GS Engineering and Construction has begun construction on a pilot salmon-farming project in South Korea.
The land-based pilot farm will be 7,800 square meters and located in the port city of Busan, according to Aju Business Daily. Construction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023, and the farm will have a capacity of 500 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon per year once operational.
Seoul, South Korea-based GS Engineering and Construction will apply state-of-the-art aquaaculture technologies to the project, including the use of sensors, networks, information and communications technologies, and artificial intelligence in farming operations. It will also use an advanced water-treatment technology for the pilot farm.
GS Engineering and Construction New Business Unit Head Huh Yoon-hong said his company aims to capitalize on South Korea’s reliance on imports. South Korea imported about 60,000 MT of Atlantic salmon last year, with Norway being the main supplier.
"Starting with the smart-aquaculture test bed, we hope to directly produce Atlantic salmon [for a market] that [has] relied on imports so far, contributing to the sustainable growth of the domestic fisheries industry," Yoon-hong said.
GS Engineering and Construction is collaborating with South Korea's retail giant Shinsegae to develop its salmon-aquaculture business.
South Korea's government has recently undertaken reforms of the country's aquaculture industry, with a view to increasing production for domestic consumption. In October 2021, South Korea's government announced a plan to build three aquaculture clusters in separate parts of the country by 2024, including one in Busan. The GS Engineering and Construction’s test bed is part of that project.
In November 2021, Norwegian salmon supplier Nils Williksen was awarded a contract to provide technical support for the development of another smart aquaculture cluster in the South Korean port city of Pohang.
Separately, Dongwon Industries has established a joint venture with Salmon Evolution to build a land-based Atlantic salmon farm in Yangyang, Gangwon-do, in the northeast corner of South Korea.
Photo courtesy of GS Engineering and Construction
