Mount Cook Alpine Salmon has announced plans to construct the country’s first land-based salmon farm at a launch event in Twizel, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Joined by Mount Cook Alpine Salmon’s board chair Sir Bill English and the country’s Minister of Oceans and Fisheries David Parker, the company’s Chief Executive David Cole revealed plans to build the farm. The new site will double the company’s annual production to between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes.
Alongside the bolstered capacity, the farm will have zero waste, returning 100 percent of the water it uses back to the source, showing a focus on sustainability.
“The idea of perhaps a wasabi farm, for example, which is a good pairing with salmon, will help to purify that water and then we envisage it passing through a wetlands area before we return it back in its purest form to the lakes,” Cole stated.
The total cost of the farm will be NZD $16.7 million (€9.7 million), with the New Zealand government’s Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund contributing NZD$6.7 million (€3.9 million). It will take six years to build and will produce sockeye salmon and king salmon.
“Demand for healthy, sustainably produced aquaculture products continues to grow, and land-based salmon farming will enable New Zealand to boost the supply of this high-quality, high-value product,” Steve Penno, MPI’s investment programmes director, said.
Explaining the move into land-based fish farming, Cole stated that global assessments suggest that, within the next 20 years, 25 percent of the world’s farmed salmon will come from land-based sited.
The exact site location will be picked before the end of the year but it has been suggested that it will either be in Waitaki or Mackenzie District
“”It will build on our international reputation as a producer of high-quality aquaculture products, and develop another opportunity to create a nutritionally-rich protein product that can be offered to consumers,” Penno added.
