Land based farms
Land-based farms
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Silfurstjarnan, land-based farm located on the northeastern coast of Iceland. Photo: Valdimar Ingi Gunarrson
Group of turbot in a small tank Photo: Valdimar Ingi Gunnarsson |
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Tanks
On-growing in land-based farms is mainly carried out in tanks in Iceland. Earth ponds also occur, but these are rare. Circular tanks constitute the most common rearing-tank design in Iceland, but raceways are also used in a few instances. The volume of a single tank is from a few cubic metres up to more than 2,000 cubic metres. The most common tank materials are concrete, fibreglass, steel and corrugated steel.
History
Freshwater culture of salmonids in earth ponds and small tanks began in the 1950s. The first land-based farm using pumped sea water in tanks was established in the year 1978 near Grindavik in southwest Iceland. The primary aims were to create optimal temperature and salinity conditions to enhance growth, using geothermal energy and shorten the rearing periods. In the late 1980s, a number of large land-based farms were built to produce salmon. However, only a few remained in production in the 1990s,. The main reasons were excessive investment in the facilities and falling salmon prices following a phenomenal growth of the industry in many countries.
Land-based farms in Iceland
Today land-based farms mainly produce Arctic char, but also halibut, turbot and salmon. Fifteen land-based farms are in operation producing Arctic char, most of them small. Three big land-based farms produce fish for consumption, each more than 20.000 m3 in volume. Islandsbleikja produces Arctic char on two locations and Silfurstjarnan produces, salmon, halibut and turbot.
Environmental resources
Abundance and quality of water are the fundamental factors for land-based farms which have to be located close to a water source providing a stable flow of water, suitable for farming all year round, in sufficient quantity to sustain a viable farm. Land-based farming in Iceland relies on good resources of freshwater and seawater with thermal energy to warm it up. Seawater resources for the big land-based farm in Iceland are limited to a pillow lava formation close to the shore. All seawater supplies come from boreholes, ensuring that only the very best quality water is used in production. This is because all borehole supplies are filtered through lava and are therefore virtually free of bacteria. Full use is made of natural geothermal resources within the farming process, enabling many of the companies to control the temperature and salinity of the water. Most of the land-based farms have oxygenation to save pumping cost.
Valdimar Ingi Gunnarsson
