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Status : Cod Research.  Updated Friday May 9th 2008

It has taken over ten years and several hundred thousand pounds to finally achieve our long term aim of rearing Cod in a freshwater environment. These fish are not genetically engineered in any way or subject to an acclimatization program, in fact the technology and methods we have developed are equally successful when applied to Cod straight from the sea.

The implications are obviously remarkable. To be able to rear Cod in freshwater tanks hundreds of miles from the sea in almost any country opens the door to a whole new industry and may at some point in the future actually contribute to restocking our oceans. Our depressed agricultural industry could be on the verge of a whole new income source and the same techniques could be used in underdeveloped countries to provide a valuable food resource without further endangering this fast disappearing species or damaging the environment.

Unfortunately, as with so many British innovations, it looks almost certain that we will have to move the next stage of our project out of the UK in order to fully exploit the potential of this new technology. A company of our size just doesn't have the funds to move to the next stage of commercial scale production. Bigger buildings and tanks that are capable of holding several million gallons are beyond our resources and all the offers of funding have come from outside the UK. The thought of having for instance French Cod with my chips and mushy peas is, to say the least, incredibly frustrating when the project should have been developed in our home country. Our own government departments that make so much noise about protecting our planets resources actually do very little other than fund teams of experts to tell them what all of us already know. Putting millions into ridiculous committees seems to be the norm, whereas funding genuine programs that can actually produce results seems to be beyond them.

As a result of furthering our research there are many other income sources that have emerged such as new pump designs, UV filters etc etc, all of which are exploitable incomes in their own right. In other words the whole project has become far too big for us to develop on our own and it is easy to understand our frustration at having to move the project to one of the many countries that are eager to contribute both in terms of expertise and funding.

As there is so much profit to be had by exploiting our research there is no excuse whatsoever for not developing it further. Any business has to earn money and the only real way that the planet can benefit from anything we do is if those concerned earn very well from it. Forget morals or good intentions when it comes to profit ....... like governments, large commercial concerns are very good at talking and claiming to be 'green' but both are either driven by profit or an imminent election. Here however is the chance to become involved in the best of both worlds, this project is excellent for shareholders as well as the environment and yet we will almost certainly end up taking it to another country because of the lack of vision in our own.

As a company Diobas itself is of course sitting on a gold mine and I for one will certainly not feel the faintest hint of conscience as our bank balance soars, neither will I lose any sleep over whichever company or country also gains from the ample profits this project can provide as we have put many years of blood, sweat, tears and frustration into this achievement. We have worked quietly outside the establishment with no preconceptions, help from grants or research funding and have earned our current position. I most certainly do not spend my Sundays hugging trees either ....... but I do genuinely hope that the fish themselves benefit as well.

Rearing Cod and perhaps some other species in freshwater is fact not research, lets hope, whoever exploits this technology, that some of the profits go back to the sea.

For further details contact our research unit direct via our website by clicking the link below.