Christmas 2014

There is a scene at the end of Lord of the Rings, in the "Return of the King" where Frodo says in a monologue, "how do you pick up the threads of your life, how do you go on when in your heart you begin to understand, there is no going back. There are some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold."

2014 delivered that kind of mortal wound to me. 

I, for the first time understand the pain and the damage that Frodo felt when the "ring wraith" stabbed him with the unholy blade on the mountain "Round Top."

No words, no rationalization, no time, no scar, can heal that wound or dull that kind of pain.

So, I am not doing a traditional Christmas this year. No cards, no wine baskets, no popcorn tins, that was what Lori always did.

I tried in Maryland to get down her Christmas notebook and look at who she sent gifts to in our name, and frankly the tears blurred the pages. 

So, Stephen, Victoria, and I are going to Vegas. We are going some where Mom would never, ever, have gone and every time we think of her there, we will laugh. 

Again, she would never, ever, have gone to Vegas.

So, my Christmas present to everyone this year is simple, I am following or copying Charlie Brown in his Christmas special, and it comes from Luke 2:8-14. This is the greatest gift we were ever given. I will write again in the New Year. 

" And in the region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the Angel said to them, "be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased."

True Christmas Miracles

Today was a day of true Christmas miracles. 

Today two disparate events occurred that confirmed yet again, my faith that God is real and heaven exists.

Norway (finally) after years of bull headed stupidity voted to stop the subsidy that supports the annual barbaric seal hunt in Canada. 

www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/449279/norway-scraps-controversial-seal-hunting subsidy

This should mark the the beginning of the end of that atrocious, barbaric, and cruel, annual hunt.

Then Pope Francis while comforting a young boy who had recently had his dog die, said be comforted, that the boy and all of us will see our pets in heaven. 

The actual quote by Pope Francis was, "all God's creatures will be welcome in Paradise. One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures."

This echos what St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals said centuries ago. 

(This current Pope actually took his name from the patron saint of animals.) 

In 1990 Pope John Paul the 2nd said animals have souls, but few took notice.  

Today, Pope Francis' comments have been quoted and carried around the world.

To me, both of these events are true Christmas miracles and maybe they are heralds of a future when we human animals will recognize that non-human animals have souls, were created by the same God that created us, and are worthy of moral consideration and kindness, and frankly better treatment at every level from our species.

And I think Lori is already very busy saving animals on earth from her place in heaven above.

Smiles

This will be a short blog.  

As you know, for me and my family, 2014 has not been a good year.

So, it was very heartening that two very positive things have happened in the past few days.

First, after many significant and extremely diligent visits and examinations and questions and taste tests, GBT was able to announce this past week that we have signed our first overseas deal.

The following release was placed on the company web site this past Monday. (I think or maybe it was Sunday night.)

GBT Inks First International Project: Japan

GBT-International is honored to announce the signing of a joint-venture agreement to build a shrimp aquaculture facility using the GBT technology in Japan.  This will be the first GBT facility located outside of the United States. 

Contracts were signed after nearly a year of intense discussions with and in-person visits to GBT’s operations in Texas (that included multiple “tastings” of GBT shrimp) by an impressive range of the highest level of representatives of Japan’s cultural, financial and agricultural sectors.   Each approached the potential of bringing GBT to Japan with the same focus: safeguarding that nation’s strict standards of quality, safety, and excellence of seafood for the Japanese people. 

On every level, GBT shrimp received outstanding acclaim and approval.

The initial production “footprint” for Japanese operations is designed to increase according to an incremental and practical timetable.  The construction phase of the initial Japanese facility is targeted to break ground in the first quarter of 2015. 

The project will operate under the corporate auspices of GBT-International’s Japanese partners as GBT-Japan.  GBT-International will oversee construction, training, and technical management of the system.  GBT-Japan will provide on-site staffing and be responsible for day-to-day operations.  The chain of GBT bio-security will be maintained by the exclusive use of GBT-provided brood stock and PLs (Post Larvae) for stocking the bio-secure ponds.  Sustainable Sea Products International (SSPI) working with GBT-Japan will handle marketing and distribution.

This should mark a turning point and hopefully put an end to the past three years of countless questions such as, "do you really think your system will work?" or "are these projections and numbers real?"

The second very positive thing was that I came back to Maryland for a few days to attend to some things, both business and personal that I had simply let go unattended for far too long.

This is only the second time I have been back to our home in Maryland since the funeral and the last trip home (for Thanksgiving) my melancholy almost overwhelmed me.

