Page 25 - Vol.36-No.8 issue

FISHERIES

BENCHMARK GENETICS HAS SIGNED A 5-YEAR OVA

AGREEMENT WITH AQUACON

The contract between Benchmark Ge- Security of supply was an essential Olav Melingen.
netics and AquaCon involves deliveries factor for why AquaCon chose the com-
of genetics to the land-based facilities pany as a supplier. Geir Olav also proudly says that all
that AquaCon are planning to build in energy used for broodstock and ova
Maryland, USA. Benchmark’s Icelandic Pål Haldorsen is the CEO of AquaCon, production in Iceland comes exclu-
company, StofnFiskur, will supply ap- which currently has a head office in Oslo sively from renewable sources. Thus,
proximately 40 million ova to AquaCon and shortly plans to go public. “We have the production has a relatively low
over five years. The agreement confirms chosen to secure genetics at an early CO2 footprint, even though land-based
and consolidates Benchmark’s strong stage, as we consider ova as a key stra- production is often considered ener-
position as a genetics supplier to land- tegic success factor of our ambitious gy-intensive.
based farming worldwide. growth plans”, he says.
Haldorsen explains that Benchmark
Benchmark Genetics has been pro- Genetics satisfies AquaCon’s require-
ducing land-based broodstock and ova ments for the security of supply, biose-
in Iceland since the early 1990s and has curity and genetic traits adapted to land-
long-standing experience with land- based RAS farming:
based salmon farming worldwide. Geir
Olav Melingen, Commercial Director at “Our production plan presupposes
Benchmark Genetics, considers this a regular deliveries of ova throughout the
clear competitive advantage when sell- year, and Benchmark Genetics has a Benchmark Genetics strongly believes
ing to new land-based projects: production model for land-based brood- that significant parts of the future growth
stock that makes us confident that we will in salmon farming will come from land-
receive deliveries following our plans”.
based production. Therefore, the compa-
Located on the south-west shore of ny has developed production concepts
Iceland, StofnFiskur’s land-based facili- and products that are adapted to the
ties have no other salmon farms nearby. specific needs of this part of the industry.
The intake water, both freshwater and “The genetic weighting of growth
seawater, comes from boreholes and is and quality traits forms the foundation
entirely pathogen-free. StofnFiskur’s four of our product, SalmoRAS4 +. Besides,
farms are approved according to the OIE
“As a leading supplier to land-based compartment standard, meaning that the we have also developed methods in the
farming, we have gradually gained zones around each farm are defined as production of broodstock that produce
comprehensive experience in securing entirely isolated and protected from ex- offspring that will not become sexually
deliveries to destinations all over the ternal disease threats. As an example, mature. This means that the operations
world. Since we keep our broodstock on Benchmark Genetics is the only genetics like AquaCon can produce at higher
land and thereby have full control over company approved by Sernapesca for temperatures to optimize growth”, says
the maturation and spawning, we are in export of ova to Chile. Melingen.
the position to produce and deliver ova “We, therefore, have great faith that
to customers every single week of the “The unique location and production land-based farming in the future will be
year. The term “egg season” is outdated model makes us confident that we can competitive on production costs com-
with us”. deliver eggs that have the highest bio- pared to traditional sea-farming”, Geir
safety standard to AquaCon,” says Geir
Olav Melingen concludes.
Circle 28 on enquiry card
THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RAS FACILITY FOR EEL

IS BEING BUILT IN NANPING, CHINA.

The facility is land-based and uses
modern recirculation technology where
all water matrix conditions are tightly
controlled. Ze Hui have chosen the well The facility, when concluded, will pro-
renowned Danish company, OxyGuard, duce 15,000 tons of eel per year – mak-
to supply all measuring monitoring and ing it the biggest land-based eel pro-
control equipment. duction in the entire world.
Circle 29 on enquiry card
Vol. 36 No. 8 23