Keith Decker joins American Aquafarms as their new CEO

After announcing plans to build a new salmon-aquaculture facility in Maine a year ago, American Aquafarms has recently hired Keith Decker as its new CEO.

Image credit: American Aquafarms

Mr Decker has been CEO of New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Blue Harvest Fisheries since January 2018, when he replaced Jeff Davis, who retired. Mr Decker previously served as the CEO of High Liner Foods from 2015 to 2017.

According to American Aquafarms Founder Mikael Roenes, Mr Decker's skill-set and experience with Blue Harvest made him an appropriate pick to lead American Aquafarms.

'Keith has the right resume, experience, and New England know-how to move American Aquafarms into the next generation of Maine's maritime traditions,' Mr Roenes said. 'Additionally, I'm confident that Keith will collaborate with industry experts while recruiting the workforce we need to fill the year-round, high-quality jobs we're creating.'

Mr Decker will remain the CEO of Blue Harvest as the company searches for a successor, and will continue to be a board member and investor in the firm.

Through Mr Decker's time as CEO, Blue Harvest has added 12 groundfish vessels, bringing its total fleet to 24 vessels – including scallopers, combination draggers, and trawlers. Mr Decker also oversaw the addition of six high-capacity processing lines, direct offload capability, and increased freezing capacity.

'I'm proud of what we accomplished in wild-caught seafood at Blue Harvest. It was an honour to work with the port and city of New Bedford, America's highest-revenue seaport,' Mr Decker says.

Mr Decker says he is 'eager to work on the opportunities that American Aquafarms is bringing to aquaculture.'

'By leveraging the state's deep-water assets with next generation eco-friendly technology to sustainably produce food close to its market, we can set a new standard in the United States,' he says. 'On just 20 acres of active sea farm, we can produce up to 66 million pounds of healthy fish per year without impacting the seabed.'

For more information visit the American Aquafarms website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

---