Norwegian aquaculture technology company Bluegreen Group is preparing the innovative Marine Donut facility to transition from a development phase into regular commercial operations with a focus on post‑smolt production.
The facility, a floating closed‑containment salmon farming system, has been operated under a development licence, primarily producing food fish and providing crucial insights into fish biology, daily operations and structural design. Bluegreen is now working with industry partner SalMar to adapt the facility for its intended use in post‑smolt production, which involves larger numbers of smaller fish and requires specific technical adjustments to containment barriers and systems.
Henrik Thorstensen, CTO at Bluegreen, explained that moving the facility into standard operations means tailoring the system to meet the different demands of post‑smolt farming, particularly in terms of fish size and stocking density. The next steps include completing technical conversions and submitting applications for exemptions to allow stocking of up to 1 million individuals.
Once adapted, SalMar plans to use the Marine Donut for spring post‑smolt production before transferring the fish to open‑sea sites for final grow‑out. According to Bluegreen, using closed technology during this critical stage can reduce exposure to environmental stressors, giving producers greater control over fish health and welfare.
The move marks an important milestone in the commercialisation of the technology, following successful full‑scale testing that demonstrated strong biological performance and stability under licence conditions.
