stocked during the second half of 2022.
In Maine, it is hoped that construc� on on the new site will start early in the new year, and meanwhile the company is also in the early stages of assessing the possibility of a third site, in southern Europe. And Maiman can’t rule out the possibility of fi nding an addi� onal species to farm, as long as it meets the criteria.
Of course, RAS farming is not without its risks and there have been recent examples of major losses. Maiman is aware of this but argues: “The way I see it, when I fi rst heard about RAS, in 2013, there was a perfect track record of failure in the sector!
“But my personal view is that these systems are in many ways similar to opera� ng a submarine or a spaceship. It’s a 24/7 life support system that can’t be allowed to fail.
“With that in mind, my thinking was that if we can rela� vely reliably operate and deal with risk to human lives on a submarine or a spaceship if it’s done right, then we should be able to maintain such a life support system for fi sh.”
As he explains, there are triple redundancies for all cri� cal systems and backup systems for oxygen and electricity.
He adds: “We take about a year to train produc� on employees to He adds: “We take about a year to train produc� on employees to become shi� managers, who are then always on site, at night and on weekends, and available to troubleshoot if necessary.
“There is, of course, a built-in risk, so we are also insured, but we have reached year four with no mass mortality events. Our comfort and confi dence is increasing.”
He is also confi dent that RAS aquaculture has a bright future. As Maiman puts it: “It’s apparent that since the late 1980s, or early 1990s, that wild catch has fl atlined at about 90 million tonnes. Barring the discovery of a new ocean, I think the best we can hope for is responsible fi shing that maintains it at that volume.
“Aquaculture has nearly doubled global supply, with an addi� onal 90 million tonnes; but now more and more, and par� cularly in western target market countries, governments are either not allowing or star� ng to ban some of the prac� ces of tradi� onal aquaculture.”
So, he concludes: “Assuming that challenges to capacity in tradi� onal aquaculture con� nue, looking to the next 30 years and to the next 90 million tonnes that the world will presumably need, I think it falls between RAS and off shore farming as poten� al solu� ons.
“I don’t think RAS is a ‘magic bullet’ answer for every species, everywhere, but I do think it has the poten� al to pick up a substan� al part of that addi� onal supply that is needed.” FF
Opposite from top: Fingerlings; Kingfi sh Zeeland is powered by renewable energy; Adult kingfi sh This page from top: Fish in the tank; Sashimi; Yakitori; At the hatchery
