Animal welfare

Our goal is to mimic the salmon’s natural habitat as much as possible

Ensuring good fish health and welfare is both an ethical responsibility and the most important factor in achieving good growth, higher quality, and lower costs.

Our first generation of Atlantic salmon demonstrated excellent results.

Our fish welfare measures are comprehensive and focus on all aspects of the farming value chain, including water quality, thermal regulation, respiration, hygiene, disease prevention measures, feed and nutrition, comprehensive monitoring of fish health, water quality and the fish’ habitat, behaviour control, social contact, and rest.

Our laminar water flow technology was verified in 2021 and confirmed that we are able to recreate the natural habitat of wild salmon on land and offer the best possible habitat. The flow-through technology supplies a continuous flow of 100% seawater that is sourced from 50 metres water depth. This means that the temperature is considerably more stable than what would be expected at corresponding depths in net pens and follows seasonal patterns in ambient water temperature.

Actions related to animal welfare

By ensuring good animal welfare and being transparent about our methods, we believe that we can not only mitigate risks but also have a positive influence on the industry. Here are some of the actions taken:

• We regularly test the water quality, including monitoring the presence of pathogens, and have set up a complete Fishwell sensor system to monitor, control, and optimise the water quality and environment in the pool.

• Our AI camera systems and Bactoprofile measure microbial community to improve animal welfare. These methods have been documented by Nofima – a leading food research institute.

• Risk-based health checks are planned in consultation with and carried out by a veterinarian or fish health biologist on a monthly basis.

We are comitted to complying with both etichal and statutory obligations governed by Norwegian legislation, as well as relevant laws and regulations in the areas of which we operate, for expample:

• The Norwegian Animal Welfare Act.

• The Norwegian Act relating to aquaculture

• The Aquatic Biosecurity Regulation

• Regulations on the operation of aquaculture facilities

Feeding strategy

Adopting a feeding strategy that avoids strong competitive behaviour, ensuring low stress and homogeneous growth is important. In February 2022, we entered into a strategic feed supply agreement with Skretting, which is the aquaculture business line of global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, Nutreco. Under this agreement, Skretting has developed a feed that is specifically tailored to our flow-through technology to ensure optimal water quality, fish welfare and growth conditions in the land-based pool.

Calanus® Plus by Andfjord Salmon

The feed is called “Calanus® Plus by Andfjord Salmon” and consists of ingredients that have a proven track record from land-based salmon farming, including the zooplankton Calanus finmarchicus (Calanus), which we are the first salmon farmer in the world to utilise commercially. The feed will ensure the production of premium quality salmon, but most importantly: It is a sustainable marine source and improves the taste of the feed.