Changes

Well the New Year is almost ten days old and as I promised I am making several major changes that I think are going to benefit both our company and me personally.

I am very proud of the team that we have assembled in the GBT family. We have in virtually every position within our company some of the most qualified, dedicated, and enthusiastic people any company could hope to employ.

And as everyone who has ever tasted success knows, it always takes a team and a team comprised of individuals with complimentary talents, to achieve that success.

And from a personal standpoint I can honestly look in the mirror and for the first time since I embarked on this insane journey (over a decade and 1/2 ago) to try and show the world a better way to produce marine protein and indeed maybe even feed the world in a sustainable fashion, I can say that if I got hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow, this company would go forward.

So, as to changes, effective immediately Eduardo Figueras is now totally running all the production aspects of the farm here in Texas.

Steve Groe, one of our investors and part of the great Iowa team that is making GBT a reality, has taken on the position of Chairman of the Construction Committee and with Lee Barnes as Construction Project Manager and my son, Stephen, handling purchasing and contract negotiations, and with John Aquilino now full time here in Texas acting as he has for twenty plus years as my right arm, I am free to focus on what I think I do best which is figuring out how to expand GBT production overseas. 

GBT-Japan is underway, which Stephen and Lee will direct during the construction phase, I am now going to start seeking the next location for another GBT shrimp production facility outside of the USA.

Tim Aberson and Ross McDaniel and Kurt Solari are doing the final Reg D offering raising the final ten million dollars we need to finish phase 1 of the Texas production project. And they have already broken escrow and are well on their way to having that offering completed in the next few months. 

Tim is also now becoming involved in the international side of the company as well as the USA based operations. 

The truth be told, I need to find another site and project because frankly the team we have is so good, I am now virtually un-employed. They simply do not need me. 

I am also excited to start seriously working to secure the funding to begin the R&D phase of selecting several species of fin fish to see which species is best suited to be grown in the GBT system.

And if anyone thinks we are chasing a pipe dream, please read the article below.

(This article was printed in Bob Rosenberry's "Shrimp News" and I want to acknowledge that "Shrimp News" is the source for the article below.)

That said, the GBT system is the only commercially industrial scale system in the world of which we are aware, that addresses virtually every aspect of the problems that have plagued traditional aquaculture. 

After 15 years it look like our time has arrived. 

The world needs what we have and we are looking to go global. 

And with the world's oceans in peril, with traditional aquaculture practitioners refusing to evolve, and with a growing global population demanding healthy and sustainable protein, we may be coming on line just in time. 

January 6, 2015

The World No Quick Recovery in Global Shrimp Production Dr. Stephen Newman (sgnewm@aqua-in-tech.com) reports: Despite the fact that I’ve been saying it for many months, shrimp production is not likely to recover to the levels of a few years ago any time soon.  It seems that all too many people are still not getting the message.  Disease is a fact of life! This is a partly a result of production paradigms that ignore time-honored biosecurity measures and long-term sustainable production and instead concentrate on short-term gains. Shrimp farmers in Southeast Asia are wracked by several diseases.  Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) is the most visible right now.  Production continues to be affected by EMS as well as a microsporidian disease that is causing growth problems.  EMS has not gone away, although there are signs in some areas that paradigm shifts are successfully lessening its impact.  Meanwhile, it continues to spread into new regions.  As farmers adapt to the challenges of new diseases, there should be a gradual increase in production in the hardest hit areas; however, there will be no sudden increase in shrimp production and no return to the status quo. Although I am optimistic that shrimp farming will eventually recover, without substantial changes in the fundamental production paradigms, I see little reason to think this will be any time in the near future.  There are reports of companies selling tools that claim to solve specific problems, and companies are looking at a myriad of solutions, but the challenge is getting shrimp farmers to use the tools they already have. Many diseases are spread by the movement of shrimp around the world, legally and illegally.  Individuals and companies who think the grass is greener elsewhere ignore basic common sense biosecurity measures and ship shrimp to disease-free areas.  Globally, shrimp farmers pay a very high price for this.  Recovery will be slow, and the high price of farmed shrimp will stimulate production in areas that are not yet affected by EMS and several other pathogens that are widely problematic in Southeast Asia, including microsporidian diseases and the nodavirus that causes covert mortality disease. Until there is a substantial shift in awareness and increased concern among shrimp farmers, I don’t think global farmed shrimp production will reach the production levels that existed prior to the current crisis, which is only the latest in what seems to be a never-ending cycle of crises, any time in the next several years. Information: Dr. Stephen G. Newman, Ph.D., President and CEO, AquaInTech, Inc., Lynnwood, Washington 98037, USA (phone 1-425-787-5218, email sgnewm@aqua-in-tech.com, webpages www.bioremediationaquaculture.com and www.sustainablegreenaquaculture.com). Source: SeafoodSource.com.  Editor, Sean Murphy (smurphy@divcom.com).  Bullish Predictions for Farmed Shrimp Recovery Are Pipe Dreams.  Stephen Newman.  January 5, 2015.