Industry Highlight - Virginia Cobia Farms

Virginia Cobia Farms LLC
108 Battleground Avenue
Saltville, Virginia 24370
www.virginiacobiafarms.biz

Few things catch our attention as much as issues regarding the safety of our nation’s food supply. Naturally, the seafood industry has great cause for concern when commercial fishermen report hypodermic needles floating a thousand miles off shore and when we consider the lack of sufficient government regulations with respect to foreign seafood imports. The effects of these and other similar issues are being addressed thanks to the efforts of companies such as Virginia Cobia Farms.

MariCal Inc., a Portland, Maine based privately-held animal health and nutrition biotechnology company, and Blue Ridge Aquaculture, Inc., the largest US based tilapia producer located in Martinsville, Virginia, have joined forces to create Virginia Cobia Farms, LLC, in Saltville, Virginia. Virginia Cobia Farms is the exclusive producer of cobia in the United States utilizing their proprietary low-salinity production technology within a freshwater re-circulating aquaculture system (RAS). The technology utilized at Virginia Cobia Farms will revolutionize the way the aquaculture industry produces marine fish. The result is a clean, secure, traceable U.S. protein food supply that has no negative environmental impact.

Cobia are higher in heart-healthy omega 3 fatty acid content as compared to other white fleshed fish such as Cod, Haddock, Halibut, and Tilapia. Cobia is also a healthy alternative brain food to that of canned tuna, primarily because of the lack of mercury contamination in cobia raised in RAS. These fish have a great taste and texture, are more forgiving of chef cooking experience, and are suitable for sushi or ceviche. They can be cooked by baking, poaching, frying, or grilling.

The abundance of natural resources, mineral deposits, and close proximity to the Aquaculture Center at Virginia Tech makes Saltville, Va. an ideal location for this industry. Over the last 4 years, the Virginia Tech Aquaculture Center has committed a significant amount of its resources (funds, systems, time, and technicians) to research efforts on cobia. Recent research has illustrated that cobia possesses exceptionally fine production characteristics. Cobia readily spawns in captivity and expresses impressive growth rates and high survival post-weaning.

Aquaculture - the managed production of aquatic organisms under controlled environmental conditions - is the fastest-growing segment of agriculture in Virginia, the United States and throughout the world. Aquaculture or mariculture (saltwater aquaculture) involves the practice of commercial production of seafood for consumers. It also involves the sciences of natural resource management and enhancement, chemistry and biology, animal husbandry, specimen collection methods, aquarium technology, facility construction and maintenance, and biotechnology production from marine organisms.

Students opting for careers in aquaculture and animal science will be challenged and rewarded with opportunities made available through companies such as Virginia Cobia Farms. These careers will play a vital role in ensuring a safe and healthy food supply source will be available for future generations.