The Project

The concept ‘Stadion Basin’ is an innovative project that has been developed and improved by the company Stadion Laks AS for several years.

StadionLaks AS was originally established by Vitamar and Solinova. The two companies are owned and operated by biologist and fish farming pioneer Bjørn Myrseth, and civil engineer Knut Solberg, respectively. They collaborated for many years on different types of fish farms. It gradually became clear that to ensure good fish welfare, it is crucial to control the water. Therefore, it is necessary to have a closed pool where good quality water from a minimum of 20 meters depth is pumped into the pool.

The fish farming company Lingalaks AS bought into Stadion Laks AS in 2016 to further develop the concept. Lingalaks aims to find solutions to provide the best possible fish health and to minimize the environmental impacts. In December 2017 Framo was engaged to provide technical assistance for the circulation system.

In November 2019, Stadion Laks AS was granted 2.37 development licenses (1,849 tonnes of biomass) by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries for the innovative fish farm Stadion Basin, and Framo acquired an equal partnership in Stadion Laks AS in February 2021. Framo AS and Lingalaks AS now each own 50 percent of the company.

The next step of the project is tomature the design of the facility through a FEED process before the actual project execution is initiated.  It is expected that the project will be built in Norway given the local knowhow within marine concrete structures and fish farming systems.

The facility is designed to provide a safe and stable working platform for people and equipment, and the choice of concrete ensures a long design life. The basin is given a shape to ensure that it floats and keeps the fish inside the pool even if an accidental collision with ships occurs. The primary buoyancy of the basin comes from the wall in the middle section. Also, a channel that goes around the entire outer edge of the pool provides stability and secondary buoyancy. The buoyancy both in the middle section and under the walkway is divided into several separate chambers. The pool will have sufficient buoyancy and stability in all operating situations even if a section is filled with water.

The main principle for the operation of the basin:
• The basin floats and is stable in all conditions
• Water is pumped into the pool
• Used water flows freely out of the pool through holes in the bottom
• The water level inside and outside the pool is essentially the same, but varies with salinity difference and water flow
• The depth of the pool varies with water filling, salinity, and weight of equipment and storage

The pool will have inlets and outlets for water at both ends and 6 pumps will provide water into the unit. Water parameters such as oxygen, pH, temperature, and flow rate will be continuously monitored to ensure good fish welfare. The pool is equipped with sliding bulkheads that will keep the inside walls clean and ensure the gentle handling of fish. Also, a comprehensive system will be installed for monitoring and control of water parameters and various systems.

Lingalaks and Framo are now looking forward to commencing the construction in Q1 2022 and operations of the Stadion Basin in 2023.