Darden Restaurants, which controls the Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains, recently announced it is beginning to raise spiny lobster through aquaculture, with the goal of supplying aquaculture-raised lobster meat to its restaurant affiliates in Asia in the next decade. It is the first large-scale market attempt to use aquaculture for lobster meat.
The move likely is a sign of things to come, as more food corporations turn to aquaculture to fulfill customer needs. The investment is not meant to pay dividends now but to position Darden for the future, said Tom Matthews, a spiny lobster research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“They have a 100-year plan to maintain a supply of seafood,” said Matthews, who has consulted for Darden in the past.