Nova Sea-owned smolt producer Helgeland Smolt will begin construction of its new NOK 1 billion (€87.6 million/$96.3 million) production facility in Kilvika in Meloy, Norway, despite the recent introduction of a controversial aquaculture tax in the country that has led other salmon farmers to halt investment in their own projects.

Construction is expected to begin this summer, and the first smolt will be delivered from the new facility in spring 2026.

When the facility is fully operational, it will produce 6,000 metric tons of smolt annually in sizes ranging from 500-2,000 grams.

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The building will be divided into 12 separate recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) tanks with a capacity to produce 10 million smolts of 600 grams. The facility is expected to generate 20 new jobs in Meloy.

"In order to be able to develop both us as a company, get even better fish, and at the same time be an important social actor in Salten and Helgeland, it is absolutely essential to get this project started," Tor-Arne Gransjoen, CEO of Helgeland Smolt, said. "We are happy that our owners let us invest," he said.

The company revealed its plans to increase smolt production in June last year but at the time it was unclear where any development would take place. In September, the Norwegian salmon farming was rocked by a proposed ground rent tax, and the investment was put on hold.

Gransjoen said the development is going forward for two important reasons.

"Firstly, it is about fish health and biosecurity, where our goal is to have Norway's freshest fish," he said. "Space is getting tight in the two facilities we already have, and the flexibility a new facility gives us will provide better conditions for all the smolt we produce."

Secondly, it is about developing and securing an entire supplier industry, which has had a tough time since October last year when the aquaculture tax proposal was launched.

"The smolt plant in Kilvika was one of the investments that was put on hold when the ground rent came. Now we are starting construction, despite the tax," said Gransjoen.

Helgeland Smolt is owned by four salmon farmers. Nova Sea owns 74 percent, Lovundlaks has 16 percent and Gifas and Selsoyvik Havbruk each own 5 percent.

The company's chairman, Tom Eirik Aasjord, said the decision to start construction on the facility was brought by a "responsibility to our fish and to our suppliers."

"This responsibility is more important to us than the tax, even if the investment is significantly more demanding to realize than before it came," said Aasjord.

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