The Case for Deep-Water Aquaculture in Southeast Asia

Offshore aquaculture — farming fish and shellfish in submersible or semi-submersible cages positioned in open, deep water rather than sheltered coastal zones — has moved from experimental technology to a live commercial proposition over the past decade. This report examines whether it represents a lucrative investment and industrial opportunity for Southeast Asia.

The region has the biological and market fundamentals in its favour. It does not yet have the financing infrastructure, regulatory clarity, or storm-hardened engineering track record that the leading offshore markets built over the past fifteen to twenty years.

Key findings

• China is leading at scale. It operates the only offshore aquaculture fleet at meaningful industrial scale in the region. Deep Blue 1 produces roughly 1,500 tonnes of salmon annually; follow-on projects like Guoxin 1 and Sea Granary 1 are designed for 3,000–6,000 tonnes each.
• Capital commitment is multi-year. Norway’s SalMar spent roughly NOK 1 billion — close to USD 100 million — developing Ocean Farm 1 before its production licences were converted to standard commercial licences.
• The market is large and marine is the fastest-growing part. Asia-Pacific aquaculture is valued at roughly USD 83–93 billion (2025/26), with marine water production expanding faster than freshwater.
• Southeast Asia is at pilot stage, not commercial stage. Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines remain at the pilot phase. Vietnam’s Khanh Hoa project, approved in early 2025 and running through 2029, is a government-backed pilot, not a private commercial venture.
• No domestic supply chain yet. The region has no equivalent of the engineering, mooring, and vessel-support supply chain Norway and China built around their offshore programmes. Early movers will likely depend on imported technology.

Why the shift offshore

Aquaculture has been the primary source of new seafood supply growth for more than a decade, as wild capture fisheries have plateaued globally. But pond-based shrimp farming has been linked to extensive mangrove loss, and near-shore cage culture concentrates waste, disease, and antibiotic use in confined water. Moving cages further from shore into deeper, faster-moving water is intended to dilute waste, reduce disease transmission, and free up coastal space — the model China has invested heavily to prove and that Southeast Asian governments are now exploring for their own waters and species.

The full report covers market scale and growth, benchmark markets, risk and capital, the evidence base, and the considerations against. The PDF is the report; this page is the summary.