Aquaculture training course for Icelandic salmon farmers
Iceland salmon farmer Arnarlax has teamed up with the Icelandic College of Fisheries to create a new programme to train fish farmers.
The practical course aims to increase the expertise of personnel involved with operating activities and safety issues in their field of work.
It is offered as an independent study programme but is also fully integrated into units that correspond to one semester course of study in fisheries technology at the Icelandic College of Fisheries, with a special focus on aquaculture.
Developing rapidly
Arnarlax chief executive Björn Hembre, said: “Icelandic salmon farming is developing rapidly. We must ensure that our personnel can get education and training in the industry.
“Our goal is to have 50% of our staff completing the study course on aquaculture that the Icelandic College of Fisheries has agreed to supervise and maintain for the future in accordance with the rapid development in the industry.
“We aim to maximise production and thus it’s vital to increase employee expertise. We have outstanding staff working at Arnarlax and we believe it is essential for us to secure opportunities to build up expertise in the industry and help our personnel to grow in their jobs with long-term advantage in mind.”
Linked to work duties
About 20 employees of Arnarlax, a subsidiary of Norwegian salmon farming giant SalMar, are expected to commence their studies this autumn.
The course will be spread over three semesters in order to help as many as possible to study alongside their jobs and thus link individual study courses to their work duties.
The courses will be taught at Bíldudalur and other local units of Arnarlax in the Westfjords in collaboration with the Westfjord Educational Centre, while the organisers will also make use of teleconferences when needed.
