George Chamberlain, seafood veteran and managing director of Hendrix Genetics-owned Kona Bay, is retiring from his position effective July 1.

After two decades leading the shrimp business, he has decided to transfer his remaining shareholding in Kona Bay to the aquaculture breeding parent company Hendrix Genetics, which will take full ownership of the shrimp business.

“My career in the shrimp farming business has been deeply fulfilling, and I owe whatever success our company has experienced to the support of colleagues, friends and family," Chamberlain said.

"Now it’s time to leave this enterprise in the capable hands of Hendrix Genetics, whose leader, Thijs Hendrix, embodies the values and culture that our team so much admires.”

Besides his renowned title as president of the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) since the group's birth in 1997 -- which he will continue in -- Chamberlain took charge in building Kona Bay shrimp genetics, supporting shrimp farmers in achieving better performance in major shrimp producing countries.

Chamberlain ventured into the aquaculture space 30 years ago, directing Ralston Purina's aquaculture feed program in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Eight years later, Chamberlain moved to Monsanto, leading a program on genetically selected marine shrimp, soy-based feed, and sustainable pond systems for marine shrimp.

He then ventured into entrepreneurship alongside Ken Morrison in 1999, starting an integrated shrimp farm in Malysia, Black Tiger Aquaculture.

In 2004, Morrison and Chamberlain launched Integrated Aquaculture International, a technology company that owned the Kona Bay L.vannamei breeding center in Hawaii, as well as a P.monodon breeding center and farm in Brunei.

Hendrix Genetics entered shrimp in 2017 through its partnership with Kona Bay, but now it is taking the next steps through a joint venture in Ecuador that will give it more exposure to the sector.

The company’s Kona Bay operations in Hawaii and Malaysia are currently exclusively serving the Asian market -- India, Indonesia, Vietnam, some in China -- with L.vannamei shrimp broodstock.