About Snapperfarm

Snapperfarm was founded in 1998 by Brian O'Hanlon and Joseph Ayvazian.

Brian O'Hanlon comes from a family with a long history in the seafood industry. His grandfather, John O'Hanlon got his start in the industry back in the early 1950's and eventually bought the company he worked for. Later Brian's uncles, aunts and father joined the family business. Most recently, Brian and one of his cousins have ventured into the field. Brian grew up within the industry and realized early that the key challenge the industry faced was not selling fish, but rather sourcing high quality fish. With this in mind Brian set out to determine and develop sustainable means of high quality seafood production.

Snapperfarm's original R&D efforts focused on broodstock maturation and spawning of Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus). As with many exciting businesses these days, Snapperfarm started in the basement of a Long Island, New York home. The basement of the home was gutted to make room for a large, photo period and temperature controlled broodstock maturation system. Thirty Red Snapper broodstock were collected 50 miles off the coast of Dauphin Island, Alabama and transported over 1,300 miles to New York. The fish were acclimated and conditioned in the tank over a period of one and a half years. The attempts to spawn Red Snapper were some of the first ever in captivity.

The experimental hatchery was decommissioned in late 1999 to begin focusing efforts on developing Snapperfarm's current open ocean demonstration project in Puerto Rico. Between 1999 and 2000 the company studied a number of locations in the Caribbean and ultimately chose Puerto Rico as the site for its demonstration project. Permit applications were submitted in 2000. After two years of extensive consultation with regulatory agencies, the permits were finally obtained.

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Snapperfarm utilizes state of the art submersible SeaStation™ and Aquapod™ cages.

In the summer of 2002, Snapperfarm installed its first cages and initiated the second private open ocean aquaculture operation in the United States. Snapperfarm currently utilizes SeaStation™ and Aquapod™ offshore submersible models with a capacity of 3,000 cubic meters. Because of the strong currents, extreme wave energy and exposure to hurricanes, the cages are operated fully submerged and are only surfaced for maintenance or harvest.

The first fish were stocked in the fall of 2002. Cage one was stocked with Mutton Snapper (Lutjanus analis) and cage two was stocked with Culebran Cobia™ (Rachycentron canadum). This represented the first time these species were stocked and grown in submerged open ocean cages anywhere in the world. Within a few weeks of stocking the first two cages, the decision was made to focus efforts exclusively on Culebran Cobia™. The fish exhibited excellent traits for aquaculture.

Since 2002, the company has been working diligently to refine the technology for open ocean aquaculture of Culebran Cobia™. Substantial improvements to the growth efficiency of Culebran Cobia™ and operational efficiency of the submerged open ocean operation have been made. With the knowledge gained over the past four years, Snapperfarm is poised to be a world leader in open ocean aquaculture production of Culebran Cobia™ and eventually other promising species of marine fish. Working with JC Seafood, Inc. in Miami, Florida, Snapperfarm has successfully introduced Culebran Cobia™ to health and environmentally conscious markets in the U.S.