For long decades shrimp and fish have been abundant along the coasts of Morocco and available for wild catch and consumption. However, in the past years various factors such as pollution, climate change and over-fishing have contributed to a decrease of fish and shrimp available to fishermen along the coast lines.
In 2011, the Department of Marine Fisheries established a national development plan for Moroccan aquaculture and founded the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ANDA).
Due to the highly polluting impact of open pond farming of shrimp, no land-based, or open pond shrimp farm is currently operating in Morocco.
NOVATON chose Morocco for its optimal climatic conditions for aquaculture and proximity to the European markets. The Kingdom has a well-developed logistics network, as well as a qualified workforce.
In the second half of 2022, after a thorough process of examining the NOVATON technology for sustainable shrimp aquaculture and its environmental impact by different and specialized government agencies, the Moroccan regulators issued all the necessary permits for building and operating the first Moroccan land-based shrimp farm, to be situated 120 km from the sea, south of Casablanca.
The project is situated in the province of Rehamna, about 100 km north of Marrakesh and 144 km south of Casablanca.
It is well connected to the two main international airports and to the port of Casablanca, making the European and the American markets easily accessible.
The farm consists of several NOVASPHERE NANO closed-circulation systems for marine water cultures, fully sustainable, operating without any external water exchange or water discharge into nature.
The farm will operate on NOVATON’s proprietary biological closed system, saving water and energy, recycling waste, and providing the optimal nurturing conditions for the white vannamei shrimp.
The farm is controlled with smart systems linked internationally to NOVATON’s biology and IT centers.
The environmental impact study performed by an independent organization concluded that the project is compliant with the strictest environmental norms.
The first phase consists of the installing nine (9) NOVASPHERE NANO independent closed systems.
This phase has started in October of this year on one hectare.
The farm is expected to start operations in Spring 2023 to produce fifty-four (54) tons of shrimp annually.
Additional NOVASPHERE NANO systems will be installed on the remaining 14 hectares of the Rehamna site to reach a capacity of producing 400 Tons of shrimp per year.
Over time, NOVATON Morocco is planning to build and operate additional farms in other locations in the Kingdom.
The Rehamna NOVATON ARADE farms are designed to comply with all international quality and food safety standards for fish and shellfish; ASC, MSC, BAP, and those that integrate HACCP / International Food Safety depending on the region/country: BRC, SQF, FSSC, IFS and ISO 22000 for UK, USA and EU.
NOVATON does not use chemicals or medicines in its cultivation systems or in the treatment of crops.
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