Food for thought
By Øyvind Sjøthun Røen oyvind@kyst.no
After two years of intense planning, construction and testing Marine Harvest officially opened its new feed plant in Bjugn, close to Trondheim, Norway, late October. The factory started production in June 2014, but was not in full operation until September. Since then Marine Harvest has already supplied its own farms with nearly 60,000 tonnes of feed from the new factory.
Huge potential Norway’s Minister of Fisheries, Elisabeth Aspaker, had the honour of offically opening the factory, and had the opportunity to press the «Start» button. She was impressed with the sophisticated nature of the new plant. - What a day, and what a splendid facility. This factory clearly shows how important aquaculture is for coastal Norway, she said. Marine Harvest has spent close to a billion NOK (£100 million) on the project, and proudly predicted the positive impact that the facility will have on both the regional community and the salmon industry as a whole. The factory currently has around 50 employees who work five shifts. The goal is to have the factory running 24 hours a day and produce up to 1,000 tons of pellets each day.
Revolutionising food production The new factory is surrounded by several large wind turbines, which will provide a major part of the enegy supply beside liquid natural gas (LNG). Marine Harvest’s CEO, Alf-Helge Aarskog, believes that the company’s effort to invest in green energy will send a message to the rest of the world. - Marine Harvest is proud to open the new feed plant.This move not only gives us the opportunity to be self-sufficient in fish feed, but it is also helps to reduce the footprint of the industry, through extensive use of renewable energy. Aarskog also stated that Marine Harvest has ambitions to take a lead in improving the current technology and mode of salmon and trout production in Norway. - The way we produce food must be changed. Through our vision, "Leading the blue revolution" we are sending a message that we will take a leading role in this change. We are willing to do what is nescessary to achive success, said Aarskog.
