About us VALUES VISION PRODUCTS STEELHEAD RAS SUSTAINABILITY HEALTHY FISH RECYCLING THE PLANT LAND-BASED AQUACULTURE CONTACT LINKS For the love of the sea We believe in the sustainable cultivation of fish and we want to be pioneers in the realization of that vision. For the love of the sea For the love of the sea We believe in the sustainable cultivation of fish and we want to be pioneers in the realization of that vision. FIFAX AB Företagets affärsidé är att odla premium regnbågslax på ett modernt, innovativt och miljövänligt sätt. För det ändamålet etablerar FIFAX en landbaserad RAS-odling i Storby/Eckerö på västra Åland. Målsättningen är att producera den bästa, inhemska, hela och färska regnbågslaxen. Produkten kommer initialt att distribueras på närmarknaderna. Fullt utbyggd kommer anläggningen att omsätta 11 – 13 milioner euro per år och sysselsätta 15-20 personer. Produktionen kommer att uppgå till över 3.000 ton så kallad rundfisk per år. FIFAX är ett åländskt aktiebolag där majoriteten ägs av åländska intressen och resterande av Helmet Capital, samt investerare representerade av dem. FIFAX AB grundades år 2012 och har idag ett 60-tal aktieägare. VALUES In order to attain our vision, our work is based on the following core values. • innovative thinking • accountability • quality • intelligence INNOVATIVE THINKING: We have an innovative approach to water treatment. Through our advanced approach to water treatment, the sea water we use, both inside and outside the plant, can basically be entirely re-used in production. This minimizes our emissions back into the sea. ACCOUNTABILITY: We take responsibility for the consequences of our production process, and not just for emissions into the sea. Even the digestate from bio gas production is made into soil conditioner which goes to local agriculture and reduces the need for artificial fertilizers. QUALITY: The latest technology provides the best quality. The basis of the RAS technology that we use is that the water in the round tanks circulates. The fish will swim all their lives against a current, as they do naturally in rivers and streams. This means that the fish are exercising 24 hours a day. This results in fish flesh of the highest quality—firm, muscular and with the perfect amount of fat. INTELLIGENCE: We want to be smart and keep our sites on the long-term in our activities and we recycle everything possible. For example, we recycle energy from sludge, fish innards and bloody fish water in our biogas plant, and use it to minimize our need for external energy. VISION We believe in sustainable, large scale aquaculture with a minimal impact on the environment and we aim to be trail-blazers in realizing this vision. This is why we are cultivating premium fish in a modern, innovative and environmentally friendly way. We are doing this by farming the fish on land, in treated water from the archipelago sea. This cultivation model eliminates all need for medication under normal circumstances. We create an optimal environment for the growth of fish with modern RAS technology and optimized living conditions for fish in general. We adhere to the strictest quality requirements in our production process. Taking nothing for granted and we continually strive to improve our methods. We don’t do this just because it’s good for our business, but also because it is good for the community, for us as people, and for the environment. The Steelhead – a smart fish Our product is used as raw material by the processing industry in the food sector. This means that our product is often made into other products. However a product can seldom become better than its raw materials and we cultivate a first-class raw material. Rainbow trout are generally less oily than salmon. The fat content varies depending upon the feed, but farmed salmon often have, in comparison, twice as much fat as rainbow trout. Salmon can have up to 18-20 grams of fat per 100 grams. Rainbow trout often have less than 10%. Over 50% of the calories in salmon are from fat, while in rainbow trout, only 35% is fat. Despite this, rainbow trout have plenty of the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, so that we feel healthy; rainbow trout make for a healthy meal, without too much fat. Our rainbow trout swim against the current 24 hours a day, seven days a week, just like they do out in nature. So it’s like they’re working out all their lives. The fish develop a strong musculature, which for us as consumers translates into firm and fine flesh, with lower fat content. Our steelheads are excellently suited for all methods of preparation: smoking, pickling and all other known ways of preparation at home in the kitchen. It also makes great sushi, thanks to its solid and firm consistency. With the knowledge that our product is cultivated with the greatest of care for the environment, in a sustainable way with serious consideration for the ecosystem, we dare say that our steelhead is really a smart fish. STEELHEAD We only deliver whole, gutted, fresh rainbow trout in the weights specified by our customers. Our fish is the primary raw material for the fish processing industry, but will probably also be sold whole to the end consumer mainly through retail chain outlets. Our facility even has the technology to produce roe, breeding fish and even other species of fish. To ensure quality we use eggs from one of the best specialized suppliers in northern Europe. They have cultivated egg lineages that are adapted for RAS farming. We deliver a high quality product. The fat content is perfectly balanced. The flesh has a firm consistency and melts in the mouth. The high content of Omega-3, antioxidants, vitamins and high-quality protein is good for both health and beauty. We deliver a product which, thanks to cutting-edge technology and methods, leaves as small an imprint on the aquatic environment as is humanly possible. We deliver a product that is free from medication. RAS-produced fish is already a concept on many world markets. We don’t think that our product will be any exception, but it will establish a class of its own on the market for fresh rainbow trout. We call it ”the Steelhead” – a smart fish. RAS RAS is a collective name for the recirculation technology that is used in world-wide, modern, land-based