Grieg and FishGLOBE set up joint venture
Salmon farmer Grieg Seafood Rogaland and aquaculture technology business FishGLOBE have formally created a joint venture to develop the concept of a closed cage at sea for grow-out salmon.
FishGLOBE is the company behind a radical rethink in marine fish farm design. The company’s closed cage system is already being used by Grieg to rear post-smolts in two small cages in southern Norway, allowing the fish to grow to a larger size in a protected environment before being transferred to typical net-pen farm sites.
The two companies have now agreed to collaborate more formally, to develop the technology further and apply it to the grow-out phase. While the globes for post-smolts (up to around 3.5kg) are 3,500 cubic meters, the globe for grow-out salmon (up to 30kg) will be almost 10 times as large, at 30,000 cubic metres.
Two development licences have been granted to the project by the Norwegian Government.
Nina Willumsen Grieg, Regional Director of Grieg Seafood Rogaland, said: “Grieg Seafood Rogaland aim to reduce our impact, improve fish welfare and grow sustainably. We work a lot to achieve this goal, both by improving the traditional farming methods but also by utilizing new technologies. With the partnership Next Seafood, our goal is the develop technology and expertise in the area of closed containment ocean farming. We look forward to this journey.”
“Our aim is to contribute to sustainable growth in the aquaculture industry by deliver closed farming technology for post smolt and now also full-size salmon. Grieg Seafoods competence and experience matches our profile very well and we will take further steps in our journey with the partnership in Next Seafood. We really looking forward to the cooperation and the realization of the 30K project,” added Tor Hellestøl, Managing Director, FishGLOBE.
Next Seafood will now carry out detailed planning for the large FishGLOBE and a final decision on constructing it will be taken during 2022.