Norwegian salmon producer Nordlaks plans to spend up to € 260m on building three Havfarms, (450 meter long sea farms).
The company is appealing against refusal of permission for the farms.
Partial refusal
Just before Christmas, Nordlaks received partial refusal to apply for development concessions for the farms. Instead of three seabed farms, the company got permission to build one. Nordlaks filed a complaint, but the company has not yet received an answer to its appeal against the decision from the Ministry of Food and Fisheries, reports the Norwegian magazine Vesterålen.
Three are neccesary
According to Meret Kristiansen, Commercial Director of Nordlaks, it is crucial that the company is able to build all three of the sea farms.
“Our project needs to be realised in the form we have applied for. It requires all three sea farms to achieve its potential, financially and otherwise.” Also, the three farms are fundamentally different in some aspects, she told Vesterålen.
This video from Nordlaks shows the differences between the three marine farms (the article continues below).
Shared knowledge
Kristiansen also told the newspaper that if Nordlaks succeeds in building the three farms, the entire Norwegian aquaculture industry will profit. The company will share the know-how of the project with the entire industry.
“Havfarm 1 will be anchored on the seabed. Havfarm 2 is planned as a moored installation with quick-coupled anchoring and engine power so it can move between locations, while Havfarm 3 is designed to be completely independent of anchoring and based on engine power.”
Nordlaks claims that both Havfarm 2 and Havfarm 3 can provide large new areas for the aquaculture industry and that the potential is so great that these marine farms must also be completed.
