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SICA Success Stories: Pine Island Redfish
By: Acme Smoked Fish
At the Acme Smoked Fish Foundation, we believe that investing in bold, climate-forward ideas can reshape the future of seafood. That’s why we created the Seafood Industry Climate Award (SICA) - to support entrepreneurs and innovators reimagining how we grow, harvest, and restore life in our oceans.
Over the coming months, we’re spotlighting a few of our past SICA award recipients to show the real-world impact of this support. From regenerative aquaculture systems to workforce development, these projects are more than ideas - they’re working solutions moving the needle on sustainable seafood.
SICA Success Story #1 - Pine Island Redfish
Pine Island Redfish, a 2023 SICA recipient, has made incredible strides from a promising pilot to sustainable seafood innovator in the past year and a half. On a mission to responsibly rebuild the redfish market, CEO Megan Sorby and her team at Pine Island Redfish used their awarded $70,000 from the Acme Smoked Fish Foundation to scale their operations from a proof of concept at MOTE Marine Lab in Sarasota, to an upcoming full-scale facility on Pine Island, Florida.
One of our Acme team members, Rowan Whalen, paid them a visit in early May and got the inside scoop!
Redfish and Sustainability
Redfish, also known as red drum, is a treasured whitefish native to the Gulf and Atlantic. Notoriously popularized in the 1980s by Chef Paul Prudhomme's famous blackened redfish dish, the species was commercially fished to near extinction. A moratorium and strict quotas followed, and to this day there is still no commercial fishing of red drum allowed. Despite remaining in high demand, this iconic local fish is largely unavailable except for a few pond-based farms, but that comes with its own set of environmental problems.
Pine Island is tackling these issues head-on through their Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) - a land-based, closed-loop approach that drastically reduces the typical environmental impacts. One of the largest challenges of land-based aquaculture is managing fish waste, which is rich in nitrogen and ammonium. Pine Island sees this "waste" as a resource, repurposing it to grow beneficial plants such as mangroves for coastal restoration and salt-tolerant vegetables like sea purslane for food and climate resilience. It's a win-win system that turns a liability into an ecological advantage.
"Because of SICA funding, we have had growth in our seafood-educated consumer base."
— Megan Sorby, Pine Island Redfish CEO
Grant Impact: From Vision to Results
The SICA grant played a catalytic role in Pine Island’s success. With Acme Smoked Fish Foundation’s support, Pine Island:
- Trialed four novel fish diets with reduced fishmeal content, cutting dependence on traditionally high environmental impact feed.
- Exceeded biomass targets in redfish production by 25%, setting records for system efficiency.
- Completed the first nutritional profiles of sea purslane and began exploring its potential in nutraceuticals, functional food products, and even retail items like pickled sea vegetables.
- Expanded community engagement, involving local volunteers in mangrove transplanting efforts, which created opportunities for public education about sustainable aquaculture and broke down misconceptions about seafood farming.
Current Success and Future Growth
While you can currently find Pine Island Redfish in retail stores and food service locations throughout Florida, we’re really excited for what’s to come for this project. With a new, full-scale facility on the way next year, Pine Island is projected to produce 800 metric tons of redfish annually and grow nearly 50,000 mangroves a year. Ramping up their production will allow consumers to, as Megan puts it, “connect with the good that aquaculture can do not just for their plates but also for the resiliency of the coast and health of our natural world.”
The SICA Award helped Pine Island Redfish bridge the gap from vision to impact - supporting new climate-aligned aquaculture practices that nourish people and regenerate the planet.
Stay tuned for our next SICA Success Story!