Iceland getting back to salmon farming
When the author visited Iceland in connection with a meeting of the International Salmon Farmers Association over 20 years ago, the salmon farming industry in Iceland had basically collapsed from massive investments in land-based tank farms- the first one installed in 1978- that one by one went broke. A small number of these giant operations- generally consisting of huge, circular concrete tanks built in places where geothermically heated warm sea water would be pumped up from the ground- were still in operation, but all of them had gone through one or more receiverships due to the high cost of energy to move huge amounts of water, high construction costs and falling prices for salmon.
One of the active farms visited during my stay in Iceland had turned to the culture of abalone, and were just getting ready for the first harvest of this high-priced shellfish. Another farm had switched its production to Arctic char, which can easily be raised in densities eight times that of Atlantic salmon. A third facility was producing Atlantic salmon at a farm purchased for a fraction of its construction cost, but even without any treatment of intake or outlet water, it was struggling to make it financially.
A new initiative was started some years ago, based on the concept of growing large juvenile salmon in a land-based facility, but then move those fish to cages at sea for on-growing to harvest size. Perhaps this is the strategy being pursued by two Icelandic companies that are set to get the country back into the business of producing high quality Atlantic salmon, as reported by Iceland Review Online;
The aquaculture companies Fjarðalax and Arnarlax are planning to develop extensive salmon farming in the southern West Fjords which could create hundreds of jobs at the fish farms, in fish processing and related services. Tens of positions are already in place surrounding the fish farming centers of Fjarðalax which is located in the region, especially Tálknafjörður which has a long tradition of aquaculture, Morgunblaðið reports.
Fjarðalax has marine pens in three fjords and the fish is processed in Patreksfjörður, whereas Arnarlax is planning to launch salmon farming in Arnarfjörður and processing in Bíldudalur. Arnarlax’s executives, who are said to have experience in the industry and access to important markets, are waiting for the necessary permits. If the salmon farming development plans work out, up to 200 jobs could be created by the fish farming directly or indirectly in ten years.
