Nordic’s fish farm plans beginning to take shape
While they’re not exactly finalized, a Norwegian company’s plans for a proposed fish farm at the site of a former pulp mill are starting to take shape.
“It takes about two years to build it,” said Marianne Naess, Nordic Aquafarms’ commercial director, at a meeting attended by a couple dozen people at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka on Tuesday night. “We can put eggs into the hatchery after approximately 12 to 14 months, so we’ll have fish in the market about three years from when we start building it.”
Nordic Aquafarms is still going through the permitting process to build the $400 million on-land fish farm on the Samoa Peninsula, but Naess said she expects the company to complete that process this summer and start demolition of the old buildings within a year to a year-and-half. Construction
will likely start in 2021 or 2022, meaning fish will be on the market around 2024 or so, Naess said.
“So it’s a long-term investment,” she said.
Naess revealed preliminary renderings of the proposed fish farm, which she said will be made up of sturdy concrete buildings and will be designed to blend in with the natural environment. She added there’s a potential for a local mural contest to help decorate the facility.
The demolition and grading won’t take as long as the foundation because the fish farm is being designed to withstand seismic activity, tsunami activity and sea level rise, company executives and partners said.
The team is working with Hawaiian structural engineer and tsunami and earthquake expert Gary Chock to get an understanding of the seismic hazard the facility faces and ways to overcome them.
“He’s the world expert in tsunami mitigation for structures, so we’re incorporating his input in this project,” said Gary Simpson, of Eurekabased consulting firm SHN Consulting Engineers, which is working with Nordic on the project.
The company also addressed concerns about the environmental degradation at the site as a result of being used as a pulp mill. Misha Schwarz, of Eureka-based engineering firm GHD, said GHD has been working on the site for six or seven years and the law states that asbestos needs to be removed from any structures before demolition.
In terms of the soil and groundwater, Erik Nielsen, of SHN, said “they’re chipping away at the facility as things become available” because the buildings that remain are blocking their ability to check for dioxins and heavy metals, but so far the results are favorable.
Naess said because air freight emits a lot of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, the company will rely on trucks to transport its fish along the West Coast, from Portland to Los Angeles.
There won’t be any waste coming out of the facility either, said David Noyes, Nordic’s vice president of technology. The company is looking to form partnerships with companies that might want to use its waste products, such as fish feces and viscera, to make other products consumers would want, such as fertilizer and pet food.
“We looked at additional opportunities for other partners in the community to come and find opportunities to grow with us,” Noyes said. “Because there really isn’t any waste, there’s just additional opportunities to use these other products and create your own business.”