Proximar Seafood reported a standing biomass of 735 metric tons at the end of Q3 2024.
Photo: Proximar Seafood.
In what is its fifth operational update since it started production in October 2022, Proximar Seafood announced that, at the end of Q3 2024, its biomass reached 735 metric tons. This is more than double the 360 metric tons at the end of Q2 of this same year.
The good news from Japan's first large-scale land-based salmon farm - whose successful trial harvest took place on September 30, 2024 - is, however, slightly marred by persistent water turbidity issues, affecting feeding practices during the summer.
"We are very pleased to see the positive development in our biomass continuing through the third quarter of 2024. The water quality remains good although the turbidity is still an issue. Our first batch is above 5 kg on average, and we remain on track for daily harvesting from late October," said Proximar's CEO, Joachim Nielsen.
As the company already announced in the Q2 report in August, to address the turbidity issue in the grow-out, it installed an ozone treatment system as a long-term solution which, Proximar has now said, will be put into operation shortly. Ozone is expected to have a positive effect on turbidity, also based on experience from other installations.
In addition, the land-based salmon farmer reported that, as a precautionary measure, feeding has been reduced somewhat over the past few months, which, it also said, has impacted growth.
In this latest production update, Proximar Seafood has said that it currently has 18 lots and approximately 1.9 million individuals in production. The company’s long-term target harvest level is 5,300 tons (HOG) per year in Phase 1.
As mentioned, Japan's first locally produced Atlantic salmon harvest was a reality just over a week ago. On September 30, Proximar Seafood harvested approximately 1.2 tons of fish from its first batch. As WeAreAquaculture reported at the time, the fish was distributed to supermarkets mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
"We are very excited to have completed the trial-harvest last week," Joachim Nielsen stated now. "The harvested salmon averaged ~4 kg HOG with 100% superior quality, and Proximar confirms that the price achievement aligns with the company's expectations of premium prices compared to the import price to Japan of Norwegian Atlantic salmon."
On the same day, it was launched Proximar Seafood's new brand and logo, Fuji Atlantic Salmon, which will be used to consolidate the company's presence in Japan and Asia. The objective is to position it as a leader in the Japanese-produced Atlantic salmon market for Asian consumers.