The purest salmon
Producing the purest salmon in the world
It’s very difficult to find salmon from the company called Kvarøy Fiskeoppdrett in Norwegian stores. Perhaps that is because of the high status this salmon enjoys with quality-minded customers abroad.
Kvarøy’s strong emphasis on sustainable, environmentally-friendly fish-farming has opened important doors to the export market. Whole Foods, an American supermarket chain renowned for its insistence on quality, sustainability, and the well-being of livestock, purchases most of the salmon for its 400 stores from Kvarøy. And there are signs that Kvarøy will soon make inroads into the Japanese market.
“Passing Whole Foods’ stringent tests of and getting our products on their shelves, confirmed that our insistence on charting our own course had been the right way to go. For it is precisely this that has opened up lucrative niche market segments for Kvarøy,” says CEO Alf-Gøran Knutsen.
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Indre Kvarøy is well-situated near the coastal shipping lane, and is only a short distance from the mainland. The island has spectacular view of the coast of Helgeland.[/caption]A receptive market
With the assistance of his brothers-in-law, Operations Manager Håvard Olsen and Production Manager Gjermund Olsen, Alf-Gøran Knutsen runs an aquaculture company that has gained an international reputation for its innovative, sustainable production.
Kvarøy’s fish-farming is done in strict accordance with the company’s environmental vision. For instance, they were one of the first to introduce lumpsuckers, a fish whose favourite foods include salmon louse, into their fish pens. The feed that Kvarøy uses is specially produced by BioMar in Vesterålen and contains only natural ingredients: quality byproducts of the processing of North-Atlantic fish, byproducts of Brazilian sugar production, and algae meal. These are combined according to a tailored formula. As a result, Kvarøy salmon has a higher content of beneficial Omega 3 than ordinary salmon. All natural oils used in the feed are subjected to a special cleansing process that removes any trace of PCBs or heavy metals.
Moreover, no copper is used to impregnate the nets of the fish pens. Kvarøy fish pens contain fewer salmon than regulations allow, ensuring healthier conditions. Any de-lousing is done with water and brushes only – no chemicals or medication are used.
“All in all, Kvarøy fish are healthier than wild fish!” says Alf-Gøran Knutsen with a smile.
Inevitably, Kvarøy’s production costs are higher and its salmon is more expensive, but there is no shortage of appreciative customers who are very conscious about what they eat, and conscientious about the ethics and environmental impact of food production. Such customers are uncompromising, and they are quite willing to pay more for salmon that satisfies their high demands.
“Sure, we could have been more profitable had we chosen to do what most salmon producers do, such as using ordinary feed and not insist on adopting stricter standards than the applicable regulations. But at Kvarøy we made a conscious choice: to be a pioneer practitioner of sustainable aquaculture production. We believe it is imperative to develop an aquaculture that has minimal environmental impact. We’re creating a tradition that we believe is worth passing on to our children and to future generations,” says Kvarøy’s CEO.
Skilled people
“Innovation and carefully-chosen technology are important, but the most important success factor is to have skilled, knowledgeable employees handling every phase of our process,” says Alf-Gøran Knutsen.
One of the people tasked with daily inspection of Kvarøy’s facilities and making sure the salmon in every fish pen are thriving, is Tom Ronny Sundt. He is also a good example of how important the company is to the local community. The Sundt family – Tom Ronny and his wife Linn, and their four children Alex (11), René (14), Kelly (4) and Casey (5) – help keep alive the local grocery shop.
When Tom Ronny Sundt was hired by Kvarøy, he and his family moved to Indre Kvarøy. That alone was enough to increase the island’s population by almost ten percent! And this helps put the childcare centre and local school on a sounder economic footing.
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A NEW HOME: When Tom Ronny Sundt got a new job with Kvarøy, he moved his family to Indre Kvarøy – increasing the island’s population by almost ten percent. That helped put the childcare centre and local school on a more sound economic footing.[/caption]“We really like it here. I have an employer that I can be proud of, our children thrive in the great outdoors, and the island has a fine school and a new childcare centre. Moreover, the mainland is very close, making a shopping trip to the town of Mo very convenient,” says Tom Ronny Sundt. That’s where he originally is from. His wife is from Sørreisa in Finnmark.
Kvarøy’s success and growth is the reason that the island, despite its modest population of less than 80 people, has been able to keep its school and childcare centre. In such rural areas, where school closures have seemed an irreversible trend, the island of Kvarøy is thriving and expanding its services. Just before Easter this year, a brand-new childcare centre opened its doors. Its capacity of 18 children might soon prove inadequate – Kvarøy intends to expand and add more people.
“Today we have 14 employees, but that’s too few,” says Alf-Gøran Knutsen. He reckons they’ll be adding seven or eight people just in the next twelve months. Naturally he hopes most of them will choose to make their home on the island.
“Finding homes for them might prove a challenge. Perhaps we’ll just have to build houses for them. That shouldn’t be any problem. Our owners and board of directors are confident and willing to invest in the future,” says Knutsen, casting a glance to his wife Ida and smiling broadly. She is the daughter of the company’s founder, Geir Olsen, and an important shareholder who sits on the board of directors.
Becoming a model company
A few years ago, there were plenty of critical voices and even mocking smiles from other fish-farmers as Kvarøy began to radically revise its production methods. Your really weren’t supposed to stand out.
“Even my father-in-law couldn’t see the point; after all, why change something that worked? But now he admits that the path we’ve taken was the right one,” says Knutsen.
Today, salmon from the family-owned company receives the absolute highest ratings from SeafoodWatch. This international website rates products according to a number of environmental and sustainability criteria.
“Others are now following in our footsteps. However, Kvarøy intends to remain the leader also in the future; that means we must constantly be vigilant and open-minded, searching for smarter and better ways to do things. I still see a lot we can do to further reduce the environmental impact of our facilities,” says Knutsen.
Kvarøy was a tiny company that chose to set its own course, which was once seen as strange. Today, many others are striving to follow the pioneer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
