Pelagia chief elected president of marine ingredients organisation IFFO

Egil Magne Haugstad, the chief executive of wild-caught fish processing heavyweight Pelagia, has been confirmed as the next president of marine ingredients organisation IFFO, from January 1.

Haugstad, who is IFFO’s vice president, was confirmed as successor to current president Gonzalo De Romaña in management board elections held at IFFO’s annual conference, in Cape Town, South Africa, this week.

Norwegian-owned Pelagia is a leading producer of pelagic fish products for human consumption, and a major supplier of fishmeal and fish oil used in fish- and animal feed. It operates 28 facilities in Norway, United Kingdom (Grimsby, Aberdeen, Greenock, Bressay, Shetland), Ireland (Killybegs), Denmark and Ukraine.

The company 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.

Essential to food industry

“IFFO members are extremely important for producing marine ingredients, which are essential for the food industry and the wellbeing of an ever-growing global population,” said Haugstad.

“IFFO members work in a responsible manner and continuously encourage further development in science-based projects such as the ongoing life cycle assessment analysis. I look forward to contributing to develop knowledge and competence within the marine ingredients sector. We will also explore how IFFO can keep developing its services and be an even better meeting place for our industry.”

The new vice president is Chilean Eduardo Goycoolea, who was one of the founders and first co-president of IFFO when it was founded in 2001, and president in 2018.

IFFO thanked two outgoing members of the board: Odd Eliasen, managing director of Havsbrun, the feed subsidiary of Faroes and Scotland salmon farmer Bakkafrost; and Nick Sterrett, sales director for Texas-based Omega Protein, a fishing and marine ingredients company owned by Canadian salmon farmer Cooke, Inc.