Photo: Seriola lalandi. Photo: John Turnbull, via Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.


###

Nordic Aquafarms recently announced that it was making a switch: yellowtail kingfish, a fish native to the warm waters of the Pacific, instead of Atlantic salmon. Biologically, the two fish require different environments, with yellowtail needing warmer, saltier water compared to chilly brackish water for Atlantic salmon.

Yellowtail, perhaps better known as hamachi to our Japanese cuisine-loving friends, also has a higher price point than Atlantic salmon, meaning that Nordic can make the same return on fewer fish. These changes will alter the environmental impacts from the project, conceivably for the better, with an anticipated reduction in total energy use, project footprint and freshwater demand. Scott Thompson and Jacki Cassida of Nordic Aquafarms join the show to explain the change. 

###