Salmon media firm’s chief moves into conferences
Fish Farming Expert’s owner, Gustav Erik Blaalid, has become co-owner of Norwegian aquaculture conference organiser AqKva AS through holding company Vitamin Holding AS.
Vitamin Holding owns salmon farming magazines Norsk Fiskeoppdrett (Norwegian Fish Farming), Salmonexpert (Chile) and Fish Farming Expert (UK), and Norwegian shipping magazine Skipsrevyen, along with their associated websites.
“The investment in AqKva AS is a natural part of Vitamin Holding’s media strategy to develop in the direction of courses and conferences. As such AqKva is a good partner,” said Blaalid.
Proven ability
He believes AqKva AS has proven its prowess by building what has become Norway’s largest and most important arena for the aquaculture industry, the annual AqKva Conference. In addition, the company has organised a dozen larger and smaller seminars and conferences both in the aquaculture industry and within other industries.
Blaalid said Norsk Fiskeoppdrett and its associated website, Kyst.no, were leading news and knowledge providers in the fish farming industry in Norway, and that Salmonexpert had become the leading knowledge provider in the Chilean aquaculture industry.
“Over the years, the companies have built up a substantial knowledge database that can be used actively for training purposes,” said Blaalid believes. This is one of the reasons why, in his opinion, AqKva is a perfect match.
Special position
Vidar Onarheim, general manager of AqKva AS, said: “In our opinion, the trade press is an important part of the industry. In this context, Norsk Fiskeoppdrett stands in a special position in the Norwegian aquaculture industry as a leading provider of knowledge to the industry for more than 40 years.
“The expertise we can gain from the media house in Bergen could be a good contributor to develop AqKva AS in an even better way in the future.”
Havexpo 2020
AqKva AS has established the company Havexpo AS, which will organise a fair for the marine and maritime industries. The first edition starts on May 6, 2020 in Bergen.
Onarheim said that this is something that many of the exhibitors at the AqKva conference have called for, and that HavExpo has already received a lot of bookings from the supplier industry. In particular, he highlighted a desire from suppliers for a new arena to showcase innovations more often than every other year, as is the case today at the world’s biggest aquaculture trade show, Aqua Nor, in Trondheim.
