Since 1979, Norway has hosted the greatest aquaculture show in the world: Aqua Nor. The exhibition is held every other year, alternating with the fisheries exhibition Nor-Fishing. Aqua Nor is organised by the Nor-Fishing Foundation, and has always been held in Trondheim in mid-Norway, close to numerous salmon farms in the Trondheim fjord, and with all the major fisheries and aquaculture organisations headquartered in the city. This year’s Aqua Nor will be held from 18th through 21st August, and it looks to be the biggest show ever.
2. A
lmost 500 exhibitors have signed up already, and the
organisers expect 18,000 – 20,000 visitors from about
65 – 70 countries. Project Manager Kari Steinsbø at
Aqua Nor comments on the interest in Aqua Nor 2015:
“There is great interest from exhibitors – we have many bookings
already. Many are registering early to make sure they get the space
and location they want. In addition to the many Norwegian exhibi-
tors, exhibitors from a number of foreign countries like the UK,
Chile, China, the USA and Dubai have also registered.”
The exhibition area presently covers 18,000 m2, but will be
expanded to about 23,000 m2 when a new hall is added a few years
from now.
“But because of the great interest this year, we have added one
extra hall,” says Mrs Steinsbø.
“All the exhibition halls were fully booked six months ahead of the
show, so we decided to erect a new hall, Hall A2, which is now filling
up.”
Skansen – displaying equipment on the water
Aqua Nor is the only aquaculture technology exhibition where you can
actually see the equipment in its right element: on the water. At the
Skansen area in the Trondheim harbor, a short 10-minute walk from
the main exhibition halls, exhibitors display floating cages, workboats,
underwater equipment and other installations. On Aqua Nor’s opening
day, a gigantic AC850 feed barge will be officially handed over from
AKVA group to its new owners, Marine Harvest. This event will take
place at Skansen.
Mini-seminars
Norwegian fish farming has experienced a tremendous success
over the past 40 years, and the technology that has made this
Technology on display
Aqua Nor
Since 1979, Norway has hosted the
greatest aquaculture show in the world:
Aqua Nor. The exhibition is held every other
year, alternating with the fisheries exhibition
Nor-Fishing. Aqua Nor is organised by the
Nor-Fishing Foundation, and has always
been held in Trondheim in mid-Norway,
close to numerous salmon farms in the
Trondheim fjord, and with all the major
fisheries and aquaculture organisations
headquartered in the city. This year’s Aqua
Nor will be held from 18th through 21st
August, and it looks to be the biggest show
ever.
002 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | Fish Farming Technology
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
3. success possible has been on display at Aqua Nor since 1979. In
order to give foreign visitors a better understanding of modern,
Norwegian aquaculture technology and practices, the Nor-Fishing
Foundation joins forces with the Marine Research Institute in
Bergen and many of the technology providers to organise a
mini-seminar on the latest aquaculture technology. When a
similar mini-seminar was held at Aqua Nor 2013, the interest was
overwhelming. This year, the theme for this mini-seminar is “Is
Norwegian aquaculture technology relevant in other parts of the
world?”. This mini-seminar will be held in the afternoon on the
opening day, 18th August.
In addition, numerous other seminars, mini-conferences and pres-
entations will be held on a number of different subjects, ranging from
markets for farmed fish to fish health, closed cage systems and other
very detailed aspects of fish farming. In 2013, over 30 different seminars
and presentations were held.
The research organisation SINTEF will hold an afternoon seminar
on Thursday 20th of August, and their focus is on a very hot issue
these days: “Future prospects in aquaculture technology – Closed or
exposed?”.
For those who would like to see actual fish farms in operation,
Innovation Norway is organising a boat trip around the Trondheim
Fjord on the day before the opening, on Monday 17th August. This
trip is reserved for foreign visitors, and was very successful when it
was operated also in 2013. (Check the full programme at http://www.
aqua-nor.no/.)
Networking
Many visitors claim that the most important aspect of Aqua Nor
is the networking - meeting old friends and making new contacts.
Consequently, there is a lot of chatting going on in the exhibition halls
and above all at the several restaurants on the premises. One of the
most popular meeting places is the outdoor restaurant, where people
can also listen to heated debates during the lunch hour.
Foreign delegations
Over the years, many foreign delegations have visited Aqua Nor, often
headed by ministers and top officials from the visiting countries. There
have been large delegations visiting from Indonesia, China, Vietnam,
South Korea, and other Asian countries, as well as from Latin America
and Africa. Many of these delegations have used the occasion to
present investment opportunities in their own country during brief
seminars during the exhibition.
Innovation Award
The Nor-Fishing Foundation will present the Innovation Award 2015
for the 13th time at Aqua Nor on 18th August 2015. Since 2003, the
Board of Directors of the Foundation has contributed NOK 1.3 mil-
lion to research and development of equipment and services for the
aquaculture and fisheries industry, nationally and internationally. In the
past, there has been broad international participation in the contest.
Previous winners have reported that the award has created great inter-
est in their products and services.
Fish Farming Technology | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 003
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
4. Best stand Award
Since Nor-Fishing 2012 the organisers have given out The Best Stand
Award. The idea is to stimulate innovation and reward those exhibi-
tors who put an extra effort into their stand design.
The criteria for selecting the best stand were established in 2012,
and they are relatively simple, but relevant:
• Is the stand an attention-getter? It should be a stand that catches
the attention of visitors, it should reflect a thematic idea, and be
aesthetically pleasing.
• Does the stand attract visitors? Do visitors stop to talk to the
personnel?
• Does the stand give clear and relevant information about the
message that it is meant to communicate?