Today, I went up take some carrots up to Charm and Annie, our two horses. I have not been able to even look at them the past year without tearing up.

Today, feeding Charm her carrots, remembering back over the almost 29 years I have had her, I smiled remembering how she looked as a six month old filly when I purchased her in Michigan. 

I smiled remembering how much Lori loved Charm and vice versa and the hours those two spent together back when we lived in Beallsville and brought Charm to Maryland from Michigan and virtually every week since that day Charm arrived. That is now over 18 years ago.

Arabian horses, if taken good care of, can live a long time. That said, Charm is approaching 29 (next March) and she is showing her age, but then again so am I.

But the point I am making is I smiled.

And that these two totally unrelated events were the first time in the past year that I have felt a true, good, and happy emotion inside of me, that let me actually smile.

                                      Charm and I today, December 10, 2014.

Thoughts on What is Important

I am in my new house and I have my cats and my dogs with me so do not think this blog is a whiny one.

Since the time I was 22 years old I have wanted to make a difference in the world. 

It started with my disgust and revulsion over how we treat our pets. 

We, a developed leading nation, kill millions of dogs and cats a year simply because we refuse to give them non-human rights and make it illegal to breed them without a guarantee of a home.

Then I looked at hunting. I hunted. As a kid growing up in Virginia, I was forced to hunt. It is disgusting, killing a life for fun, (and don't even try the argument I eat what I kill) is grotesque. 

Then I traveled the world. 

I went from a "dumb ass red neck" in Virginia to an educated world traveler, and as my late wife called me, became an "erudite redneck". 

I saw the global picture. 

I started out believing the guy who killed the elephant for 20 dollars for a tusk was the criminal. 

Then I learned the corporate CEO who flew in private planes while exploiting the world's resources were the real criminals and they were being aided and abetted by the governments of the world.

So, I set out 15 years ago to see if I could make a difference. 

Along the way I lost my wife and best friend to cancer. 

I have risked every nickel I owned to make my vision work. 

I have developed a persona of loneliness to be able to stay above the emotions and keep my eye on the end goal. 

Some one once said, "the only thing that allows evil to exist is for good men to do nothing."

GBT is going to break big and impressive in 2015. 

The real impact of what we have spent 15 years and 75 million US dollars developing will not be felt probably until long after I am dead.

It has been a few days over three months since Lori died and everyday I miss her. 

Our life together was not perfect, in fact it was a bit dysfunctional. 

But like the current popular song says, "my family is dysfunctional  but we have a good time killing each other." I miss Lori every day.

I am determined, even obsessed, to do something that can show the world that you can make a difference. 

In the next few weeks and months I am going to get more aggressive.

Has anyone even noticed that last week, India, has declared dolphins as "non-human persons" worthy of moral consideration?

Does anyone understand that the reason oil is $65 a barrel is because war is no longer the way to deal with thugs like Putin, but economy is?

Does anyone understand that without food and water, oil and gas, and beach houses are meaningless?

Does anyone get the fact that the world is no longer American -centric?

The world is totally inter connected which means inter-dependent. 

The insanity of "ISIS" and the foolishness of fundamentalism be it Christian or Islam or anything is that they are all dinosaurs. 

They are extinct and they just do not realize it. 

A few weeks ago not long after Lori died I received a vitriolic e-mail from the wife of a "very real friend."

In this e-mail she accused me of betraying my friend. 

Her e-mail was so hurtful, so filled with un-truths, so wrong at every level, I wanted to write back in kind. 

But I did not. 

I would like to think that finally after decades of being a total asshole, my wife has, finally from heaven above, looked down and is guiding me to do the right thing, not the "make me feel good thing" that I used to do.

So tonight I want to leave all of you with a great and warm story.

Charm, my Arabian mare I have had in my life for 29 years recently lost her buddy, a gelding of the last 4 years.

She was depressed, but through the wonderful kindness of Betty Davis, who takes care of Lori's and my two horses (Charm and Annie)  Charm found another friend, and she is no longer alone.

Maybe the secret to happiness or at least contentment is just that simple. 

Do not be alone. 

Charm and her new friend.

Changing the World

Jonathan Swift once said, "I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."

I am not sure who said this but another quote I believe to be a basic truth is the one that states , "Man is the only animal capable of self rationalization and the only one who needs to be."

I could go on quoting various quotes combining sarcasm and vitriol addressing various behaviors by people that are beyond my understanding.

Today's blog however has a different focus. I am tired and pissed off with what we humans individually and together as “environmental groups,” international regulatory bodies, industries, or nations are doing to the world's oceans and the creatures that inhabit them. 

