Folla Alger and Cermaq are testing a newly combined sea site for salmon and kelp in Steigen in Nordland, Norway.
This is the world's first sea site that has been built for the combined production of both salmon and kelp, where the kelp will be grown inside the farm itself. The sea site is designed as a traditional salmon farming facility with 24 cages, but with special solutions for growing kelp in the middle cages and salmon in the outermost cages on each side. Folla Alger collaborates with Cermaq on salmon farming at the sea site while SINTEF Ocean produces the first kelp delivery for the stocking at sea to test the effect of combined farming.
“Combined operation can provide good area utilization by producing several species within the same area. This area is already set aside for salmon, and by growing kelp on the same site, we hope to be able to contribute to increased value creation. This set-up allows us to use the nutrients released by the salmon in a sensible way by producing kelp, which can, in turn, be used as a raw material in new feed,” said Silje Forbord, research manager in SINTEF Ocean. “We know that we can get up to 50% better kelp growth by cultivating it together with farmed fish. Now we will also look at whether there are more advantages to combined operation.”
“This is a very exciting project for us, where we can both utilize nutrients from the net pens as a resource, and we can obtain more alternative feed raw materials. It is a good circular economy. In addition, the project contributes to increased local value creation and business development, which is very positive for everyone who lives and works here,” said Cermaq's production director in Nordland Truls Hansen.
The project will look at how salmon and kelp farming can mutually benefit each other, how kelp production affects the aquatic environment in the net pens, and what effect the combined production has on the health of the fish in the cages.
Folla Alger has been granted Research and Development licenses from the Directorate of Fisheries to carry out the project. SINTEF Ocean is responsible for the research, which will be carried out in close collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Nord University.
