Cleaner fish feeds

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By Rob Fletcher

Unique technology, NOK 13 million (£1.12m) in fresh capital and an annual market potential of NOK 2 billion (£170m) are the key ingredients of the new factory, which will be located outside Trondheim. C-Feed, a spin-off from Scandinavia’s largest independent research organisation SINTEF, has so far produced copepods on a small scale in Trondheim, but when the new plant opens in the autumn, the company will be able to increase its production tenfold. The company has already started small-scale exports to customers in several European countries, and expects that its turnover will be in the region of NOK 10 million (£860,000) in the first full year of operation. Since the company was founded, C-Feed has been built up under an interim management provided by CoFounder AS, a Trondheim-based management and investment company for early-phase technology companies. “Bringing in Rune Bjerke and CoFounder in the establishment phase worked very well. Now that we are approaching the industrialisation phase, the natural next step is to find a new company head,” says Jostein Bjøndal of SINTEF Venture. Fish Farming Expert caught up with Rune Bjerke to find out more.

What are the current options for ballan wrasse feeds? Starting with rotifers, then Artemia after some weeks

What are the projections for growth in the ballan wrasse industry in Norway? The potential need is considered to be very big. We don’t have any good numbers, but based on a statement from one of the largest producers of salmon, we believe that the Norwegian salmon industry ideally could use 40-50 million ballan wrasse per year.

Have you considered covering lumpfish feeds too? Yes we have, but due to production capacity constraints until this autumn, we have not prioritized to do trials on lumpfish yet, but several of the producers are interested and ready to try.

What’s the “unique technology” you have at your disposal? Our unique technology is our ability/knowledge to produce the eggs effectively, store them for months, transport them globally and still keep their ability to hatch effectively. The different elements of this knowledge are patented and/or held as company secrets. What have you learned from your small scale production? We have used 10-15 years of small scale production, first in SINTEF, and then within C-Feed, to develop the many different elements in our unique technology of egg production, mentioned above. The process of egg production is complicated, and very difficult to manage. But hatching the eggs and on-growing them to the proper size is easy, and that’s why we also believe many of our customers can and will do this themselves.

Are you purely involved in producing the copepods or has your research covered the effects of feeding these organisms to various species of fish too? C-Feed concentrates on producing copepod eggs and copepods, but together with SINTEF we have also built a lot of experience on how to use copepods on various species.

Have you been experimenting with different species of copepods and, if so, which are proving most effective? We have focused primarily on Acartia tonsa, which is considered the most effective to produce, and accepted worldwide.

Do you think that being able to offer a steady supply of copepods will open up options to farm other new species? Definitely - for example the different tuna species and some species of octopus.

Do you think the main market for tuna feeds will be in the Far East, or could tuna potentially be farmed in Norway, for example? Not in Norway, but yes in southern Europe.

How do you feel about the leap into becoming an entirely commercial enterprise (and no longer being in charge!)? The majority of the team in C-Feed is recruited outside SINTEF, including me, being strongly commercial/industrially oriented people.

How easy was it to raise NOK 13m in funding and will you be looking for further investment in the future or are you planning on becoming self-funded soon? It is always difficult to raise funding for early stage ventures like C-Feed, but Innovation Norway has contributed with half of the amount, and reduced the risk for the private investors.

What is SINTEF’s current/future involvement in the project? SINTEF is our R&D partner – we are and will be using them for different development projects in the future. SINTEF is also expected to assist some of our prospective customers to use the copepods effectively (on different species).

Have you had any interactions with/interest from the big salmon farming companies (in terms of wrasse production etc)? Yes we have, but none of this is public yet.