aquaculture. In brief, RAS entails taking water for aquaculture, from a treatment plant in our case, but it is also continually being purified in biofilters in phases in the cultivation process; this is optimized use in which the cultivation water is reused over and over again. The cultivation water is recycled roughly once every hour. The amount of water that the fish use up which evaporates and goes out with the sludge from the tanks is continually being replaced with new water. The process is system monitored and guarantees that oxygen levels, feed quantities, etc., are optimal. In this way, the technology creates conditions for very quick growth, resulting in highly effective production. The RAS system also enables year-round and predictable production, with a daily delivery of fish of the required sizes and weights. ENVIRONMENT FIFAX has placed high, strategic environmental requirements on the plant and the production process. We must hold our total emissions from fertilizers so low that we do not need an environmental permit. The biomass releases feces which is high in nitrogen and phosphorus. FIFAX AB has invested considerable resources in developing a water purification concept which can purify both the incoming and recirculating water. This strategic stand we have taken enables us to limit the yearly emissions of our water treatment plant to 200 kg of phosphorus and 1,500 kg of nitrogen. When considering our scope of production and compared with traditional aquaculture methods in the sea, the amounts of these emissions must be seen as relatively low. Our production process doesn’t give off noise, gas or smells either. HEALTHY FISH In traditional aquaculture, the fish must be given medicine, such as antibiotics, for the simple reason that you are raising them in the sea and the water is contaminated with bacteria and different viruses. There is also the risk that fish raised in the sea will be infected by wild fish. In this type of cultivation, salmon lice is a common problem. The situation is the same if you use untreated sea water on land. This is why we treat our water with UV rays and other modern methods, without adding anything to it. In this way, we ensure that our cultivation water is free from bacteria and therefore we don’t need to medicate the fish as a preventative measure. However, our plant can theoretically get contaminated by eggs, feed, equipment, etc., which would mean that we might need to temporarily add medication. RECYCLING The fish innards, sludge and the bloody water are recycled in the plant’s biogas production facility. The digestate which remains is used in local agriculture as bio-fertilizer and soil conditioner on Ålandic fields. This reduces the need for artificial fertilizer. The heat and electricity generated from biogas production is harnessed and used in the facility year-round to reduce our need for energy. Since our methods don’t normally require that we medicate the fish, we don’t burden the local aquatic environment by releasing more medicine residue into the ecosystem and consumers don’t ingest any medicine residue from products made from our raw materials. We recover 90% of the heat energy generated from our oxygen production and use it both for cooling and heating the facility. We apply this recycling principle in our entire facility wherever it is financially justifiable and wherever we have motors, generators, pumps etc. producing heat. THE PLANT FIFAX AB and the real estate company F-Fast are building an aquaculture plant for the production of 3,200 tons of rainbow trout per year. The industrial hall, which houses the aquaculture facilities and its related activities, is roughly 15,000 m2. The hall has 36 grow-out tanks. Additionally, a hatchery, fry section, laboratory and technical and administrative areas. Construction began in autumn 2014 and is expected to be completed, at total production capacity, in 2016. In 2017 we will reach full delivery capacity. A water treatment plant is also being built in the area to maintain the environmental requirements for emissions of phosphorus and nitrogen. But also to meet our own fresh water needs. Furthermore, a biogas plant is being established in the area so that we can make use of production residues and recycle energy. AKVA Group, a world leader in the industry and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, delivers aquaculture technology and related water treatment technology. The plant will employ 15-20 people when completed. The plant will be the largest of its kind in northern Europe. LAND-BASED AQUACULTURE Land-based aquaculture is based on the idea of cultivating fish in large tanks on land at our latitudes, under a roof, eliminating the influence of external factors, such as weather, temperature, environment and water-borne disturbances. Land-based aquaculture is not a new phenomenon; it is done world-wide and with many different species of fish. The water we use in our aquaculture is from Åland’s sea, which we pump up and purify of all bacteria. The water is circulated and is even purified continuously in the facility and used over and over again, so we make optimal use of the water. The water conditions are optimized for the fish; temperature, oxygen levels, light and feed, which results in a perfect environment. The fish like the environment and they grow very well. Land-based aquaculture has been developing over several decades and the technology is now in its fourth generation. The rate of establishment is high and new, large plants are being taken into use in Denmark, Poland, Norway and Scotland. Smaller plants have existed for a long time all over Europe, including Finland and Åland (Guttorp). CONTACT US FIFAX AB Industrivägen 115 22 270 Eckerö Tel:+358 447773818 E-post: kimmo.jalo@fifax.ax Kimmo Jalo CEO Tel:+358 447773818 E-post: kimmo.jalo@fifax.ax LINKS www.akvagroup.com/home www.aquasearch.dk www.sinor.com/ras-technology.html www.f-fast.ax For the love of the sea We believe in the sustainable cultivation of fish and we want to be pioneers in the realization of that vision. NEWS The work is progressing Watch the movie here. READ MORE FIFAX AB Industrivägen 115 22 270 Eckerö Tel: +358 447773818 E-post: kimmo.jalo@fifax.ax Design av April Kommunikation | Webbhotell och programmering iWebben.fi