Proximar Seafood has announced that the first batch of Atlantic salmon juveniles has been successfully transferred to the start feeding department and started to take feed. After the first eggs were successfully introduced at the company's hatchery in Oyama, Japan, last October, this marks a new breakthrough for the company's production team.
"The successful transfer of our first juveniles to start feeding is an important milestone for us and according to our production plan", said Charlotte Okstad, Hatchery & Nursery Manager of the land-based salmon producer. "I am excited to see the progress and development in the next coming months", she added. The batch will stay in the first feeding for approximately two months, before the next transfer to the nursery. Proximar's plans are to introduce similar batches into the hatchery each month, which will allow for a continuous harvest starting in mid-2024.
As Joachim Nielsen, CEO and co-founder of Proximar Seafood told WeAreAquaculture in his TalentView last month, the company is establishing a new industry for large-scale RAS, but also for Atlantic salmon, something that did not exist in Japan until now. The equipment installation is underway in the nursery area and if, as it seems, everything remains on schedule, it will be commissioned in early March, while the completion of the grow-out building is expected for the third quarter of this year. The hatchery and nursery building is now completed, with the last part of the equipment installed by AquaMaof.
The land-based Atlantic salmon producer remains confident that AquaMaof's solution will deliver according to expectations. "The quality of works is the best I have seen in my 11 years of experience with RAS", Dharma Rajeswaran, COO of Proximar, stated. "I am convinced that the low-complexity design of AquaMaof is a huge advantage in terms of operational risk. The combination of strong technology and our highly competent team provides confidence in reaching our production goals", he said.
Part of that conviction is due to the success AquaMaof's harvests are achieving at its R&D and training center in Poland. The Israeli technology provider has been successfully producing Atlantic salmon for about five years. To date, 36 cohorts of salmon have reached an average size of 4-5 kg with a post-smolt survival rate of ~93%, growing from egg to harvest size in approximately 22 months at stocking densities of around 85 kg/m3.
"We follow this facility and performance closely and are impressed by the AquaMaof solution's ability to maintain consistent and adequate water quality. Even at very high densities the solution from AquaMaof has demonstrated its capability. Water quality is the basis for good growth performance, and this combined with the low complexity and simple design makes us very confident in delivering on our plans", explained Proximar's COO, Dharma Rajeswaran.
Proximar Seafood is a land-based salmon farming company that is building the first large-scale Atlantic salmon farm in Japan. Its first facility, at the foot of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, has already started production in October 2022. With an annual production capacity of 5,300 tons of head-on salmon (HOG), the first harvest is expected to be serving fresh salmon to Japanese consumers medio 2024. Recently, Proximar Seafood reached an agreement to make Marubeni its exclusive distributor in Japan for all Atlantic salmon.