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About us
Swiss Blue Salmon (SBS) was founded by Ruedi Ryf. As a passionate fly fisherman he spent many hours on the water, thinking how to protect the wild population of Atlantic Salmon and bring the same quality of product to the consumer.
SBS wants to become a leading seafood company known for it’s high animal welfare level and minimal environmental footprint. We believe that farming fish in land-based RAS systems (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems) is the best way to raise healthy, and sustainable fish of a premium quality.
Securing an adequate food supply is one of the greatest global challenges humanity is currently facing and land-based aquaculture holds significant promise for the planet, for its people and for long term profits. SBS secured a site and is now in the design and permitting phase for its first farm to sustainably raise Swiss Atlantic Salmon.
Technology
Land Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) technology is the world’s most advanced, sustainable aquaculture method and it’s said to disrupt and reshape the world’s fish farming industry.
In a RAS system the water gets recycled up to 99% using cutting-edge filtration technology and oxygenation systems, reducing the water consumption to a minimum. Residues get filtered out and used in the production of biogas.
Together with other technological partners we aim to build the smartest farm in the world using technologies such as advanced camera and sensor technology, image recognition, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, big data and analytics. We strongly believe that smart farming will prepare the ground for a sustainable and efficient way to produce healthy fish.
RAS Advantages
Minimum water requirement as 99% is recycled
Free from antibiotics and pharmaceuticals
Fresh from local production
Free from microplastic
Protecting the wild fish in nature
Smart control of production
Reduced environmental impact
Guaranteed parasite-free salmon
Sustainability
The United Nations projects that the population will increase by 2.2 billion in the next 30 years and that it will hit 9.7 billion by 2050. That’s a lot of people to feed.
At the same time pollution and unsustainable fishing practices mean that there will soon be more plastic than fish in the sea, while rapid acidification is killing corals and sea life in general leading to chain reactions of damage that are threatening human food and economic security. Climate change is likely to further exacerbate these trends.
One innovation has helped to alleviate some of the pressure on wild fish catch: Aquaculture, the practice of fish and seafood farming. Since the late 1980s, annual production has increased rapidly. In 1990 the world produced only 17 million tonnes. It now produces over 100 million tonnes.
Aquaculture is currently one of the fastest growing food production systems in the world and the FAO expectations for aquaculture to increase its contribution to the world’s production of aquatic food are high.
Aquaculture production has surpassed wild catch in 2012 and has absorbed almost all of the growth in global demand in recent decades and will continue to play a critical role in protecting wild fish populations as demand for seafood continues to rise.
Seafood production: wild fish catch vs aquaculture, World
Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Capture fishery production is the volume of wild fish catches landed for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes.
Moreover, unlike chicken, pork, or beef, the production of seafood requires minimal land and water resources, and results in the smallest amount of greenhouse gas emissions of any major animal protein.
Three salmon farmers rank in the top five of the Coller FAIRR Protein Index, which ranks the world’s largest meat, dairy and fish producers by looking at risk factors from use of antibiotics to deforestation and labour abuses.
A major challenge of the fast growing aquaculture industry is the fish feed. Salmon feed has largely been based on fish meal and fish oil from wild marine fish such as anchovies, mackerel, pilchards and herring, contributing to overfishing. We see this as one of the biggest obstacles in sustainable aquaculture and we’re taking it on by supporting potential feed alternatives like insects, algae, yeast and single-cell protein.
At Swiss Blue Salmon we want to participate in changing the food system as it grows and establish our brand at the forefront of sustainable aquaculture.
We’re also focused on bringing transparency to our fish farming operations with our visitor center for schools, companies and groups that wish to see the operations. We aim to promote awareness about water, fish and sustainability in general, and about the nutritional value and health aspects of salmon. The consumer should be able to track the life of the fish on his or her plate, know where a fish came from and what eco-footprint or nutritional value it got.
Ultimately, if done right, farmed fish can be a healthier and better choice than wild-caught fish. We believe sustainable aquaculture can play an important role in protecting sea life that is under duress while still feeding billions of people around the world. Swiss Blue Salmon is our first small step in this direction and much more will follow.
Management
Ruedi Ryf
CEO
Ruedi is a pioneering entrepreneur with extensive experience from building, managing and optimizing the first land-based RAS salmon farm in Switzerland. He is a passionate fly fisherman and founded the company with the vision to create a sustainable fish brand and protect the environment.
Phil Huber
CFO
Phil is an entrepreneurial CFO with a track record in business- and financial planning, fundraising, investor relations, reporting & controlling.
Sune Möller
CTO
Sune is a full-blooded engineer with extensive global experience in design, permitting and execution of industry-leading RAS projects. From 2015 till 2019 he was a senior project manager at Billund Aquaculture and from 2019 till 2021 he worked on the expansion of the Kingfish Company.
Media
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