Gigante Salmon and Previwo begin fish health collaboration
The land-based fish farmer has entered into a three-year agreement involving increased use of biological solutions to increase robustness
Through the collaboration with Previwo, several companies in the Gigante group will use Stembiont Vital, which is a probiotic for the fish industry. The probiotic product was developed by researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and is applied to the fish in connection with vaccination, to make them more robust throughout their life cycle.
Gigante Havbruk has farmed salmon in net pens in Nordland since 1988, and is owned by the Lorentsen family, who have worked with everything from fisheries and sea-based farming to hatchery, technology and industrial development for decades.
"Gigante Salmon's mission is to help solve some of the challenges facing the aquaculture industry. This requires that we are open to new knowledge and collaborate with professional communities that share this ambition," said Kristian Lorentsen, chief executive of Gigante Salmon, which operates a land-based flow-through fish farm on a small island in Rødøy municipality.
"Gigante Salmon and Previwo have a lot in common in their views on preventive fish health, learning, and further development of the aquaculture industry. Stembiont is one of several measures we are now testing to give the fish the best possible conditions and make our production ever better."
Biology and innovation
According to the company, the Gigante Group places considerable emphasis on innovation and development. With Gigante Salmon, for example, it has established a land-based facility based on large longitudinal flow tanks with continuous flow of natural seawater. The facility is designed to combine natural conditions with modern technology, industrial expertise, and experience from traditional aquaculture.
"Fish health and welfare are fundamental to the entire production at Gigante Salmon. We work systematically with water quality, oxygen levels, water flow, feeding, fish density, cleaning and ongoing biological monitoring. Good biological results are created through the sum of many small and targeted improvements," explains Lorentsen.
He adds: "For Gigante Salmon, it is important to collaborate with professional communities that have both research-based expertise and an understanding of how the solutions should work in commercial production. Stembiont is included as one of several preventive fish health measures."
Research-based innovation
With its roots in research at NMBU, Previwo has developed a probiotic product that is said to be innovative for the aquaculture industry. The company, which is now established in Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, looks forward to the collaboration.
"Gigante Havbruk is doing important and exciting work and we look forward to a long and good collaboration with Gigante Havbruk in the future," says Previwo key account manager Trygve R. Solberg and sales director Andreas Bollingmo, who are contact persons for Gigante.
Previwo supplies Stembiont Vital to Gigante Havbruk, the parent company of smolt producer Grytåga, contract research facility GIFAS, smolt, food fish and processor Salten Aqua, and Gigante Salmon. The companies have established a trusting collaboration that follows the production in the various facilities.
"We believe that the future of aquaculture will require closer collaboration between fish farmers, biological research communities and technology suppliers. No single solution can solve all the challenges facing the industry," concludes Lorentsen.
