— Submitted photo Governor Kim Reynolds meets with NaturalShrimp Iowa President Gerald Easterling on Friday as Natural Shrimp started production at their recently-acquired facility in Webster City. Naturalshrimp officials said they hope tto eventually have weekly production of shrimp and fish while adding numerous jobs to the local economy.

NaturalShrimp Inc. has begun stocking its NaturalShrimp-Iowa facilities with post larvae shrimp. All three Iowa facilities will utilize the patented platform technology filtration equipment designed and developed by NaturalShrimp.

Officials said the company will continuously stock the Blairsburg nursery facility with PLs for later transfer to the 270,000-square-foot Webster City grow out facility. Similar to the La Coste facility in Texas, the NaturalShrimp-Iowa facility will yield weekly harvests once it is operating at full capacity. This location will service the major metropolitan areas in the Midwest, including Chicago.

On Friday, Gov. Kim Reynolds toured the operation and met with company officials as NaturalShrimp began production at its Iowa facilities.

“We are pleased that our Iowa location has come online so quickly,” said Gerald Easterling, Chief Executive Officer of NaturalShrimp. “These facilities provide the Company with the opportunity to be the largest fresh locally grown shrimp distributor in the United States. Having announced last month that our La Coste facility has stocked multiple tanks, we are confident that our growth trajectory remains in line for both our internal growth projections and our corporate objectives to become a global leader in aqua-tech.”

NaturalShrimp, Inc. is a publicly traded aqua-tech Company, headquartered in Dallas, with production facilities located near San Antonio, Texas and Webster City, Iowa. The company has developed the first commercially-viable system for growing shrimp in enclosed, salt-water systems, using patented technology to produce fresh, naturally grown shrimp, without the use of antibiotics or toxic chemicals.