Land-based salmon-farming firm Proximar Seafood said it is seeing positive feedback on its first harvests of Atlantic salmon but has had to further delay its expectations due to biofilter incidents.
The company sold its first-ever salmon harvest from its recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in late 2024, and in a recent production update, the company said it has continued to receive positive feedback on the product. Proximar built a land-based Atlantic salmon farm in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, which has been operational since October 2022.
Proximar said it received an average net selling price of NOK 123 (USD 10.79, EUR 10.48) for its salmon, with an average weight of 4.17 kilograms head-on gutted and with 99.9 percent of the fish receiving a superior grade.
“We are very pleased about a fantastic start of sales and very well received fish in the market,” Proximar CEO Joachim Nielsen said. “The price achievement and feedback clearly show how Fuji Atlantic Salmon has been positively received in the Japanese market. The feedback on the quality and taste is very positive.”
The company debuted its Fuji Atlantic Salmon brand in October 2024 as it harvested its first batch of fish, which it said was the first domestically produced Atlantic salmon harvested in Japan. Since that first harvest, the company has shipped a total of 29 metric tons (MT) of HOG salmon, with customers highlighting freshness as the most important feedback, the company said.
While it has had success receiving a high price for its salmon, the company once again faced biological issues related to biofilters.
The company announced on 25 December 2024 that there was an incident with the biofilter in Module B of its salmon grow-out facility. According to Proximar, it suffered a breach in the support for the bio media filter in the module.
The breach did not result in any mortalities, and the company said it immediately took measures to maintain an adequate water supply for its salmon. Following the incident, the company said it stabilized water conditions to adequate levels.
While there wasn’t any mortality associated with the incident, Proximar said it will have an impact on the company’s expectations for its next harvest.
“The impact at the present stage of the incident will primarily be related to delayed growth due to a temporary reduction in feeding,” Proximar said.
The incident was the second time in just over a month it had to deal with a biofilter problem, as it announced in November 2024 that it had been hit by an equipment failure.
“The incident is equivalent to the one experienced in the C module in November, which indicates deficiencies in the materials used for the support. This will be further investigated,” the company said.
The company said it immediately contacted its insurance company and ordered the materials needed to complete repairs.
“There have been no abnormal mortalities in either of these incidents, but feeding has been reduced to maintain water quality,” Proximar Seafood said in its production update. “On a positive note, the implementation of the ozone system has solved the issues with high turbidity in the water. However, the reduced feeding following the turbidity issues and biofilter incidents has impacted growth rates accordingly.”
In its later update in January 2025, the company said the total impact will be an approximately 50 MT deviation from the harvest volume it gave in Q3 2024. The decrease is largely related to restricted feeding needed to maintain adequate water quality due to the biofilter issues.
Nielsen said the fact that both incidents were resolved with no mortality bodes well for the company.
“Our team has resolved these challenges without any mortality, which is impressive,” he said. “We are now taking measures to repair the damages and will also review the rest of our facility to address any weaknesses and take necessary action where needed.”
