Second chance for floating enclosed salmon farm plan
A huge floating enclosed salmon farm concept is to be looked at again by Norwegian authorities following an appeal.
Salmon farmer Eidsfjord Sjøfarm had applied for permission to build and grow fish in its “Eidsfjord Giant” concept under the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate’s develop permit scheme but was turned down because the concept did meet the scheme’s requirement for significant innovation.
The Directorate’s decision has now been overruled on appeal.
270 metres long
“Eidsfjord has an exciting project, which can help solve many challenges in the aquaculture industry,” said fisheries minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen.
“We believe the Eidsfjord Giant concept involves significant innovation, and therefore ask the Directorate of Fisheries to take the matter further.”
The Eidsfjord Giant concept is for a barge of 270 metres long and 45 metres wide. The fish would be produced in six tanks of around 11,500 cubic meters, giving a total capacity of 69,000m³.
Up to 2.5kg
Water would be pumped into the tanks after being run through an electric lice filter.
Eidsfjord intends the Giant to grow fish up to 2-2.5kg. They would then be transferred to net pens for final grow-out.
The concept was developed in close collaboration with, among others, Rolls-Royce, which designed the construction itself.
Very complicated
“Even though the concept sounds simple, it is very complicated to have to calculate tanks, stability, ballast, make it lie straight in the sea and the like,” Rolf-Arne Reinholdtsen, production manager at Eidsfjord Sjøfarm, told Fish Farming Expert’s Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no, in 2018.
“Rolls Royce has knowledge of this. They are also responsible for the propulsion system with thrusters, remote monitoring of the propulsion system and further technical equipment.”
17 permits
Eisfjord applied for 17 development permits for the Giant. Each permit is equivalent to a licence for 780 tonnes of biomass.
“The investments are so large that we have to look at it as a whole. We are dependent on all permits,” Reinholdtsen said in 2018.
However, the decision in the appeal case does not in itself mean that Eidsfjord will be granted development permits in this round.
