Atlantic salmon

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) an anadromous fish which means it spawns in fresh water and migrates to the sea for the main growing period.  The salmon fry live in brooks and rivers for their first 2-5 years when they smoltify and leave the rivers in early summer at a weight of 20-40 g.  Usually, one year later the adult salmon (2-4 kg) return to the rivers for spawning. The Atlantic salmon offers the greatest economic value and is the most sought-after freshwater fish in Iceland, categorized as such because sea-fishing for salmon is not permitted. It ascends about 100 rivers and streams, most of them located in the western half of the country. 

History

Salmon farming began in Iceland just before the year 1900 with the first attempts to fertilize and hatch Atlantic salmon eggs and release the emerging fry into rivers. The first attempts to feed salmon fry were made in 1961.  In the period 1984 – 1987 salmon eggs were imported from Norway.  Selective breeding of Atlantic salmon of Norwegian strains started in 1991 in Iceland. During the period 1985-87 there were large investments in the production of salmon smolts for exporting to Norway.  Later when that market closed the sea-ranching of salmon , farming in sea cages and land-based farms attracted significant interest among investors. 

Salmon ranching, which releases salmon smolt and recaptures the adult in a ranching station was developed on an experimental scale in the 1960s and developed commercially in the 1990s. Due to the low return rates and the fall in salmon prices on the international market, ranching was not considered economically viable and was closed down in 1996. Today smolts are only released for sport fishing purposes but this activity has managed to develop large fishery in some rivers especially in South Iceland.  

The first attempt to on-grow salmon in sea cages was in the fjord Hvalfjördur on the west coast of Iceland in 1972. The number of farms increased in the late 1980s but the process was not viable. Most of the farms wound up after a few years in operation and by end of the 1990s only one farm produced salmon in sea cages.  The bulk of the production during the period 1990-2002 was based on a few land-based farms. The beginning of the 21^st century saw growing interest in developing sea cage farming of salmon in the sheltered fjords on Iceland’s east cost. Two large farms were established and remained in operation for a few years, but today only two small cage farms are in operation.

The first land-based farm for salmon production were developed in 1978 and in the late 1980s a few big land-based farms were built for the purpose of salmon production. Only few remain in production today due to a spate of bankruptcies in the 1990s, mainly caused by excessive investment in the facilities and falling salmon prices following a phenomenal growth of the industry in many countries.

 Methods

Natural spawning takes place in autumn. The use of temperature and light manipulation has enabled to modify spawning time and have year-round egg availability for Icelandic salmon hatcheries or for export. In Iceland,  high quality well-water and geothermal water is available for use by the hatcheries. Geothermal water is used to control the water temperature for eggs, fry and juveniles in hatchery. The final stage of the production cycle is when the salmon reach the final stages of smoltification and should be prepared for transfer into sea water for on-growing or export. In sea-cages salmon will reach market size (ca. 4-5 kg) about three years after hatching and two years at land-based farms.   Wild salmon are collected from rivers in late summer and autumn for the production of parr and smolt for stocking. In early summer next year the fry have reached 5-7 g and the producer is able to sell a limited quantity of parr for stocking in rivers, but a suitable number is kept for next year’s smolt production. Smolt is released in rivers in spring and after a few weeks of local adaptation they will migrate towards their natural feeding grounds in the ocean. The fish return to release sites as sexually mature grilse or salmon after one or two years in the sea.    

Eggs and juvenile production

Stofnfiskur produces Atlantic salmon eggs mainly for export. Today about one million smolts are produced for on-growing and export. For enhancement in Icelandic rivers a few million parr and smolts are produced in many small hatcheries. Today about 15 hatcheries produce smolt for on-growing, enhancement and export. 

On-growing

Atlantic salmon production decreased from about 6,900 tonnes in 2006 to 300 tonnes in 2008.  It is forecast that production will increase to about 1,000 tonnes in the year 2010. Today Atlantic salmon are produced in two small sea cage farms and at Silfurstjarnan’s land-based farm.   

Export

In 2006 salmon export from Iceland reached a total of  1.5 billion ISK in value and 4.5 thousand tonnes in volume.  In 2008 production of salmon was mainly for domestic consumption and only eggs and smolt are exported from Iceland. Stofnfiskur produce salmon eggs on a year-round basis for export  and Samherji export smolts.

Valdimar Ingi Gunnarsson