© Henning Bortne Bøen
Just before Christmas, the world’s first cod produced in a submersible cage was packed and sold to customers in Europe, the United States and Asia. Ode’s production at the Alida site showed faster growth, improved control of maturation, and a more stable production environment. These experiences now form the basis for further scaling.
“The positive results from Alida have confirmed most of our hypotheses about the benefits of deep farming for cod. So far, this is only one production cycle, and we must continue to develop in order to optimise and test the effects at a larger scale. When we see how the fish respond to more stable conditions in deeper water layers, it is natural to take this forward on a larger scale,” said Ode chief executive, Ola Kvalheim, in a press release.
Deep farming means that farmed cod remain deeper in the water column, where temperature and light conditions are more stable throughout the year, and where the pathogen environment is different and likely better aligned with the cod’s natural biology. This provides improved biological conditions and greater predictability in production.
Based on the experience from Alida, Ode has invested in ten new deep-farming units of AKVA Group’s Nautilus system, which will be put into operation at the company’s Vorpeneset and Svartekari sites during the spring.
“Deep farming at the right sites gives us a production environment that is more stable than what we have previously had access to. This puts us in a better position to plan, manage, and further develop our efforts to scale up cod farming,” said Kvalheim.
Arnstein Hosaas, chief innovation officer at AKVA Group, commented on Ode’s investment:
“When we started deep farming for salmon, the main motivation was to avoid lice infestation, and we observed that the fish thrived. At depth, there is less noise, fewer environmental changes, and overall a more stable environment. Through the pioneering work with Ode, we have now seen that cod also thrive and grow well at depth. I’m looking forward to continuing with deep farming for cod, and I believe there is even more growth potential to be realised through further optimisation of both operations and equipment.”