For decade upon decade, I’ve sat through countless mind-numbing meetings at the international, national, corporate, and NGO levels with each one trying to outdo the other in their passion and dedication to “save the Oceans.”  

It doesn’t matter who is talking - Ministers, National Administrators, scientists, or activists pounding podiums and spouting statistics, pointing fingers at polluters and nations that turn a blind eye on the illegal and destructive practices of their fishing fleets – they say the same thing: the state of the Earth’s Oceans is “critical.”

 

Their every well-intentioned pledge on behalf of reversing that ominous pronouncement amounts to the same thing:  lip service.

Nothing substantial or helpful ever gets done.  Nothing changes. 

Of this I do not exaggerate.  It’s the same song and dance I’ve listened to since 1992.

I have been on shrimp boats, factory trawlers, long line boats, and more than I can remember since 1997

The sad and frustrating fact is the Oceans and the creatures within continue to suffer on-going destruction and degradation.  Over 75 percent of the world’s fish stocks are either depleted or quickly heading toward that shameful status.

I truly believe that governments can only administer and NGO's can only point fingers and lay blame (much like the media).  Neither institution has the means to really make things better.  

On this blog, I want to talk about trying to make a real difference in the world. 

I am not saying "I" can make a difference, but perhaps given what our company is doing now and where we are in our development of a truly re-circulating and sustainable aquaculture system, it is time to talk about how our system given its capabilities might be able to show how a difference can be made.

As I mentioned in a recent blog, the shrimp project in Texas is being handled by a team far more competent than I could ever hope to be.  Once the last Reg D funds are raised and the funds become available to build production modules 3 and 4 that project will be economically self-sustaining.

Our first overseas project for shrimp has begun and in 2015 that operation should come on line and begin (for the first time using our system) to produce a high grade, sustainable, natural and great tasting jumbo shrimp outside of the USA.

With this in mind, I am starting to focus on beginning the R&D phase of utilizing the GBT system to produce several species of non-pelagic fin fish. 

The GBT technology can produce copious amounts of high quality fish protein.  What we need to research are some of the environmental and feed parameters relevant to each species.  Thanks to what we’ve learned from our experience raising GBT shrimp, that R&D on fin fish species should not be all that difficult.

This new approach to farming fin fish could effectively be a game changer for the world's oceans. 

We at GBT are already exceeding all records of biomass per cubic meter of water for shrimp.  Our projected biomass for fin fish should be even far greater than what we’ve done to date with our shrimp. 

Just as with our shrimp production, our fin fish production will eliminate enormous amounts of by-catch of non-targeted species.  

Let me remind you the scale of what I’m talking about.

For every pound of shrimp GBT produces, between 7 and 14 pounds of species such as red fish, sardines, pilchard, crab, sea turtles, sharks, and many more, are allowed to live.  Speaking conservatively, if we raise 10 million pounds of shrimp per year we could spare 70 to 140 million pounds of non-target species from becoming by-catch waste.  

By-catch associated with the fin fish industry is even greater than that taken by the shrimp capture fisheries.

If you think I am exaggerating, I am not. These are just a very few pictures of hundreds I took in the late nineties, of by catch that was thrown back into the ocean dead after the shrimp were separated from the rest of the catch by hand. 

It made me sick to see it then and it makes me sick today to think about the millions of fish, turtles, dolphins, and other species that are destroyed daily, all called "by-catch", a euphemism for non-targeted kill. And in my view it has only gotten worse.

I am not sure whether the best way to move forward is to try and find a global partner who shares GBT’s commitment to the values of ethical capitalism and the triple bottom line or if I should seek a grant for the research phase now that 15 years and over 55 million dollars were spent perfecting the GBT system. 

I have given serious thought to the various options on how to help us secure the funds to afford the initial R&D expenses needed before a true commercial scale fin fish venture can be launched.

Farming high-end fin fish is undeniably a highly lucrative endeavor that is a universally acknowledged as being a key to relieving the depletion of the Oceans’ marine fish stocks from over-fishing.  

But, the equally undeniable truth ( in our opinion) is that in its present forms – floating farms, open ocean net-pens, etc. – fin fish farming is fast heading the way of open-pond shrimp farms: toward extinction.

Our dilemma is how to fund the R&D needed in order to select the species of fin fish the most pragmatic fit for GBT in terms of its consumer demand, return on investment, and environmental factors affecting growth, feed, supply of smolts (baby fish for stocking) etc.?

