October 28, 2008

Norwegian company Codfarmers ASA plans to return the Atlantic cod to its commercial prominence by infusing fishing grounds with high-tech equipment and modern management techniques.

This year, for the first time, more farmed fish will be consumed than wild fish, according to a FAO report.

Investors that include JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley & Co. and the Hearst family, are supporting the idea of high-tech cod farms envisioned by Codfarmers' founder Harald Dahl, providing an investment sum of US$100 million.

Dahl intends to conquer aquaculture's greatest weaknesses – disease outbreaks and heavy reliance on salmon. The Atlantic cod market is currently worth US$1 billion due to a sharp decline in wild population.

Dahl also aims to make cod a mainstay in grocers' fish counters. "Salmon used to be the party fish. Now it's become an everyday fish. We want to make cod the party fish," he declared.

Farmers are able to charge about 20 percent more for farmed fish than for wild cod because it is fresher. Wild cod has to spend several transporting days while farmed cod doesn't have to make that trip. Farmed salmon, by contrast, sells at a steep discount to wild salmon.

Farming cod is a difficult business though, due to fickle breeding conditions, restrictive diets and a stubborn drive to escape nets. A cod lays two million eggs at a time but only one or two survive, which indicates a farm would need to rear thousands of cod to make stable production viable, according to Daniel Pauly, a fish scientist at the University of British Columbia.

At a Codfarmers hatchery in Bodo, Thor Magne Jonassen supervises three green fiberglass tanks with each filled with 400 cod. The fish will spawn in shifts, once every two months. Dim tank lights mimicking winter will control breeding and produce healthier, fatter fish.

Jonassen estimates his 1,200 fish will generate 5-10 million cod per year. After the fish reach 3.5 ounces in weight, they would be transferred to net cages in fjords 1,000 feet deep. The depth helps to recycle fish water and prevent waste from accumulating. Divers will keep the nets repaired to prevent escapes.

On filleting day, a plastic pipe the width of a basketball will remove a cod from the holding pen every two seconds and onto a conveyor belt. Workers will then remove the heads for fishmeal, and livers for oil, drugs, cosmetics and food, before packing the cod in ice for delivery for supermarkets in the EU. Dahl hopes that the products would also be exported to the US in the near future.