Production cycle

Stripping of salmon

The first step in producing farmed salmon is to "strip" mature adult salmon. Eggs and Milton from the parent salmon are mixed so that fertilization occurs and the eggs start developing towards a new individual. A female salmon has about 500 eggs.

Egg stages

The fertilized eggs are kept relatively dark while fresh water runs continuously over the eggs. After about 230 day-degrees (degree C of water times number of days) two black points in the egg can bee seen, these are the eyes of the larvae that has developed.

Hatching

The eggs hatch after 500 day-degrees and a thin larva-like fish (alevin) emerges from the egg. The alvein carries a large bag under the stomach filled with nutrition. This sac is called the yolk-sac. The alvein is a poor swimmer and lays mostly on the bottom.

Startfeeding

Three hundred day-degrees after hatching the fry is ready to be fed, having consumed about 2/3 of the yolk. The fry is 2-3cm long, and have grown considerably. Previously, this stage has suffered high mortality, but today survival rate is almost 100%.

Growth in fresh water

The juvenile salmon grows from a tiny, one gram fishlarva at hacking to a 100g smolt in six months. In nature, a wild salmon takes 2-5 years to reach this smolt stage. The fast growth of farmed salmon is due to optimal feeding, higher temperature and monitoring the day-length. The salmon are then vaccinated against the most common diseases.

Ongrowing in the sea

After just over a year in the sea the salmon has grown to a weight of about 4 kg. The rate of growth depends, among other factors, on the water temperature.