Problems for land-based salmon farm Havlandet RAS pilot.
Norwegian Police at 11 am on Tuesday morning initally reported that it was a bioreactor – a large tank filled with water – had exploded at the land-based salmon farm in Florø, Western Norway. The water then flowed out, according to police.
But about 45 minutes later, the message was corrected.
“The tank (500m3) at land-based salmon farm has not exploded. All content has leaked out. No pollution hazards. No one was injured,” police wrote.
The tank belongs to the company Havlandet RAS Pilot, which has established a pilot facility for land-based production of salmon up to harvest size. The entire pilot plant, with tank and building, has a value of between EUR 3.7 million and EUR 6.5 million). The tank alone costs around EUR 0.2 million, according to Bergens Tidende.
The CEO of the INC group, Geir Johannessen, told the newspaper that the facilty was supposed to be filled with fish on 15 December.
“We are now waiting for the supplier to help us find causation and plan what to do next,” he said.
About 200 tonnes of salmon are planned to be produced annually in the facility.
“The purpose of the pilot facilty is to document that we are able to meet biological and commercial conditions for land-based production of harvest-ready salmon. After the pilot phase, a large-scale facility of 10,000 tonnes is planned,” Havlandet RAS Pilot wrote on its website.