Pelagia scoops up majority stake in fish farm sludge specialist
Fish products and marine ingredients heavyweight Pelagia has become the majority owner of Norwegian aquaculture sludge handling expert Blue Ocean Technology.
The companies said in a press release that Blue Ocean Technology (BOT) will now have the necessary expertise and capital for further growth, which will help it offer fish farmers a way to sustainably utilise sludge resources. Pelagia’s investment in BOT significantly strengthens the company, especially within logistics services related to aquaculture sludge both on land and at sea.
Pelagia already supplies the aquaculture industry both with technical solutions for handling trimmings, fish guts and dead fish, and with a contingency solution for fish in the sea. It has also established solutions both at sea and on land to handle the logistics associated with these services.
The company operates 28 facilities in Norway, United Kingdom (Grimsby; Aberdeen; Greenock; Bressay, Shetland), Ireland (Killybegs), Denmark and Ukraine.
A good fit
“Strategically, Blue Ocean Technology and Pelagia fit very well together. We possess expertise in complementary areas within sludge resources, and together we become a very powerful unit. This applies not only in Norway, but also internationally,” said BOT chairman Arve Janbu Fresvik.
BOT is working to expand its product range, from its own system for collecting sludge in cages to profitable downstream concepts based on pyrolysis technology. The goal is to offer profitable circular solutions, from sludge uptake, dewatering and drying to transport and sustainable utilisation of sludge resources.
“Pelagia aims to become the best partner for the industry to solve some of the sludge challenges. If we succeed, we will increase the sustainability of the industry and reduce the environmental impact for the benefit of all,” said Pelagia chief executive Egil Magne Haugstad.
Pelagia is owned 50/50 by Austevoll Seafood ASA, which is majority owner of salmon farmer Lerøy, and Kvefi AS, which is majority owned by Kverva Industries, a holding company for the Witzøe family that controls the world’s second largest salmon farmer, SalMar. Pelagia is the largest producer of high-quality omega-3 concentrates in Norway and runs the biggest fleet of vessels collecting category 3 and 2 by-products from the salmon industry.
