AKVA group has signed a new contract with National Prawn Company (NPC) in Saudi Arabia for the delivery of a complete UNI-recirculation marine hatchery. The hatchery is for one of the upcoming new fish species in aquaculture, the greater amberjack (Seriola Dumerilii).
The hatchery will be located at NPC's facility on the coast of the Red Sea close to Jeddah. NPC is the world's largest fully integrated shrimp producer in the world, and is embarking on a significant fish farming project.
The new hatchery will consist of broodstock facilities with egg collectors, incubation section, first feeding section and the unique AKVA live feed production system operating on recirculation technology. The hatchery will be equipped with automatic dosing system for live feed, oxygen control and a back-up security system managed by a state of the art control system. The equipment will be delivered over a period of 16 weeks, and the facility will be commissioned in the beginning of 2010.
The hatchery is an integrated part of a pilot project greater master plan to establish a complete land-based production facility with an annual capacity to produce 5,000 tonnes of amberjack and other potential new aquaculture species. In March this year AKVA signed a letter of intent for deliveries for the pilot project. The ongoing delivery is the second part-delivery of the project and is a part of the company's larger plan to establish production of 35-50,000 tons of Yellowtail Kingfish. AKVA group has already delivered a complete sea-cucumber production unit for NPC, and is currently constructing a bio-secure broodstock system together with a shared water intake for the 5,000 tonnes production facility.
