The information for this section has been provided by the Faeroes Fish Farming Association

The Aquaculture Industry in the Faroe Islands

After a couple of attempts in the early 1950s and late 1960s, fish farming as an industry took of in 1980, when six privately owned fish farms started operating in bays and fjords. In the same year, the Faroese Fish Farmers Association (www.industry.fo) was established.

The first farming of Atlantic Salmon was based on eyed salmon ova from the Sunndalsøra strain, imported from Akvaforsk in Norway.

There was a rapid expansion in the number of grow-out licenses in the 1980s, reaching 63 licenses in 1989. After a collapse in the industry in the early 1990s, the fish farming was restructured, resulting in 13 more integrated and economically stronger units in 2001.

A Ton of Salmon per Capita

Today Faroe Islands is one of the important players in the global salmon farming. According to the export statistics for 2001, the Faroese fish farmers harvested a record of 47,000 metric ton of farmed fish  (round weight - WFE), valued 925 mill. DKr. With a population of approximately 45,000 people, this again corresponds to a production of a ton of farmed fish per capita. Fish farming is therefore more important in Faroe Islands economy, than in any other country.

Faroe Islands– the Natural Choice for Salmon

The wild Atlantic Salmon stocks (Salmo salar) of Northern Europe have important feeding grounds in the sea surrounding the Faroe Islands. This gives ideal natural conditions for farming this species, and salmon is by far the most important species, accounting for 96 % of the farmed fish exported in 2001. The other commercially farmed species is the Rainbow Trout, reared in the sea, and harvested at an average size of 3-4 kg. The Rainbow Trout was originally imported as eyed ova from Denmark in 1960s, and ongoing strain improvements has been carried out by the local Research Center, Fiskaaling.

Production Methods

21 companies engaged in 23 freshwater sites in the islands raise all salmon smolt and young Rainbow Trout for on growing in the sea cages in the Faroes. Most of the fish is reared in tanks in land-based farms, whilst four sites operate freshwater cages on hydroelectric dams.

All fish for the marked are produced in seawater cages. The number of companies registered in 2001 and actively involved in farming Salmon and Trout was 13, operating 23 sites. There is a fish farm in almost every suitable bay and fjord in the Islands. Significant structural changes has taken place in the fish farming industry, with a clear trend towards fewer companies controlling an increasing share of the licenses for Salmon and Trout farming. In addition, many companies entered into different types of co-operation.

Social and Economic Contribution

More than 300 people are directly employed on the freshwater and seawater farms in the Faroe Islands today. In addition, slaughtering and processing fish, food manufacturing, transport and other industries supplying products and services to the fish farms engage an estimated total of 1,000 workers.

Fish farming has become a significant part of the Faroese economy. Today fish farming contribute with approximately 25% of the total export income of the Islands. As fish products are the only other major export articles (approximately 70%), the fish farming also has a stabilizing effect on the country’s economy.

The Future – Other Species

There is an increased interest in the production of other species in aquaculture, and the first successful rearing of Atlantic Halibut took off in 2001.