ARCTIC RED
Arctic Char – the queen of lakes
A robust, healthy and delicate salmonide for the exquisite cuisine
Why arctic char?
Arctic char is a very delicate fish,- red meat colour like salmon and trout but a milder taste and finer structure due to the shorter muscle fibers. The classic fish oil taste often found in salmon is absent in char. Char can be cooked in every way; fried, owen baked, raked, graved and smoked, but especially stands out in sushi. Local producers in Norway have shown that char is especially suited as a niche product in a high-end market. This can provide good margins for the producer. Arctic char is especially suited for land-based aquaculture as they thrive in higher densities than most other farmed species as long as the water quality is good. Arctic char is also a healthy, robust and calm fish who is very feed oriented, and because of their adaptation to cold mountain lakes, they still eat and grow at temperatures close to zero. Their comfort temperature for growth is between 9-12 degrees, which is cost saving as heating may be unnecessary.
«The Arctic Red strain grows 60% faster than the local char population, and has a 95% decrease in early maturation compared to them. They reach slaughter weight of 800g at around 24 months counting from startfeeding in temp 9-13 degrees in RAS followed by 0.5-20 degrees in lake cages.»
Mads Dorenfeldt Jenssen, CEO, Telemarkrøye
The Arctic Red strain approximatly follows the Skretting growth table for char by 0.7, a table made from a very optimized scientific growth trial.
Arctic Red
In 2014, Klosser Innovasjon started project Arctic Red to support the establishment of land based fish farming of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) in Norway.
After 10 years of focusing on Arctic char at Klosser Innovasjon, we have passed the baton to the industry itself. From July 2025 Telemarkrøye is the new owner of Arctic Red, taking over responsibility for its operation and further development.
We at Klosser are proud of the solid Arctic char breeding program we have built and look forward to following its continued journey.
Klossers project manager, Karina Hauge Johansen, will continue to lead the breeding work and will be the point of contact for roe and other Arctic char-related questions. At the same time, we at Klosser Innovasjon will continue to offer first-line advisory services to those considering establishing land-based fish farming in Innlandet through our incubator program.
Water intake
How much water is available on the property? What is the water source? How many cubic meters of water is accessable per minute? Does the water have to be pumped in or can it be taken from a higher altitude by natural gravitation? Is there an alternative water source? What is the temperature profile throughout the year? What is the water quality?
Water discharge
Where can the water be released? How much emission can the recipient tolerate, both in terms of quantity and content of nitrogen and phosphate? Emission from the aquaculture facilities higly depends production intensity and water treatment technology.
Property and infrastructure
Where do you envision the facility to be located? Is the location regulated for commercial activities? Is the property big enough? Can it be expanded later? Is there a roads and other infrastructure connected to the area?
Strategy, marketing, sales and distribution
What are you going to sell? Are you going to further process the fish? Who is the customer? What are your distribution channels like? Are you going to collaborate with others?
Size and investments
How much do you want to produce? What will be the production volume at full operation? What is your access to capital?
Competence
Do you have previous aquaculture experience? Or will it be a completely new profession? The law requires a level of education or experience to be allowed to be in charge of or operate an aquaculture facility,- which is to be considered before building.
Licensing
In order to start an aquaculture business, you must have a permit/license from the public authority. After NVE has granted a license in relation to water intake and water flow, the full aquaculture application is processed by the county consil in cooperation with the other public authorities and makes the final decision to grant or deny the application. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority assesses biosafety and animal welfare, the State Administrator assesses emission under the Act of Pollution and the Directorate of Fisheries has standards for construction and prevention of escaping fish.
Klosser can advice
The laws and regulations for aquaculture are unfortunately poorly designed for land based fresh water aquaculture, which makes it difficult to start as a farmer. Klosser Innovation can advice on this and works closely with the sector authorities to create good framework of conditions that ensure the sustainable production of char.
Today there are mostly two facility types that are used in Norway; RAS and flow-through systems. RAS stands for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems and is used to a large extent all over the world. The RAS facilities are designed to be able to produce large quantities of fish with relatively low water consumption and a high degree of water treatment. An advanced RAS system can recycle up to 99% of the water. How high a recycling rate you choose depends on your need of saving water, and how much control you want over the temperature. A full-scale RAS system is technologically demanding, and can result in very high investment costs.
The alternative to RAS are flow-through systems, where the water has an in-out principle and does not circulate inside of the system. Another alternative is a hybrid solution where some of the water is reused by gas control, but without the biofiltration treatment. They have a lower technological complexity than full scale RAS and are often called reuse facilities or semi-RAS. Char works in all systems, but with different growth curves due to the different temperature profiles throughout the year within each farm.
Through several years of work, Klosser has built expertise in areas such as license applications, sales and marketing channels and working towards investors. We have established an extensive network nationally and internationally and assist serious players who are considering land based fish farming.
Are you considering becoming a fish farmer?
Contact: Marie Moen Unneberg
Marie Moen Unneberg
Marie har bachelor i bioteknologi og master innen bioinformatikk og anvendt statistikk fra NMBU og Wageningen University. Hun har ni års arbeidserfaring fra næringsmiddelindustrien. Gjennom arbeid hos Nortura og Finsbråten har Marie hatt ansvar innen produktutvikling, produksjons- og prosessutvikling, emballasjeutvikling, logistikk, kvalitet og markedsføring. Hun har jobbet med prosjekter som tar for seg hele verdikjeden bra bås til bord. Som rådgiver i inkubatoren bidrar Marie til å skape og realisere innovasjonsprosjekter hos etablerte og nystartede bedrifter. Hun har spesielt ansvar for næringsmiddelindustrien, men jobber også inn mot andre prosjekter hvor det er behov for rådgivning, nettverksbygging og kompetanseheving. På fritiden er Marie glad i å bake og lage mat, samt å bedrive ulike friluftsaktiviteter med familien.
Marie Moen Unneberg
Inkubatorrådgiver
Telefon: 473 09 773
E-post: marie@klosser.no
Are you wondering what kind of facility that would fit your needs? Wondering wich suppliers that are available on the marked?
Contact: Karina Hauge Johansen
Karina Hauge Johansen
Karina har en bachelor i husdyrvitenskap fra NMBU, og en internasjonal mastergrad i avl og genetikk gjennom NMBU og Wageningen Universitet i Nederland. Rett etter endt utdannelse begynte hun i jobben som forsker for røyeavlsprosjektet «Arctic Red» i Klosser Innovasjon, som hun nå er prosjektleder for. Her har hun ansvaret for avlsplanleggingen, drift og gjennomføring av rognproduksjon, samt at hun deltar i rekruttering av nye røyeoppdrettere. Klosser ønsker også å drive forskningsarbeid på røye, og Karina leder dette arbeidet gjennom søknadsskriving, design av forsøk og gjennomføring i samarbeid med forskningspartnere. På fritiden driver Karina med hest og konkurranse-ridning.