Andfjord Salmon : Happy new and exciting year!

12 January 2022‍

Andfjord Salmon's ambition is to build the world's most fish friendly and sustainable aquaculture facility of its kind. Last year, we took major steps towards this objective. This year, we will prove that we can realise this ambition.

I am proud to be part of a concept that is based on the natural advantages we have in Norway, more specifically at Andøya, where the Gulf Stream is one of our closest neighbours.

On land, with ocean benefits

‍Land-based fish farming has featured heavily in the media last autumn, often in a generalizing manner that contrasts ocean-based versus land-based fish farming. I believe such an approach is too simplistic. Summarised, Andfjord Salmon has a fish cage on land, which means that we can protect the fish and the local environment in a way that ocean-based pens for obvious reasons cannot do.

Andfjord Salmon's facility is undoubtedly land-based, but we are also completely different from other land-based facilities that do not base their operations on natural advantages, such as for example RAS facilities, which recycle the water.

There are particularly two things that occupy my mind: good biological conditions and low energy consumption. This provides the foundation for low capex and operating costs, which are perpetual competitive advantages. Good biological conditions and low energy consumption are also the basic prerequisites to meet our ambition of building the most fish friendly and sustainable facility for fish farming of Atlantic Salmon.

A flow-through system with laminar water flow reduces energy consumption and associated costs significantly as there is no need to lift, filter or heat the seawater. Simply because the seawater is clean and holds a perfect temperature as it is sourced directly from the adjacent Andfjord.

It is precisely the utilization of these natural advantages that enable us to produce fish at an energy cost of only 1 kWh per kilo. SINTEF has confirmed this figure. As far as we know, no other land-based fish farming facility can produce fish with such low energy consumption.

In this film you can see for yourself how Andfjord Salmon's concept works and what sets it apart from other facilities.

‍Laminar water flow‍

Prior to Christmas, following a period of successful testing, we announced that the technology that creates the laminar water flow was working exactly as it should. This gave us the best Christmas present we could have hoped for (and which we also expected): That all prerequisites are in place to give the salmon an excellent habitat, without having to utilize a lot of energy to recreate an environment it will thrive in.

My guess is that not everyone understands the meaning of a laminar water flow. In short, it means that we have moved the Gulf Stream onshore and recreated the salmon's natural habitat on land. And we know that the salmon thrives in the Gulf Stream! Please also remember that we are the world's first fish farmer that utilizes laminar water flow technology in a land-based fish farming pool. As such, the successful verification of the laminar water flow helps to de-risk our business case substantially.

We have developed a new film which will provide you with valuable insight in the test period we have been through. I recommend viewing this film.

Currently, we are conducting further testing and fine-tuning of the laminar water flow technology and other pool functions. We are at the same time waiting for the first smolt to grow and become ready for release into our first pool. This is planned for the second quarter of this year.

We will in the meantime keep you regularly updated about what will be a very exciting and eventful year for Andfjord Salmon.

New Year greetings from

Martin Rasmussen
CEO