Round Up. How the SeaArk Prawn Farm was Pawned

Spotting the gap that aquaculture in South Africa was still a very undeveloped industry, the opportunists that were behind the failed SeaArk prawn farm in the Coega IDZ thought they would just walk away. But it is not the case as the South African public has now heard…

In 2010, Bosasa’s Group Financial Chief Officer, Andries van Tonder, advertised a Sort Rite shrimp processing plant for sale. The plant had never been used and was being stored in a warehouse somewhere on the West Rand, Gauteng.

Just three years prior, in 2007, the Bosasa Group of Companies had announced it was establishing the world’s first environmentally friendly prawn farm in the Coega IDZ. Promising the ability to grow huge prawns in record time at its new farm known as SeaArk, an American by the name of David Kevin Wills was put in charge of the pilot project.