Saudi contract for Akva group

According to a release from the company the hatchery is for one of the upcoming new fish species in aquaculture, the greater amberjack (Seriola Dumerilii). The hatchery will be located at NPC's facility on the coast of the Red Sea close to Jeddah. NPC is the world's largest fully integrated shrimp producer in the world, and is embarking on a significant fish farming project. "Compared to another successful Amberjack recirculation hatchery we have supplied in Chile, we expect higher growth rates in the Red Sea due to the local Amberjack's adaptation to higher water temperatures", says President and CEO of AKVA group, Knut Molaug. The new hatchery will consist of broodstock facilities with egg collectors, incubation section, first feeding section and the unique AKVA live feed production system operating on recirculation technology. The hatchery will be equipped with automatic dosing system for live feed, oxygen control and a back-up security system managed by a state of the art control system. The equipment will be delivered over a period of 16 weeks, and the facility will be commissioned in the beginning of 2010. The hatchery is an integrated part of a pilot projectgreater master plan to establish a complete landbased production facility with an annual capacity to produce 5.000 tonnes of amberjack and other potential new aquaculture species. In March this year AKVA signed a letter of intent for deliveries for the pilot project. The ongoing delivery is the second part-delivery of the project and is a part of the company's larger plan to establish production of 35-50.000 tons of Yellowtail Kingfish. AKVA group has already delivered a complete sea-cucumber production unit for NPC, and is currently constructing a bio-secure broodstock system together with a shared water intake for the 5.000 tonnes production facility. AKVA group has more than 30 years of aquaculture engineering experience, and the team of world leading experts is renowned for designing sustainable state-of-the-art recirculation systems. Having successfully delivered systems globally for more than 15 different species, AKVA group is the global leader in farming technology for "new species".