Mid way through August and the project is steaming along.
Our search for a permanent site on which to begin building phase 1 of our expansion is well underway.
It appears we may have found the engineering firm we wanted. All the bids from all the firms we interviewed are in and we are quite satisfied with the numbers. A few details need to be clarified but then we can award that contract. This is a very important "next step" as we try and maintain our very ambitious timeline for expansion.
The weekly farm report is very positive. Below is just an excerpt.
Production has begun with the stocking of P09 with 150,000 PL’s. These PL’s will be used to stock as grow-out juveniles in late September/early October, depending on growth rates. Temperatures are now within acceptable ranges in this pond, PL’s are in healthy condition and growing well. A second PL shipment is scheduled for the first week of September, immediately after Labor Day. These two shipments will stock out the 10 production ponds with juveniles, with staggered harvests programmed for the beginning of 2013.
Temperature was higher than desired for the stocking of these PL’s (32.9C-pm), but was brought down by semi-passive manipulation during the first five days after stocking (currently 31.5C-pm).
Increasing ventilation by opening plastic wall panels and forced air movement directly over this pond and the WWT has dropped the temperature into acceptable range. Additional shade panels will be installed over P09 and P03. This will maintain these two ponds within acceptable ranges.
Temperatures should begin to fall in all other ponds in the weeks before the transfer of these juveniles to grow-out. Salinities are in the 24 and 19 ppt range in P09 and WWT respectively. These will steadily rise as higher salinity water from our fresh water reserve is continually added to the system. Ammonias and nitrites are at minimal detectable levels and should remain this way for several weeks, if not longer, while filling the facility.
With 150,000 post larvae growing rapidly toward stocking size in pond 9 (see pic below) and the facility in full operational mode we can almost take a deep breath before we begin to accelerate our efforts toward the expansion phase.
It is have been a very satisfying summer for the project.
It never hurts to take a moment and thank God for his grace and for the beauty of the moment.
Being a movie "buff" I have watched way too many films in my lifetime. That said, it is amazing the way certain lines from random films just come into my head at the strangest times.
Writing this and smiling as I reflect on where we are with the project today, given everything we have endured the past 5 years the following movie line just popped in my head.
"The past is but a memory and the future is unknown, but the present, the present is a "gift" and that is why we call it the "present".
The movie from which that line came, "Kung Fu Panda".
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