Do I seek a Global Partner(s)?  Look for Foundation grants? Or, once again use personal assets as I have in the past, or use a mix of personal and corporate assets?

The more I ponder how to reach this new objective the more details I have to address: The structure of the new entity?  It’s name?  The percentage of the company and the role of such a “partner.” 

At this moment, I’m thinking that the company should be called Global Blue Technologies – Fin Fish (GBT-FF) and that the individual(s) bringing USD about a $5.5 million dollar investment to the table should, in turn, be given 1/3 equity in all revenue streams and a seat on that company’s Board of Directors as well as the corporate strategic planning team.

The GBT - Cameron shrimp operation is a strictly American owned company. For the fin fish venture it seems appropriate investors on a global level and to consider if we might even incorporate in the country of the investor’s choice.  

We need to bring GBT-FF “on-line” and expand its growth in the most rapid, productive and efficient manner possible.

Whether we go with an individual or seek a grant, the funding source be they individuals or a foundation or a country absolutely must share the GBT corporate objective of promoting ethical capitalism, environmental sustainability, social equity and advocacy for reducing fishing pressure on the world’s oceans.  

The potential GP must have the financial resources, business acumen and financial network to allow GBT-FF to rapidly expand global fin fish production throughout key targeted locations worldwide starting the first quarter of 2015.

The financial upside is enormous. Projected production of “shrimp” within the “fully integrated GBT system” is between 5kg’s per m³ per harvest to, within a few years, perhaps 8-10 kg’s m³, but we believe that is the maximum.

Production in the GBT system with certain “efficient feeders” of finfish like sea bass, drum, pompano or cobia have biomass forecasts of harvests from 40- 70 kg’s per m³. 

The cost of production per unit will be higher than shrimp, but the actual net in sales will be significantly greater due to higher bio masses and increasing prices driven by a growing global demand.

Most simply put, if GBT-FF can secure the right “fit” as a funding source, this strategy will allow GBT-FF to produce finfish for the world and for profit at least 5-7 years faster than if the internal financial approach for GBT’s expansion is undertaken. 

A tentative working analysis of six species has already been completed.

A key factor necessary for future commercial success will be to secure in advance steady supplies of smolt or fingerling's (baby fish) for each species chosen as best candidates given the location and environmental conditions of each respective production site. That process has already started.

I am not looking to do finfish using largely personal infrastructure nor personal money.  To put it quite bluntly, I’m getting too old to once again put my personal assets back on the line.  Been there.  Done that.  

Plus I don’t want to divert funds from our shrimp production operations because would delay both our shrimp expansion plans and push back the start-up of the finfish venture from early 2015 to mid 2016 with the first harvest sometime in 2019.

GBT shrimp will ultimately provide my family and our team and our investors with the long-term financial security everyone seeks.

Before we can even make a decision on a Global partner for GBT – FF, that funding source must accept unequivocally the triple bottom-line of GBT’s corporate culture.

That includes not just profitability but also strict adherence to environmental sustainability, and a strong commitment to social equity. 

Further, the fin fish investment entity must be fully cognizant that if the funding becomes immediately available to fast track finfish R&D to start in 2015, the actual commercial production would in all probability not be able to see a first harvest until 2017.

GBT is already considering the feasibility of designing and preparing to retrofit the old micro culture facility (behind the office building) on the GBT Copano Bay site to handle the finfish studies with the goal of having it ready to begin early in 2015. 

A young man with a Masters Degree in fish aquaculture and a strong research background in finfish, currently on the GBT- Cameron staff was specifically hired from the University of Southern Mississippi several months ago to head up the GBT finfish studies. He is currently learning and studying the GBT system at Copano Bay with an eye to specific finfish species suitability.

I have to decide whether to begin to aggressively seek a “Global Partner(s)” or find foundation funding, or bite the "proverbial" bullet and fund it myself.

The downside of the latter alternative is that given the current potential shrimp expansion over the next six months, neither GBT nor myself would not be able to divert monies to start the fin fish R&D until mid 2016 at the earliest. 

That would put the start date to look for a location, funding, and prospective investors off until 2018 at the earliest and perhaps longer.   

GBT-FF needs at minimum 12-18 months to run the environmental parameters and feed consumption ratios in a comparative analysis before deciding which species are the optimum candidates for respective targeted locations.

If a GP that "fits"cannot be found within the next few months, then other “alternatives” discussed about remain viable.  

However, I cannot think of any “downside” to starting to search for the right “Global Partner” to accelerate the start the GBT finfish venture now. 

Heaven knows the world's oceans need something more than lip service and they need it sooner not later.

