Commercial production of kahala, or almaco jack, raised in ocean pens has returned to the Kona Coast of Hawaii island under a new company and a new brand name for the fish after a roughly two-year absence.
Blue Ocean Mariculture announced Monday that it completed its acquisition of Kona Blue Water Farms and that it has resumed harvests and sales of the fish established by Kona Blue as Kona Kampachi that are now trademarked as Hawaiian Kampachi.
Kona Blue ran into financial difficulties and ceased production in November 2009. The company sought approval in early 2010 to transfer its 90-acre ocean lease to San Francisco-based Keahole Point Fish LLC, led by Todd Madsen, a private equity investment firm manager and president of marine aquaculture cage developer OceanSpar LLC.
Madsen is president of Blue Ocean, which is affiliated with Keahole Point Fish and completed the lease acquisition in 2010.
Blue Ocean acquired Kona Blue’s hatchery in January 2011, and began raising fish that late last year began to reach market size and have been distributed on the mainland and at a variety of local outlets that include KTA Super Stores, Roy’s Restaurants, Uncle’s Fish Market and Four Seasons resorts.
Madsen’s company, which has 23 employees, declined to disclose production volume or sales.
Kona Blue, which launched commercial sales in 2005 and garnered praise from chefs and consumers, produced 500 tons of kampachi selling for $8 million in 2008. But inefficient cage configuration combined with high shipping, feed and labor costs led to losses and cutbacks. The company was quietly dissolved in November, though an offshoot company, Kampachi Farms LLC, is researching ways to grow fish in untethered ocean cages.
Madsen said in a statement that hatchery and offshore operations are "running smoothly" after major changes were invested in, and that Blue Ocean has received excellent responses from customers.
