Norway’s state administrator for Vestland has rejected Alsaker Fjordbruk’s application for a land-based RAS facility that would have produced 100,000 tonnes of salmon and trout annually at Nedrevåge, in Tysnes municipality.
The decision cites the already strained condition of the Hardangerfjord. Deep-water oxygen levels in the fjord have shown a negative trend for years, and regulators concluded that adding further organic emissions would worsen it.
The administrator also flagged critical zinc concentrations in the fjord’s deep waters. Several water bodies are already failing to meet targets set under Norway’s Water Regulations.
The Nedrevåge facility would have discharged an estimated 5,014 tonnes of nitrogen, 867 tonnes of phosphorus, and 10,319 tonnes of total organic carbon into the fjord annually. Regulators concluded that increasing the load on an already overburdened recipient was not justified.
Scale of the Proposal
Alsaker had planned production across 126 octagonal 20-metre tanks, with a maximum standing biomass of around 29,000 tonnes. The RAS I system would have required a mean freshwater replacement flow of 110 m³/min, with wastewater treated through mechanical filtration.
Feed consumption was projected at 115,000 tonnes per year.
The rejection applies specifically to the Nedrevåge site. Alsaker Fjordbruk has not yet publicly stated whether it will appeal the decision or seek an alternative location.
Regulators noted that rising water temperatures compound the risk, making the fjord’s capacity to absorb additional aquaculture discharge increasingly uncertain. The ruling signals that large-scale land-based RAS projects discharging to sensitive fjord systems face significant regulatory resistance in Norway.