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“Nova Sea is the majority owner of Sundsfjord Smolt which has a capacity of 13 million smolt (young salmon) per year and it has an additional facility, Helgeland Smolt, with authorisation for 8 million smolt. The company’s packing facility at its headquarters on the tiny island of Lovund has a capacity of around 350 tonnes a day, and per annum some 50,000 tonnes of salmon are produced.”


What are the current practices for fish farming in Norway, and the problems associated with these?


Kåre: “Currently most of the fish farms are in the fjords and all this intense activity is causing problems with outbreaks of sea lice at some farms, which can damage the fish or even kill them. The government recognises that the fish farming sector is important and wants the industry to grow, but this has to be done in a sustainable way.”


“Two years ago, the government introduced a ‘traffic light’ system for its 13 fish farm zones, with eight in the so-called green zone, three in amber and two in the red zone (in the west where many farms are). Increased production capacity is allowed in the green zone or if the sea farmers can satisfy the government’s strict criteria, which urges companies to bring new technology to the market to help combat the problem of sea lice and to move the farms further away from the fjords. If fish farms want to grow, they have to be in a green zone, but by developing new technology, they can get access to new areas offshore.


“More than 135 companies applied for a new technology licence to be able to grow their business but only a handful – seven or eight - got the go - ahead and the first has started operations.”


What is the Viewpoint Seafarm concept?


Kåre: “The Viewpoint Seafarm concept is first of all, an offshore solution, which deploys a combination of an open and closed system. Given my background, I came up with the idea of using a former drilling rig, which given the drop in the oil prices, was obtainable at a lower price. There are many synergies. For example, the rig is the traditional fish farm ring shape and we can make use of quite a lot of its equipment such as the cranes, mooring system, accommodation unit, pump and lifting equipment. All we then need is the net and fishing system.


“The concept will enable us to farm 3,100 salmon in six to eight cages with a circumference of 120-160 m. Overall, if Viewpoint Seafarm obtains all of the 20


licences we have applied for, the whole farm would produce 15,600 tonnes of salmon.


“This is a complete sea farm with all of the systems integrated into it. Outer steel barriers protect employees, the fish and the construction from external forces and the farm includes an integrated processing and feeding system, service and maintenance system. The farm also has living quarters and a control room for employees and scientists.”


It is not a traditional fish farm design?


Kåre: “Viewpoint Seafarm is not based on a traditional cage system but a ‘flexible cassette’ with a double barrier system. This makes it easier to move fish from one station to the other, and it is much less stressful for the fish when they have to be treated. There are walkways inside the


Kare Olav Krogenes


Odd Stensland


report


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