ProFish Americas
AquaSol was retained to investigate the feasibility of a US$10 million Tilapia farming project in Guatemala. A site search, site analysis, and preliminary feasibility study was completed and detailed recommendations were delivered to the client. A report on the recommended structuring of the marketing arrangement between the United States investor and the local partner was also delivered.
Our recommendation was to look for alternative sites in close proximity to the local partner's property. While the water source was excellent at around 40 cubic meters per second, the soils were filled with boulders and fractured rock of volcanic origin, which would have made construction of earthen fish ponds extremely difficult, if not impossible. An exhaustive search of areas that might be relatively free of these boulders was nonproductive across multiple sampling sites and hundreds of hectares within the strict confines of the local partners land. Within a 10-km radius, we identified multiple alternative sites that could have been explored and appeared free of rocks. The local partner who owned the land was insistent on building the project on his own land and we respectfully declined further involvement. Our United States based client, who was being asked to fund the entire project, elected to side with the local partner and developed the project using a different consulting company.
