Darden Aquafarm, World's First Commercial Lobster Farm, To Grow Billions Worth Of Shellfish

Lobster is one of the world's last great wild foods. But wildness isn't exactly a cherished quality in the business world. So when the executives of Darden Restaurants, the owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and several other restaurant chains, were trying to think of a way to invest a few hundred million dollars, it makes sense that they fixed their sights on a bold new horizon of domestication: lobster farming.

Sandra Pendicini of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Darden Aquafarm, the result of years of R&D at Darden, will be the first commercial lobster fishery in the world when it opens in Malaysia over the next few years. Novelty doesn't come cheap. The construction of the 23,000 lobster farm is expected to cost about $650 million, about $300 million will come from Darden itself. (The rest will be underwritten by Darden's partners in the venture.) It will employ thousands of local people.

Not that Darden Aquafarm is going to be a charity. Indeed, it could ultimately prove a major cash cow for Darden. By the time it's fully operational, around 2029, it is planned to produce 40 million pounds of lobster a year. That could mean revenues in the billions of dollars. Instead of producing the big-clawed Maine-style lobsters everyone knows and loves, though, Darden Aquafarm will raise spiny, or rock lobsters, which are smaller.

At first, most of the shellfish produced at the farm will be sold to Asian restaurants and buyers. But over time, more and more of them will end up on the plates of diners at Red Lobster and other Darden restaurants.

Darden has been developing the idea for its lobster farm for years. Past attempts at lobster farming were hampered by the slow growth and voracious appetites of lobsters, which make them hard to raise profitably. Darden is banking on the idea that new technology and a big heap of cash will allow it to skirt those problems in Malaysia.

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Comments

[ooc5477]

08:12 AM on 01/08/2013

ahh Man--they stole my idea! LOL
My wife laughed when I told her that raising lobsters could be a profitable idea!
She is going to have to read this story!!

[Atlantya]

07:58 PM on 04/22/2012

I've been boycotting lobster for many years, unless I've caught it myself while scuba diving, mostly because of the very large amount of lobster that's supplied by divers off the Mosquito Coast, at a very high cost of injury and death to them. Red Lobster, et al, have been exploiting the destitute people of the Mosquito Coast for many years so that we may eat cheap lobster. Lobster supplied at the cost of another person's life doesn't seem very cheap to me. http://www.utne.com/​2005-01-01/​DyingforLobster.aspx

[Stephan Morin]

05:18 PM on 04/22/2012

The last paragraph says it all. Their 'new technology' has to be a growth hormone. Who's gonna eat that crap? Oh, wait. All the people who already eat other farmed animals. YUK.

Why over seas? They trying to hide something?

[Stephan Morin]

05:13 PM on 04/22/2012

The last paragraph says it all. This 'new technology' is pumping them with hormones like they currently do to all the other farmed animals used for consumption.
And why overseas? Are they trying to hide something?

[Ian Llangan]

03:47 PM on 04/11/2012

Will this have any beneficial effect toward getting human beings to stop Hoovering the ocean floors of all life until we've nothing left - as is rapidly happening now?

[Dr Van Nostrand]

01:54 PM on 04/10/2012

The best oysters in the world, island creek, are farm raised. Not a fan of Darden restaurants, but I like the forward thinking about sustainability. Hopefully they can raise a high quality product.

[johnnygoodwud]

08:39 AM on 04/10/2012

YUK what kind of genetically altered food will they be eating, to get them to plump up faster.

[Stephan Morin]

05:19 PM on 04/22/2012

Ditto

[ARSB1]

01:10 AM on 04/10/2012

40 million pounds of lobster a year? Gross.

[nightfly4257]

07:17 PM on 04/09/2012

Farm raised lobster, what a disgusting concept. This just seems kind of unnatural, hopefully mother nature does not create a disease to wipe out the stock. It's kind of ironic, back in the late 90s live lobster was really expensive in the supermarket per pound. You get a fair deal at the Red Lobster, especially the live ones. Prices lobster have dropped dramatically at the at the supermarket, Red Lobster seems to keep raising the prices on their menu, what gives?

[Ian Llangan]

03:42 PM on 04/11/2012

Red Lobster's clientele are almost entirely obese people with little regard for taste or the limitations of nature to resist the commercial hoovering of the oceans.

By the way, have you read up on the "unnatural" state of the world's oceans lately? If you had, you likely wouldn't want to eat anything hauled up from them.

