Officials set the Benchmark low for brood facility
A salmon egg producer owned by UK company Benchmark is pressing ahead with plans in northern Norway, despite being granted permission for just 2 per cent of the broodstock it says it requires.
In June 2016 SalmoBreed Salten applied to produce 2,540 tons of broodstock, having been both encouraged and guided by Fisheries Minister Per Sandberg. But when the decision finally came it was for a paltry 50 tonnes.
"It is important both for us and for the industry that we can produce a lot more fish than we have been given permission for. It is the prerequisite for achieving our ambitions as a roe producer," said Jan-Emil Johannessen of SalmoBreed.
'We must have more brood'
SalmoBreed Salten's application was for one land-based broodstock permit for up to 200 tonnes maximum allowed biomass, as well as three sea-based permissions of 780 tonnes MAB (totaling 2,340 tonnes MAB). This would give a total annual production of 130 million eggs at the near-£40million state-of-the-art facility the company is now building in Salten.
But since Norway's Fisheries Directorate only gave permission for SalmoBreed to produce 50 tonnes on land, the production of land-based salmon eggs will be significantly less than planned if the decision stands.
"A concession of 50 tonnes on land, 4,000 fish at 12 kg, which means about 50 million eggs, is a third of what we want to deliver. It is obvious that we must have more brood to produce eggs than what they've given us permission for - both for the plant to exploit the huge potential it has, and so that industry should be assured of the roe needed to achieve the growth both the politicians and we want," Johannessen to kyst.no.
High biosecurity
"This facility shall deliver eggs with high biosecurity and quality, which will help the industry to avoid many of the problems in hatcheries and fish farms today."
In spite of the fact that they were only granted a licence for 50 tonnes, there will be more fish than that at the plant when production starts in the autumn of 2018.
"Fortunately, Salten Broodstock, which is our partner in SalmoBreed Salten, has two brood concessions with a combined permit to produce 200 tonnes of broodstock on land. It is enough to start trial production next fall, but it is far from the level that we planned," said Johannessen.
Johannesen thinks it is important to emphasise that they will get started with the licence they have received.
Optimistic for salmon industry
"We'll manage to get an operation in balance with this. But it also means, however, that there will be fewer eggs for the industry and the weaker development of an important family. But we're going to do our job and develop further, anyway.
"We'll focus on full production from 2019. We are optimistic for the salmon industry and believe in growth. For the sake of growth, we must have more brood," he emphasised.
SalmoBreed will appeal the decision against granting the requested biomass for land and sea production.
The request for permission for the Salten plant has been a frustrating one for SalmoBreed. It had been promised an answer by the end of 2016, and the decision took so long that this summer Benchmark sent an email to Sandberg to ask him to speed up the case. The email was signed by Benchmark CFO, Mark Plampin.