Thoughts Before Thanksgiving 2014

I am facing this years holiday season with mixed emotions.

This first holiday season without Lori will be very difficult 

I will be heading back to Maryland for a week and hopefully remember the good times there and enjoy time with Stephen and Victoria and see old friends and visit old haunts. Maryland is always very pretty in the fall.

I have bought a new house in Rockport. 

Nothing fancy, but on the water and Sara and her husband have kindly offered to move my things to the new house while I am in Maryland so when I come back the dogs and I will be in a new domicile. That should provide enormous emotional relief. Staying in this house is simply too sad.

Having Stephen and Victoria now living very close to me in Rockport is great and frankly the dogs have been a blessing. They depend on me to get up, feed them, entertain them, and they are great company on some of the long sad evenings I spend alone here in this house. We really do not treat dogs properly in this country or any other. They are amongst God's most special creatures.

Had a great visit with a large group of our Midwestern investors a week or so ago. With their help and trust we are proving you can build a true sustainable and productive business in America and produce something the world really needs - "healthy clean food", not just more celebrities and sports teams. 

I was amazed by the out pouring of support for myself, for Stephen, and for the project. 

There really are still great people with strong values and faith in the world. 

I just get so cynical I lose sight of that sometimes, but an event like the one ten days ago restores my conviction, that some people do care, and people can make a difference, despite the stupidity of governments and the dumbing down of the world via the lack of intelligent and reasoned reporting by the press. 

The shrimp were a big hit as well.

In any event, despite ongoing frustrations with less than optimum American suppliers and manufacturers things continue to progress at the site. For more up to date info you can go to the GBT web site at: globalbluetechnologies.com

I have such a great team running the operations, both in production and in construction, I really find myself virtually unemployed. 

Everyone on the GBT team is smarter, more innovative, more passionate, and frankly overall just better at virtually all aspects of the project than I am. That is actually a pretty fine place to find oneself in. 

And Rockport is a pretty special place as well. Decent caring people, with strong ethical and religious values. 

And finally as I wrote in a previous blog I have been finding great comfort in returning recently to reading the works by the great English Romantic Poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

There are so many insightful and brilliant quotes and indeed full poems by this largely forgotten genius that is saddens me to think how much more people's minds could be opened to old thoughts and ideas that now seem like new thoughts, if they would simply pick up one of his works and read it as opposed to watching another stupid sitcom on a week day night. 

Just read some of his quotes on animals, government, death, God, etc., and your mind will find new and fascinating pathways down which to wander.

So, in an effort to stimulate some small part of our brain that may crave true knowledge and reflection I offer this quote for the day.

"Government has no rights; it is a delegation from several individuals for the purpose of securing their own. It is therefore just, only so far as it exists by their consent, useful only so far as it operates to their well-being."

Think about that.

Thoughts of Autumn

It has been barely two months since Lori succumbed to triple negative breast cancer and the pain of loss is still acute.

November is the real herald of autumn in my world and this year seems especially sad as the evenings seem to come on quicker and the nights are longer.

I find myself remembering the tale of Persephone and Hades and how that Greek myth prepares the earth for the sadness of 6 months of winter ahead, but giving us hope, for as always, there is the promise "if  winter comes, spring cannot be far behind." 

(The quote is from a Percy Bysshe Shelley poem. Shelley also dies tragically and too soon being a month short of 30 years old when he drowned.)

That brings another Shelley quote to mind. "We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

In any case, this autumn seems exceptionally melancholy so I am determined to try and focus on ways to find a lighter feeling in my soul and some happiness in small things.

One thing I am very proud of and I know Lori would be proud as well, Stephen and Victoria, his fiancee, rescued a stray dog on the way home the other night after we had enjoyed dinner with a delegation of our Japanese partners in Corpus Christi.

He is definitely carrying on our family's tradition of saving animals and never passing by a creature in need without trying to help. 

Everyone at GBT had a great time during the visit from some of our Japanese partners this past weekend.

Jason prepared a fantastic smorgasbord of sushi treats for our guests using GBT shrimp fresh from the ponds.

Jason who spent some time in Okinawa while in the military is an excellent chef and well accomplished in Japanese cuisine. Not a bad accomplishment to have in one's skill set.

The Japanese delegation had a great time and were effusive in their praise for the taste and quality of our shrimp. And they were equally complimentary in their opinions of the GBT system and the GBT team.

All of us at GBT are delighted to have such enthusiastic partners and persons of such integrity as we work to expand our production capabilities globally.

