The total world production of Atlantic salmon (2021.) is about 2.9 million metric tons, with salmon trout at about under 300,000 metric tons. Norway and Chile are the major production areas, and 70-80% of the total is produced in these two countries. In addition to environmental conditions such as quiet fjord waters suitable for aquaculture and seawater temperature suitable for salmon breeding, our company is blessed with feed ingredients such as high-quality fish meal and fish oil.

Salmon are farmed in many parts of Japan. In many cases, salmon are branded as "local salmon".
However, since most of the fish are farmed on a relatively small scale, the overall amount of fish farmed is not as large as that of Norway and Chile.
The market size of salmon for fresh consumption in Japan is said to be about 100,000 tons, most of which is covered by imports.

These conditions are necessary for salmon farming.
Given these conditions, appropriate sea-front aquaculture in Japan is limited to areas north of Akita, Iwate, and Miyagi and south of Cape Erimo in Hokkaido, and Aomori Prefecture. Okamura Food Industries has its headquarters in Aomori which is an ideal location for aquaculture.

Salmon cannot live in water temperatures above 20°C. Therefore, the fish can only be farmed in the sea-level fish tanks from the end of the year until early summer.The amount of production will depend on how large the salmon can be made in this limited period of time.

Salmon are farmed in freshwater from hatching to fry weighing 500g to 800g.The most common method of freshwater aquaculture is to use rivers.The rivers used for freshwater aquaculture are not just any river. The river must have a certain amount of water, no agricultural drainage upstream, and no fish diseases.
Even if a river is suitable for aquaculture, permission to use it must be obtained from the river administrator.
This right is a water right.

Rivers are graded as Class 1 rivers, Class 2 rivers, quasi-use rivers, and ordinary rivers.
The national and prefectural governments manage Class 1 and 2 rivers, making it extremely difficult to grant new water rights to them. The management of quasi-use rivers and ordinary rivers is left to the municipalities, so they cannot be acquired without the understanding of the municipalities and the people living near the rivers.
Thus, the limited availability of suitable land for freshwater aquaculture and the high degree of difficulty in acquiring rights are major characteristics of salmon farming in Japan.

Freshwater aquaculture is followed by sea-front aquaculture. Sea-front aquaculture involves using the sea, but for that purpose, a license (demarcated fishing rights) is required.
Demarcated fishing rights can be obtained by a corporation alone, or as a member of a local fishery cooperative, you can use the demarcated fishing rights acquired by the fishery cooperative.
In any case, it is necessary to obtain the understanding of local fishery cooperative and local residents, and a reasonable period of preparation will be required.

Denmark has the oldest history of salmon trout and is currently one of the world's leading aquaculture countries along with countries such as Norway, Chile and Turkey. Although it has a complicated topography, it has a quiet sea fjord, and this is the background that makes the terrain suitable for aquaculture.

In Denmark, fish are transferred from freshwater fish tanks to sea-level fish tanks in April and landed between October and December. While Japan conducts sea-front aquaculture from the end of the year to early summer to avoid rising sea water temperatures, Denmark is unique in that the sea-front aquaculture period is from April to December to avoid the winter drift ice. Note that sea-front aquaculture is practiced year-round in Norway due to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flowing along the coastline into the cold waters of the Arctic Circle.

In order to conduct aquaculture in Denmark, a license must be obtained.
For example, a number of licenses must be obtained, including a water withdrawal license for freshwater aquaculture, and a rearing biomass (biomass) license and a use feeding license for sea-front aquaculture.
Not only Denmark but also in advanced aquaculture countries, the difficulty of obtaining a new license has made it difficult for new entrants to enter the market. Therefore, the license already held by subsidiary in Denmark is a significant advantage.

FCR is an indicator of whether the fish were produced carefully and efficiently using feed. The lower the value, the more efficiently the fish were produced (Reference: Salmon Farming Tips). Denmark is characterized by this FCR being much lower than Japan. In our group, the FCR of our Danish subsidiary is about 1.2, while the FCR of Japan Salmon Farm is still about 1.5, despite our efforts. There is a 20% difference. Of course, some of the difference is due to differences in the natural environment, but this difference clearly shows that Denmark is ahead of Japan in research and development of aquaculture technology and feed. Pursuing the causes of this difference has led to hints for improving domestic aquaculture technology.