What Ocean Harvesters does

Ocean Harvesters is a privately held U.S. fishing company headquartered in Reedville, Virginia, that owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 purse-seine fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The company's operations are exclusively focused on the harvest of menhaden, a small nutrient-dense forage fish, which is processed into three core products: fish meal (used as aquaculture feed and agricultural fertilizer), fish oil (omega-3 supplement and feed additive), and fish solubles (a liquid by-product for feed binding and fertilizer applications). Both the Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, providing third-party validation of the company's harvesting practices.

The business model is a single-species, B2B commodity supply operation: Ocean Harvesters harvests menhaden at sea and sells the raw catch to downstream processors that convert it into fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. The customer segment is therefore narrow — fish meal and fish oil producers — and the company sits at the upstream raw-material tier of the marine ingredient value chain. No pricing model, contract structure, or distribution channel details are disclosed.

The company is described as heir to a fishing legacy spanning nearly 150 years, indicating long-standing presence in the industry, though no specific founding date is provided. Ocean Harvesters operates as an independent, privately held entity with no disclosed parent company, subsidiaries, investors, funding rounds, or management team information. Operational scope is limited to two U.S. fishing geographies, and no signals of expansion into new regions, products, or verticals are present in the available data.

Name

Ocean Harvesters

Legal name

Ocean Harvesters

Website

https://ocean-harvesters.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Ocean Harvesters operates a fleet of 30+ purse-seine vessels exclusively harvesting menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, supplying raw catch to fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles processors under MSC-certified sustainable operations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Seafood Processing

NAICS

Finfish Fishing (114111), Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (3117)

SIC

Fishing, Hunting And Trapping (900)

akta.pro primary industry

Primary Seafood Processing (Heading/Gutting/Deheading; Icing) (AFANADAA)

Keywords

• Menhaden fishing
• Purse-seine fishing
• Fish meal production
• Fish oil extraction
• Marine fishing fleet

Headquarters

HQ city

Resville

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel

Core offering

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels that conduct purse-seine fishing exclusively for menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The harvested menhaden is processed into three core products: fish meal (protein-rich feed/fertilizer ingredient), fish oil (omega-3 supplement and feed additive), and fish solubles (liquid by-product for feed and fertilizer use). Both Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Product overview

Ocean Harvesters operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Their purse-seine fishing operation exclusively harvests menhaden, a small nutrient-dense fish. The company processes the catch to produce three core products: Fish Meal (protein-rich feed ingredient), Fish Oil (omega-3 supplement and feed additive), and Fish Solubles (liquid by-product for feed and fertilizer).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fish Meal

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Regional players

• Pesquera Hayduk: Peruvian vertically integrated fishing company with significant fish meal and fish oil production from anchoveta and other species. Comparable as a South American reduction-fishery operator with similar product portfolio.
• TripleNine (999): Danish/Norwegian fish meal and fish oil producer with significant European production capacity. Comparable as a vertically integrated reduction-fishery operator, though focused on North Atlantic forage species and serving primarily European aquaculture feed markets.
• FF Skagen: Danish fish meal, fish oil, and marine protein producer serving European aquaculture and feed markets. Comparable mid-scale reduction-fishery operator with similar product mix and downstream customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Thai Union Group: Global seafood processor and tuna harvester with branded product operations. Comparable as a large integrated seafood player with significant downstream customer overlap in fish meal/oil ingredient sourcing.
• Trident Seafoods: One of the largest integrated U.S. seafood companies, operating a large vessel fleet harvesting pollock, cod, and other species in the North Pacific, with processing and value-added seafood product lines. Comparable as a U.S. vertically integrated wild-caught fishing operation, though diversified across species and product types.
• Maruha Nichiro: One of the world's largest seafood companies with vertically integrated fishing, aquaculture, and processing operations globally. Comparable in scale and integrated business model, though far more diversified across species and geographies.
• TASA (Tecnológica de Alimentos S.A.): Peruvian anchoveta fishing company and the world's largest producer of fish meal and fish oil. Closest global analog in reduction-fishery scale, vertical integration (catch through meal/oil), and downstream feed-market exposure.

Direct peers

• Blue Harvest Fisheries: U.S. seafood company operating wild-caught fishing and processing operations, including groundfish and other species along the Atlantic. Comparable in scale and business model as an integrated U.S. fishing/processing operator.
• Daybrook Fisheries: U.S.-based menhaden fishing and processing company with operations in the Gulf region. Direct competitor in the same single-species purse-seine reduction fishery, serving the same downstream fish meal and fish oil buyer set.
• Omega Protein: Historically the dominant U.S. menhaden fishing and fish meal/oil producer (now part of Bumble Bee/Cooke's seafood operations). Directly comparable as the other major vertically integrated menhaden reduction-fishery operator with overlapping Atlantic/Gulf harvest footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ocean Harvesters