[Linda in NJ]

04:01 PM on 04/09/2012

There is a big lobster farm in Tennessee at the UPS hub and they ship live lobsters right from there for many businesses. The only thing disturbing is that this plant will be in Malasia, giving them thousands of jobs. That is bull. Boycott the fast food chains that take business from America. These are countries where regulations are lax and don't compare to the good old USA. I worked in the seafood industry for years and no would buy farm raised anything. Our Maine lobsters where are biggest seller.Maybe these same shoppers should ask their waiters where the lobster on their plate is from. BOYCOTT RED LOBSTER, OLIVE GARDEN and the rest of these low quality restaurants.

[BrooklynChef]

05:45 PM on 04/09/2012

Holding tanks for shipping are not farms

[Linda in NJ]

06:50 PM on 04/11/2012

It is a farm because I have been there. My husband works for fisheries and almost accepted a job there. So it is not a holding tank. There is even an hour special on The Green Planet that takes you there. Check it out.It is owned 90% by UPS and 10% other parties. It takes baby lobsters 4 years to reach 1 pound. That is being fed almost constantly.And they do feed them non stop. They are buying fish at my husbands fishery to process into food for them. I know its not a holding tank.....Brooklyn Chef, where at McDonalds?

[Ming the Merciless]

09:27 PM on 04/09/2012

the good old america is long gone, welcome to the global village run by the corporations!

[sherdy49]

03:42 PM on 04/09/2012

And will the lobsters be treated in a humane way until it is their turn to die? How will they be kept, fed, and killed? More and more people are refusing to eat animals raised in cruelty. Factory farming is disgusting. The one poster is correct. Anyone who has been to the East coast wouldn't consider Red Lobster fine dining anyway. PS. I am not a PETA freak. I always have to say that or I get accused of being one. I am also not convinced that our current food source isn't causing the record numbers of Autistic children born in this country. Okay. Stepping off soapbox now.

[rsheeran]

01:58 PM on 04/09/2012

One of the things that distinguishes New England lobsters from the rest of the world is their taste. This is why no self respecting New Englander goes to Red Lobster to begin with. If your goal is to taste butter and salt, the product might as well be potatoes or bread. There is simply no way you can replicate the real thing in the farming industry. Sorry Charlie.

[Dr Van Nostrand]

01:57 PM on 04/10/2012

Couldn't agree more about New England lobsters versus all others, they can't be beat. But have you ever had an island creek oyster? Those are farmed raised, and they're amazing.

[Karl Wilder]

01:52 PM on 04/09/2012

..and what havoc will it cause the environment? For this bad food chain to find a way to create more bad food it not a cause for celebration.

[plantbasedpunk]

01:10 PM on 04/09/2012

Factory farming: now available in lobster.

[Max Don]

01:10 PM on 04/09/2012

We should have those jobs here in the U.S. and export those products. The South has tons of catfish ponds. I could definitely see the lobster farms being placed somewhere on the East coast.

[Annie Tselikis]

03:28 PM on 04/09/2012

The LAST thing that we need are lobster farms at all - and we certainly don't need domestic lobster farms. Maine landed over 100 million pounds of lobster last year and we're having a hard enough time finding market for our product. ONE HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS (that doesn't include landings from Canada - which were about 150 million lbs) The average boat price (the price / lb paid to fishermen) was just $3.19... and when you have a $35,000 bait bill, pay for fuel, pay your crew and your other operating expenses, you can see that the profitability of the industry is marginal. I don't want to see lobster farms anywhere, but I especially don't want to see them on the East coast. You want to kill honest to goodness independent American businesses and a robust fishing industry? Putting a lobster farm on the East coast is a good way to do it.

[AZdesertdog]

04:47 PM on 04/09/2012

perhaps if there wasn't such a price disparity ($3.19/lb to $20.00/lb retail) we'd eat more lobster.

had the same issue when I lived in Hawaii. had a macadamia nut farm with over 300 trees, and couldn't get more than 20 cents per pound for shelled macadamia nuts. and how much is that little can in the grocery store?

Kona coffee is the same way. we all know how much that costs in the store, yet farmers are paid 25 cents per pound by the roasters.

[Max Don]

05:02 PM on 04/09/2012

Good to know this, but wouldn't a Lobster farm in Malaysia hurt the Lobster market in America?