Atlantic Sapphire announces management changes, COO replaced

Atlantic Sapphire has announced that it has made changes to its executive management and organization for the U.S. operation of the company.

In a filing on Oslo Børs, the company announced that Bjørn-Vegard Løvik is joining the company as the interim chief operating officer, reporting directly to Atlantic Sapphire USA CEO Johan E. Andreassen, “as part of a restructuring of the organization to improve transfer of information, knowledge, and accountability,” the company said. Dharma Rajeswaran, the former COO, will now be in an advisory role as Chief of Staff.

“Following a challenging start to 2021 for the company, which has involved operational disturbances and elevated mortality, especially tied to fish movement issues, smolt facility, and the loss of biomass on 23 March, 2021, we are making organizational changes to the U.S. operation for increased efficiency and reliability,” Andreassen said in the filing. “I am therefore very pleased that Mr. Løvik will join us here in the U.S., bringing over two decades of salmon farming competence into the team.”

Atlantic Sapphire suffered a mass mortality event on 23 March at its Florida salmon recirculating aquaculture system, announcing that it lost 500 metric tons (MT) of its fish due to a flaw in the design of the system. The company later told SeafoodSource that the loss of salmon will result in the company missing its 10,000 MT harvest projection for 2021.

Løvik said he’s been involved with the company since its inception, and that he “looks forward to contribute more actively to the day-to-day operation in this critical stage for the company.”

“What we’re doing is not easy, but we know we have the right team with unmatched experience to get our US operation into steady state production,” he said.

Løvik is the CEO of Alsco AS – the largest shareholder of Atlantic Sapphire – and is also the co-founder of Atlantic Sapphire.

“Mr. Løvik and I have been working together since we entered the fish farming industry, and I personally know that his experience as a fish farmer is unmatched,” Andreassan said.  “I would like to thank Mr. Rajeswaran for his hard work and dedication as COO of the company since 2017, and I personally look forward to having Mr. Rajeswaran as my direct advisor in his new role in the company.”