Landlocked Switzerland has to import frozen saltwater shrimp. But this doesn’t have to be the case, according to the founder of SwissShrimp AG in Rheinfelden. Shrimp can be farmed – even in Switzerland, which has access to saltwater from the Rhine salt works in Rheinfelden.
According to the company’s website, it is planning to build a commercial aquaculture facility to farm saltwater shrimp in Switzerland. Saltwater has a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius in a closed loop system, and the facility will have an annual capacity of 60 tonnes. The first shrimp are expected to come onto the market in 2018.
Production at the facility will be sustainable: the salt and heat will come from the Rhine salt works, antibiotics will not be used, and the shrimp will be freshly caught and delivered directly to wholesale and food service customers.
SwissShrimps AG has now received a loan guarantee from the Technology Fund of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOE) to proceed with its plans. Simone Riedel Riley, head of the fund, is pleased that such a form of production in Switzerland will avoid the need for long transport routes while at the same time make it possible to reduce energy consumption. And the use of waste heat is “a great idea”, according to a statement from the technology fund.
CEO Rafael Waber is equally pleased: “All of the shrimp currently consumed in Switzerland is imported and arrives in our country frozen,” he said. “SwissShrimps AG wants to actively remedy this.”
