A Hawaii investment firm focused on generating financial as well as social returns is putting some of its money into the local open-ocean fish farming industry.

Ulupono Initiative is lending Blue Ocean Mariculture LLC $3 million to help finance expansion of the fish farm that raises kahala, or almaco jack branded as Hawaiian Kampachi, in cages floating off Hawaii island’s Kona Coast.

Blue Ocean laid out its expansion goal in an environmental assessment report in 2014. The plan calls for increasing the number and size of underwater cages so the company can more than double fish production to 2.2 million pounds a year from about 900,000 pounds.

The farm, which operates in 90 acres of state waters leased from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources offshore of Kona International Airport, received DLNR approval to deploy up to eight cages instead of five. Each cage’s maximum size could be 8,000 cubic meters instead of a prior maximum of 7,000 cubic meters.

“The expansion plan is on track, thanks in part to the financial support of Ulupono Initiative,” Todd Madsen, Blue Ocean president, said in an email.

Madsen said the first new pen was installed earlier this year and is filled with 130,000 young fish. Upgrades were also made to the company’s hatchery facility on land at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, he said.

”We are happy with our progress, and we appreciate Ulupono’s financial support as we continue to sustainably and responsibly produce marine finfish in Hawaii and for Hawaii consumers,” he said.

Murray Clay, managing partner of Ulupono, said in an email that the firm supports Blue Ocean’s mission to responsibly farm local seafood.

“Blue Ocean Mariculture is aligned with our mission to increase food security and self-sufficiency in Hawaii,” he said. “Seafood is a huge part of Hawaii’s diet, but like most of our food, the majority of seafood is imported.”

Clay cited a 2013 University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization report that said only about half of all seafood consumed in the state is from the state, including commercial and recreational catches.

“Hawaii sits in the middle of the largest ocean on earth,” the report said. “So the majority of the seafood consumed on these islands must then come from local waters, right? The answer might surprise you.”

Clay said fish farming can help alter the imbalance between imported and locally sourced seafood.

“Aquaculture can positively impact our fisheries system by creating an exciting, viable solution to sustain a local source of seafood,” he said.

Some groups and individuals, including Food and Water Watch, oppose open-ocean fish farms, contending that uneaten feed and excrement from high concentrations of fish in one area have negative impacts on the environment that could include altering fish behavior and potentially spreading disease to wild populations.

Blue Ocean has said that it has several years of water quality test results and observations that show no detrimental impact on the environment around its farm where attributes include deep water, strong currents and a sandy ocean floor. Such tests will continue and are reported to DLNR, the state Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Previously, Blue Ocean’s predecessor, Kona Blue Water Farms, had bacterial infections in fish that led to treatment with antibiotics permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

DLNR recently said the farm, which Blue Ocean acquired in 2012, hasn’t experienced a bacterial infection offshore or delivered an antibiotic treatment offshore since February 2011.

Kona Blue was the first company to obtain an open-ocean fish farm lease in Hawaii, and started commercial kampachi production in 2005. The company harvested about 1 million pounds of fish in 2008 valued at $8 million but ceased harvests in late 2009 after production problems that included the high cost of transporting fish to markets outside Hawaii.

Blue Ocean restarted farm operations but has been constrained by the maximum capacity of the farm at about 1 million pounds of fish per year. The company said it sells about 40 percent of its fish in Hawaii with the balance mainly going to California.

If Blue Ocean’s expansion plan proceeds as envisioned, the company anticipates that it will be producing its goal of 2.2 million pounds of fish annually in 2018, according to DLNR.