Sweden · Åland · Finland · Estonia
Swedish Fish Farm is developing closed and semi-closed steel containment units that take clean water from depth, aim to control the biology like a land-based facility, and keep the cost base of sea farming. We are raising venture and family office capital and preparing applications for EU blue economy grant funding.
In short — why closed and nearshore wins
See the full comparisonStable, optimal water temperature and oxygen all year — no stalled weeks from heat, cold shocks, algae or lice handling. Shorter cycle to harvest weight.
Undisturbed fish keep converting, and flow control keeps pellets in front of them instead of dropping through a net. A lower feed conversion ratio on the largest cost line.
Sheltered sites minutes from the quay: grid power, daily access in any weather, no delousing campaigns, no wellboats, and a short chilled route to processing.
The challenge vs. the solution
We believe closed containment at sea is the most credible route to resolving the biology without carrying the capital burden of building an ocean on land.
The incumbent model, now capped by biology and public scrutiny.
Excellent control, but capital and permitting weigh it down.
RAS-grade control with the economics of the sea.
Environmental case
Nutrient discharge, escapes, sea lice, chemical treatments, dead seabed. All five are consequences of hanging a bag of mesh in open water. A closed steel wall is designed to remove most of them at source instead of mitigating them afterwards.
Sludge, faeces and uneaten feed are captured and removed instead of settling on the seabed, sharply reducing the nutrient load compared with an open pen. Dissolved nutrients are monitored, and further reduction is part of the design work for Baltic sites.
A solid wall has no mesh to tear, so there are no escapes and no genetic dilution of wild Baltic and Nordic stocks.
Intake water comes from below the sea lice layer and is filtered, so the design aims for farming without delousing chemicals or pharmaceutical residue in the water.
The captured solids stream is planned for biogas or fertiliser use, displacing fossil energy and mined phosphorus rather than polluting.
Nearshore advantage
Open pens must sit far out in exposed water so the sea can flush their waste away. A closed unit brings its own filtered water and keeps its own solids, so it belongs in sheltered water near shore — where conditions are stable, service is daily and the fish grow faster on less feed.
No dependence on strong offshore currents, so units can be moored in calm coastal water beside existing harbours and grid power.
Water is drawn from chosen depths and held in the optimal temperature and oxygen window, removing the weeks of stalled growth that heat, cold shocks, algae and low oxygen cost an open pen.
Undisturbed, never-deloused fish keep eating and converting, and flow control keeps pellets in front of them instead of falling through a net — a materially lower feed conversion ratio.
Minutes from the quay for feed, smolt, crews and harvest. Less fuel, fewer weather stops, quicker response to any alarm, and a short chilled route to processing.
Why now
Northern European seafood demand keeps climbing while regulators restrict open-net growth. Closed containment is designed to meet the conditions that now limit new open-net licences.