A closed-containment system for fish farming, aptly called “The Egg” because of its shape, reached a milestone on Sunday, October 9 for taking in the first cohort of 50,000 salmon smolts weighing 150 grams each.
The innovative cage was positioned in place in Gjermundnes, Norway this past summer.
“After 10 years of planning and, lately, hectic weeks of preparation – both fish, people and the Egget were finally ready. This is an important day for us who work with the Egg technology. Getting here has not gone smoothly. It’s all the greater when this milestone is reached,” said Hauge Aqua CEO Cato Lyngøy.
The smolts came from aquaculture industry supplier Eik Settefisk. They have been served “super smolt feed” in recent weeks prior to transferring them into The Egg, said Hauge Aqua.
“The smolt wandered around a bit at the start, but it didn’t take long before it started to shoal along the edge, as we hoped for,” Lyngøy said.
The pilot version of the “Eggtet” is just 21-meters high and 15-metres wide and can house around 100 tonnes of fish. It is just a tenth of the size of the others that will be built eventually.
The company said the pilot version of The Egg represents the first step in the development project that Hauge Aqua AS and Akvakulturpartner are doing together with Hofseth International.
“This is proof of concept in practice. Now we can confirm whether what we have thought is correct, both biologically, technically and commercially,” said Siri Vike and Trond Severinsen, representatives of the management at Ovum, which was formerly known as Hauge Aqua Solutions.
