It will soon become the first large-scale shrimp farm in our country. The construction of large basins is now in full swing. Parent company Three-Sixty from Swansea in the United Kingdom also has a smaller installation there that is running well. Everything is still being built up in the old Ostend fish market. Filip Cauwels, Three-Sixty Aquaculture Oostende: “We have installed the large tank since November. Diameter 15 meters and height 3.60m. We are also building the rooms. The laboratory, the stairs and the entrance. And behind us you can also see the concrete pedestals for the filter system.”
No small shrimp
For this shrimp farming, which is not small shrimp, but a kind of scampi or prawn, the company also needs fresh seawater. This has been provided, among others, by the Flemish sponsor Marifish in the Ostend fish market buildings. This is an ambitious aquaculture project. “In the production hall we will go for 30 tons in the first phase and for phase two, which starts at the end of this year, it will go to 100 tons. That is huge. That is really big if you compare it in the aquaculture world.”
The scampi cultivation starts in July. The first Ostend harvest is scheduled for October. The company will employ 5 shrimp farmers full-time in the initial phase.
