Arctic Smolt, a subsidiary of salmon farming company Arctic Fish, has entered into two separate agreements which will expand its smolt facility at Nordur Botn in Tálknafjördur, Iceland.
With an estimated cost of EUR 24 million (USD 28.4 million), the project is one of the largest-ever private investment projects in Iceland’s Westfjords.
Arctic Smolt has signed a contract with Eykt ehf for the design and construction of new buildings and a contract with Eyvi AS for the installation of a new tailor-made recirculating aquaculture system. Some 4,200 square meters of new floor-space, with a total of about 7,200 cubic meters of tank space, will be added to the existing 10,000 square meters and 6,300 cubic meters of tanks the company already operates at the site. After the expansion, the station's annual breeding capacity will be about 1,000 metric tons (MT) of smolt, or the equivalent of about five million 200-gram smolts.
According to Arctic Fish, the expanded facilities should be able to farm approximately 25,000 MT of salmon.
“We are growing rapidly as a company and aim to harvest about 24,000 MT within three years. In order to realize this growth and achieve a greater focus on larger smolt, which spend less time at sea, we want to undertake this expansion. We are confident that the people we have partnered with share our objective of building a state-of-the-art grow out facility, which will provide a foundation for robust aquaculture operations,” Arctic Fish CEO Stein Ove Tveiten said.
A back-up power station is also a part of the project, with three generators to be delivered and installed by Aflhlutir ehf. Construction will begin shortly, after it receives a building permit. Arctic Fish said the construction phase will last about two years and that about 40 to 50 people will be involved in the project during construction. Arctic Fish currently employs a staff of about 70 people with about 10,000 MT of salmon in the sea spread over three fjords. The company said it plans to harvest an estimated 12,000 MT this year.
"We are very pleased to have Eyvi and Eykt on board and to get this project underway on site," Arctic Fish Project Manager Ragna Helgadóttir said.
Faroese aquaculture consultancy SMJ Aqua advised Arctic Fish during the preliminary design and tender phase of the expansion.
Photo courtesy of Arctic Fish
