Today we will continue our Sustainable Leaders series and have a Talk Story with Neil Sims the founder and CEO of Ocean Era, Inc. We will learn more about fisheries, farming fish and limu and the innovative work he is doing in this space to be more sustainable, regenerative and kind to the environment we live in.

Neil is Founder and CEO of Ocean Era, Inc., in Kona, Hawai’i, working in developing offshore culture systems for marine finfish - such as kampachi, snappers, mahimahi, and herbivorous reef fish - and tropical macroalgae, and exploring microbial biodigestion of macroalgae.

Neil was born in Australia, and worked initially in marine resource management in the Cook Islands. He has lived in Kona for the last 30 years, working for a series of start-ups at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA): initially in pearl oyster hatchery systems and pearl farm development, and then in marine fish hatchery production and offshore aquaculture.

Neil has founded commercial offshore kampachi farms in Hawaii and Mexico. He led the Velella projects: an untethered, offshore ‘drifter pen’; and an unmanned net-pen operation in 2,000 m of water, 10 km offshore. Ocean Era is planning to deploy an offshore macroalgae array in Kona, and is applying for permits for an offshore fish and macroalgae farm off Oahu, and offshore permits in the Gulf of Mexico, off Florida.

Neil sits on the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Technical Advisory Group, and is a NELHA Boardmember. He holds a B.Sc.(Marine Biology) from James Cook University, in Queensland, and a M.Sc.(Zoology) from University of New South Wales, Australia.

Neil Sims:

Instagram: @ocean_era_inc : Ocean Era (@ocean_era_inc) • Instagram photos and videos

LinkedIn: (34) Ocean Era: Overview | LinkedIn

Email: ⁠[email protected]

Helpful Links:

Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index 2023/2024

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