Why eat Salmon?

“Salmon is unique: born from natural selection — the strongest, generation after generation. It’s rich in flavour, supple in texture, and pleasingly vibrant in colour. Salmon is a versatile fish that lends itself to a variety of preparation techniques, fulfilling the demands of a healthy, modern diet. “ (from Bakkafrost website)

The best salmon comes from the Faroe Islands. Few nations in the world are as closely tied to the sea and the waters around the Faroe Islands are rich in marine life. They are clean and cold with a stable year-round temperature. Combined with strong and steady currents, these waters are ideal for aquaculture, especially Atlantic salmon.

Faroe Islands are a key player on the international market for aquaculture, seafood products account for about 95 percent of Faroese exports of goods. The islands are amongst the largest exporters of seafood in the world, selling seafood products in all six continents.

Per capita, the Faroe Islands are by far the largest fisheries and aquaculture nation in the world — protecting and safeguarding these precious resources is more than a major responsibility, it is an absolute necessity. The Faroe Islands are called a “large ocean nation” — consisting of 18 small islands with a total land area of just 1,399 square kilometres, the maritime zone of the Faroe Islands is about 200 times bigger, covering an area of 271,000 square kilometres.

Ensuring that these precious resources are utilized sustainably and conserving them for future generations is a top priority for Faroese authorities and industry and legislation on fisheries and aquaculture considers fish stock conservation, sustainable harvesting and protection of the marine environment. Social sustainability is as important a part of the policy in the Faroe Islands — the ocean’s resources should benefit Faroese society and create jobs.

Science-based management of fisheries and aquaculture

Fish stocks in Faroese waters have been subject to annual scientific research and estimation of abundance since the 1970’s. The results of this work provide a crucial basis for Faroese management of fisheries.

The Faroe Marine Research Institute provides the Faroese government with estimations of fish stocks and recommendations on how to best conserve them and the marine environment and marine ecosystems around the Faroe Islands.  See the video with Johanna Kotlum, Visit Faroe Islands Meetings’ ambassador and Director of the Fiskaaling Marine Research Institute

Bakkafrost is the largest producer of top quality salmon from the Faroe Islands and they presently build the world’s biggest smolt farm scheduled for completion in 2019 – part of it being in operation already.

Smolt is the name for the young salmon, and the new Bakkafrost facility in the Faroe Islands will be able to produce and raise smolt up to an average weight of 500 grams. The investment is necessary as bigger facilities are needed, in order to increase the weight of the young fish to these 500 grams.

“The main reasons for Bakkafrost’s investment, are 1) to reduce biological risk in the operations, 2) to increase efficiency and 3) to secure sustainable growth. In the next 10-15 years the level of growth for our production will be 3-5 percent. That will be achieved, providing we don’t exploit nature beyond its tolerance level.” says Regin Jacobsen, the CEO of Bakkafrost. (source: Salmon Business – https://salmonbusiness.com/worlds-biggest-smolt-production-facility-scheduled-for-completion-in-2019/)

Bakkafrost plans to release 13.5 million smolt in 2019, up from 12.5 m in 2018.

The number of smolts released is a key element in predicting Bakkafrost’s future harvest production, the company said, which for 2019 is guided to reach 54,500 metric tons gutted weight, a significant increase on 2018 final harvest volume of 44,591t gutted weight.

(source: Undercurrentnews: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/02/19/bakkafrost-to-up-smolt-release-by-1m-in-2019-on-track-for-54500t-harvest/)

Salmon is rightly considered being a brain food – an excellent source of high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals. Their omega-3 fatty acids contribute to healthy brain function, limber joints, and a lowered risk of heart disease. It also can be a solution to earth’s future problems of feeding humankind as salmon offers an environmentally sound and cost-effective alternative to traditionally produced meat and protein products.

If you want to know more about Faroese seafood and possibly prepare some new recipes please look at this website https://www.faroeseseafood.com/

And remember, if you plan meetings or incentives that are related to marine, aquaculture, fishery business – you got your perfect destination here!

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More about the knowledge clusters on the LinkedIn company profile of Visit Faroe Islands Meetings and on https://www.tmf-dialogue.net/unordinary-ideas-arrive-in-unordinary-places-new-campaign-visit-faroe-islands-meetings.html

 

 

 

Your contact at Visit Faroe Islands:
Annleyg Lamhauge
MICE Marketing Manager
annleyg@visitfaroeislands.com
tel.: +298 556136
www.visitfaroeislands.com/meetings