Norwegian Companies to Develop Submersible Fish Farming

In partnership with the companies Sinkaberg-Hansen and Egersund Net, Norway’s AKVA group has established the company Atlantis Subsea Farming AS with the purpose of developing submersible fish-farming facilities for salmon on an industrial scale.

Atlantis Subsea Farming AS has applied for six development licences to enable large-scale development and testing of the new technology and operational concept.

The work on Atlantis started in summer 2014, and experts from all three companies have been and will continue to be involved in the work with the Atlantis concept.

Through its development work, Atlantis aims both to contribute to better and more sustainable use of current farming sites as well as to enable use of more exposed sites than is currently possible. The goal is to achieve production gains and improve fish welfare by submerging the facilities, as they will be far less exposed to the environmental and physical conditions than in a surface position.

Large-scale testing will focus on third-party documentation of fish welfare and production performance, the technological capabilities of the system, and safeguarding the occupational health and safety of employees.

According to AKVA There are many risks associated with the project, and the testing of the technological and operational solutions requires large-scale testing beyond what can be done in today’s fish farms based on traditional operating methods.

“The further progress of the project and our ability to ensure a methodical approach thus depend on our being granted development licences.

“Although Atlantis represents a significant leap forwards in terms of innovation, it is also an objective for the concept to keep costs at a level that helps strengthen the industry’s competitive position. The aim is also that the technology and operating methods developed through Atlantis can be made available and be adopted by the industry relatively quickly,” the company said in a press release.