The first eggs from Aqua Gen will be delivered Tuesday, November 6, thereby marking the start of a new generation of salmon
in Norwegian hatcheries. The eggs form the basis for the autumn smolt of 2008 and the spring smolt of 2009, which forms the
foundation for the harvesting of biomass chiefly in 2010.
As usual Aqua Gen Tingvoll is first, followed closely by Aqua Gen Hemne, ST Stamfisk and Aakvik Settefisk who will start deliveries
in the weeks 46-48.
Good Egg Quality
Based on the quality indicators connected to brood fish and egg production, everything indicates a good egg season. Size,
survival and maturity of this year’s Aqua Gen brood fish have been very good. This reflects a high survival rate during the
different developmental stages of egg maturation. With a survival rate through to eyed eggs of over 90 %, everything indicates
that the quality of the ”seeds” for the next salmon generations is very satisfactory.
Extension of the Egg Season
Aqua Gen has had a deliberate focus on building up competence and technology which make possible the expansion of the delivery
window for salmon eggs to industry. By making eggs available to hatcheries from early November through the end of May a far
better use of capacity is achieved in the hatcheries. In addition, a flexibility of smolt production is achieved, which is
a condition of cost-effective use of Maximum Total Biomass in the seawater phase.
Improved technology and Security Measures
Prior to this year’s season considerable investments in Aqua Gen’s plants have been made in order to achieve better biological
and environmental control in critical phases of the biological steering of brood fish. In addition, the Aqua Gen system has
developed and begun to use new technology which improves and makes more effective quality sorting of eggs before packing and
delivery . Extra security measures have also been implemented prior to this year’s season by the establishment of back-up
populations which can be used if Aqua Gen producers or other egg producers in Norway experience production or disease problems.
As of today there have been no indications of any need to employ these extra security measures
8-10 % Increased Volume
As far as volume development is concerned, preliminary numbers indicate that the trend of the last 3-4 years continues. This
means an insertion in Norway of a total of 330-350 million eggs, representing an increase of 8-10 % in relation to the season
of 06/07. This is evaluated as a reasonable growth rate in itself, which does not present alarming signals in regard to the
biomass harvest of 2010. Nevertheless, experience shows that biological success further along in the value chain is of greater
importance for the buildup of biomass than the collective insertion of eggs.
