OriginOil Inc. and Catalina Sea Ranch Team-up for Research of Off-shore Algae Production

OriginOil Inc. announced its recent agreement to a collaborative exchange of equipment and information with the Catalina Sea Ranch, the first offshore shellfish ranch in U.S. federal waters. OriginOil shall provide Catalina Sea Ranch its Electro Water Separation Algae Model 12 system, a high-speed, chemical-free process to clean up large quantities of water. The Catalina Sea Ranch will use it to treat incoming seawater and harvest algae to feed its shellfish nursery and selective breeding program. In return, it will provide data on the efficiency and use of the machine, and will allow OriginOil access to its nursery for field research.

The operations will be monitored by several institutions specializing in marine ecology and spatial planning which will provide science-based data for evaluating any environmental and social impacts from the 100-acre shellfish ranch.

In January, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved Catalina Sea Ranch's application for a 100-acre shellfish farm. This was one of the few supportive policy measures for aquaculture enacted by the U.S. state government in recent years.