The Research Council of Norway’s regional fund Northern Norway has awarded NOK 3 million to research the effects on health feed for salmon farmed in Arctic regions.
“The award means that more people see the importance of finding out more about the effects of Arctic conditions and that we can start the study”, said project leader Ragna Heggebø, researcher at EWOS Innovation.
The expert panel assessed the funding application and the project as strong professionally, exiting, and very important for the region.
This project is the second of a total of four long term trials scheduled to take place at the Arctic Salmon Research Centre (ASRC), which was established earlier this year.
“Salmon farming in Finnmark has fish health challenges that are specific to this northernmost region in Norway. Our project will study health feed and its effects on fish health, performance and filet quality on salmon farmed in Finnmark,” says Ms Heggebø.
Salmon farming in this region has had slightly weaker economic sustainability than fish farming further south. This is due to a longer production period, fish health challenges that are unique for the region, and a bigger variation in product quality. ASRC will find the causes to these challenges, by studying the significance of feed customised for the fish farming conditions in Finnmark.
“To this date, we have little systematic research activity on salmon farmed in Finnmark, and EWOS wants to be an important contributor to new, strategic knowledge when it comes to Arctic salmon fish farming,” says EWOS product manager Ernst Hevrøy.
“Arctic environmental conditions are well suited for salmon farming, therefore the potential is great. Research on fish farmed at suboptimal Arctic conditions with long periods of low sea temperatures and short days is therefore very important for the aquaculture industry, and EWOS is leading the way in the development of new knowledge.”
