Aqua Plantations LLC, a Wilmington-based underwater agriculture, or “aquaculture” company,  has developed a system for growing saltwater fish in tanks and is seeking investment capital to expand their business.  Aqua Plantations raises black sea bass, a type of Grouper that inhabits east coast waters, in large recirculating tanks and sells processed filets under the brand name “Carolina Black Sea Bass.”  The company currently produces approximately 3000 pounds of processed fish per year from their facility in Wrightsville Beach but hopes to secure investment and expand production to 200,000 pounds per year at an inland site near Wilmington International Airport.

In the wild, black sea bass are normally caught in traps, which leads to inconsistent yields and size,  said Ted Davis, company founder.  In comparison, Aqua Plantation’s fish are raised in 8,000 gallon tanks and fed a diet of pellets when young and then twenty-gram tilapia after they grow past a weight of one pound.  This system allows for uniform growth, and the fish are kept alive until the filets are ordered and processed.    According to Davis, the two biggest challenges are keeping water quality and feeding protocol balanced and designing a recirculating system that can be used inland.  Unlike inland freshwater systems, saltwater systems like Aqua Plantation’s cannot discharge fish waste on land.  For example, tilapia is produced in fresh water tanks, and the waste can be spread on agricultural land as a fertilizer; however, the salinity of the black sea bass’ water prevents this use and requires more advanced systems to deal with the waste.

The company is also exploring more environmentally-friendly methods to deal with the material left over after filleting.  “The best green option would be to turn it into feed for another animal because our byproduct is heavy in omega-3 fatty acids,” said Davis.  The company intends to combine equity and debt financing to develop the site and build a series of tanks and systems to raise the fish and perfect the water recirculating technology.  Davis said they are “looking for $3M for the next expansion.”

Feller LLC, a manufacture of power cords for high-tech devices, is expanding its Leland, NC factory.  Feller is a subsidiary of Feller GmbH, an Austrian-based power cord producer with manufacturing in Austria, Hungary, Great Britain and Leland, NC.  Feller produces power cords for electronic equipment that meet a range of international and domestic standards and have application in computer, printing, medical and high voltage usage, such as welding and uninterrupted power supplies.  Customers include HP, IBM, Agilent, GE Medical and Eaton.  According to Gregor Kysely, company president, the Leland factory will be expanding its production line by transferring machinery from the Austrian factory.  “The machinery should leave Austria on December 5th and arrive in the middle of January,” said Kysely.  After the expansion, Feller will be able to produce a complete cord entirely in the U.S; currently, the cord’s plugs come from other Feller facilities and are assembled in the Leland factory.

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I am teaching another class in January. More info coming soon. Not sure how much it will cost, but they are usually very affordable or no charge.

Wed. 1/28/09, 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Will be in conjunction with the Burgaw Chamber of Commerce. We will probably hold it at the CFCC Burgaw Campus, 100 E. Industrial Dr. Burgaw, 28425.

‘New Technologies for Small Business & Personal Use’. – Learn about the latest technology, gadgets, web sites, etc. that you can use to improve your business and personal interactions. Topics will include such things as wireless internet, Blackberry technology, Iphone capability, iGoogle, twitter, web site ad placement, etc.

I have attended these events before and they are informative.  Thought people would like to know.

The next Wilmington Area IT Professionals Breakfast Panel will be on Wednesday, December 10 from 7:30 AM to 9:15 AM.  For those of you who have attended prior breakfast panels you know they have been informative and provide time for Q&A from the audience.

Discussion Topic: Web 2.0 concepts and features enable a firm to communicate more effectively as well as cause a firm addition headaches. This panel will feature a discussion of what Web 2.0 is, how your firm may utilize its concepts and demonstrate the use of communication tools for small, medium and large businesses. It will be highly interactive.

To register: http://www.uncw.edu/wilmIT.