In a statement issued to the company’s shareholders released yesterday, the CEO of NaturalShrimp, Gerald Easterling, wrote: “We are sad to report this morning that a fire has destroyed the main building at our La Coste, TX [Texas] facility. The main building housed our nursery, grow-out tanks, and EC [electro-coagulation] machinery. Luckily, the fire did not affect our offices, greenhouse, or maintenance buildings.”
The fire has destroyed 1.5 million post-larval shrimp inside the building, but Easterling reflected: “We believe the insurance proceeds will assist the company to reconstruct a newer, state of the art building in which to house our tanks and equipment.”
The company, which raised $1 million in funding to help develop the facility in November 2019, uses patented technology to grow shrimp in enclosed, salt-water systems.
It is thought that the fire was caused by a natural gas leak near the boiler room.