Partnership

Virginia Cobia Farms, LLC, is a joint venture of MariCal Inc., a privately-held animal health and nutrition biotechnology company, and Blue Ridge Aquaculture, Inc.

MariCal, headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA, is a recognized global leader in aquatic biotechnology, possessing 58 issued and pending patents in their field. Founded in 1996, MariCal has 26 full time employees, subsidiary operations in Puerto Montt, Chile under the company name of CienciaMar, and offices/representation in Alaska, Canada, United Kingdom, and Norway.

MariCal's key discovery is a class of molecular extracellular ion receptor proteins, called Calcium Receptors (CaR's), that serve as the biological "thermostats," or "master switches" that enable fish and other aquatic organisms to sense and respond to changes in both water salinity and nutrients in their aquatic environment. Over the past 10 years, the Company has focused both its product development and licensing efforts in the fields of aquaculture, fisheries, and marine products.

Specific applications that MariCal has developed
from these discoveries include:

• global commercial Atlantic salmon production;
• Pacific salmon production on North America's West coast;
• restoration and enhancements efforts of Pacific Salmon species in Alaska and endangered Atlantic salmon in Maine.

Natural and environmentally friendly, the specific applications developed from these discoveries use neither genetic alteration nor the introduction of drugs or hormones.

Blue Ridge Aquaculture, Inc., the largest indoor tilapia farm in the United States, is headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia. In operation since 1993, the company raises nearly four million pounds of tilapia each year (or approximately 70,000 lbs. of fish per week) at its 80,000-square-foot facility.

William Martin, President, and his team at Blue Ridge Aquaculture have been consistent innovators in commercial scale recirculation aquaculture for over a decade, working closely with Virginia Tech on leading edge cobia research and seafood processing technology.