Land-based salmon farm owner files application to list on Nasdaq Stock Market

Blue Star Foods wants to improve liquidity. Miami seafood company signed a definitive agreement to acquire Taste of BC Aquafarms last year.

In a press release, the seafood company Blue Star Foods writes that it has submitted a formal application to list its common shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Miami-based Blue Star Foods sells refrigerated pasteurized Blue Crab meat and other premium seafood products.

Last April, Blue Star Foods signed a definitive agreement to acquire Taste of BC Aquafarms, a family-owned and operated land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) salmon farming operation, based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

Following the acquisition, Taste of BC Aquafarms will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blue Star Foods, but will continue to be run by the existing owner/operators, the Atkinson family. The company has been farming steelhead since 2013.

Aquaculture North America reports that since July 2020, the farm has had consistent weekly harvests of two tonnes of steelhead, weighing upwards of 2kg each.

At the time, the president of Taste of BC Aquafarms Steve Atkinson said that he wanted the tech was scalable and that “we intend to be leaders in this new industry.”

The company intends to satisfy all of the applicable listing requirements, however, there is no assurance that its application will be approved.

“We believe listing our common stock on the NASDAQ will improve liquidity, increase our corporate visibility in the financial markets, and create shareholder value,” said Blue Star chairman and CEO John Keeler. “We believe that listing on the NASDAQ is a natural progression for the company and our shareholders,” he added.