SalMar strengthens its strategic focus on offshore aquaculture and appoints a new CFO & Director of Strategy at SalMar Ocean

In its 30th anniversary year, SalMar is strengthening its substantial endeavours in the field of offshore fish farming, and through this way contribute to solving important environmental and area challenges the aquaculture industry faces. To strengthen the team at SalMar Ocean, Group CFO & COO Trine Sæther Romuld, in consultation with SalMar’s CEO and board of directors, has announced her decision to accept the role of CFO & Director of Strategy at SalMar Ocean, when a new Group CFO in SalMar is recruited to SalMar. The recruitment process for a new group CFO is already underway and the plan is for her to take up her new post on 1 September 2021.

“SalMar’s focus on the open ocean marked the start of a new era in the seafood industry. Offshore fish farming opens vast new areas for sustainable food production and helps to secure world’s food supply in a long-term perspective. By strengthening the team in SalMar Ocean with the appointment of Trine Sæther Romuld, we are further reinforcing this important strategic effort for SalMar,” says the Group’s CEO Gustav Witzøe.

“I am looking forward to, together with the rest of the team in SalMar Ocean, to further develop what is the start of a new industrial adventure for the seafood and the supply industry,” says Trine Sæther Romuld, CFO & COO at SalMar.

SalMar’s focus on offshore fish farming is well known, and continues its tradition of developing and exploiting new technologies and new solutions. This endeavour is taking place under the SalMar’s wholly owned subsidiary SalMar Ocean, which is led by its CEO Olav Andreas Ervik.

Good biological results from Ocean Farm 1

Ocean Farm 1 – full scale pilot with offshore design – was put into operation in the autumn of 2017. The unit has been in an exposed area of the ocean off the coast of Frøya in Central Norway. Two whole production cycles have been carried out and a combined total of 10,000 tonnes of superior quality salmon have already been delivered to the market.

“We have been able to observe strong biological results, with strong growth, low mortality, low sea lice levels and a production costs on par with the best coastal locations,” says SalMar Ocean’s CEO Olav-Andreas Ervik.

Experience from the construction and operation of Ocean Farm 1 has made it possible to develop even better and more cost-effective solutions as the company now prepares to build new units for use in exposed areas and in the open ocean.

Fish farming in the open ocean

The next technological leap for SalMar’s offshore development is Smart Fish Farm, which is planned to be established in the open ocean outside of Central Norway. SalMar has ambitions to build a series of these units for offshore production, based on the experience gained, provided that the authorities open up for locations and licenses in these areas.

“In the open ocean, the Gulf Stream supplies a continuous flow of high-quality water at the right temperature. We have no need to add further energy or fresh water. And the Gulf Stream gets its power from the sun, wind and other deep ocean currents,” Ervik explains.

He adds that with the technology and solutions that SalMar Ocean now makes available, the challenge posed by the Norwegian authorities to develop equipment suitable for solving important area and environmental challenges that the industry faces are taken seriously. Nothing is then more natural than using even more of the Norwegian coast and the areas on the Norwegian Continental shelf, in the salmon's natural habitat.

Potential for significant ripple effects to the Norwegian supply industry

SalMar has conducted studies that offshore aquaculture will have significant ripple effects in the form of value creation and jobs, on land as well.

“We are ready to place major orders for sea cages and equipment when the necessary permits have been granted by the authorities,” says Ervik.

Opportunities for international expansion

SalMar’s focus on offshore fish farming will form the basis for a new era in aquaculture with significant effects also for the supplier industry. By being at the forefront with solutions and experience, suppliers can secure a competitive edge in a new and potentially vast national and international market.

The technology and solutions currently being developed are not restricted to Norwegian waters. It is not only off the Norwegian coast that nature offers good conditions for the sustainable production of North Atlantic salmon

For more information, please contact:

CEO Gustav Witzøe, SalMar

Phone:  834

Email:

CFO & COO Trine Sæther Romuld, SalMar

Phone:  632

Email:

CEO Olav Andreas Ervik, SalMar Ocean

Phone: + 47 918 68 100

Email:

About SalMar

SalMar is one of the world’s largest and most efficient producers of farmed salmon. The Group has farming operations in Central Norway, Northern Norway and Iceland, as well as substantial harvesting and secondary processing operations in Norway, at InnovaMar in Frøya and Vikenco in Aukra. SalMar also owns 50 per cent of the shares in Scottish Sea Farms Ltd.

See for more information about the company.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements stipulated in section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.