The biomass present in the affected module is approximately 300 tons, and the company has already started moving the fish to another operational module.
Photo: Proximar Seafood.
Proximar Seafood announced that it experienced a breach in the support for a biofilter in one of its modules on Wednesday this week. As a consequence, the land-based salmon producer has had to lower its harvest forecast for 2024/2025 by about 5% from the 4,700 HOG tons previously reported.
It was only a week ago that, during its Q3 2024 results presentation, Proximar had indicated that it remained confident of its combined 2024/2025 harvest target of 4,700 tons and its goal of reaching a full production capacity of 5,300 tons in 2027.
Previously, during Q2 2024, it had already been forced to lower its planned harvest volume for 2024 to approximately 80 tons following some challenges due to water turbidity in the grow-out building, temporarily limiting feeding and growth rates.
Now, although this 5% reduction in the forecast means 235 tons less in practice, the positive part is that this time the breach has not resulted in mortality.
It should be recalled that in February of this year, the land-based salmon farming company suffered a breach in one of the four operating tanks of its new post-smolt fattening facility, which resulted in a biomass loss of approximately 50,000 fish.
This time, the breach occurred in the biofilter support of module C. Proximar Seafood said that measures have already been taken to maintain adequate water quality, and biological levels have been stable since the incident.
According to the information provided by the company to the stock market, the biomass present in module C is approximately 300 tons, and Proximar has already started moving the fish to another operational module. This operation is expected to be completed within the next week and, to compensate, the start of a new module, module D, will be brought forward.
Likewise, Proximar Seafood noted that selected batches of fish will be harvested somewhat earlier than planned to free up capacity in the operational modules and ensure adequate fish health until module C is repaired.
The Norwegian salmon farmer added that the affected module will not be operational until repairs are completed and announced that, to avoid similar incidents, it will upgrade the other three operational modules as well, although this is not expected to impact production.
Proximar, which operates Japan's first large-scale salmon farm at Oyama, at the foot of Mount Fuji - from where it has just launched its first commercial Atlantic salmon harvest - also said it has already contacted the relevant insurance companies regarding coverage for damage, repairs, and relevant losses.
