Brexit may have ruled the news during much of this year – but they don’t dominate this publication’s most-popular stories in 2019.
10) Trudeau sets his sights on BC salmon farming
It was the news that shook Canada. As part of his reelection pledge, Justin Trudeau promised to phase out in British Columbia’s open-pen salmon farming to closed containment by 2025. The mandate has been labelled as unrealistic by the industry. How he will actually move 77 salmon farms is anyone’s guess but its clear that Pacific Canadian salmon farming can expect more Liberal Party-led upsets in 2020.
9) Lerøy’s 233 kilo uninvited guest
Site technicians at one of Lerøy’s farms were shocked to find that a massive bluefin tuna has blasted its way into one its cages. The 233 kilos beast was harvested and delivered for human consumption to customers domestically in Norway.
8) Denmark says no to fish farms
Denmark’s Environment Minister Lea Wermelin (Social Democracy) said a firm no to the creation of new (and mostly) rainbow trout facilities and expansion of existing ones in her country.
7) Fish farm conman “The Tiger”
Tobias Ritesman weaved a huge web of deceit and conned people into giving him money to build an aquaponic land-based fish farm franchise. Despite the humongous lie that the former comic book shop owner ran in the same circles as Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, some victims lost their life savings as his scheme to build the USD 11 million fish farm never materialised.
6) Top land-based salmon farms
While there are many land-based salmon farms being presented around the world, SalmonBusiness presented a list of those that are either being funded, in construction or in production. If successful, they’ll add over half a million tonnes of salmon to the market.
5) On your bike!
It was an extraordinary claim. Two workers at one of Norway’s top salmon transporters were caught red-handed nicking kids bikes en route to pick up fish up North. The drivers – from Lithuania – would have got away with if it hadn’t been for eagle-eyed dad Steffen Tveiten-MacQueen who snapped the pair. “It’s sad that these two dolts did something so idiotic but which could have cost so much,” said Tveiten-MacQueen. The drivers were fired.
4) Superior Fresh supersizes production
Wisconson-based Superior Fresh has been quietly revolutionising land-based salmon farming at one of the world’s largest aquaponics facilities. Thanks to an expansion, within 24 months, it aims to grow from 72 tonnes to 680 tonnes.
3) Where does Mowi sit amongst the world’s largest seafood companies?
An overview presented by Skretting CEO Therese Log Bergjord during this year’s Aqkva conference, shined a light on the position of the world’s largest salmon farmer on the world stage.
2) The big business of salmon
A lot has changed since this 2017 article was written but it’s still SalmonBusiness’ second most popular article of 2019. Marine Harvest is now Mowi and Chilean AquaChile – the consolidation of Los Fiordos, Friosur, AquaChile and Salmones Magallanes – is now the second-largest salmon farmer.
1) Dead fish
SalmonBusiness’ most-read story of 2019 – with over 48,000 hits – painted a grim picture of Northern Norway’s Northern Lights Salmon issues with algae bloom. Elisabeth Balteskard, manager of Northern Lights Salmon said: “The boxes you see in the picture are just a small part of the total. It’s hard to accept”. The story personified the devasting loss during May 2019’s outbreak, which resulted in the deaths of eight million farmed salmon in the country.
