Animal welfare
Raised in the Wild
Hiddenfjord salmon is raised in pens placed in exposed sites to obtain optimal animal welfare and to prevent seabed pollution. We choose exposed locations to raise our salmon in order to secure the best living conditions for the salmon and the best environmental sustainability.
At Hiddenfjord we are regularly gathering water quality and seabed measurements to ensure optimal farming conditions. To guarantee the quality of the seabed, the Faroese Environment Agency performs inspections of the seabed for every production cycle.
Despite varying results with lumpfish elsewhere, our extensive research shows that our lumpfish are extremely efficient in reducing the number of sea lice on salmon. It also establishes that the welfare of our lumpfish continuously improving. Exposed locations secure natural living conditions and ensure optimal welfare for our lumpfish. Our unique technique of allowing seaweed to grow in the pens provides a more natural habitat for the lumpfish, which leads to fewer lesions on the lumpfish than on lumpfish in clean pens.
Read more here.
Pen Space and Fish Survival
Regulations require that the maximum density in the pens should not exceed 25 kg/m3. However, to enhance fish welfare and to ensure that our salmon have ample room to thrive and grow, we aim to have an internal max value set to 20 kg/m3 most of the time. This sustainable approach is a vital factor in ensuring our salmon’s welfare. This also leads to some of the best survival rates in the industry. To ensure that exceptional events do not significantly affect the results, we report a mortality rate over a period of three years. From 2021, 2022 and 2023, our fish mortality rate was on average 8%, compared to a global industry average of around 15%.
Innovative Computerized Feeding System
We use an innovative computerized feeding system, developed by Faroe Sea, to ensure that every salmon gets enough to eat in order to reach optimal growth potential and at the same time avoid overfeeding and polluting the seabed. An automatic pellet detector with underwater cameras and sensors for detecting feed pellet distribution is attached deep in each pen. They send data to the system to reduce or stop feeding when the salmon has stopped eating. The system is overseen by our feeding manager from our remote feeding central.
Stress-free Harvesting
Harvesting salmon is a delicate process from fish pen to packaging. We carefully move pens from the farming sites to the harvest area, where the fish gently swims into a harvest pen. By using the harvest pen, we can divide the fish into batches. Then, we can gently but swiftly harvest one small batch at a time, securing a stress-free harvest. We are one of very few salmon farmers that do not use well-boats for harvesting. Our experience and tests show that our stress-free harvesting concept has an important effect on the quality of our salmon products.
Stun and Bleed
Hiddenfjord was one of the first companies in the world to implement a fully mobile stun and bleed system from Seafood Innovations in Australia (Today Baader). Together with Seafood Innovations we improved the stun and bleed system that we use today. This system stuns and bleeds the salmon very quickly, before the fish notices and manages to get stressed. This also secures the best possible quality for our customers.