Stephen and I are definitely going to Maryland for Thanksgiving. It is a time to see old friends and family and try to begin to heal. I miss my two cats and my horses and Lily, our African grey parrot. 

It will be good to spend time back in Maryland over the Thanksgiving holiday.

We are trying to decide on something fun and unique to do for Christmas. Something that would be a whole new experience for us over the Christmas season. 

Maryland where we live is very, very, pretty in the fall. 

And a change of location for a while as the seasons change, may be a change we need, at least for a little while.

Where We Are Today

I often do posts on my blog for cathartic reasons, sometimes to address something that really bothers me, sometimes to share information that I think others might appreciate, and also to talk about my company and what we are trying to do to help make a difference in the world.

The following is an interview I recently did with my partner and friend of over 20 years, John Aquilino. The article has been posted on the web site of our company under "NEWS".

I thought it might be worth running again so I am posting on my blog.

Interview with GBT Chairman, David K. Wills

John Aquilino:  David, you and I have been partners for the past 20 years.  Some 15 years ago, we sat down together to decide what path our company should follow.  Since the beginning we focused on trying to do things better for those in need of medical research, better in terms of how farmers raised their livestock, how corporations sourced their seafood, and better for the earth in general.  You had been literally around the world showing Red Lobster and other major corporations how to avoid suppliers who overfished Ocean stocks, polluted water with their aquaculture practices, destroyed coral reefs, exploited their workers and more.

David Wills: Those were the days!  In hindsight, I think we were modern-day Cassandra’s.  We told the truth and our words floated past deaf ears.  That’s when we decided to take our own advice and put our words into action for our own company instead of advising others.   That’s also the time when we were asked to do an analysis of millions of dollars in Congressional funding that over the past decade failed to produce a world-class, competitive shrimp aquaculture industry for the U.S.  So our experience and the convergence of fate set our path for us.

JA:  The path to Texas took some mighty big turns didn’t it?

DW:  You can say that again.  In Mississippi, we saw the fruit of the research those federal dollars supported but we also saw that research is not the same as entrepreneurship.  Building an industry is not what academia is all about.  Then, we went to South Africa and proved we could grow commercial quantities of outstanding shrimp.  We also learned the flaws in that early system design.  From there it was back home to the United States to develop the system we are using now.

JA:  David, you first arrived in Texas in February 2011.  It’s three years and eight months later and I think we both agree it’s time to tell friends, investors and folks across Texas the state of Global Blue Technologies today.

DKW:  All things considered, we’ve made incredible progress. 

JA:  How so?

DKW:  We just harvested 13.6 metric tons of shrimp weighing between 30-45 grams from three ponds with 85 to 90 percent survival.  The average harvest from open pond farms throughout the world yields, at best, two metric tons of 16-20 gram shrimp per hectare with 60 percent survival.  A handful of super intensive farms say they can grow 20 metric tons of the same size shrimp with the same average survival.  Maybe.  If they can, I say good for them.

Let me put the importance of the data collected from our three-pond harvest in perspective.  A hectare equals 2.47 acres.  The three ponds we harvested barely total 1.18 acres combined.  The average open-pond farm anywhere in the world grows 4409.24 pounds of shrimp per acre.  Our harvest was 25,409 pounds per acre, almost six times that of the average open-pond farm.

JA:  That’s impressive!

DKW:  True.  But it’s only a fraction of what we can do once all systems are running at full capacity.  Those numbers are from ponds stocked at less than half density.

JA:  Why is that?   

DKW:  GBT-Cameron, our U.S. flagship farm, is a little less than a year behind schedule due to a number of factors I will explain later.  For that reason our initial harvests are the aquaculture equivalent of a “test flight” of a new aircraft or “shakedown cruise” of a Navy warship.  No one, including our own staff, has ever worked in a system like ours so the data from each pond we harvest helps demonstrate the merits of our projections.  It also helps establish benchmarks by which we can tweak the system to enhance efficiency.

When we say our harvests of minimally stocked ponds yield six times the average biomass with double the survival, no one in the industry believes us.  Those figures just seem incredible if not impossible.  To us they are just the beginning of what we can do.

If we average only 10,000 pounds for each of the eight ponds stocked at less than half their stocking density, then we should pull 80,000 pounds of shrimp from all eight ponds per module after those first harvests. 

Once stocked to full capacity, those ponds, we believe, will yield double, even triple that biomass per pond per harvest.  With partial harvests it is conceivable that we can get four or five times the production of that first harvest.  In the future we will hit benchmarks of 20,000 to 30,000 to 50,000 pounds of shrimp per pond.  So each eight-pond module could produce from 160,000 to 400,000 pounds of shrimp per module per harvest. 

