Bryne, Norway-based Hima Seafood will receive around GBP 40 million (USD 48.6 million, EUR 47.8 million) over the next three to four years for its planned land-based trout-farming project in Rjukan, Norway.
Hima’s recirculating aquaculture system farm is expected to begin operations in 2024 and come fully online in 2025, with an expected annual production of 8,000 metric tons of trout annually. The company is touting its trout as a premium product, originating from the unique Osland trout strain, which it claims is “one of the oldest trout strains in Norway – and the ultimate taste of the Norwegian highlands.”
The company received the minority equity investment from London, U.K.-based JLEN Environmental Assets, an environmental infrastructure fund listed on the London Stock Exchange, Foresight Funds, a U.K.-based sustainability-led alternative assets, and SME investment manager.
"We are pleased to make our first investment into land-based aquaculture, contributing to the sustainable supply of trout to meet rising consumer demand,” JLEN Senior Independent Director Richard Ramsay said. “We consider that this investment will deliver environmental benefits to the food system and offer a product to suit today's consumer needs."
Hima will be marketing its trout to European and international salmonid markets “via an offtake agreement with an established Norwegian seafood distribution company with global reach,” the company said. It has also formed an agreement to use excess heat from a local data center to warm its RAS facility.
“Driven by a growing global population and an expanding middle class, the world faces an increasing demand for quality protein amid limited resources of usable land and water. Recent data shows that 34.8 percent of global animal protein production comes from fish and seafood sources and the fish and seafood market grew between 4 percent to 8 percent annually in the 10-year period to 2019,” JLEN said in a statement. “Fish, including salmonids such as salmon and trout, is considered one of the most-efficient sources of high-quality animal protein due to the rate at which it converts feed into edible mass, its high protein retention, and high rate of edible meat per kilogram, as well as various nutritional benefits. Land-based aquaculture, such as the RAS based facility to be built in Rjukan, can provide a range of benefits compared with alternative methods of aquaculture, such as improved fish mortality rates, less local environmental degradation, and a lower use of antibiotics and other chemicals to control disease and parasites.”
Photo courtesy of Hima Seafood
