West Coast Salmon files for bankruptcy after Reno land-based project stalls.
Oslo-based West Coast Salmon has filed for bankruptcy, bringing to an end its plans to develop a large land-based salmon farming facility in Reno, Nevada.
Former chairman Hallvard Muri told Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv that the project was unable to secure sufficient financing to proceed.
“We initially had a very skilled and competent team, but since we did not receive funding, we had to scale back,” Muri said.
West Coast Salmon had spent several years developing plans for a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Nevada, initially targeting annual production of 50,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon. That ambition was later reduced to 15,000 tonnes as capital requirements and execution risks became clearer.
The company’s accounts at the end of 2024 showed NOK 98 million ($10 million) in paid-in capital, which has now been lost as a result of the bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy adds to a growing list of land-based salmon projects in the United States that have failed to progress beyond the planning and early development stages. High capital expenditure, rising interest rates, construction risk and biological uncertainty have continued to weigh heavily on investor appetite for large-scale RAS projects, particularly those targeting greenfield developments in inland locations.
West Coast Salmon had not yet begun construction of the Nevada facility at the time of the bankruptcy filing.
