HavExpo 2024, the international Norwegian event for aquaculture and fisheries, concluded after three B2B days with a record-breaking total of 14,700 visitors. Held on May 6-8, 2024, in Bergen, Norway, the biannual show contained the latest in technology and fish farming, was the place to be for fisheries and aquaculture professionals, acting as the networking hub you wouldn’t want to miss for those technology experts.
Alongside a record-breaking amount of sunshine the three days of HavExpo, the small show experienced an incredible footfall, with 4153 visitors on the Monday, 7467 on Tuesday and 3132 on Wednesday. This was a record number for the show, receiving more visitors than they had the previous years.
To open the show State Secretary Even Sagebakken and County Mayor Jon Askeland offered a warm welcome to all the exhibitors and guests. Following this warm welcome, conferences took place in halls C and D every 15 minutes throughout the first two days.
An important aspect for HavExpo is sharing knowledge, emphasising the important topics of the industries and engaging with the local and international sectors of aquaculture through conferences along with the current topics of the industry. Throughout the three days, a total of over 100 seminars took place. These conferences presented innovative solutions and the Latvian-Norwegian seminar emphasised international cooperation within the aquaculture industry.
International Aquafeed had the pleasure to attend HavExpo and met many amazing experts there. One such person was John Arne Breivik, General Manager of Stingray Marine Solutions AS, who had an eye-catching two-story building for a stand, that Costa Skotidas, International Aquafeed’s Content and Development Manager, got to speak to. Breivik informed us how important and relevant their company is to the challenges in the Norwegian market regarding salmon and lice calling it “paramount” and how Stingray remains prominent in the industry. “We can reduce the mortality, increase superior grade and increase the average weight before harvesting,” says Breivik.
We also had the chance to speak to the Head of Danish Export for Fish Tech, Martin Winkel Lilleoere, about the show and Danish companies with aquaculture: “At HavExpo 2024, we predominantly saw that the visitor profile was from the aquaculture industry. As Danish companies have a strong positioning in the aquaculture sector, many of the Danish exhibitors enjoyed visits from key decision-makers from various companies focusing on the aquaculture industry.”
The CEO of Waive, Peter Skaugvold, who was exhibiting at the show took a moment to talk to Costa as well, explaining how Waive differs from other companies through their camera-based solutions as the sonar they use shows the entire cage rather than only the health of the fish within the cage.
Imenco Aqua’s General Manager, Tommy Storsveen, an exhibitor dedicated some time to show us the machinery they exhibited was their “feeding equipment that featured robotic feeding combined with automates”. This machine allows for either feeding with robotics or refilling automatically which makes the process fully automatic which keeps the water and surrounding area clean, uncontaminated and the water quality to remain good in tanks.
Skotidas was able to spend some time with General Manager of AKVA Group, Arnstein Hosaas. “We have a lot of different projects coming, a combination of different thing. Our main goal is to try to enable more sustainable farming with better fish welfare.”
The CEO and Founder of Probot, Mikkel Pedersen, mentioned how their showcased products are unique not only at HavExpo but for the delegates of the show: “Our product works like a robotic vacuum cleaner for the fish net pens. Our solution is for clean fish net pens without the use of any chemicals, high pressure cleaning or any brush solutions. This means you can have clean nets without causing stress for the salmon.”
To round off the days with some social networking, HavExpo offered multiple opportunities for people to grow their connections. With the Barbecue & Networking Event one day where people received free food and drinks, to the piano bar and the Flying Dutchman at the Zachariasbryggen, or renamed to Havbryggen for the occasion, in the centre of Bergen. There were multiple fun and relaxing moments for the delegates to connect with new potential partners and reconnect with old ones too. HavExpo 2024 was a successful and extraordinary event that were thankful to attend. Remaining biannual, the next show dates for HavExpo have been announced to take place on May 5 – 7, 2026, in Bergen, Norway. We hope to see you there and to stay updated, keep an eye on their website.
