Making Fresh Softshell Blue Crabs Available Year Round

Picture credit: Blue Star Foods 

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Atlantic Blue Crab, in normal circumstances, is only available to consumers in North America for certain months of the year based on the migration patterns of the shellfish. 

One Florida-based seafood company wants to change that and is planning to eventually make the Atlantic Blue Crab “during its molting stage” or so called SoftShell available year-round for consumers using advanced technology. 

Miami-based seafood company Blue Star Foods Corp. BSFC is betting big on the technology known as Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems (RAS). 

That’s both for the company’s future salmon production and for its planned harvesting of atlantic blue crab.

How it All Works

RAS works by recirculating limited amounts of water in an almost-closed circuit. Waste products such as carbon dioxide and ammonium are removed or converted into non-toxic substances, and the purified water is subsequently saturated with oxygen and returned to the tanks.

The system clearly limits water use, as well as energy use, allows for efficient feeding and fully controls potential disease.

Blue Star CEO and Chairman John Keeler has described RAS as “the future of our industry & food security” 

Scaling Up

Using RAS with blue crab is a direct result of Blue Star’s acquisition In January 2022 of certain assets of South Carolina-based Gault Foods LLC. In early February, Blue Star said it began operations of soft shell crabs at the plant in Beaufort and will scale up there with the aim of 10X the current volume by 2023.

“In the meantime, we continue to search for the ideal property site, which will allow us to produce 10x what we’ll be able to produce in our pilot facility in South Carolina,” Rodrigo Mezerhane, Senior Project Manager for the company’s RAS Division, said in early March..

Blue Star is similarly aiming big with its RAS salmon production.

Blue Star acquired Canada-based Taste of BC Aquafarms Inc. (TBC) in June 2021 with a view to operating the first commercial scale RAS salmon farming operations in British Columbia. The company has since identified a site several sites in British Columbia, for multiple production facilities.

The company has historically sourced its crabmeat from various Asian countries, including The Philippines and Indonesia.

With a focus now on its RAS assets, crab sourcing and production just got a little closer to home.

Blue Star seafood products are available in major retailers including Walmart Inc. WMT and Costco Wholesale Corp. COST.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice.