Species: Eel (Anguilla Anguilla)

Capacity: 500 tons/year

Recirculation: 10 % exchange per day

AquaOptima sign contract of 40 mill NOK for supply of eel farm in Portugal

FindFresh S.A , Portugal has chosen AquaOptima AS, Trondheim, as supplier of an eel farm in Portugal. The contract has a value of NOK 40 mill for the Trondheim based company, who has been a world-wide supplier of fish farms based on recirculation of water for 16 years. This is the largest contract so far in the company's history.

Total investments of the farm is ca NOK 70 mill, and AquaOptima's part consist of all fish farming equipment and water treatment equipment.

The farm will have a capacity of 500 tons eel per year. Some construction work has already started at the site, located around 150 km north of Lisbon. The supplies from AquaOptima will be in two steps, the first to happen this fall and the next during the winter.

Planning and engineering has been going on for a while, and AquaOptima has been responsible for the design and all engineering regarding the process. The engineering has been executed in close cooperation with the client and Dispor Urbe, a local civil engineering company. The project is designed to achieve a high quality product aiming an organic product certification.

The project is also designed to meet high environmental friendly standards, since it is located close to a nature preservation area.

The picture shows a 3D drawing of the farm, a building of ca 70 m x 90 m with tanks and water treatment. In addition there is a hall of 17 x 35m where the eel stays some days before delivery. There is also a small department with an experimental unit which will be used in R&D projects in partnership with the University of Aveiro.

The eel demand in Portugal is fresh live fish and there is no slaughtery or processing facility at the farm.