“The U.S. imports 95% of its salmon. We’re changing that,” said Johan Andreassen, co-founder and CEO of Atlantic Sapphire, in an interview with The Miami Herald. “This is the next level of salmon farming.” Atlantic Sapphire, one of the world’s largest land-based salmon farms, is harvesting salmon in 36 large tanks in the Homestead area where 2.5 million salmon have been born at the facility and will complete Phase 1 in July, 2020. “Did you ever imagine South Florida would serve as the world’s largest site for salmon production? Well, we will soon be,” Gimenez said, in part. “Thanks to technology, these indoor farms will provide a secure food supply produced in climate controlled tanks free from micro-plastics. Technology can be disruptive but we are not running away from it. We are seizing this as an opportunity to create better jobs.”
The economic impact of Atlantic Sapphire’s new headquarters is also sizable. According to Miami economist Tony Villamil of The Washington Economics Group, Inc. who did an updated economic-impact report on the project in 2019, the construction on the first phase of the project is expected to generate 3,539 direct and indirect jobs by 2021. Throughout the development and construction of all four phases planned by 2030, plus operations, the economic impact on Miami-Dade jumps to nearly 31,000 jobs and over $2 billion annually by 2030, the Washington Economic Group’s report said. What’s more, beyond construction work, Atlantic Sapphire already employs about 70 people to run the facility and it has pledged to create 237 positions with an average wage of $60,000 as the company expands. Click here to read full article
