Atle Eide joins tilapia farmer’s board

A leading figure in the world of salmon farming has joined the board of African tilapia producer Lake Harvest. Atle Eide, formerly Chairman at SalMar Group, has been named as Non-executive Chairman at the company.

Lake Harvest is one of the largest integrated aquaculture companies in sub-Saharan Africa and was recently boosted by an investment package of US$7m from aquaculture innovation fund Aqua-Spark, Norfund and the African Century Group.

The company has tilapia farming operations in Zimbabwe, Zambia (both in Lake Kariba) and Uganda (Lake Victoria) and a distribution network in East and Southern Africa.

Atle Eide was until recently chairman of the board in Salmar, one of the world’s biggest producers of salmon. He holds several positions in and outside of the seafood industry, such as board member for The Norwegian Seafood Federation, Benchmark Holding, Kontali and chairman in Scale AQ and SalmarAkerOcean. Eide also has experience as CEO from Skretting Nordic, Hydro Seafood, Kverneland Group and CEO of Marine Harvest – now Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producers.

He said: “I believe in the purpose of Lake Harvest and am strongly motivated to contribute to the development of sustainable aquaculture in Africa. I look forward to working with the Lake Harvest team, the other board members and the shareholders.”

James de la Fargue, CEO at Lake Harvest said: “We are very pleased and proud that Atle, who is a globally recognized leader in the aquaculture sector, is joining Lake Harvest. With his dedication, knowledge and experience, we are convinced that Atle will make a strong contribution to the future success of Lake Harvest.”