Off the coast of Trøndelag, where the Gulf Stream meets the Norwegian Sea, lies Frøya – a beautiful island with an old fishing community. Here, you will find some of the best salmon on the planet. One of the companies that brings this salmon to dining tables worldwide is the family business Måsøval.
It all started in 1972, when Edvin Måsøval created sea enclosures and freezer rooms for feeding, tending, and storing farmed fish. The following year, Måsøval Fiskeopdrett AS was founded by Måsøval and his sons, Bjørn and Karsten. The company has since expanded to around 220 employees and is now led by the third generation of Måsøvals, Lars and Anders Måsøval. The head office is still in Frøya, with new facilities on the neighboring island of Hitra, and along the Norwegian coast from Ørsta up to Levanger.
Made by nature, pioneered by Måsøval
There is an extraordinary tidal area off the coast of Frøya that creates a stream of fresh, oxygen-rich, and ice-cold water, in which the salmon swim. This results in healthy and fresh salmon that boasts a great texture, good fat content, and a vibrant red hue. In 2013, Måsøval became Global G.A.P. certified. G.A.P. stands for Good Agriculture Practice, and the certification shows that Måsøval takes sustainability, the environment, and animal welfare very seriously. In addition to good systems for traceability, the certification requires well-documented hygiene measures, infection control measures, safe harvesting, and packaging. The health of the fish is of utmost importance to Måsøval, and they even have a fish health manager to ensure that every fish thrives. In total, the company produces around 25,000 tonnes of healthy salmon per year.
Aquaculture for the future
Måsøval is very conscious that they are only borrowing the coastal resources they have at their disposal. It is nature that creates the beautiful salmon; Måsøval is just helping out. Their goal is to leave as small a footprint as possible for future generations. To achieve this, they changed how they operate their facilities. Where they previously ran them with noisy, polluting generators that relied on 70,000 liters of diesel per year, they have now laid a five-kilometer-long high-voltage cable from land to sea, which provides clean, quiet energy. With the generators gone, the air is fresh, and all you can hear is the sound of the sea.
Original article in English written by: Hanna Margrethe Enger for scanmagazine.co.uk
