Cod farming
The third
wave
Norcod’s CEO believes that the secret to successful cod farming has finally been cracked BY ROBERT OUTRAM
I
n the race to restart Norway’s cod farming industry, Norcod is in pole posi�on. Following a trial harvest in December last year, the company is now gearing up for its first commercial harvest this quarter. Chief Execu�ve Chris�an Riber is confident. He says: “Our current produc�on is on target and the fish is doing well. We s�ll see very low mortality, good growth and good fish welfare. And just this week [speaking in June] we’ve started se�ng out the next round of fish into the ocean, which will become the next 10,000 tonnes for 2022.” He describes the December trial as “a huge milestone” for the company, with the first 2kg-plus fish and expecta�ons that the coming harvest will exceed the planned average of 4kg-4.5kg. Even so, he says: “When we started back in 2018, a lot of people thought we were nuts!” Cod aquaculture began with experimental hatcheries to revive wild stocks in the 1880s, but the first wave of full scale commercial farming started a century later. It was not a roaring success – biological problems
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A lot of people thought we were nuts
”
were challenging and profits low – and most closed during the 1980s. The second wave came in the early 2000s, with farms established in Norway and elsewhere, but again biological problems – and the global financial crisis – meant the industry was once more on the back burner. Riber believes that solu�ons have now been found for both the biological and financial challenges: “Now everyone is talking about cod farming in Norway and there are new companies coming into the market, which is very posi�ve.” So what’s different about the model now? One factor, says Riber, is the biology. As he puts it: “Back in 2012-13, they reached genera�on
www.fishfarmermagazine.com
12/07/2021 15:54:23
