Scott Foster joins Aqualife in Norway as the new Territory Manager

Aqualife have appointed Scott Foster as its new Territory Manager for the Nordic area, covering Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and Iceland. This key role is targeted at delivering outstanding customer service and building relationships across the aquaculture sector in the region.

Mr Foster has more than 30 years' experience in the marine industry beginning his career in 1988 with Golden Sea Produce on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. An opportune move to Norway in 2000 with his young family began a long-term relationship with a country that has become his home. Fluent in Norwegian, the Mowi Production Manager held responsibility for several sites for across the region and attained the Best Site Award a total of four times.

The newly created position of Territory Manager underpins Aqualife's plans for the Nordic market and Mr Foster's role will be to lead the delivery of exceptional levels of customer service on the ground. Creating a solid base for the establishment of a Nordic team to support the rapidly growing aquaculture sector with innovative vaccine delivery methods. A core feature for Mr Foster will be to introduce Aqualife's new multi vaccine vaccination system, the INOCA, to the Norwegian market.

Gordon Jeffrey says, 'Scott's strong technical background will be an enormous asset for Aqualife in the Nordic area. As we continue to thrive in the region, he will have a key role in the development of company strategy and customer support.'

Mr Foster says, 'I'm delighted to be joining the Aqualife team and building strong relationships with customers. Promoting the company's culture and values will be at the core of everything I deliver.'

For more information about Aqualife visit the website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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First harvest of iFarm project

Cermaq's iFarm project is now overseeing the deliverance of the first fish produced on the farm, Cermaq announced in a press release dated today. Results from the harvest demonstrate the maintenance of good health and welfare of the fish, which were stocked in the sea site in Martnesvika, in the later half of 2020.

The iFarm project looks to run over five years, as it utilises latest technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to identify fish in the pen and track their health and wellbeing. Phase one focused on adapting iFarm equipment in the pen to the fish's behaviour, which was tested in the Martnesvika sea site. This resulted in important information on camera arrangement, lighting and data processing to ensure detailed health records for each fish.

The project successfully reduced the need for delousing at farms by 50 percent compared with conventional pens, scoring highly on welfare indicators throughout the project.

"The fish behaviour we have observed in phase 1 tells us that the fish is doing fine with the iFarm equipment in the pen," explained iFarm project manager, Karl Fredrik Ottem. "This is further supported by the results from the harvest. The fish has had a good life in the iFarm pens."

Image credit: Cermaq

Phase two of iFarm was reached last year, as an entire sea site was equipped with an iFarm setup following on from stocking the fish in autumn, which is taking place in Vesterålen. You can read that news, HERE.

"We have learned a lot that we have already implemented in phase 2, and we have received a number of answers that take us to the next step. An important part of the innovation work is to find out what works and what does not work," Ottem commented.

As the project is ongoing and developing, it invites several uncertainties. The concept cannot include ordinary underwater feeding equipment, and as shown by the harvest results, the existing underwater feeding system needs to be further developed.

The iFarm fish were harvested at the Steigen processing plant and will be delivered to customers in Europe and Asia.

For more information on Cermaq visit their website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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Introducing Skretting Aquaculture Innovation

Skretting ARC has been renamed and restructured into a complete and multi-functional unit incorporating the global marketing, sustainability and digital teams into its midst. The new unit is called Skretting Aquaculture Innovation (AI) and integrates all aspects of innovation from basic to applied research, to product development to digital innovation and sustainability.

At the cutting edge of innovation
'What we have created is a completely dynamic approach towards innovation, where we don't focus only on one aspect of innovation, for example ingredients, health, digital or only sustainability,' says Alex Obach, Skretting Innovation Director. 'We have put all of this together into an integrated and agile value centre, with our clients' current and future needs at the core.'

'We operate in a specific area of the aquaculture value chain, with great diversity in our clients, the species farmed and the ingredients available. However, there are innovation areas that add value across the board, including sustainability, life start, health, ingredients and more,' continues Mr Obach.

The new unit remains headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, and comprises more than 150 experts across the functional areas, closely collaborating with colleagues around the world. With novel technologies in the Skretting Bubble combined with future solutions from Nutreco Exploration (NutEx) set to deliver exclusive ingredients through phytotechnology, biotechnologies and physical chemistry, combined with increasing opportunities through Nutreco's breakthrough investment arm NuFrontiers, Skretting AI is at the forefront of cutting-edge innovation.

Sustainable seafood, conscious consumers
The innovation areas of Skretting AI are tightly matched with the global rise in seafood consumption, combined with the rise in conscious consumers. The pandemic has highlighted the need for sustainable, healthy and local food and there is an expectation that companies will operate in a conscious, transparent and ethical way.

'A Skretting-fed fish or shrimp matches these requirements,' says Mr Obach. 'We contribute to more than 21 million seafood meals every day – a big responsibility. We innovate to incorporate the needs of both our clients and the wider society.

'We believe that the biggest challenges facing aquaculture today are ingredients (availability, sustainability and logistics) health challenges and circularity. We have a clear roadmap to address these challenges, and a dynamic and dedicated team making it happen. We have a dual role to support the business with the challenges of today and our longer-term responsibility to bring innovative solutions for tomorrow to drive aquaculture into the future. These are exciting times for aquaculture innovation at Skretting!' concludes Mr Obach.

For more information visit the Skretting website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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