Business View Caribbean | Jan 2019

25 increase efficiencies and be as competitive in that sector as possible. The shrimp (macrobrachium rosenbergii), known locally as freshwater prawn, will be on the market in the next three months, and is of great interest to the hospitality industry. Thompson extols the exceptional partnership with Caribbean Producers, based in Montego Bay, as a key component of his company’s success. “They have partnered with us since the beginning in 2014. They supply all different products to the hotels, from wine, to utensils, to food, and they move most of our product.” Environmental sustainability is paramount to the aquaculture industry. Algix Jamaica operates under several licenses and permits, including one from the National Environmental Planning Agency. Algix is required to submit reports to them on a regular basis. Testing is done every fortnight. Thompson clarifies the procedure. “Basically, we take water from the Black River and we have to put it back into the river at the same standard. After using the water, we employ a treatment process that gets the water back into the environment safely, and with a good quality.We have to abide by those regulations and we are happy to do so.” When Algix originally acquired the fish farm, there was a similar operation in place. Today, the company is using the same natural filter technology– a tail reservoir that filters the water and allows sedimentation to take place, and also Fish feeding in the field