Venulum venture capital project on track for sustainable fishery
Released
on: October 3, 2008, 9:19 am
Press
Release Author: Venulum
Industry:
Food
& Beverage
Press
Release Summary: Venulum reports that its venture capital lobster
farm project has successfully managed to breed Caribbean Spiny
Lobsters.
Press
Release Body: Venulum, private wealth management
firm based in the British Virgin Islands, has successfully managed
to breed Caribbean Spiny Lobsters in commercial
quantities in controlled conditions in the British Virgin Islands.
Significant
recent catches of juvenile lobsters have been heartening. It is
too early to say whether these numbers reflect the early season
peak in numbers or the average settlement rate. When compared
with previous research, the highly regular settlement rate matches
that of the average settlement during a small-scale investigation
between 2001-2003.
Giles
Cadman, chairman of Venulum
said: "It has taken us nearly two years of careful evolution
of the collection process but we should now be capable of replicating
it throughout the Caribbean, Australia and Asia to provide numerous
business opportunities to fishers and young entrepreneurs.
"The
numbers are very impressive, indicating that settlement is spatially
uniform and that collection systems perform equally well at depth
as on the surface and so the entire harvest can remain subsurface
away from boat traffic."
The
lobster farm has been built at the Pockwood Pond site on Tortola,
the largest island in the British Virgin Islands, and should be
fully operational once hurricane protection has been completed
on-site early next year.
The
farm site is progressing with general finishing and fabrication
work moving to completion. The Venulum management
team has approved the construction of a mould for large-scale
fabrication of tanks according to precise requirements. Experimental
storage systems have been deployed in favourable deep water locations
in the hope that these will be useful as holding accommodation
for ‘post larvae’ while farm infrastructure is completed.
If effective, Venulum hope these devices will prove vital in reducing
the cost and time commitment of early culture operations.
The
collection and breeding programme is based on knowledge gained
from research undertaken by Rob Power, Director of Caribbean
Sustainable Fisheries, who undertook his research
in conjunction with the World
Fish Centre. "I have been working on the principle
of a sustainable business model for over ten years," explains
Rob "and we are continuing our ongoing research and development
programme to finesse the process, with the emphasis on sustainability."
He
adds "Caribbean
Sustainable Fisheries also intends working with local communities
to build small scale lobster farming operations offering business
opportunities to fishermen whose wild resource has been depleted
to the point that it is no longer viable to continue fishing.
"Our
aim is to produce consistent, high quality lobster that seafood
purchasers can recognise as both sustainable and consistently
good” explains Cadman. “Venulum has a large wine business
and by working with many small wine producers, we have the experience
and understanding to support them. The same principles apply to
the fishing industry and we are using our experience to create
a business model that can be easily replicated without the need
for significant capital cost."
With
the steady progress to date, we can look forward to the first
market sized lobsters in around 18 months from now.
About
Venulum:
The Venulum Group is a multinational private wealth management
firm headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. The Group manages
the wealth of high net worth individuals, and specialises in alternative
investments often not available to the general public. Venulum
helps high net worth individuals balance their portfolios.
The
Venulum Group was formed in 2002, and has expanded to include
offices in four countries, with service offices in a further two.
Since 2002 Venulum's client base has expanded rapidly, and now
has a substantial number of United States based clients.
Web
Site: http://www.letscreate.it
Contact
Details: PR Contact Details:
Chris Pattison
CJP Intelligent Marketing
53 54 Brooks Mews
London
W1K 4EG
UK
+44 (0) 20 74914443
2010
