This is an offshore fish farm in Norway.
Located 30 kilometers off the coast of Frøya, Norway, the world’s first offshore fish farm, Ocean Farm 1, has begun its final stages of completion after a lengthy installation process that started in 2017. This farm features a circular structure with a diameter of 110 meters, capable of holding 250,000 cubic meters of water.
The entire fish farm rises to a height of 69 meters and can accommodate up to 1.5 million Atlantic salmon. Ocean Farm 1 is pioneering a new era for Norway’s aquaculture industry and the global seafood sector.
This farm combines organic fish farming with technology, allowing for the provision of clean food sources to consumers in response to the world’s increasing food demands (it is estimated that by 2030, the world will need to increase food production by 70%).
The challenge is to supply abundant food resources within limited natural resources without harming human living environments. Scientists have found that the solution lies in the oceans, which cover about two-thirds of the Earth’s surface.
However, humanity has only tapped into approximately 2% of the food resources available from the oceans, a statistic that is thought-provoking despite significant advancements in scientific technology.
Ocean Farming 1 Fish Farm.
Therefore, the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs has developed this world’s first offshore fish farming project named Ocean Farm.
Although it was developed by Ocean Farming AS, a subsidiary of the SalMar group in Norway, the entire facility was constructed at the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) located in Qingdao, China.
The species of salmon that SalMar has chosen to farm is the Atlantic salmon (Scientific name: Salmo salar)—a species that can thrive in both freshwater and saltwater environments. This fish is farmed commercially due to its high value and health benefits for humans.
However, this has also led to a serious threat to its wild counterpart, the wild salmon, resulting in a significant decline in their population. Thus, farming Atlantic salmon far from the mainland is a way to help balance the ecosystem.
The initial pilot farms at sea have successfully produced a massive amount of salmon (over 1 million tons of fish are raised, allowing for an annual harvest of up to 150,000 tons of salmon).