Why has institutional investment been so elusive for RAS fish farming? It’s a valid (and frustrating) question that the aquaculture community has been wrestling with for years. After all, fish farming using Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) has much to offer sustainability-minded investors, the fastest-growing institutional investor class.

When the leader of the Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) movement speaks, it makes sense to listen. So, recently, when Atlantic Sapphire shared its interest in growing steelhead trout on a 2Q21 earnings call, our team was compelled to learn more.

The world's largest corporations are under attack and frequently at that. Using ransomware, a type of malicious software that blocks users from accessing their own data, digital extortionists are encrypting files, adding extensions to attacked data and holding it "hostage" until the demanded ransom is paid.

Land-based aquaculture, particularly through Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, has become the "it" investment in the seafood space. Its rise hasn't exactly been meteoric, but a confluence of factors has finally convinced the greater institutional investor base to get off the sidelines and start taking the area seriously.

To say that new money has been flooding into land-based aquaculture recently would be an understatement. In a 2019 study on land-based initiatives, Rabobank estimated that new production reared from Recirculating Aquaculture Systems would add over 700,000 metric tonnes per year. Most of this investment is for Atlantic salmon.