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Kauai's Ceatech shrimp
farm files for bankruptcy
Ceatech USA Inc. has filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection raising doubts about
the future of the once-promising aquaculture
farm on Kaua'i.
In its filing last week Ceatech Director
Ernest Dias said the move was made after
a review of the company's financial condition
and pending litigation. As a result the company
would be unable to pay its debts, Dias wrote.
He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Ceatech, which trades on the Over The Counter
Bulletin Board, has not filed financial statements
since 2003. In its bankruptcy filing, the
company reported assets of between $500,000
and $1 million and debts of $1 million to
$10 million. The company's stock last traded
on March 14 at 8 cents.
The company, which went public in 1997,
sells white shrimp for consumption and broodstock
for shrimp breeding. Last spring Ceatech
shut down operations and buried
20 million dead shrimp after an outbreak
of the white spot syndrome virus at its Kekaha
farm.
John Corbin, manager for aquaculture development
for the state Department of Agriculture,
said Ceatech was once one of Hawai'i 's biggest
aquaculture operations. However, it was unclear
whether the company ever resumed operations
after dealing with last year's virus outbreak.
"The farm has been given a clean bill
of health and they're challenge was to restart," Corbin
said. "My understanding is that they
didn't — it was a capital issue. It's
a disappointment."
Overall aquaculture has been a success in
terms of diversifying the state's agriculture
sector. Aquaculture, which includes sales
of seaweed, shrimp and abalone, was the fastest-growing
agriculture sector in 2003 with farm sales
of $27.7 million, Corbin said. It's hoped
the sector will continue to grow if Ceatech
is unable to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
"We'll see," Corbin said. "Hopefully,
we'll continue to grow."
The Honolulu Advertiser
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