Landbased salmon farm owner gets green light for second facility
Gigante Havbruk owns Gigante Salmon, which produces fish in flow-though basins blasted into the rock of a small island in Rødøy municipality, Nordland, Norway. Now another Gigante subsidiary, Fish Farm International, has permission to do the same on Verholmen, a small islet just a few miles to the north.
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Fish Farm International AS has been granted permission to establish a land-based salmon farming facility at the Verholmen site in Meløy municipality.
This is shown by documents that LandbasedAQ has been given access to from Nordland County Council.
The permit includes a maximum alowed biomass of 10,742 tonnes of salmon in the flow-through facility.
Fish Farm International is 100% owned by Gigante Havbruk, which also owns 61% of the listed company Gigante Salmon AS, which in turn owns the land-based project Gigante Salmon Rødøy AS.
Blasting the rock
According to the application, the project involves significant terrain alteration. Large parts of the islet will be blasted away, and the production units are planned to be submerged below sea level to reduce energy use related to water intake. A quay and infrastructure for a feed barge will also be established.
Despite the fact that the state administrator of Nordland has pointed to high environmental risk and advised against the establishment, permission has been granted after an overall assessment.
The state administrator also emphasises that production must initially be kept at a lower level, and that further scaling up requires documentation that the body of water receiving discharge from the farm can withstand the load.
The assessment places great emphasis on local community benefit. The establishment is estimated to provide around 15 jobs, with the expectation of settlement on a larger nearby island, Bolga. This is highlighted as crucial for maintaining schools and other services in a small island community.
"The societal benefit is considered to be overwhelmingly large and decisive in this case," the justification states.
Clear terms of operation
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has granted approval for the establishment, but requires a trial phase with limited production. Before full operation can begin, it must be documented that the facility is welfare-friendly. Site-specific risk assessments, emergency plans and a gradual escalation of production are also required.
The Directorate of Fisheries, for its part, has assessed that the measure does not significantly conflict with fishing interests in the area, even though there are important marine habitats nearby.
Nordland County Council writes in its approval that it concludes that all necessary permits under aquaculture legislation are in place, and that the measure is in accordance with the zoning plan for Verholmen.
