Jim Norris(1946 to 2010) 

Certification Council, ran Sea Farms, Inc., the management company for one of the largest shrimp farming operations (15,000 acres) in the western hemisphere. Jim Norris managed the shrimp hatchery operations for that huge operation. 
Jim Norris, one of the true pioneers of shrimp farming, died from pancreatic cancer on May 1, 2010, at age 64, in Sebastian, Florida. In 1974, Jim interviewed for the post of hatchery manager for the shrimp farm that Sea Farms, Inc., was developing in Honduras. At the time, he had a BS in Marine Biology from the University of Miami and was working at the University’s shrimp hatchery research project at a Florida Power and Light nuclear plant. Jim’s appearance in those days was not what one would call conservative—long hair and beard—but it was clear that he was a serious marine biologist keenly interested in how best to spawn and rear shrimp and ready to devote himself to making it happen. 
In 1981, he returned to Miami to head up the hatchery phase of Sea Farms’ expansion plans, which included refurbishing our original hatchery facility in Summerland Key, Florida, to house the company’s breeding and maturation program. 

In 1983, he moved to Ecuador to build the hatchery at Sea Farms’ El Rosario project, Three years later he returned to the Miami office to supervise hatchery operations and investigate other locations for Sea Farms expansion, particularly in Brazil. The descriptions of some of the “technical visits” to potential sites in Brazil caused more than a little envy among some of the Sea Farms management. But because of a lack of infrastructure for hatcheries in the best farming areas, we did not develop any projects in Brazil. 

In 1988, Jim returned to Summerland Key to refurbish and reopen the hatchery to provide postlarvae for the Sea Farms’ joint venture in Honduras, Granjas Marinas San Bernardo (GMSB), and to reinstitute the breeding and maturation program that had been temporarily shut down. The hatchery started operation in 1990 and quickly went from its design capacity of 25 million PLs a month to producing more than 100 million PLs a month, which in those days was unheard of. That hatchery supplied PLs to the GMSB farms for 14 years. 

In 1993, Jim moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, to manage a Shrimp Culture Technologies (SCT, Sea Farms’ new name) joint venture to develop genetically improved shrimp. Facilities at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) in Ft. Pierce were leased, and Jim started our genetic selection program. During this period, he also oversaw the construction of a maturation and hatchery facility in Cedeno, Honduras, made necessary by our expansion to 15,000 acres of shrimp growout ponds in Honduras. Jim managed SCT for over ten years, during which time significant genetic improvements were made to the stocks used at SCI’s operations in Honduras and Venezuela, including the development of specific-pathogen-free and pathogen-resistant animals. He also eliminated the use of antibiotics in our hatcheries and on our farms. 
In 2007, he became President and CEO of Ocean Reefs and Aquariums, which produces a wide variety of marine ornamentals, like giant clams, corals, seahorses, clownfish—and the first commercially viable generation of Mandarin Gobies. 
The listings above describe only the outstanding contribution Jim made to Sea Farms and the aquaculture world. They do not portray the pleasure it was to work and interact with him. His unorthodox, irreverent and colorful observations always put smiles on the faces of the people around him. His always-calm demeanor while helping to keep the pot boiling made living and working with him a pleasure. He will always be considered one of the important and respected pioneers in shrimp aquaculture, remembered fondly by all who knew him.

by:

Amit Tandon Tandon

Regional Manager sales at Guybro chemical