Norwegian entrepreneur to salmon farm in Portugal

A Norwegian entrepreneur is raising capital to create a salmon farm in Portugal in an investment that could reach €100 million.

The project from Maiken Foods involves rearing the salmon in tanks on what will become a salmon farm at Figueira da Foz.
The company is currently in the process of raising €5 million to kick-start the project. Maiken Foods, which was founded by Arve Gravdal, plans to install the first tanks at Figueira da Foz in the second quarter of this year.
According to the entrepreneur’s LinkedIn profile, Gravdal was the founder of Niri AS and has had several managerial engagements in land-­based aqua-cultural projects in Europe, Africa and the US. His plan is to commercialise integrated land-based food and energy projects.
In 2018 the businessman split with Niri AS and partnered with Tejre Mikalsen in the company EcoFishChain Ltd, Dublin Ireland.
It took over Niri Scotland Ltd whose name changed to EFC Scotland Ltd with the aim of developing land-based salmon farming on a commercial scale.
The technology is composed of large circular tanks, each with an integrated filter module using intensive recirculation. As the tanks are independent of each other (IPU- Individual Production-Units), expansion can occur in step with any production increase. The result is a temperature-controlled, parasite and chemical-free rearing environment.
In addition, there is no possibility of any fish escaping into the wild. “Our concept is fully integrated and produces renewable energy from wastes. It can be scaled up in a range of geographic locations as long as these are located close to adequate water sources,” he states.
The system means that the framers can monitor the most common diseases before they break out in the tank. The system can also monitor hormones and know months in advance when the fish are beginning to start sexual maturity. It can monitor stress hormones in order to change water quality to meet modern requirements on fish health and welfare standards. Finally, it can monitor everything including feed ingredients until it is on the plate, tested through the company’s own developed block chain technology.