Emden (dpa) - The shipyard Fosen Yard Emden as successor to the North Sea Works builds two large salmon farms for use on the high seas.
Each of these ring-shaped constructions was 80 meters in diameter and 25 meters high, said Carsten Stellamanns, managing director of Fosen Yard Emden, the German press agency.
They will be built in two halves, which will then be assembled at Fosen in Norway. The first half ring is currently being assembled, Stellamanns said. Fosen Yard in Rissa on the Norwegian Trondheim fjord was taken over completely by the German shipyard Nordseewerke after four bankruptcies in 2019.
The client of the cage prototypes is the salmon producer Norway Royal Salmon. "The cages should not be used in fjords, but on the high seas," said Stellamanns. The salmon cages are a new field of business for Fosen.
Offshore fish farms are seen as an opportunity to expand the production of edible fish worldwide. The US government has also recently approved the construction of such facilities. On the high seas, the environmental impact of feed and faeces residues from fish farming in bays or coastal waters is avoided. In the case of salmon cages, the structures have to withstand wind and waves in arctic waters. 3000 tons of steel are used in each plant.
At the salmon farm, only an upper ring will protrude from the water, Stellamanns said. The actual cage for the salmon hangs at a depth of ten meters. There the animals are less endangered by parasites. So that the salmon can breathe air, artificial bubbles are installed under water.