For the second straight year, Hawaiʻi has reached new heights in aquaculture — and experts still believe its potential has been mostly untapped.
Last year local aquaculture sales hit a record $89.6 million, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s up from the nearly $80 million in sales in 2021.
Aquaculture was the state’s second most valuable agricultural commodity, only falling behind seed crop sales. The USDA’s latest report estimated Hawaiʻi’s seed industry at $114 million for the 2022-2023 season.
But aquaculture beat sales for coffee, macadamia nuts and cattle. Both cattle and coffee sales were at $59 million, while macadamia nut sales were at $33 million. In 2021, all three had produced greater sales numbers than aquaculture in Hawaiʻi.
The state is poised to build on the sector’s current momentum.
“This is a moment when we could be catalyzing a lot of growth in agriculture technology and aquaculture technology to really become a leader in the space of producing food in a more sustainable way,” said Neil Sims, co-founder of the Hawaiʻi-based mariculture company Ocean Era.
“Here we are in the most isolated archipelago on the planet, and yet we import over 65% of the seafood that we eat," Sims said.
Two areas with promise are in algae cultivation and off-shore fish farming.
Algae already plays a big role in local aquaculture, but that mostly comes from the Hawaiʻi-based Cyanotech, a company that produces health supplements.
Todd Low, manager for the state Department of Agriculture’s Aquaculture Development Program, said more can be done with algae.
“The growth in algae we saw in 2022 is an indicator of the potential in that sector. The opportunities for indigenous macroalgae or seaweed production are focused in two areas,” Low said. “First, the development for additives to improve livestock feeds, and … initiatives to harness the ecosystem services provided by seaweeds as filters and carbon sinks.”
Three companies are already working on scaling seaweed production for livestock feed.
For off-shore fish farms, there is only one commercial operation in the U.S. — a kampachi farm in the Kailua-Kona area.
Sims is hoping to construct another one about two miles from Ewa Beach on Oʻahu.
But like all other agricultural sectors and aquaculture experts said, more support — especially from Hawaiʻi’s government agencies and lawmakers — and fewer roadblocks, are necessary for growth.
“We need legislative support to identify and address leasing and investment roadblocks, and statutes and rules. We need the various departments that are involved in various elements of permitting and oversight of aquaculture to coordinate and to communicate,” said Ron Weidenbach, who co-runs Hawaiʻi Fish Company with his wife, at last week’s Thrive Hawaiʻi Agrifood Summit.
Agriculture is a shrinking part of Hawaiʻi’s economy. It represents just 0.5% of the state’s total GDP. The state Department of Agriculture’s share of the overall operating budget is about the same.
Sims is a proponent of a law offering tax credits to aquaculture technologies, likening it to 2001 state law Act 221, meant to stimulate the growth and development of high-technology industries.
Though the law was found to be problematic, a similar idea designed specifically for aquaculture would help the industry.
“While that program is much maligned because a lot of people thought that it didn't achieve the benefits that it did, I think if something like that — a tax credit program that encouraged additional investment from the continental U.S. — that was focused on ag and aquaculture and high technologies that could be applicable to these industries, something such as that would be tremendously beneficial,” Sims said.
