Page 22 - Norway export Seafood, Fishing&Aquaculture 2018-19

Norway Plans for

Large Onshore Salmon Farms

The onshore salmon farming market is predicted to explode ten-fold globally by 2020.
Some of the largest land-based facilities will be built in Norway over the next few years.

By Valeria Criscione

The prospect for land-based farming of produce up to 5000 tons of annual salmon. farming in Norway. The new permits have
salmon is expected to grow from 12 000 not really changed our plans, but have made
tons in 2017 to 150 000 tons by 2020, Bård Eker, the designer behind the them possible.”
according to a DNB Markets report last year. eccentric car brand Koenisegg, is one
In it, analyst Alexander Aukner identifi ed of the board members and shareholders “The timing is right for pursuing innovation
more than 20 planned projects, including backing the new onshore project. The and growth in aquaculture, due to an
several in Norway. Fredrikstad facility will be the fi rst and expected large demand growth for seafood
only salmon farming, onshore commercial in the coming decades,” he adds. “Land-
There are many reasons for the increase. scale facility in Norway when it starts up, based salmon farming is one of many
Onshore fi sh farming has become according to Erik Heim, Nordic Aquafarms avenues to creating future growth for the
more effi cient with improved land- chief executive. It will also be Europe´s industry.”
based technology, such as recirculation largest. The project is a result of the
aquaculture systems. Moreover, there are Norwegian Fisheries Directorate´s decision Fresh water salmon
increased offshore production costs, such in 2016 to open up for free concessions in The next full-cycle onshore project expected
as sea lice treatment, rising offshore license onshore fi sh farming. is Salmofarms, formerly Akvafarm Rjukan.
costs and strong salmon prices pushing The Norwegian company plans to produce
production onshore. “The new permits system is partly a result fully grown salmon in the middle of the
of our active role in addressing the lack country at the industrial town of Rjukan,
“With supply growth from traditional farming of permitting systems for land-based historically known from World War II
dwindling due to biological challenges and production in Norway, and was a necessary for the Nazis’ unsuccessful battle over
tighter regulatory controls, and new licenses condition for us in moving forward in Hydro’s heavy water production plant.
expensive or impossible to secure, land- Norway,” says Heim in an interview. “Until
based farming is increasingly the solution,” 2016, only R&D permits with time limits The project marks a biological fi rst for
says Aukner in his analysis. were available for land-based salmon Norway as the fi rst onshore facility to

First Commercial Plant
One of the fi rst projects expected to see the
day of light in Norway is Nordic Aquafarms’
ongoing construction at Fredrikstad
Seafoods. The seafood facility will be ready
for production in early 2018 and ready to be
delivered to the market in 2019. The facility
will farm Atlantic salmon up to four kilos
onshore for delivery of freshly gutted salmon
on a weekly basis to the EU market. After its
planned expansion, the facility will be able to

Nordic Aquafarms’s planned onshore farm
Fredrikstad Seafoods will be Norway’s fi rst
commercial land-based salmon producer.
© Nordic Aquafarms

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