NZ Government funds NZKS project to research salmon farming growth potential

New Zealand King Salmon (NZKS) has entered into a funding partnership with the New Zealand Government to pilot technologies designed to push substantive and sustainable salmon farming growth in New Zealand, especially within new open ocean environments.

The total programme has an expected value of NZ$29 million (US$17 million), with an investment by the government of up to NZ$11.7 million.

The programme encompasses the "Blue Endeavour" pilot open ocean farm and pen concept design, a freshwater hatchery "recirculating aquaculture system" pilot, and breeding strategies to improve fish resilience and breeding accuracy.

“Having the world’s first king salmon open ocean aquaculture site at Blue Endeavour is a big responsibility – while we are confident it will be successful, there will be some significant lessons learned along the way," said NZKS CEO Carl Carrington.

"The successful deployment of these technologies in a pilot but commercially relevant scale will demonstrate their utility to the wider NZ salmon farming sector," said NZKS.

"It will provide the business confidence for other companies to deploy similar technologies to unlock significant growth.

"This programme will contribute to the government’s plans to strategically grow the aquaculture sector and to deliver export value."