Lumpfish farm opens in Svínoy

Private fish farmer Sjúrður Jacobsen has opened a lumpfish farm in Svínoy’s old smolt farm, which was previously owned by salmon farming company Bakkafrost. 

Jacobsen owns a 60 percent stake of the new lumpfish farm, while Bakkafrost owns the remaining 40 percent.

“I feel it’s a calling for me to get the old smolt farm up and running again,” he said earlier this year. “This is by far the biggest private investment ever made in an outlying island in the Faroes.”

Combating salmon lice

Lumpfish is a small fish that feeds on lice, and the farmed fish will be used to fight salmon lice in Bakkafrost’s salmon farming cages.

The old smolt station was built in the 1980s by Sjúrður Jacobsen’s father, who later sold it to Bakkafrost. 

In 2016, Sjúrður acquired it back from Bakkafrost and started planning the new lumpfish farm in close consultation with the salmon farming giant.

Fruitful partnership

He is happy with the partnership and says that the new farm would not have been possible without the fruitful cooperation with Bakkafrost.

If all goes according to plan, the first farmed lumpfish will be released into Bakkafrost’s salmon farming cages early next year.

Translated by prosa.fo