Peter Beringer, MSP's Country Manager in Portugal (left) and Klaas-Hessel van Eerde, General Manager of Zalmhuys Group (right).
Photo: Mariculture Systems Portugal LinkedIn page.
Mariculture Systems Portugal (MSP), the company behind the Coralis offshore aquaculture project under development off Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Netherlands-based Zalmhuys Group as lead partner for the sales and marketing of its Atlantic Ocean-farmed European seabass and Gilthead seabream.
As MSP explained in its LinkedIn post announcing the partnership, as demand for sustainable seafood and high-quality protein grows, offshore aquaculture represents an important next step for Europe's fish supply, bringing near-wild quality fish closer to the market while reducing the time from harvest to consumer.
The project that MSP is developing off the Portuguese coast aims to disrupt the fish farming sector with its large-scale offshore platforms designed for scalability and sustainability.
As its leaders explained in an exclusive interview with WeAreAquaculture, the project focuses on achieving sustainability by automating as much as possible, using advanced AI to monitor fish health and welfare, and implementing automated control mechanisms such as lifting and lowering cages according to weather conditions.
Moreover, below the floating fish farming platforms, the company intends to construct artificial reefs to support marine biodiversity.
With an expected annual production of 8,000 tons of seabream, although Mariculture Systems Portugal's initial projects focus on seabream and seabass—two species with well-established farming protocols—the system is designed to be adaptable for other species.
"We intend to move to more expensive species like salmon, yellowtail, and even tuna. The platform can be adapted for any of these fish, " MSP CEO Yaron Bar-Tal, told WeAreAquaculture.
Zalmhuys Group, for its part, combines its view of fish processing as a traditional craft with the most modern production techniques. Founded in 2002, the company draws on the experience and expertise accumulated over generations, but also works constantly to implement innovations aimed at improving and optimizing the processing process.
Headquartered in Urk, the Netherlands—an international seafood hub and logistics and processing center that has evolved from a small fishing village into an international industrial hub, known worldwide as "The Seafood Hub for the World"—the company emphasizes on its website that its ultimate goal is to deliver a high-quality product.
"Quality is always paramount at Het Urker Zalmhuys and the fish product is processed with care," it claims.
Designed for deployment in deep waters and resilient operations, MSP's Coralis system can be easily adapted to the cultivation of any aquaculture species and promotes fish welfare, a consistent supply, and full traceability—all of which align directly with Zalmhuys' commitment to excellence and sustainability.
In the words of Mariculture Systems Portugal, "the collaboration combines advanced offshore farming technology with strong market expertise to deliver premium-quality fish produced in high-energy open-ocean environments."
Finally, in a post on his LinkedIn profile thanking Klaas-Hessel van Eerde, General Manager of the Zalmhuys Group, for his collaboration in achieving this goal, Peter Beringer, MSP's Country Manager in Portugal, went further and stated that the agreement is "a milestone for bringing high-quality, sustainably farmed seafood from the Portuguese Atlantic Ocean, with pioneering foodtech that facilitates the volumes that meet the growing demand for healthy and distinguishing products from traceable origins."