Blue Star Foods switches proposed location for soft-shell crab RAS farm, adds hatchery

Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based Blue Star Foods has been given an option from the local government in Beaufort County, South Carolina, U.S.A. to purchase land for a planned expansion of its soft-shell crab recirculating aquaculture system.

The company announced its expansion plan in August 2022, and that it had secured the services of HTH Engineering and Equipment LLC as its RAS technology provider for the project. At the time, the company said it was aiming to build the new facility in Jasper County, South Carolina. The announcement came after the company purchased Gault Seafood and its operations, also located in Beaufort.

Since that time, the company has changed its planned location to Beaufort County. According to a press release, Beaufort County has given Blue Star an option to purchase a plot of 9.47 acres of land capable of accommodating a building as large as 100,000 square feet. 

Blue Star CEO John Keeler told SeafoodSource the switch to Beaufort County was mde due to the county government's willingness to work quickly with the company, while permits in Jasper County “were taking too long.”

“Beaufort has been the opposite and very supportive – including a USD 100,000 [EUR 90,000] cash grant toward the cost of the land, among other incentives,” Keeler said. “There are two completely different administrations.”

Blue Star had not yet started construction at the Jasper County site, so switching to Beaufort County had little to no effect on the project, Keeler said. The previous engineering and design plans for the farm remains appropriate for the new location, and HTH Engineering and Equipment remains contracted to build the facility, he said.

“In fact, at the new site, we can build a hatchery as well, which was not in the initial [plan],” Keeler said. 

The integration of the crab hatchery will give Blue Star ...

Photo courtesy of Blue Star Foods