At Gigante Salmon's facility, three pools will be built, each of which has three to four longitudinal flow troughs. Basin 3, for smolts, is already operational.

First fish reach 1kg at Gigante Salmon

Editorial team
Published Modified

The first crop of fish being grown at Gigante Salmon’s land-based flow-through facility on an island in Norway have reached an average weight of more than 1 kilo.

Gigante Salmon had 160,852 fish in the facility at the end of the second quarter, it said in a report released today. Two batches of 640,000 smolts were stocked at the end of January, but only 160,000 survived for a variety of reasons.

“The fish grew satisfactorily in July and August, and we recorded stable water temperatures of between 12°-14°. There were no biological issues. The facility’s procedures are continuously adjusted to optimise operations, and our dedicated and competent operating organisation has begun preparations for the next release of smolt,” Gigante wrote.

Positive experiences

Chief executive Kjell Lorentsen said: “The summer has given us very positive experiences with the facility, with stable temperatures and good growth. It's great to say that the average weight in our test production has now passed 1,000 grams.”

The fish are being grown in a large pool – labelled production basin 3 - excavated into the bedrock of Lille Indre Rosøy in Rødøy municipality, Nordland, around halfway up the Norwegian west coast.

Production basins 2 and 1 are under construction, with work on basin 2 well advanced. Gigante plans to raise smolts to around 1 kilo in basin 3, then grow them on to harvest size in basins 2 and 1.

Illustration of Gigante Salmon's salmon facility. Production basin 3 (smolts) is complete and contains fish that now have an average weight of more than 1 kg, and basin 2 (grow-out) is nearly finished.

Basin 2 nearing completion

“Construction of production basin 2 continued throughout Q2 and is nearing completion. Concrete work and establishment of infrastructure for production basin 1 began as planned,” Gigante wrote in its Q2 2024 report.

“The concrete floor and walls of basin 2 were finished on schedule. Work is under way to cast the walls that separate the basin’s three circular-flow raceways and to cast the partitions in the raceways. The pipes that will supply basin 2 with seawater have been laid. Work to install walkways and clad the floor and walls is ongoing.”

The estimated cost of the Gigante Salmon project has risen to NOK 995 million, which is more than double the original estimate. Total investments increased through Q2 to NOK 792.8m from NOK 641.7m in Q1 2024. Financing was strengthened in the quarter by approximately NOK 361m, through a long-term loan financing with SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge (NOK 120m), a share issue in June (NOK 225m) and a subsequent issue in July (NOK 16.1m).

“We are happy about the trust from the investors, and with strengthened funding and a good facility, it is a pleasure to work in such a dedicated and competent organisation,” said chief financial officer Rune Johansen.

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