Nofima appoints new chief of aquaculture division
Norwegian research institute Nofima has appointed Bente Torstensen director of its aquaculture division.
In a first for the organisation, the director will be based in Bergen in the county of Hordaland in the west of the country.
Øyvind Fylling-Jensen, chief executive and managing director of Nofima, said: “Hordaland is the power centre for aquaculture and when we are so lucky to have Bente Torstensen on the team, it is obvious that she should have an office located in Bergen. This will make dialogue with many of the main players in the aquaculture industry, and collaboration with NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster, much easier.”
Extensive experience
Torstensen has extensive experience from the Nifes research centre, but last year worked as group manager for feed and fish performance in Marine Harvest’s global R&D department.
“My time at Marine Harvest has been amazing, and it isn’t easy to leave such an exciting company and such good colleagues,” said Torstensen. “But when the position at Nofima came up, I knew I had to make use of this unique opportunity. Working with research, with an opportunity to add research-based knowledge to the industry, is incredibly exciting. I’m really excited to begin in the position on 1 August and look forward to good collaboration with the fish farming industry, one of the most exciting global industries.”
Geographical spread
The aquaculture division is divided into five departments that cover the aquaculture industry’s entire value chain. All together there are about 130 people who work in the division all over Norway. In Bergen, the Aquafeed Technology Centre is also being built up in collaboration with the University of Bergen and Uni Research, among others.
Nofima, with its main office in Tromsø, is divided into three divisions: food science, fisheries and aquaculture. The organisation is geographically spread: the division management for land-based food production is located in Ås in the southeast, the fisheries division has its management in Tromsø in the north, and the head of the aquaculture division will be in place in Bergen in the west. The research institute also has branches in Stavanger and Sunndalsøra.
