Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home News Regions Southwest Virginia Aquaculture proves big catch for region

Aquaculture proves big catch for region

Published March 30, 2021 by Tim Thornton

Jake Musick, owner of Riverbound Trout Farms, displays a rainbow trout raised at his farm in Russell County. Photo by Earl Neikirk
Jake Musick, owner of Riverbound Trout Farms, displays a rainbow trout raised at his farm in Russell County. Photo by Earl Neikirk

A Russell County native and a Singapore-based asset management firm are about to turn a corner of Virginia’s coalfields into an aquaculture center.

Jake Musick’s Riverbound Trout Farms is building a processing plant in Russell County. Musick expects to begin shipping fish this fall. About a quarter mile away, straddling the Russell-Tazewell county line, Pure Salmon, backed by 8F Asset Management, plans to send the first fish out of its plant in 2023.

“That location is kind of becoming a hub for aquaculture,” says Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority. “We feel like that’s got a lot of growth potential for the region.”

The spokes on that hub are very different, however. Riverbound wants other local entrepreneurs to develop the trout-producing equivalent of feed lots, supplying most of the 750,000 pounds of processed fish Riverbound aims to produce per year. “It’s going to help a lot of people, hopefully, to get into the business,” Musick says. “The big push is to get more farmers involved and create a green agricultural industry in Southwest Virginia.”

Riverbound, which ultimately aims to employ 20 people, received a $500,000 low-interest loan from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, and the company will be paying the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority for Musick’s processing facility over 10 years.

Pure Salmon landed a much larger incentive package — $14.5 million, mostly in loans. It plans to employ 10 times as many people and invest $228 million. Code-named Project Jonah, after the biblical prophet who was swallowed by a great fish, the drive to get Pure Salmon on the hook lasted several years, involving a few extended deadlines. Pure Salmon representative Lala Korall praises Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, and the state and local agencies involved in the deal. “Very often it’s the atmosphere in which you work to prepare a project that is crucial,” she says, “and they have been really pleasant and forthcoming and supportive.”

Buchanan, Russell and Tazewell counties also agreed to share in the potential profits.

During construction, Korall says, the project will employ more than 400 people. After that, Pure Salmon plans to process 20,000 tons of fish per year, employing 203 people at an average annual wage of $59,500 — more than $27,000 higher than Buchanan County’s median household income.

“That,” Belcher says, “is a very good average wage for our region.”

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

Wythe County lumber company announces $2.4M expansion

Musser Lumber Co. Inc. to expand, add 12 jobs

Virginia Business logo

Four Va. localities earn Main Street designation

Cape Charles, Onancock, Tappahannock, Tazewell to revitalize downtown communities

Rambler Wood Products is moving into this former Bush Furniture Industries facility in St. Paul.

Wood products manufacturer will create 73 jobs in Russell County

Rambler Wood Products to renovate former Bush Furniture Industries plant

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk