Cermaq is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 fish farm and fish feed company. The company is owned 43.5% by the Government of Norway and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

. The company has its headquarters in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway. The company has activities in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Operations

The company's operations in fish farming are branded Mainstream and have operations in Norway, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, Canada and Chile. The company produces Atlantic salmon

Atlantic salmon

The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....

, coho and trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

. In Canada the operations are on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 with offices located in Campbell River

Campbell River, British Columbia

Campbell River is a coastal city in British Columbia on the east coast of Vancouver Island at the south end of Discovery Passage, which lies along the important coastal Inside Passage shipping route...

 and Tofino. In Scotland Mainstream operates on the Orkney Islands

Orkney Islands

Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...

, with offices in Kirkwall

Kirkwall

Kirkwall is the biggest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046 when it is recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason the Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn the Mighty...

. In Norway the company operates through Follalaks with operations in Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

 and Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

 while the operations in Chile are around Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...

. The total production of salmon was 88,700 tonnes in 2005.

With the brand name EWOS Cermaq produces fish feed in both Norway, Canada, United Kingdom and Chile. The company has factories in Florø

Florø

is a town and the administrative centre of Flora municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is also a former municipality that existed for just over 100 years. The town was founded on the Florelandet island between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjorden by royal decree in 1860. In...

, Halsa

Halsa

Halsa is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre of Halsa is the village of Liabøen. Other villages in the municipality include Halsanaustan, Valsøyfjord, Engan, Hjellnes, and Valsøybotnen.-General information:Halsa was...

 and Bergneset (Norway); Coronel (Chile); Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 (Canada) and Westfield

Westfield, West Lothian

Westfield is a small village of around 180 houses located in the parish of Torphichen in West Lothian, Scotland. The village was focused for many decades on a local paper mill that closed in the 1990s...

 (United Kingdom). The Research and Development departments are located in Dirdal

Dirdal

Dirdal is the name of valley and a village in Gjesdal municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway. The valley has around 400 inhabatians, 248 of which live in the main village of Gilja....

, Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 (Norway) and Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...

 (Chile).

In addition Cermaq has minority ownership in grain

GRAIN

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...

 wholesaler Unikorn (49.8%), the fish processing

Fish processing

The term fish processing refers to the processes associated with fish and fish products between the time fish are caught or harvested, and the time the final product is delivered to the customer...

 company Hordafôr (35.1%) and the oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 equipment retailer OxSeaVision (45.2%).

History

Cermaq was founded as Statkorn Holding when the commercial division of Statens Kornforretning (now Statens Landbruksforvaltning) was demerged and made a limited company in 1995. The company operated grain

GRAIN

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...

 wholesaling

Wholesale

Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...

. In 1996 the company started to purchase NorAqua, a fish food producer, and in 1998 Cermaq started purchasing fish farms. In 2000 the government sells the first 20% of the company. Through the 2000s Cermaq has sold its original grain wholesaling divisions and entered the seafood and fish food market. It was listed on Oslo Stock Exchange in 2006.