Andfjord Salmon has successfully completed its first post-smolt production cycle, which was also the first production cycle in Pool K3 at its land-based salmon farm.
The company said smolts were released in Pool K3 in early June and have since been sold and transferred to Eidsfjord Sjøfarm, a nearby salmon-farming company. Eidsfjord Sjøfarm has since released those post-smolt into its ocean net pens.
According to Andfjord Salmon, the total biomass was 390 metric tons (MT) of post-smolt salmon. It marks the second time that the company has sold post-smolt but the first time the company ran a full production cycle solely devoted to post-smolt.
"We have reared the smolt from an average weight of 110 to well above 700 grams in just over four months. This is ahead of the growth table for ocean net pens,” Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen said in a release. “Faster growth means a shorter runway to revenue for Andfjord Salmon, while Eidsfjord Sjøfarm gets earlier access to robust fish to release into their ocean net pens at a time that matches their production plans. Both parties benefit from the solid biological performance.”
The company said it will now empty Pool K3, clean and disinfect it, and perform maintenance prior to the next time it stocks it. It is anticipating a release of 800,000 more smolts into the pool in November, which will later be divided into post-smolt for sale and production of human-grade salmon at the site.
"Our land-based pools and supporting infrastructure provide us with flexibility to combine post-smolt and grow-out production,” Rasmussen said. “This is a resourceful way of capitalizing on available pool capacity without compromising the biology.”
Andfjord announced plans to use its spare pool capacity as post-smolt production in 2024 and also announced a strategic partnership with Eidsfjord Sjøfarm to provide post-smolt. The first post-smolt sale in June helped contribute to Andfjord Salmon’s commercial revenue in Q2 2026.
