May sound fishy but that's what it's about.

Bell Aquaculture in East Central Indiana has made the announcement for a major expansion plan. The Jay County based business has plans for a 30 million dollar expansion which includes a feed mill in Albany that is the first of its kind to locally produce feed to service the aquaculture industry on a mass scale using local, Indiana ingredients. Norman McCowan, President and CEO of Bell Aquaculture, told Inside Indiana Business the opportunity is right to bring more seafood consumption to a local level.

“When we look at the seafood consumption across North America, we consume over $12 billion worth of seafood and we only raise about $1.5 billion of that. We import 91 percent of our seafood. So we see that there’s this large gap where this industry can continue to have growth.”

McCowan says Indiana is a prime spot to thrive in this expansion.

“With the corporate tax structure and with the natural resources and the laws that we have in Indiana, we believe this state is right for aquaculture and we see this spurring a billion dollar industry within the state.”

McCowan is hopeful that his project is an inspiration to others with an entrepreneurial spirit in the aquaculture industry.

“You know when you look at the 2014 Pence economic plan, he talks about how Indiana is ranked the 37^th state in entrepreneurial activity. I think that what we see in aquaculture is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to launch out into this fastest growing sector of agriculture and really see a lot of job creations for this state in the next couple of years.

The first phase of the project, a new feed mill in Delaware County, is expected to be operational in April. The next, larger phase is set to begin in January. The company is set for a zoning board hearing on Thursday that would allow for industrial operations on what is currently agricultural property.

The mill is expected to generate up to 25 new jobs over the next 36 months, while reducing the need for local aquaculture industry to source feed from remote locations, thereby completing a cycle of sustainable aquaculture for local supply and demand.

When asked how the mill would affect local soybean farmers, ISA President Dave Lowe commented, “The opportunity for aquaculture is immense. We have needed this mill in Indiana to have the ability to source feed locally for quite some time. There are thousands of tons of ingredients for feed within a very short distance of Bell. It is time that the general population, counties and state benefit from the tax base and revenue stream that this mill will provide.”