Dredging work begins to create site for 10,000-tonne salmon farm in US

Work has begun to dredge a 30-acre lagoon that will be the site of a land-based salmon farm at Millinocket, in the north of the US state of Maine.

Great Northern Salmon (GNS) is run by Norwegian husband and wife team Erik Heim and Marianne Naess, who is chief executive of the company. GNS plans a 10,000-tonnes-per-year recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility as part of the development of the One North site that was previously occupied by a paper mill.

The company said the dredging work has started in partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), site owner and economic development partner Our Katahdin, and others.

“When the work is completed, GNS has a fully excavated site with a glacial till foundation, providing significant cost and schedule benefits in the construction phase,” GNS said in a social media post.

Geotechnical work on site has confirmed the glacial till substrate will support the facility’s weight.

Local support is paramount

In September, GNS said removing water and settlement materials from the lagoon would take 10 months.

“We want to thank Our Katahdin and its partners for their commitment to the success of this project and for creating the conditions that have helped us to reach this milestone,” Naess said last month. “Local support is paramount for succeeding in this sector in the US today.”

Heim and Naess were formerly employed by Nordic Aquafarms, which wanted to build a 33,000-tonnes-per-year RAS salmon facility at Belfast, more than 100 miles to the south of Millinocket.

The project was supported by the city, and some local people, but opposed by others who have gone to court to challenge Nordic’s use of a strip of land to lay intake and outtake pipes to the sea. The case is yet to be resolved.

After parting company with Nordic in July 2022, Heim and Naess went on to Xcelerate Aqua, “to create and invest in companies that pursue smart and efficient aquaculture growth”. GNS is the first project.