AKVA group has recently signed two contracts to develop two new land-based Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS) projects in Northern Europe, one in Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, and the other in Mo i Rana, Norway. The agreements were signed with Icelandic Land Farmed Salmon (I.L.F.S.) and Kvarøy Smolt, respectively.
While the Icelandic contract, which will start in October 2022, will deliver a whole new plant with all the production stages from hatchery to smolt for I.L.F.S., the Norwegian project will start in 2023, and fits in the ongoing hatchery upgrading and rebuilding that Kvarøy Smolt has begun in 2021.
Icelandic hatchery-to-smolt facility
I.L.F.S.’s new self-sufficient smolt supplying plant will produce 10,000 tons of Atlantic salmon per year in the first phase of production and will double this amount in the second phase.
Icelandic marine aquaculture is generally limited by cold water and reduced availability of licenses thus local salmon farmers are now directing their attention to land-based production in areas with access to clean seawater and favorable temperatures.
Although Heimaey is an ideal location for salmon fish farming since the lava sand is a natural filter, providing warm, clean, and pathogen-free seawater ideal for salmon farming, it is an island with limited access to freshwater. Therefore, the AKVA group “Zero Water Concept” RAS proposal, according to I.L.F.S., has been decisive for the agreement.
Kvarøy hatchery upgrade
AKVA group will deliver ten fish tanks, inlet and outlet systems, and CO2 aeration, among other products and services, to Kvarøy Smolt. The AKVA group’s participation is part of a NOK 200-million (USD 18.7 million) investment to entirely renovate the Kvarøy Smolt’s 35-year-old hatchery facility. After this large upgrade, the facility will be sized to handle an increase in the smolt concession from the present 5.5 million to 8.5 in the future.
“We are very pleased to be chosen as a supplier and see it as a declaration of confidence when Kvarøy Smolt chooses to extend our good collaboration,” said Arnt-Magne Vollan, general manager of AKVA group Land Based Norway. “We have had a great collaboration with Kvarøy in connection with the ongoing upgrading and rebuilding of the hatchery facility, and we look forward to continuing that well into 2023.”
