DRONE PHOTOS … Pictures were taken from a drone recently. The picture shows the scope of construction efforts on the property. (PHOTOS PROVIDED)
By: Jacob Kessler
Pioneer residents are certainly no stranger to construction efforts that have been taking place in town for the new AquaBounty facility.
Multiple pieces of heavy machinery including cranes have been busy putting together what will be the new 479,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility.
For a brief recap, the new building will be home to approximately 10,000 metric tons of Atlantic Salmon.
The farm will be using a Recirculating Aquaculture System to raise the salmon inside the multiple freshwater tanks.
These tanks will require approximately 4.3 million gallons of water to be used each day which will then be run through a water treatment plant before being returned to the river.
Water being pulled from the ground will be returned to the river, with the water being constantly monitored after being treated.
The water treatment plant onsite will be regulated by the EPA and will meet and or exceed their standards according to AquaBounty.
The project has fought through numerous attempts to prevent its construction due to the amount of water needed daily and the fact that water will be released into the river.
Everything has continued on though and will join AquaBounty’s other facilities that are in Albany, Indiana and Prince Edward Island in Canada.
According to AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf, the buildings construction is still only in Phase 1. “We are continuing right along with construction and have made great progress in Phase 1. This is construction of the hatchery, nursery and early rearing.”
Phase 2 should begin sometime in the middle of this Summer, with Phase 1 construction still taking place. The shell of the building itself is expected to be erected sometime late this year in 2023.
Wulf also explained that the company is working closely with Ohio EPA on discharge permits and that they do not expect any issues due to the designs being made to their specifications.
The company is also working with the Williams County Commissioners regarding the right of way for the water and wastewater lines.
“One of the things AquaBounty is doing to support the village is by paying for fire prevention equipment that will be added to those lines and we will also be paying for the water going through those lines. This issue should hopefully be resolved within the next couple of weeks according to Wulf.
Going back to the construction of the building, the construction firm is currently in the process of finalizing bid packages for the remainder of construction.
This is a key step needed in order to begin marketing the bonds that were authorized by the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority, according to Sylvia Wulf.
Construction of the building should be completed sometime in late 2024 and the company expects to bring in eggs in January of 2025.
From there, the fish will be raised for 18 to 19 months where they will then be ready to harvest, process and be packaged for consumption.
Each of these processes will also be done in house to keep jobs in Pioneer and remove the need to outsource jobs.
While the estimated date of completion may still seem far out, AquaBounty already plans on recruiting employees late this year.
“We want to bring people in so they can get trained before we actually start the facility. We are looking forward to working with both colleges, universities and technical schools as we begin hiring and recruiting. We will be looking at them to help us in this regard,” said Sylvia Wulf.
She continued with, “AquaBounty is excited about the state-of-the-art farm we are constructing in Pioneer, Ohio. This brings a new form of agriculture to Ohio and will make the state a leader of Aquaculture in the United States.”
“We remain excited to be in Pioneer, bringing economic development to the area and are excited to hire and train people to work at our farm.”
To start out with, the company plans on selling their fish to meet the needs of commercial buyers. Shortly after operations, the company will look into the option of providing their fish to serve customers in a more retail setting.
All of this will help to reduce the United States dependency on fish imports, where it currently imports 70%-85% of seafood consumed.
Nearly 50% of that is produced in some way by aquaculture in other nations. The U.S. currently rates 17th in the world for aquaculture according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com