By Hauwa Ali
Pan Ocean Aquaculture, a company based in the netherlands, specialising in cultivating marine resources (plants and animals) for commercial purposes, is in the process of constructing a fully submerged aquaculture unit in Morocco.
This was announced by Pan Ocean Aquaculture co-founder, Philip Schreven, during an interview by intrafish, June 2.
According to him, the company Hopes to make Morrocco a future site for its first fully submerged fish farming venture.
The market is due to gain more traction in the coming years as fast sustainable fishing could limit the conventional slow method of fishing.
Morocco doesn’t have any legal framework regulating offshore aquaculture business activities and the company says, the task of acquiring licenses have been a lengthy and challenging process.
“It’s been quite a journey to get the license and it’s not over yet,” Philip Schreven, Pan Ocean Aquaculture co-founder and CEO commented.
Schreven went on to say that the company is “80 percent there,” highlighting that its Morocco project looks promising.
Construction on the first unit has already begun, but other reports suggest that the company plans to add three more units, depending on results from its first submerged cage in North Africa.
Aquaculture or aqua farming refers to the cultivation of marine resources for commercial purposes and supplies almost half of the global seafood market.
Since 1970, the market has grown by a steady 8.4%.