With one production footprint of four eight-pond production modules and 2.5 harvests per pond per year... well, you do the math.  Don’t forget to multiply by $10 a pound for a conservative dollar figure.

JA:  You are talking serious numbers of shrimp!

DKW:  We would be hitting those numbers today if we did not encounter the delays I mentioned earlier.

JA:  Will you elaborate on those delays and their effect on the facility?  

DKW:  Without them, we would have gathered the data we are collecting now on growth, stocking density, and more some six to eight months ago.  Without that nearly year delay, today we would be well into full-density commercial production and have a strong income stream flowing.  Our investors would see a decent return before the end of the year.  Unfortunately that is not going to happen until 2015.

The first delay was from structural/construction issues both in terms of quality of construction and failure to meet promised deadlines.  The combination quite literally set us back by the better part of a year.  We expected to have the ponds for the first module covered by October 2013. 

That second factor was the worst winter in Rockport, Texas history.  If our pond shelters were delivered and constructed on time, the weather would not have been a factor in pushing us so far behind schedule.  But delivery wasn’t until December 2013, right in the middle of winter.  The poor quality of construction compounded the delay causing us to not take possession of our production facility and start to prepare the ponds for stocking because of repeated and unsuccessful attempts to repair the poor construction until April 2014.

We now realize we erred in not constructing our bio-filter before our production module.  The frustration caused by the structural issues distracted us from the fact that building the bio-filter first would have given us time to culture our biofloc in quantities to handle greater initial stocking densities. 

On a personal level, the death of my wife, Lori, after her heroic struggle against the most lethal form of breast cancer – Triple Negative Breast Cancer – and the four-year, 24/7effort to find a course of treatment to save her life sapped my focus, my emotions, and every ounce of my energy.  She was my life.  Toward her end, daily activities of the farm receded deep into a fog of utter sadness and loss.  Luckily we’ve been very successful putting together a team of incredibly wonderful individuals to run the farm while I tried vainly to save Lori’s life. 

I’m not looking for sympathy.  I’m just letting everyone know where I was emotionally during that time.

JA:  What, in your opinion, is the status of the company now?

DKW:  We are in a very, very good place.  We know our system works.  We grow far larger quantities of bigger, better tasting shrimp in less time with a smaller environmental footprint than any other system.

Let me revisit my reference to our putting together a quality team. 

The Copano Bay facility as well as GBT’s international production oversight is in the more than capable hands of Eduardo Figueras.  Eduardo is recognized throughout the shrimp aquaculture industry worldwide as the co-founder of the “Blue Revolution” for his work to convince the industry that broodstock and PLs (post larvae) need not be sourced from the wild.  He proved the science of genetics unlocked the way to raise both disease-free in hatcheries.

We’ve tapped decades of aquaculture experience when we hired John Harvin and his son, Nick.  Nick Harvin is in charge of the daily production operations of the farm.  Nick literally grew up on shrimp farms as he followed his father’s career managing farms throughout Latin America.

Nick Harvin is typical of the young generation we put in place to take GBT into the future.  Another talented young man on our team is my son, Stephen White.  Stephen is the company’s COO and oversees all purchasing, contracts, and budget compliance. 

I could and probably should name everyone on our incredible staff, from the young scientists to the workers upon whom we rely to keep the farm in peak condition.  But I will leave it at Eduardo, Nick and Stephen.  Rest assured the future of GBT is in good hands.

If the mention of my son or of the fact that we hired a father and son pair, the Harvin’s, gives anyone pause, let me relate a conversation I had recently with an executive of a Fortune 500 company trained at the Harvard Business School.  In a very patronizing tone, he cautioned me against hiring “friends and family.”  Very unwise he said.  I looked at him and said, “so let me get this straight.  You think it’s better to hire strangers and enemies?”

GBT is not only a team.  It is a family.  That’s how we treat each other.  That’s how we treat our investors.  That’s how we treat everyone who responds in kind with truth, integrity and respect.

I want to point out that we consider our investors a special part of the GBT family.  To the man and woman, they are real people, not venture capitalists or investment bankers or Wall Street types seeking a quick hit or a way to leverage ownership then sell the company profiting only themselves and the investors be damned.  A sizeable number of GBT investors are real dirt farmers who understand the time and effort it takes to grow a crop or raise livestock, concepts quite alien to the New York Finance world.  GBT is, after all, a farm.

