© Gigante Salmon
The company, which operates a land-based flow-through farm on the island of Lille Indre Rosøy in Norway, plans to produce 16,000 tonnes of salmon annually.
The company has been plagued by mortality issues since the second batch of fish were stocked, last month, but believes that the issues are related to the condition of the smolt prior to being stocked into the farm.
As the startup explained in a stock exchange announcement this week: “Gigante Salmon has collaborated with the fish health service to uncover the cause of mortality and implement mitigation measures. No single factor has been identified, but a combination of several causes. The smolt in the second delivery was of lower quality for several reasons; among other things, due to postponed delivery as a result of delayed start-up of the plant.
“Other identified causes are recorded mortality already when loading to a wellboat, which may have resulted in lower water quality during transport, and this, together with bad weather during the period that caused the second delivery to remain in the boat longer than planned. There was also a low sea temperature (3.8 degrees) at launch.
“The plant itself works well and as intended. The seawater is pumped in as planned and the water chemistry is good. The fish are fine in the longitudinal current tanks, which are now run at a water velocity of about 20 cm/s. We make useful experiences for further production.”
"If the fish aren't doing well, we're not doing well. Our employees do everything they can to alleviate the health challenges of the fish. It is a ‘poor consolation’ to us that this is not due to the design of the facility. We are doing what we can to handle the situation,” added the startup’s CEO, Helge EW Albertsen.
