Landeldi conducts first commercial harvest at land-based salmon farm in Iceland

Kópavogur, Iceland-based land-based salmon farming company Landeldi has harvested the first batch of fish from its farm in Þorlákshöfn, Iceland.

The company is constructing an enclosed land-based farm that is planning to use a modular facility design, filtered seawater, and geothermal energy to efficiently produce salmon. According to a release from the company, published in Viðskiptablaðið, the company recently conducted the first harvest of fish being grown at the partially-completed facility.

The company said that it harvested almost 50,000 salmon, with an average weight of three kilograms. Roughly 110 metric tons of gutted salmon were sold and shipped to customers on both sides of the Atlantic last week.

"This is a big moment and an important milestone for Landeldi  to get their first harvest in the house, so to speak, and thereby see the tangible results of the hard work of the last five years,” Landeldi CEO Eggert Þór Kristófersson said in a release. “The fact that the salmon has thrived extremely well over the past year in our land-based farm at Þorlákshöfn and that our customers give the product the highest rating for its taste shows us in black and white that the technology we use in our land-based farm is proving itself.”

Kristófersson said Landeldi now has 1.75 million salmon in its fry and rearing facilities, and the next harvest is scheduled in August. 

"Land farming of salmon is inherently an innovative project and we still have a long way to go in the learning curve, but this extremely successful first harvest and positive customer feedback confirm that we are on the right track,” Kristófersson said. “We are relentlessly continuing the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable salmon farming on land."  

Image courtesy of Landeldi