I want to give special thanks to Tim Aberson, Steve Groe, and Stephen Lapointe.  They are not only investors but they also oversaw raising the funds that allowed us to build GBT.  Thanks to their efforts, we have no debt and we have capital reserves to allow us to expand and support operations far into 2015.   I might add that Stephen LaPointe is GBT’s beyond very capable accountant and CFO.

Again, in hindsight, the other area where I admit I was not as prepared as I feel I should have been is construction.  We’ve struggled a bit in that area.  Thanks to the advice of a member of the GBT family, Steve Groe, we fixed that problem and hired a very experienced construction manager: Lee Barnes.

Our sales and marketing arm is up, running, and headed by Jim Salmon, former Chairman of the National Fisheries Institute and a veteran seafood sales, marketing and distribution insider.  During his career, Jim oversaw seafood sourcing for the original family of restaurants then owned by General Mills that included Red Lobster and Olive Garden. 

GBT is very close to making our operations truly vertically integrated.  More on that in a future update.

JA:  So is that were GBT stands today?

DKW:  Not quite. 

At a time when Texas’ once thriving shrimp farming industry is going bust from disease, with farms and hatcheries folding, GBT is proving our technology can thrive when critics insist all signs say it is “the wrong time, wrong place and wrong venture.”  We’ve been told since 1998 that the technology we were developing “won’t work.”  Critics and traditional aquaculturists in the field and in academia still don’t believe our technology will work or has staying power. 

Quite the contrary…this is the right time and our technology does work.  Those initial harvests prove it.  What we are building together will be around for a long, long time.  But we are not finished.

Aside from the GBT technology, the area I know best is international relations.  To date, we’ve taken substantive steps to expand the GBT corporate network by signing our first international deal.  We are on the verge of closing negotiations on two others.  Revenues from each will directly benefit investors in GBT - Cameron.

JA: Is growing profits your motivation for starting GBT?

DKW:  GBT will prove very profitable.  I want it to be profitable.  I am a Capitalist.  I want GBT to prove to be a paradigm shift not only in how we farm marine protein but also in how we conduct a for-profit business.

Our vision is for GBT to become the global showcase for ethical capitalism.  We want to demonstrate that capitalism can and should embrace how we treat each other, how we treat those who work for us, and how we treat the planet.  We want it to grow into an international giant that leads the way for ethically contributing to the world’s food supply. 

On a personal and professional level, we created GBT because first and foremost we want to do something to help the Oceans.  We want GBT’s system to produce so much shrimp that it makes a real difference in eliminating the tremendous damage done marine species and the Ocean eco-system by trawlers. 

Too many consumers believe wild caught shrimp is “natural” and more environmentally friendly than open-pond farmed shrimp.  They totally ignore the fact that for every pound of wild caught shrimp between seven and fourteen pounds of by-catch – fish, turtles, sharks, etc. – die. 

So if GBT can grow 10-, 50-, or 100-million pounds of shrimp, we look at it as saving conservatively 70-, 350-, or 700 million pounds of by-catch.

GBT’s corporate vision wants to help end the environmental problems associated with traditional shrimp farms.  If others copy us, fine.  The present and future demand for shrimp is tens of billions of pounds.  What is important is that everyone producing shrimp for the world’s food supply does no harm to the earth.

My personal vision for GBT goes beyond “doing no harm.”  I want to solve environmental problems and leave the Oceans and the Earth better than how we have .

JA: Is growing more shrimp the only way you are helping the Earth and its Oceans?

DKW:  Another of our projects is GBT’s attempt to do just that on the land hosting our GBT-Cameron farm.  I’m personally very interested and very proud of our plan to build a natural biofilter/Conservancy.  The idea – again dismissed out of hand by nay-sayers – is to take water from our operations and run it through a network of channels and ponds stocked with oysters, clams, sea grasses, mangroves, and a host of native plants and animals that in turn remove any waste.   They will also clarify the water that we will treat to eliminate viruses and bacteria.  Only then is it run it back into our bio-secure facilities. 

By developing this “natural bio-filter,” we want to show open-pond farms a way to avoid dumping contaminated pond water back into estuaries, bays, and the oceans.  We see it as a “bio-bridge” between nature and our man-made technology.

At the same time, I hope our project will create a Conservancy that is a natural safe-haven for native Coastal Texas wildlife.

JA:  Aside from the fact that I hoped this interview would illuminate for family, friends and investors the state of GBT today as well as provide answers for a multitude of questions each might have.  And I see that same information becoming a source of pride and motivation to help the GBT family succeed. 

So thank you.