SalMar Aker Ocean’s offshore aquaculture project gets final required permit

Mariculture AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Salmar Aker Ocean, has officially received clearance from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries to establish its “smart fish farm” in the Norwegian Sea. 

The directorate announced on 25 September that the company’s application – which was submitted on 5 January, 2021 – has been cleared, granting it eight development permits at the site “Frøya” in the Norwegian Sea. The directorate stipulates that the permits allow only for the operation of the one specific farming concept, and only the farming of salmon. SalMar Aker Ocean also must submit the final design plan for the facility to the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries when it becomes available.

“This is an important step forward in realizing the potential of offshore aquaculture. The next important milestones for us are the clarifications relating to ground rent tax and the regulatory framework for offshore aquaculture,” SalMar Aker Ocean CEO Roy Reite said in a release.

According to the directorate’s announcement, the company has been granted a location 45 nautical miles outside of the baseline for salmon farms and has been granted the right to grow 19,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon biomass.

The original application for the project came after Mariculture received eight development permits for testing its farm concept in 2019. That commitment was then transferred to SalMar Ocean AS, the precursor to Salmar Aker Ocean, which was formed in 2021 via a strategic partnership between Norwegian salmon farming companies SalMar and Aker.

Projects seeking development permits, by law, must facilitate the advancement of technology that “can contribute to solving one or more of the environmental and area challenges facing the aquaculture industry,” per the directorate. 

“The rationale is that this can help ensure that previously unsuitable areas can be used for farming and that land use in the coastal zone becomes more efficient overall,” it said.

The eventual goal, Reite told NT24, is for the company to reach 150,000 MT of salmon production annually by the end of 2030. 

Photo courtesy of Maccferri