Frequently Asked Questions About Our Salmon
For over 44 years we have been committed to complete transparency and traceability. We are an open book. Telling you exactly how we sustainably raise our salmon, what's in their diet, how we harvest them, and what transportation routes we use to get them to you.
You can be assured that our salmon are not only raised in a way that is most healthful for the fish but the the planet too!
Are your fish given antibiotics?
Kvarøy Arctic uses no antibiotics or chemicals in its salmon production. Instead, a small, stout fish with an endearing name — Lumpsucker — has a symbiotic relationship with our salmon. The lumpsuckers live with the salmon in a faux kelp bed — a Kvarøy Arctic invention. The salmon know just what to do. They swim up to the kelp, and the lumpsuckers keep them parasite-free.
Do you use pesticides?
Never. Given the cold waters and the location of the farms, there is no need to treat the farm with any chemicals.
Are your fish given hormones?
Never. There is no reason to. For over forty years, our family has raised salmon from egg to harvest in the most natural way possible to provide the highest quality and freshest tasting salmon.
What is in your fish feed?
We’re glad you asked! Of all our efforts, perhaps none is as impactful as our insistence to develop a cleaner, healthier, more environmentally-responsible feed. We have our fish on a diet that is GMO-free and made with trimmings from Marine Stewardship Council Certified fisheries. Every ingredient is traceable. Read all about it by clicking here!
Is your fish artificially colored?
Never. The fish feed includes natural krill, algae, and natural astaxanthin. These ingredients keep the salmon healthy and give it its vibrant orange color. It’s the same naturally occurring process that turns flamingo feathers pink!
Is there any mercury, PCBs, or POPs in your salmon?
There are small, nearly undetectable amounts of mercury in our salmon that come from the fish trimmings in their diet. According to Harvard Medical School studies, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury. The FDA recommends eating seafood like salmon with low levels of mercury.
PCBs and POPs end up in fish through what they eat. PCBs and POPs move up the food chain as smaller animals eat them, and they are ingested by larger animals. We recognized that this was an issue. With Biomar, we invested in developing a new feed using the trimmings from processed North Atlantic wild fish caught in Marine Stewardship Council Certified fisheries which are then cleaned to dramatically reduce PCBs and other environmental contaminants. The result? Salmon that is 339 times cleaner than the FDA specification of 2 parts per million with about 1/9th the PCBs found in other farmed salmon.
How do you monitor the cleanliness of the water in which the salmon are raised?
The water is tested at the site on a weekly basis.
How much room do the salmon have to swim?
There are 2% fish to 98% water on our farms.
How are your salmon treated?
We have very specific training protocols for our farmers to ensure that we are the best stewards of animal husbandry. This includes the timing of the feeding, cameras underneath the water to monitor fish health, frequent visits from veterinary experts, trained staff monitoring the sites 24 hours a day and much more.
When it comes to nutrients, including omega-3s, how does your salmon compare to wild salmon?
Our salmon are equal to or exceed the amount of omega-3’s as wild salmon.
Just one 3.5-ounce serving of Kvarøy Arctic salmon has over 2000mg of omega-3s, exceeding the weekly recommended goal set by U.S. Dietary Guidelines and the American Heart Association. That’s why we’re one of a small number of certified farm-raised fish to sport the American Heart Association Heart-Check mark.
Kvarøy Arctic Atlantic salmon has the highest amount of long-chain marine omega-3s per serving for any farm raised salmon, according to tests conducted by its feed maker, BioMar.
This has been achieved naturally through work with Corbion’s pioneering AlgaPrime™ DHA, a microalgae source of long-chain omega-3s.
The non-GMO algae oil is efficiently produced using energy from spent sugarcane biomass. Nothing is wasted.
Where can I learn more about Kvaroy Arctic’s certification with the American Heart Association?
Kvarøy Arctic salmon is officially certified by the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Seal Program, giving consumers peace of mind that what they are consuming meets the nutritional requirements of the American Heart Association. Just one 3.5-ounce serving of Kvarøy Arctic salmon has over 2,000mg of omega-3s exceeding the weekly recommended goal.
To learn more about the Heart Check Program, please click here.
How does your farm impact the surrounding environment and wildlife?
In the words of our CEO Alf-Goran Knutsen, “The water off Kvarøy Island belongs to the people of Norway. Official standards must be met. But we have even more stringent standards of our own.”
We believe it’s our duty to protect the area where we farm so we can continue to do so for decades to come. That’s why we stopped using copper in our nets over 20 years ago. It’s also why we fallow the area after harvest for 3 times longer than required, leaving the water undisturbed for 6 to 8 months — by choice.
With fjords that are 120 meters deep and have a consistently strong current, we have clear, clean water and active, healthy salmon. It really is the perfect place to farm.
How does your farm support the local community?
Our close-knit island community shares a worker’s lifestyle and a grand vision: to farm sustainably, protect the environment, and promote animal welfare while providing a healthy source of protein for a growing world. We have 90 people living on Indre Kvaroy and provide jobs for over ¼ of them. We have helped to build schools, have created aquaculture education programs, and have created scholarship funds.
Does your farm have escapees?
We have had zero escapes. We uphold very stringent standards using the highest level double net system with emergency nets to protect the fish and the environment if there is a catastrophic natural event threatening the integrity of the pen.
What third party sustainability certifications does your farm hold?
We are proud to say that we are Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certified on all of our sites which also gives us an automatic Eco-standard recommendation from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. We worked to develop the Whole Foods Certification Standard for salmon and are Whole Foods Certified on all of our sites. We are also certified by Global G.A.P.
Where can I learn more about KvarØy Arctic’s partnership with IBM’s Food Trust?
Food buyers and their customers want to know where their food comes from, how it’s raised, and what’s in it—especially seafood. As the first in our industry to utilize IBM’s Food Trust Fresh Insight blockchain technology, we’re promoting access to pure, unaltered data collected directly from the source to allow people to buy what they truly want. To learn more about blockchain, please visit IBM’s page here.
Why is Kvarøy Arctic investing in land-based salmon farming?
We know that in order to be truly sustainable, we must have a multi-faceted set of solutions. With limited space on both land and sea, and a growing worldwide population, the solutions in salmon farming will come from both. We will continue to farm on our sites in the fjords around Kvaroy island. Coming in 2024, we will also be harvesting fish through an innovative green hydro-powered flow-through system on land.
Is your fish frozen and fresh?
We deliver both fresh and frozen salmon in whole fish, fillets and portions. We also have a partnership with Santa Barbara Smokehouse to deliver beautifully smoked Kvaroy Arctic salmon throughout the U.S.
Is your salmon (both frozen and fresh) sushi-grade and Kosher?
Yes! We always recommend checking your state’s recommendations for safely preparing sushi, sashimi, or other dishes with raw fish.
Why is frozen fish just as good as fresh fish?
With technological advances in freezing technology, we can now freeze at extremely low temperatures, protecting the integrity and texture of the filet while capturing the freshness of the fish and extending its shelf-life for months instead of days. Old freezing methods added moisture to the fish and tore the meat. The fish was often associated with a mushy texture. Kvaroy Arctic utilizes best-in-class freezing technology
Where can I find your salmon?
Please check our “Find” page for a list of grocers in your area or visit FultonFishMarket.com for direct delivery!
Chefs and retailers can write to orders@kvaroyarctic.com and we will connect you with a distributor in your area.
