Blue Ocean Mariculture’s Farm-Raised Kanpachi Might Be the Future of Fishing

Hawaiian kanpachi is easy to love. With its gently pink, pearlescent flesh, this cousin of hamachi is meaty and firm but not dense; it’s fatty without being unctuous, making it the ideal fish for sashimi lovers (and poke lovers, ceviche lovers — the list goes on). Hawaiian kanpachi tastes luxurious, but it’s a luxury you can feel good about indulging in because the farm raising this fish is at the frontier of sustainability.

Blue Ocean Mariculture is the only commercial open-ocean aquaculture farm in the U.S., a vital step for a country that imports the majority of its seafood. Unlike most aquaculture operations, which are often based in coastal waters, ponds, and increasingly on land, Blue Ocean raises fish about a half-mile offshore from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, in unusually shaped net pens that look like two pyramids fused together at their base; they descend about 11 stories from tip to tip. 

This is not industrial fish farming, which keeps fish in confined quarters for their entire lives, ignoring their natural migratory impulses and breeding them in waters filled with their own dirty runoff. Instead, Blue Ocean pens their kanpachi in the warm, open waters of their natural environment. “We’re in 200 feet of water, in conditions that mimic 30 to 40 miles offshore from the U.S. mainland,” says Dick Jones, Blue Ocean’s CEO. Jones joined the company in 2019 after more than a decade working in the nonprofit sector, where he helped artisanal wild fishers in developing parts of the world implement sustainable catch methods. 

The company’s eight pens each hold 150,000 fish, but those fish take up only 3.7% of the available space they have to swim in. The shape of the net pens is intentional. “In Hawaii, currents are always really strong, averaging 2 to 3 knots. The shape helps from a hydrodynamic perspective,” Jones says. “When the current hits the cage, it can withstand all that energy.” Those currents also ensure that these extraordinarily strong fish stay active, improving their health overall.

Blue Ocean is the first and only offshore aquaculture farm in the U.S. to achieve Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification. “Their program is certified to the strictest global standards for responsibly farmed seafood, meeting hundreds of requirements critical to making aquaculture a more sustainable practice,” says Athena Davis, ASC North America’s marketing manager. 

Davis points out that Blue Ocean is leading by example, paving the way for more sustainable aquaculture companies to help meet American seafood needs. “This is what we do: maintain good water quality, preserve local biodiversity, source feed responsibly, and foster good relationships within the community.”