AgriMarine Holdings on Wednesday announced that it launched the commercialization of its technology into Norway. The British Columbia-based company has set up a joint venture company under the name AgriMarine Norway AS (AgriNor) with ZED Financial Partners of Toronto and Midos AS of Oslo (collectively called Norwegian JV Partners).
AgriMarine will license its technology and know-how to AgriNor and provide technical and financial support.
Under the terms of the agreement, Norwegian JV Partners will apply for concessions earmarked for closed-containment fish farming in Norway, with the aim of establishing a closed-containment demonstration facility to raise salmon. Norwegian JV Partners will arrange for both technical and financial support from Norwegian government agencies and industry participants.
The company has named Geir Spiten, a member of Norwegian JV Partners, president of AgriNor. Spiten is a certified information system auditor with extensive consultative experience in the Norwegian aquaculture industry. He has also worked as principal consultant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Sean Wilton has been appointed AgriMarine’s representative for the joint venture and will serve as director of technology and engineering. Wilton is president of AgriMarine’s operating companies and has extensive worldwide engineering experience in closed-system technology for farming salmon and other finfish.
“There is tremendous political, consumer and eNGO pressure on the salmon-farming industry to improve business practices to make farming environmentally sustainable,” said AgriMarine CEO Richard Buchanan. “AgriMarine’s technology aims to solve sustainability issues by offering a better farm management system that has the ability to expand growth in the industry while protecting the receiving water conditions.”