With these questions in mind, a Jury will spend the first three days
of the exhibition visiting stands all over the exhibition. On the last day
of the exhibition, the Jury’s decision will be announced.
Aqua Nor Student Day
Students from Trondheim and the rest of Norway are invited to
visit Aqua Nor free of charge on Friday 21st of August 2015 to
explore the opportunities offered by exhibitors and the aquaculture
industry.
The demand for seafood will continue to grow rapidly in the
years ahead, and if Norway is to reach the Government’s objective
of becoming the world’s foremost seafood nation, the industry will
have to recruit a lot more smart young brains.
Many opportunities for students
When over 400 exhibitors from over 50 nations and 20,000
visitors get together at this year’s Aqua Nor, the organiser (the Nor-
Fishing Foundation) wants to attract students from all disciplines to
visit the exhibition in order to learn more about the industry and
the opportunities it offers young people. It is in this industry that the
most exciting potential for innovation and value creation exists, and
consequently there are many attractive job opportunities.
Demand for bright young people in the industry
"A research report released some years ago concluded that we
may increase value creation six-fold over the next 35 years," says
Director of Information Øyvind Haram of Seafood Norway (previ-
ously the Norwegian Seafood Association).
“We shall have to find ways to achieve this in a sustainable
way. We’ll be needing a plethora of new technological solutions
for slaughtering and production, bright minds to find what other
opportunities can be found in the ocean and to exploit our natural
resources.”
Seafood Norway is one of the sponsors of the Student
Day, together with the Norwegian University for Science and
Technology (NTNU), the 'Get your sea legs' project, Youngfish, and
the Nor-Fishing Foundation.
The entire ocean space can be used
Norway has developed a wide range of know-how in the off-
shore petroleum industry and is considered a leading nation when
it comes to seabed technology. Now Mr Haram wants that the
aquaculture industry should develop excellence higher up in the
water column also.
“We need many young people in order to reach the objectives
that we have set. Anything from civil engineering, ITC experts and
young people who are interested in politics, trade, marketing and
economics. I hope they will use this opportunity to get to know the
aquaculture industry on Aqua Nor’s Student Day.”
Welcoming all students – free
admission on Friday 21st August
Aqua Nor invites all students to visit the exhibition free of charge
on Friday 21st August. In addition, 10 students from all over the
country will be selected to receive free travel and accommodation
in Trondheim during the exhibition.
Students who visit Aqua Nor will have a full menu of options:
• Exciting seminars with top-notch speakers
• Mingling and networking, including happy hour
• A raffle with a festival pass to Pstereo
• Sampling delicious seafood products
• Meetings with various exhibitors
004 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | Fish Farming Technology
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
6. 006 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | Fish Farming Technology
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
HeliXiR Fish
Hospital
T
he HeliXiR fish hospital will improve animal
health and welfare while reducing the
environmental impact of treatments. The
HeliXiR utilises a small and recirculated
treatment tank where fish are exposed to
treatment, users have full control of time,
concentration and temperature.
The project started two years ago when
Måsøval Fish Farming Co and Stranda Prolog
AS joined forces to develop a closed treatment
process against sea lice. Both are third
generation family owned companies, and
pioneers in the industry with more than 40 years’
experience in the industry.
The original idea for HeliXiR came up during
a meeting concerning another topic, however,
a plan for HeliXiR was quickly developed. In
January 2013 the aim was to treat salmon
against sea lice with medicine in a HeliX tank,
placed on a barge out on the farm. From
the loosely formulated concept Stranda had
developed in 2007, it took 19 months of intense
engineering work to develop and finance the
pilot, and another nine months to build. In
August Stranda is handing over the HeliXiR to
Måsøval to start the trials. The first trials have
been successful showing that the concept
works, these trials will continue throughout 2015
to show the full potential.
The HeliXiR Fish hospital consists of: a 32
metre by 12 metre barge; Triplo fish pump for
continuous suction and delivery; a de-watering
unit with grading functionality to grade fish
cleaning and lice filtering for the water; a
133m3 HeliX processing tank with a filtrating
water treatment system; heat pump for +/- 6oC;
an aeration unit; and a water intake with algae
filter. The expected capacity is 50-100 ton per
hour with more than a 90 percent reduction in
chemical consumption.
The system filtrates all emission fluids and can
also be closed to avoid any and all emissions.
The user retains control of the fish during
treatment and the concentration level of the
treatment throughout the process.
Nor-Fishing Foundation Innovation Award 2015
7. Fish Farming Technology | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 007
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
Precise biomass
measurement
of salmon
S
torvik Aqua AS (Sunndalsøra) and EBTech AS
(Molde) have cooperated in submitting a
patent application for a system that measures
the biomass of salmon based on a 3D technique
using high density cameras and filter combinations
that give a precise basis for calculating fish biomass.
They have developed advanced picture handling
algorithms that give mass calculations to a very high
degree of accuracy. The system’s objective is +/- 1%
deviations.
The system uses SACON, a user-friendly web
portal providing an overview of all biomass and
environmental data from all your locations in one
place. Users will be able to log in to SACON to see
all key data from the locations they are responsible
for. SACON gives fish farmers’ a complete overview
of operation, environmental conditions, fish welfare,
size, weight and their status with regard to maximum
permitted biomass. All data from the biomass meters
and environment log, AquaLog, are presented
together in SACON for complete overview.
The new technology Akravision is a fully
automated, camera-based biomass meter superior to
all previous forms of biomass metering. The biomass
meter uses software to constantly generate 3D models
of the images the AkvaVision camera takes of the fish.
The software then calculates how big the average fish
in the net is based on the 3D models.
Nor-Fishing Foundation Innovation Award 2015