Norwegian land-based salmon farmer Andfjord Salmon AS has confirmed the average weight of the salmon in its first pool at its Kvalnessite, on the island of Andøya, has now reached 1kg.
Thanks to strong biological performance the fish reached the milestone well ahead of the late December 2022 forecast.
This, the company said, could result in the harvest date being brought forward.
Meanwhile, the survival rate stands at 98.9%, four months after the smolt was released.
“We are very pleased to see that we have been able to provide our salmon with excellent biological conditions. As a result, the growth rate is higher than what we estimated. This confirms that the living conditions in the pool are good, which means that the fish eats well and thereby grows fast. The excellent survival rate also confirms high fish welfare in the pool`s ecosystem,” Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen said.
On 25 June 2022, Andfjord Salmon released approximately 200,000 smolt at an average weight of 120 grams in the company’s first land-based pool at Kvalnes, Andøya.
“Reaching the 1kg milestone confirms the benefits of Andfjord Salmon’s fish farming concept, where excellent biological conditions in combination with low energy cost underline the robustness of our business case. The energy-use is also well within our target 1 kwh/kg salmon produced,” Rasmussen said.
Andfjord Salmon is using water from depths of approximately 40 metres below the sea surface for its flow-through technology solution. The water is substituted 15-17 times every 24 hours.
The company’s pools are square shaped with the intention of replicating a cross section of the Gulf stream. At slaughter weight, the density will be around 35-40 kg/m3.
It holds a license to produce 10,000 tonnes maximum allowed biomass (MAB) salmon at Kvalnes, equivalent to a target production volume of 19,000 tonnes HOG.
