Eide Fjordbruk inaugurates ‘Salmon Eye’, the world’s largest floating and walkable aquaculture art installation, in Norway

The inauguration of ‘Salmon Eye’, the world’s largest floating and walkable art installation by Eide Fjordbruk, took place in Norway on September 2. The structure is 14.55 meters high on four levels (above and below the water); 1,000.6 square meters with a weight of 1,256 tons located above 300 meters deep, and built to withstand waves of more than 4 meters high.

The conceptual design of the facility was handled by Kvorning Design, while the actual construction of Salmon Eye took 13 months from cutting the first steel plate until it was fully equipped. Fabrication was handled by Marketex Marine in Tallinn, Estonia.

“The project has required a lot of custom work, and there have been multiple challenges along the way related to fabricating such a double-curved ellipsoid structure.”

Late last July, ‘Salmon Eye’ was towed on a submersible barge to the center of what is considered Norway’s most beautiful fjord, Hardangerfjorden. “My hope is that ‘Salmon Eye’ will become the place that inspires people, whether it’s the architecture or the experiences we will offer inside,” said Sebastian Torjusen, CEO of ‘Salmon Eye’.

Eide Fjordbruk‘s innovation aims to bring the world’s seafood production one big step closer to achieving what the UN recently required in its Sustainable Seafood Report and the Paris Climate Agreement. “The vision is for this initiative to be to the global food production platform what Tesla has been to the mobility industry,” they assured.

Story of the idea’s creator

The man who conceived and financed this idea is a 32-year-old Sondre Eide, who at the also young age of 28 had to take over as CEO of his family’s company, Eide Fjordbruk, when his father, Knut Frode Eide, passed away early from cancer.

“At the time, Sondre had an MBA and a law degree, and had won a silver medal at the Junior Biathlon World Championships. Sondre and his father had a saying, “We don’t stop running until the task is done.””

According to Sondre Eide, CEO of startup Eide Fjordbruk: “We face big challenges globally, but the answer is not to give up. The answer is to roll up our sleeves, work together to get the job done and make sure the world is fed and a better place tomorrow than it is today.”

Feeding the planet with sustainable seafood

According to its creators, ‘Salmon Eye’ will be the forum to inspire and inform the world on how to better feed the planet with sustainable seafood.

During the inauguration, members of Eide Fjordbruk sought to clarify aspects of the so-called ‘Aquaculture footprint’, while “inspiring global discovery and creativity” and showcasing innovative solutions for sustainable seafood production to better feed the planet.

“Eide Fjordbruk’s new environmentally friendly technology platform for aquaculture features a new technology, as yet unknown to the world, that researchers led by Erlend Eide (Sondre’s brother) in the Watermoon division developed.”

This technology will soon be implemented in a large-scale pilot plant that allows fish farming in closed containers below the surface anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, positive test results from Watermoon‘s pilot plant have already proven the elimination of the lice problem for fish, as well as the optimized environment for fish welfare; reduced need for energy use compared to land-based farming; waste disposal for value-added uses on land; and optimized fish growth.

“Innovations for the future don’t end with Watermoon’s innovations, and that’s why we need a place like ‘Salmon Eye’ to further push the industry, government authorities and NGOs,” said Sondre Eide, CEO of Eide Fjordbruk.

Roundtable discussion

Following the ‘Salmon Eye’ presentation, a roundtable conference was held with members of the Norwegian government, international organizations, world-leading research institutions and more. Speakers included Bjørnar Skjæran, Norwegian Minister of Fisheries; and Sigrid Hagerup Melhus, Deputy Minister of Climate.

Also participating at the table were Tom Rivett-Carnac, one of the main architects of the Paris Agreement and co-founder of Global Optimism, an organization he founded with Christina Figueres after they left the UN together in 2016; and Scott Lindell, a specialist in marine culture research at MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the United States.