Norwegian fish food manufacturer plans South Miami-Dade plant

Skretting, a Norwegian global manufacturer and supplier of fish feed to land-based aquaculture companies, plans a new feed facility in South Miami-Dade close to Atlantic Sapphire, one of its largest customers. Atlantic Sapphire raises land-based salmon at its Homestead Bluehouse facility.

The announcement fulfills an earlier agreement between the two companies through which Skretting will finance and build a new feed plant in exchange for Atlantic Sapphire’s commitment to source the majority of its salmon feed from Skretting for 10 years.

“We are actively engaged in Southern Florida, and have a couple of options under investigation,” said Sophie Noonan, a spokesperson for Skretting. “In terms of capacity, it will be sufficient to keep up with the growth of the US market. Atlantic Sapphire expects to produce 220,000 tons a year by 2030.”

Until permitting is in place, she said, it’s difficult to judge how long construction might take, but “once we have the permits we can immediately start the engineering stage. In general, build-out should take around two years.”

The contract between the two companies also commits them to cooperate with each other on research and development.

“In addition to reducing the carbon footprint, the parties will be working together on implementing novel ingredients in the feeds,” said Therese Log Bergjold, Skretting’s CEO, in a written statement. “Skretting will support Atlantic Sapphire’s ambition of continuously innovating towards high-quality, cost competitive feeds that meet all the requirements of the Bluehouse salmon while using zero marine ingredients in the diet and maintaining high levels of healthy Omega-3s in the finished product.”

Skretting manufactures feed for more than 50 species of fish and shrimp, Ms. Noonan said. “As with people, the salmon diet is very specific. Ingredients vary, but in general it consists of vegetables, marine and sometimes animal ingredients. One of the core requirements is that they get a complete nutritional balance, very carefully balanced.”

Also like people, salmon sometimes eat things that are not so good for them. Atlantic Sapphire’s land-based Recirculating Aquaculture System “avoids the wastes, hormones, microplastics, parasites, pesticides and antibiotics associated with sea-based fish farming,” according to its website.

“We are working with Atlantic Sapphire to support their ambitions to reduce the use of fishmeal and fish oil,” Ms. Noonan said, ”and have signed an agreement for algal oil to supply the required essential fatty acids in our feeds for proper fish health and growth, not to mention the valuable human health benefits.”

Skretting’s new plant could be good news for South Dade’s job market. Ms. Noonan estimated the construction phase will employ up to 200 workers and the completed plant up to 60 more, not to mention logistics and supply personnel.

According to the Economic Development Council of South Miami-Dade, Homestead has 2,651 registered businesses and a labor force of 32,530. Leading industries are retail, education, health care and social services, and accommodation and food services.

“For those communities where we have teams, there are lots of opportunities,” Ms. Noonan said. “The biggest thing for us is that local support. We are very committed to helping the local community move forward.”