EWOS has been awarded NOK 3 million (USD 335,000) to research the effects of health feed on salmon farmed in arctic regions.

The award by the Research Council of Norway’s regional fund for Northern Norway, demonstrates the importance of finding out more about the effects of arctic conditions on salmon growth.

The project is the second of four long term trials scheduled to take place at the Arctic Salmon Research Centre (ASRC), which was set up earlier this year by EWOS and Cermaq together with research institutions Nofima, Univeristy of Nordland, and NMBU-University of Life Sciences. The centre will provide knowledge on fish farming in arctic environmental conditions, and EWOS is in charge of the research activities.

“Salmon farming in Finnmark provides fish health challenges that are specific to this northernmost region in Norway. Our project will study health feed and its effects on fish health, performance and filet quality on salmon farmed in Finnmark,” says Ragna Heggebø, a researcher at EWOS Innovation.

“To date, there has been little systematic research activity on salmon farmed in Finnmark, and EWOS wants to be an important contributor to new, strategic knowledge when it comes to arctic salmon fish farming, said product manager Ernst Hevrøy.

“Arctic environmental conditions are well suited for salmon farming and the potential is great. Research on fish farmed at suboptimal arctic conditions with long periods of low sea temperatures and short days is therefore very important for the aquaculture industry, and EWOS is leading the way in the development of new knowledge.”

The first project on optimizing growth and feed utilization started in mid-November, and the fish from this study are currently being analyzed. The third project is related to optimizing Omega-3 in the fish, and in the fourth project quality and pigmentation will be studied.