Fish Farm Feasibility Study
Preparatory Investigation: The Water Resource, Land and and Buildings, Market and Prices
The Entrepeneurs
A young couple in Iceland, Johann and Rosa, have taken over Johann's parents' farm. Traditional husbandry of cattle and sheep for production of meat and dairy products has gone through a rough time so they have been looking for new opportunities in their farming. Johann believes that arctic charr might suit them well. Before making up their mind they inspect their water resources, the features of their land and other factors that might support or rule against their hopes. They also study the basics of fish farming, collect information on what facilities are required, prices of material and equipment they would have to buy and, of course, look into the market situation. At the end of the year they have - aside their regular work on the farm - spent on preparatory inspection and calculations, they now know:
Natural resources
The stream running through their land has waterflow of 120 liters per second. The temperature of the water varies along with the seasons, from 4°C in winter up to 9°C in the summer, average temperature being around 7°C. The source of the stream is by the roots of a mountain in their land, at about 15 meters height above the possible location of the tanks and at 0.75 km distance. The declination is therefore 1:50 meters. The declination of the land is fairly even. In the land there is a small spring of geothermal water, as in many places in Iceland, but at this point they are considering a simple flow through of the stream water.
Buildings
As they have decided that farming sheep doesn't pay anymore, they consider putting the tanks up under roof as well as facilities for bleeding fish in the quite big sheepcote. The house is a solid concrete building with corrugated iron roof with room, originally built to house 400 sheep. Feed and packaging could be stored there as well.
The Market
They have contacted a wholesale distributor of fish
The Entrepeneurs
A young couple in Iceland, Johann and Rosa, have taken over Johann's parents' farm. Traditional husbandry of cattle and sheep for production of meat and dairy products has gone through a rough time so they have been looking for new opportunities in their farming. Johann believes that arctic charr might suit them well. Before making up their mind they inspect their water resources, the features of their land and other factors that might support or rule against their hopes. They also study the basics of fish farming, collect information on what facilities are required, prices of material and equipment they would have to buy and, of course, look into the market situation. At the end of the year they have - aside their regular work on the farm - spent on preparatory inspection and calculations, they now know:
Natural resources
The stream running through their land has waterflow of 120 liters per second. The temperature of the water varies along with the seasons, from 4°C in winter up to 9°C in the summer, average temperature being around 7°C. The source of the stream is by the roots of a mountain in their land, at about 15 meters height above the possible location of the tanks and at 0.75 km distance. The declination is therefore 1:50 meters. The declination of the land is fairly even. In the land there is a small spring of geothermal water, as in many places in Iceland, but at this point they are considering a simple flow through of the stream water.
Buildings
As they have decided that farming sheep doesn't pay anymore, they consider putting the tanks up under roof as well as facilities for bleeding fish in the quite big sheepcote. The house is a solid concrete building with corrugated iron roof with room, originally built to house 400 sheep. Feed and packaging could be stored there as well.
The Market
They have contacted a wholesale distributor of fish