Nordlaks ‘egg’ receives first salmon

Nordlaks’ impressive looking “Storbåts egga” facility, which was delivered from Turkey last year, now holds more than 68,000 salmon with an average weight of 5.1 kilos at the time they were put in.

 

Bjarne Johansen, operations director at Nordlaks Havbruk AS, said: “Even though it has taken longer than it should have and been more demanding than we had imagined, we are a bit proud of where we have come with this project.

 

“Since the facility arrived in Vesterålen last November, work has been in full swing to complete all the systems so that it is ready to release fish. The ocean tank, or “Hydra” project, is a development project where new technology will be tested.

 

The Storbåts egga is a semi-closed production tank with a capacity of 3,120 tons of live salmon.

The unit has a sealed roof and walls down to 20 metres below the sea surface. The sealed construction is intended to prevent lice and disease microbes, which mostly move in the upper layer of the sea, from getting to the fish.

 

Storbåts egga has also been developed to prevent fish escape, as all materials in the construction have a completely different strength than the traditional farming cages with open nets.

 

A manually controlled water exchange system, adapted to the strong ocean currents at the site, ensures continuous access to fresh, oxygen-rich seawater. At the same time, the open bottom construction ensures that fish excrement is distributed naturally with the ocean current. 

The result, says Nordlaks, is a robust and innovative solution that ensures good fish welfare with a reduced risk of lice, disease and escape.

 

The company said it believes this to be an important step towards a “sustainable and more future-oriented” fish farming industry.