Danish Salmon, founded in 2009, is one of the oldest RAS companies for Atlantic salmon. The company in Hirtshals, Denmark faced numerous challenges, including system failures and inefficiencies. CEO Kim Hieronymus Lyhne shares lessons from the company's financial turnaround, reporting profits for the first time in 2024 with its annual capacity of 2,300 tons.

John Hansen, a project director in the RAS industry, discussed his experience and responsibilities, including managing design and construction for land-based fish farms. He emphasized the importance of early involvement in projects to ensure constructability and avoid costly changes. He also stressed the need for simplicity in design to keep costs and timelines manageable.

Laxey's freshwater manager, Chris Malanka, manages four RAS facilities, focusing on fish health, production planning, and water quality. This RAS project in Iceland's Westman Islands aims to produce four million smolts annually, with a gradual startup plan. Public relations manager, Óskar Jósúason, also tells the story of how a local male choir's visit to the newly built growout tanks represents the company's emphasis on collaboration and community-building. 

Tommi Mäkinen, chief technology officer and head of Finnforel Technologies, talks about the company's philosophy of making each process of rainbow trout RAS production sustainable and innovative. He shares a breakdown of their new Varkaus gigafactory and the lessons they learned from its previous pilot systems to make its large-scale facility optimized from egg to packaged filet.

Fabian Rydell and Bert Wecker, the co-CEOs of Oceanloop Group, share about their German-based company raising shrimp and grouper in their unique vertical farming-style, recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). We explore the technical and operational challenges the company has overcome, as well as their ambitious plans for scaling up production across Europe.

Reflecting on the company’s first year of production, CEO Martin Rasmussen emphasizes Andfjord Salmon’s concept of combining the natural benefits of the sea with the advantages of being on land, leveraging the company's unique location near the Gulf Stream for optimal water temperature and quality.

James Peter Henry Tuller is the commissioning manager at Norway-based Pure Salmon Technology. On the second day (June 6) of the RASTECH 2024 Conference and Trade Fair, Tuller took the stage to give attendees a simple breakdown of the commissioning process for a RAS facility. He talks about the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to this final step before system startup.

Aqua Founders Capital managing directors, Ohad Maiman and Thue Holm, share insights on the challenges they hope to address in the recirculating aquaculture industry. They also offer an update on their latest projects, Farm in a Box and The Black Cod Company. This episode is a live recording of the keynote session at RASTECH 2024 Conference and Trade Fair on June 5, 2024 in Charlotte, N.C., USA.

In RASTECH’s new mini-podcast series, “5 To Watch”, recorded ahead of RASTECH 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina (Jun 5-6), host Mari-Len De Guzman talks with Matthew Smith of Xylem, the event’s Diamond Sponsor, about the company’s various technologies and solutions for RAS operations.

In our new mini-series, “5 To Watch”, recorded ahead of RASTECH 2024 in Charlotte, N.C., USA (June 5-6, 2024), host Mari-Len De Guzman talks with Callum Graham of Octaform about their tank technology for new RAS projects, fish welfare, and restorative solutions for degraded concrete tanks. Also, who and what to expect at Octaform’s booth at this year’s RASTECH event.

This episode is sponsored by Octaform.