Time is running out for the Eastern Cape’s last remaining inland finfish farm as the operation has until the end of February to secure further investment to be able to continue.
André Bok, who is running the ELIDZ-based Aqua Management Systems land-based marine fish farm, formerly known as Pure Ocean East London, claims his farm has unmatched levels of productivity and growth rate going so far as to offer R10000 to anyone who can prove someone does it better.
Aqua Management Systems focuses on two types of fish farming producing the dusky cob and the Cape yellowtail.
Bok claims that he is using an internationally groundbreaking process which sees the fish grow from egg, spawned on site by brood fish, to 1kg for dusky cob and 2.5kg for the Cape yellowtail in just 12 months.
He says it would take the fish two years to get to this size in the wild.
Despite this, he is struggling to keep his “marine fish farm” afloat.
Having had historically bad luck with investors, Bok has now pumped his personal funds into the farm in an attempt to keep it going until he has finalised an investor.
“I need R50-million to bring this farm into the commercial sector. I have an investor who is due to take over from this month, but I’m still waiting. This can’t go on forever and if this investor doesn’t pull through, I will have until the end of February to leave,” he said.
Bok said he had a rough time in the 10 years since Pure Ocean East London was founded and subsequently liquidated and acknowledged that it was a high-risk investment.
There has not been a single successful commercial finfish fish farm in the history of South Africa. Just around the corner from Pure Ocean in the ELIDZ are the bones of Oceanwise finfish farm, which once produced kabeljou for Woolworths. It was also liquidated in 2016.
Professor Peter Britz, an aquaculture and fisheries specialist working from Rhodes University, revealed that there has been no commercially successful inland fish farm like the one Bok is trying to pull off globally.
Britz said the biggest issue was the high production costs which would severely limit profits. “It is technically possible but the production costs are too high,” he said.
Providing the example of a commercially viable abalone farm, he said it would cost between R700000 and R800000 in electricity each month for the pumps to draw ocean water. Only the high value of abalone (at about $40/kg) made it viable.
Britz explained that successful fish farming countries like those in Scandinavia were using cage systems off their coasts which were significantly cheaper than the inland alternative.
“The South African coasts are too rough and the Eastern Cape water is too cold to be able to use this method here,” he said.
A source confirmed Bok’s operation was on borrowed time. “There is a fish farm operating in the IDZ but not commercially and not legally.”
They said that the IDZ was currently involved in the legal process of trying to evict Bok and that this process was started immediately after the liquidation of Pure Ocean East London, adding that there were many applicants hoping to take over the facilities that Bok is currently operating but few had enough money or funding to do so.
Sakhiwo Tetyana, corporate communications manager of the East London IDZ, said: “While not ideal, the experiences of these companies have afforded the ELIDZ and sector stakeholders an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the sector’s operational dynamics and related challenges ...
“In response to this, the ELIDZ has worked with a number of stakeholders to develop a potential solution to these challenges and is currently engaging with other private and public sector stakeholders in an attempt to pilot this technological advancement.
“If successful, it will assist to disseminate the technology to aspirant fish farmers so that they can gain the level of competence and experience to start-up independent fish farm operations ... and deepen the aquaculture sub-sector as a contributor to the long-term growth of the province’s ocean-based economy.”
Inland fish farm can’t keep afloat
André Bok, who is running the ELIDZ-based Aqua Management Systems land-based marine fish farm, formerly known as Pure Ocean East London, claims his farm has unmatched levels of productivity and growth rate going so far as to offer R10000 to anyone who can prove someone does it better.
Aqua Management Systems focuses on two types of fish farming producing the dusky cob and the Cape yellowtail.
Bok claims that he is using an internationally groundbreaking process which sees the fish grow from egg, spawned on site by brood fish, to 1kg for dusky cob and 2.5kg for the Cape yellowtail in just 12 months.
He says it would take the fish two years to get to this size in the wild.
Despite this, he is struggling to keep his “marine fish farm” afloat.
Having had historically bad luck with investors, Bok has now pumped his personal funds into the farm in an attempt to keep it going until he has finalised an investor.
“I need R50-million to bring this farm into the commercial sector. I have an investor who is due to take over from this month, but I’m still waiting. This can’t go on forever and if this investor doesn’t pull through, I will have until the end of February to leave,” he said.
Bok said he had a rough time in the 10 years since Pure Ocean East London was founded and subsequently liquidated and acknowledged that it was a high-risk investment.
There has not been a single successful commercial finfish fish farm in the history of South Africa. Just around the corner from Pure Ocean in the ELIDZ are the bones of Oceanwise finfish farm, which once produced kabeljou for Woolworths. It was also liquidated in 2016.
Professor Peter Britz, an aquaculture and fisheries specialist working from Rhodes University, revealed that there has been no commercially successful inland fish farm like the one Bok is trying to pull off globally.
Britz said the biggest issue was the high production costs which would severely limit profits. “It is technically possible but the production costs are too high,” he said.
Providing the example of a commercially viable abalone farm, he said it would cost between R700000 and R800000 in electricity each month for the pumps to draw ocean water. Only the high value of abalone (at about $40/kg) made it viable.
Britz explained that successful fish farming countries like those in Scandinavia were using cage systems off their coasts which were significantly cheaper than the inland alternative.
“The South African coasts are too rough and the Eastern Cape water is too cold to be able to use this method here,” he said.
A source confirmed Bok’s operation was on borrowed time. “There is a fish farm operating in the IDZ but not commercially and not legally.”
They said that the IDZ was currently involved in the legal process of trying to evict Bok and that this process was started immediately after the liquidation of Pure Ocean East London, adding that there were many applicants hoping to take over the facilities that Bok is currently operating but few had enough money or funding to do so.
Sakhiwo Tetyana, corporate communications manager of the East London IDZ, said: “While not ideal, the experiences of these companies have afforded the ELIDZ and sector stakeholders an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the sector’s operational dynamics and related challenges ...
“In response to this, the ELIDZ has worked with a number of stakeholders to develop a potential solution to these challenges and is currently engaging with other private and public sector stakeholders in an attempt to pilot this technological advancement.
“If successful, it will assist to disseminate the technology to aspirant fish farmers so that they can gain the level of competence and experience to start-up independent fish farm operations ... and deepen the aquaculture sub-sector as a contributor to the long-term growth of the province’s ocean-based economy.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos