Donghae STF Co., a salmon farmer in South Korea, succeeded in farming salmon for the first time in the country, paving the way for mass farming of salmon, the world’s most consumed fish, in Korea where salmon consumption has been also on the sharp rise.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, 500 tons of locally farmed salmon will be supplied to the domestic fish market starting Tuesday. The salmon have been raised by Donghae STF in a special enclosure off the coastal town of Goseong on the country’s east coast since last year, and Korea became the first Asian country that has succeeded in ocean farming salmon, according to the ministry.

Salmon, a cold-water fish, cannot survive when the water temperature rises above 20 degrees Celsius, making it difficult to farm in summer in Korea. Donghae STF solved the problem by using its own enclosure system that can be moved down to 25 meters underneath the water, setting up an environment where the fish can be raised at temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius.

The firm imported salmon eggs from Canada in 2014 and hatched and grew them into 200- to 400-gram young salmon, which were later transferred to the sea cage in March last year. In less than 20 months since they were moved to the sea, the salmons were successfully raised to a commercially viable size of 5 kilograms.

Global demand for salmon reached 4.24 million tons as of 2013. Marine Harvest ASA, one of the leading suppliers of salmon in Norway, rakes in 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in sales of salmon on average annually.

Salmon is also the second-most consumed fish in Korea after flatfish, with local consumption tripling to 34,000 tons over the past five years, but the country completely relies on salmon imports from other countries such as Norway. The latest advancement is expected to allow mass farming of salmon in the county, a move that should help reduce the country’s reliance on salmon imports.

By Lee Seung-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]