Blue Ridge Aquaculture president meets with federal agriculture secretary

By MICKEY POWELL - Martinsville Bulletin Staff Writer

Blue Ridge Aquaculture Inc. can significantly help the United States reduce its dependency on fish from China, which could reduce a health risk to Americans, according to company President Bill Martin.

He met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns in Washington on Monday to find out if Blue Ridge can get federal loans toward projects.

China controls about 70 percent of the world’s seafood supply, Martin said. He estimated that 50 percent of seafood eaten in the United States is from China.

But “a great number of things” can go wrong with Chinese seafood supplies, he said. Examples he mentioned include contamination from antibiotics and cancer-causing substances as well as the lack of an inspection process.

Now that the U.S. government is aware of the problem, Johanns wants to tackle it aggressively, Martin said, adding “it’s a serious issue.”

Located in the Martinsville Industrial Park, Blue Ridge has the world’s largest sustainable indoor fisheries. It is the world’s largest indoor producer of tilapia, raising nearly 4 million pounds yearly. It ships about 75,000 pounds of live tilapia to fish markets across North America each week, the company’s Web site shows.

Blue Ridge is building a new shrimp production and research facility. The company also is half-owner of Virginia Cobia Farms LLC, based in Saltville.

“We believe cobia will be the next major white fish” to become popular worldwide, Martin said.

Martin said Blue Ridge is one of only two fish hatcheries in the United States capable of producing marine fish. The other is in New Hampshire.

Blue Ridge and Virginia Cobia Farms now have the ability to raise saltwater fish in water with a low salt content, he said.

As a result, “we could produce more seafood right here in Martinsville and Henry County than everywhere else in the U.S. put together,” said Martin.

So he went to Washington to discuss with Johanns “how the federal government could be a partner” with the companies, he said.

Accompanying Martin were Reid Young, in-house counsel for Blue Ridge, and Bill Harris, president of Virginia Cobia Farms.

Mark Keenum, undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, sat in on the meeting, Martin said.

Martin said he asked about the availability of federal loans because it is hard for Blue Ridge to get financing. That is because lenders basically “have no way to gauge us against anything” because few similar companies exist, he said.

Johanns made no promises. Martin said, however, that federal agriculture officials “understood our position well,” and Johanns is “very progressive in his thoughts about agriculture.”

“I would be surprised” if Blue Ridge does not receive a loan in the future, he added.

Martin said it is possible that Johanns soon will visit Blue Ridge to observe the fishery’s operations, but that is not firm and a date has not been set.

He extended an invitation to President Bush to accompany Johanns, but he said he realizes Bush might be too busy to come.