Experimental salmon tank up for sale
THE Norwegian company that attempted to farm salmon in a tank on the west coast of Scotland announced that it is to sell its facility.
Niri had ambitions to produce salmon at its base in Machrihanish, on the Kintyre peninsula, to prove pioneering recirculating aquaculture system technology.
However, water contamination forced the company to close down the farm around September last year.
‘We stopped the project a little bit before we should. But the big picture is we met the milestones on the project there,’ Arve Gravdal of Niri told Fish Farmer in November.
In 2016, some 26,000 smolts had been stocked in the 1,600 cubic metre tank, housed in a hangar at the former Nato air base in Machrihanish, near Campbeltown. Niri claimed its system could be rolled out on an industrial scale.
Last month Niri said:‘We are now able to receive interest from industrial investors who wish to develop further the Machrihanish facility using the Niri RAS technology. Niri shareholders wish to remain true to their strategy, focused on being a technology business and not a production company.
‘We strongly believe that a partner who has core competencies in production, supported with Niri RAS technology, together can create a successful future based around the facility established in Machrihanish.
The company said it remained convinced that the facility had ‘an excellent future’.