Oceanpick

Overview

Oceanpick is a Sri Lanka based aquaculture company that farms and produces Barramundi (also referred to as Asian Sea Bass) and amongst the leading producers in the world. Founded in 2012, Oceanpick operates South Asia’s first commercial-scale offshore oceanic farm for finfish, producing high-quality barramundi for international markets including the US, Australia, Europe and Asia. The company’s farm is certified by both Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), promoting sustainable aquaculture practices.

The Challenge

Small island nations like Sri Lanka face significant challenges from climate change, including rising sea levels and extreme weather events, which threaten marine ecosystems and surrounding communities. In Trincomalee, the location of Oceanpick, destructive practices like blast fishing cause severe damage to coral reefs, further exacerbating the vulnerability of local ecosystems. This investment addresses these urgent issues by providing alternative livelihoods for those dependent on these systems while supporting and protecting marine environments.

Our Investment

The GFCR’s investment in Oceanpick will help to scale the business by incorporating best practice aquaculture, supporting and engaging local communities, and contributing to long-term ecosystem health. The GFCR Investment aims to support Oceanpick’s plans to expand its production capacity, expand vertically to processing facility and feed mill, develop value added products, diversify to new species, and expand to new markets with the objective to drive the creation of a new, sustainable blue economy for the island nation of Sri Lanka.

Our Target Impact

Oceanpick aims to make a tangible difference in the region, with goals to grow climate-resilient species employing an upgraded sustainability model for aquaculture, while creating jobs and promoting alternatives that will lead to more holistic protection of Sri Lanka’s critical coral reefs and coastal marine habitat.

• Best-in-class sustainable aquaculture: GFCR investment will support Oceanpick in promoting best-in-class sustainable aquaculture practices, maximizing positive impacts and mitigating social and environmental risks, setting an exemplary precedent for Sri Lanka marine finfish farming.
• Protection of coral reef ecosystems and the communities that depend on them: By improving resource efficiency and minimizing pollution and use of antibiotics, Oceanpick aims to protect nearby reef habitats from nutrient overloads and contamination that disrupt coral health. The company will also upgrade solid waste and wastewater treatment facilities in the nursery and hatchery, to better cover risks associated with the hatchery’s effluent, cage cleaning processes, as well as liquid and solid waste disposal.
• Additionally, Oceanpick will actively engage local communities by providing alternative livelihoods to prevent harmful practices like blast fishing, a destructive method that severely damages coral structures.
• Job creation: Oceanpick has been and will continue hiring from the local communities. GFCR investment aims to support the company to introduce multi-zone polyculture surrounding the oceanic farm, such as for seaweed or bivalves/mollusks, which will not only promote bioremediation and resilience, but also help create local employment opportunities for the fishing communities.
• Reducing carbon footprint: The investment aims to further reduce the carbon footprint by producing feed locally, increasing frozen operations to use ocean freight (vs air freight), using green energy for local operations (boats and others), as well as optimizing current transportation.

There can be no guaranty that the investment will be completed on the terms described or implied above, that GFCR will be able to successfully invest in such investment or that impact targets will be achieved.