Stepping up development, first harvest approaching
Both construction activity and fish production are in full swing at Laxey in Iceland.
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Land-based fish farmer Laxey is busy both on site and in production at its food fish farm at Vidlagafjara on Vestmannaeyjar – just ten minutes from the centre of the island. The second of a total of six planned construction phases is now well under way.
"We have already erected five new tanks in phase two, and we expect all [eight] tanks to be closed and completed with top caps by October," operations director Hallgrimur Steinsson tells LandbasedAQ.
Hybrid technology and high water reuse are central to the construction of the facility.
Steinsson further explains that the company has improved its construction infrastructure over the past year, which has already resulted in increased progress.
“We have had the same contractors with us from the start, and it is paying off. The hope is that the first new systems will be operational next spring,” he says.
Growing fish
At the same time, salmon production is in full swing in the first phase. Seven of eight food fish tanks have been filled with fish, and the last tank will be put into operation within a few days.
"This marks the end of phase 1. We have also completed testing the holding tanks that will be put into use before harvest, when the slaughterhouse starts up in November," says Steinsson.
The first harvest is planned for November. The first group of fish has an average weight approaching 3.5 kg, while the next is around 1.5 kg.
"We expect four kilos of HOG weight for the salmon at slaughter. The tests we have done on fillet and taste have given very good feedback from potential buyers," says Steinsson.
The facility uses a hybrid flow-through system at the food fish facility, where up to 70% of the water is reused. The water from the fish tanks goes through mechanical filtration and CO2 degassing before being oxygenated and returned.
At the smolt facility 10 minutes away, however, Laxey has a complete recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility, where it bases its operations on 100% renewable energy from the Icelandic power company Landsvirkjun.
A busy summer
Steinsson says that Laxey has also had a busy and successful summer. It completed its first delivery of post-smolt with good results, and have also secured additional funding.
The facility has a total area of 27,000 square metres. The first phase consists of eight large grow-out tanks, each with a diameter of 20 metres and a depth of five metres.
When the entire facility is completed after six construction phases, the goal is an annual production of 27,000 tonnes of gutted salmon (head on gutted).
Read more about Laxey in the current online edition of LandbasedAQ magazine.
