"Commercial breakthrough," is how Ovum, the developer of the closed-containment salmon structure known as 'The Egg', describes its agreement with Prophylaxia to build a new Egget® E2000. The aquaculture company is already familiar with the model, used in the pilot project in the Romsdalsfjord from autumn 2022, as it has been in charge of operating it during this time.
"This marks a commercial breakthrough for us," said Cato Lyngøy, CEO of Ovum, and added, "We also greatly appreciate continuing the excellent collaboration with Prophylaxia." The new unit of 'The Egg' will be constructed at Herde Kompositt in Ølve in the Hardangerfjord.
Ovum's Egget® E2000, better known as 'The Egg', is a closed-containment floating aquaculture system with a volume of 2,000 m³, constructed in sandwich composite, with a capacity of 90-100 tons of post-smolt. The project has already passed its pilot phase, "an instructive and developmental period for Ovum's technology and solutions," in which the developer company has had the operational support of Prophylaxia.
As Ovum acknowledges, Prophylaxia, which is investigating the use of natural signaling substances from salmon as an alternative against salmon lice, including different methods of delivering SNAP (Salmon Nest Appeasing Pheromone), has been instrumental in the development of the project. Now the aquaculture company - owned among other partners by Johan Andreassen, co-founder and outgoing CEO of Atlantic Sapphire - wants its own 'Egg'.
"The biological results from the two post-smolt production cycles in the pilot project have exceeded our expectations. This is due in no small part to the excellent collaboration with Prophylaxia in operations, and Herde Kompositt, which built the Egget®," acknowledged Trond Severinsen, CCO at Ovum.
"The initial production rounds with Egget® have proven to yield very exciting results. At times, we have worked intensively with the skilled people at Ovum. Now, after eliminating most of the teething problems, we are ordering our own Egget® E2000," confirmed Øyvind Våge, CEO of Prophylaxia.
When 'The Egg' project was launched, its founder, Cato Lyngøy said: "This is the answer to the next generation's expectations of our industry. There is salmon in the house, a solid, lasting farm building, which keeps the salmon inside and the lice outside. But also a farming environment that gives the salmon the best opportunities to grow and thrive."
Before this, Lyngøy had quit his job at Mowi to focus on this new adventure. Precisely, 'The Egg' project was initially driven by the salmon giant. It included among other things, subsidies for six development licenses, as well as an agreement on the right to use the technology that would be tested in it.
However, in June last year, Mowi decided to sell both this development and the so-called 'Marine Donut', which was subsequently acquired by SalMar and is already in use in the Romsdal Fjord. In the case of 'The Egg' it is Prophylaxia that will take the project further.
As mentioned, the new Egget® will be built at Herde Kompositt AS in Ølve, the Hardangerfjord, but the adventure started by Lyngøy does not end here. Ovum has reported that larger models, up to 20,000 m³, are being developed and are scheduled for production in 2024.
Ovum aims to be a leading innovator and supplier of floating closed-containment systems for the international aquaculture industry. According to the company, its innovative technology facilitates fish welfare and performance, in addition to increasing productivity by better utilization of resources, thus increasing average harvest weight, decreasing production time, and leaving a lower environmental footprint.
Prophylaxia AS is an entrepreneurial company with origins in the aquaculture industry and the pharmaceutical industry, founded on the hypothesis that the salmon's natural signaling substances can be an effective and gentle way to prevent the infestation of salmon lice. Based in Daugstad, in Vestnes municipality, the company has office premises together with, among others, Alsco and Åkerblå. It has 11 employees who are responsible for the operation of the research farm as well as a researcher.