60,000 Cod Raised in Berufjordur

The aquaculture facility of HB Grandi in Berufjordur recently took delivery from Stofnfiskur of 27,000 juvenile cod that have been placed in the company's sea cages. This is the second delivery of young cod this summer after 23,000 were delivered in June in addition to the 10,000 that were already held there. This brings the stock of cod fingerlings up to 60,000.

According to aquaculture manager, Kristjan Ingimarsson, each fingerling weighs an average of 150 grammes and the juvenile cod that were already in the cages have a weight of between 600 and 700 grammes. Cod were last slaughtered at HB Grandi at the end of last year and Kristjan Ingimarsson says that these cod now in the cages will not be ready for slaughter until the end of next year.

He said: "Things have gone well this summer. This is an experimental operation and what we are primarily looking for is ways of reducing mortality in the cages. HB Grandi is working on this in a co-operative venture with Gunnvor, Stofnfiskur and Matis, with the initial findings to be made public at the end if next year,' he said and added that this mainly concerns two factors – the timing of putting the fish out and the size of the juvenile cod when they are put in the cages.

"These are the factors in aquaculture that are most easily managed. When we received the latest dispatch of juveniles, we graded them and only put out the best ones with the best survival possibilities. This gives us the chance to compare the two groups."

Mr Ingimarsson said that the last farmed cod that were slaughtered at the end of last year went through the usual factory processing easily.

He said: "The cod could have been bigger and hopefully we will be able to fix this. This is a genetic project and by selecting the largest cod for breeding, it should be possible to get fish that grow faster and bigger without increasing the feed costs."