BERGEN, Norway -- Norways SalMar, which already has one substantial offshore pilot salmon-farming project, has plans to begin construction of its second, larger, facility this summer, according to chairman Atle Eide.

The Smart Fishfarm, a much bigger oil-rig scale offshore emplacement, will be a follow up to SalMars pilot Ocean Farm 1 project, on a scale almost twice the size.

Compared to Ocean Farm 1, this is a true offshore construction, Eide told listeners at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum in Bergen. Ocean Farm 1 could take waves up to 11 meters, but Smart Fishfarm will go 30-40km off the coast, and operate in waves up to 31m high.

And as you see, its a huge construction, 70m high, and it will hold between 3-4 million salmon, and we will produce between 17,000-20,000t of salmon in these farms. And we do hope that we will make the decision to build this farm just after the summer, we are now finalizing the design.

The center of the Smart Fishfarm will be 40 meters in diameter, and contain an area for treating sea lice and diseases should we have them.

Eide noted that the window for operations in harsh conditions is significantly smaller than in coastal aquaculture, especially in winter months, meaning specialized planning will be needed for harvesting and restocking.

Likewise, wellboats and feed vessels on a whole new scale will be necessary to service the farm, given the size of the waves expected.

This farm will be eight chambers compared to the first one which is five; and if we can solve all of these potential problems, the first harvest will be the spring of 2024. So by that time we will need to partner up with those who can offer these logistical solutions.

Likewise, cleaner fish will not be possible to use so far out to sea, so SalMar will also be testing how effectively its design prevents the build-up of sea lice.

We are paying a lot of attention to the effect of the conditions on the smolt, so we will be putting fairly large smolt to sea, Eide said. The first farm is a pilot, we will do a lot of testing and run with less intensity than we will hopefully be able to do later.

Eide told listeners that an estimated investment in the region of NOK 200 billion ($21bn) will be required to grow Norwegian offshore aquaculture to its full potential in the next three decades.

The goal, Eide said, was to grow Norwegian aquacultures total production to five million metric tons of salmon by 2050, but production growth had slowed in the past few years as the industry is held back by salmon escapes and sea lice issues, slowing the approval of new farming licenses.

However, Eide noted that currently, only 0.03% of Norways coastline is used for aquaculture, and growing from current production levels of 1.35 million metric tons to 5m metric tons would still only require less than 0.1% of Norwegian coastal space.

Enormous investments would be required to achieve this growth, not seen since the heyday of the oil and gas industry, Eide told listeners. We should exploit the huge offshore areas available; if 70% of the growth comes from offshore from 2030, the industry will need to invest over NOK 200bn in offshore production.

By growing to that 5m metric ton figure, Eide also believes the industry would create up to 127,000 new jobs, employing workers taken from Norways declining oil and gas trade.

And then, in addition, we need a whole new generation of wellboats and feedboats, plus more capacity in operations and maintenance.

But he warned that this growth is only going to be possible if the industry proves it can resolve its disease issues, allowing for the high-intensity offshore farming that SalMar and many other farmers desire.

Thats why were encouraging all companies that are working on those issues, and Im convinced by the competence within the industry that these issues will be solved, Eide said. The message from the government is quite clear: if you do not solve these issues you will not be allowed to grow.

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SalMar hopes to begin construction of 'ultimate offshore farm' this summer - Undercurrent News