Global roll out of land based salmon

A PIONEERING land based salmon farming company has announced plans to expand its operations in the US with its largest facility to date.
Pure Salmon said its new site will be based in Tazewell County, Virginia, with a production target of 20,000 tonnes a year.
The project, backed by $20 million from local development agencies, will rear Atlantic salmon in an uncontaminated environment with complete bio-security, and will be close to local markets, said the company in a press release.
Pure Salmon, owned by Singapore headquartered 8F Asset Management, has already established a land based RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems) farm in Poland.
Fifty per cent owned by Israel’s AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies, the Polish plant is fully operational and producing adult size fish of 5-6kg, said Pure Salmon.
The company recently announced a 10,000-tonne project in Japan – Soul of Japan, which will be fully operational from 2021 and will be the largest ever built in Asia, and one of the biggest globally.
In Europe, two additional locations are being considered for a further 10,000 tonnes. The first of these is in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the second is in Olbia, in the north of Sardinia, Italy, a project which has attracted significant support at a national and local level, both politically and financially, said Pure Salmon.
The new farms will be fully integrated with on-site hatcheries, grow-out systems and processing facilities, and will contribute 40,000 tonnes of production to Pure Salmon’s 260,000-tonne global target, the company said.
Pure Salmon is also reportedly considering building five 20,000-tonne facilities in China.
Stephane Farouze, chairman and founder of 8F, said: ‘We’re delighted to be announcing further details of our plans to build large scale land based Atlantic salmon farming facilities in the US and Europe.
‘8F is proud to be a sustainable investment business and we are looking to change the future of salmon farming with our ambitious growth plans for Pure Salmon around the world.’
Picture: Plans for the American RAS facility