Volden Group was the largest fish farming business in Scandinavia and had annual production of trout and salmon average 20000 metric tonnage, Volden Group is considered one of the most successful fish farming businesses in the country and was one of the earliest examples of fish farming in Scandinavia, pioneering many techniques still used today.
History
The company was established in 1978 by Norwegian fish farming pioneer Harald Volden alongside Jon Simonsen in Hammerfest but they parted ways in 1983. Then in 1984 Volden Group was moved to Alta where it became solely a family driven business and the most successful and profitable one in Norway producing upwards to 27000 metric tonnage of salmon and trout in 2007 alone. Later Håkon Volden the eldest son assumed position as chairman of the family business and eventually agreed with Grieg Seafood to merge both companies and create Grieg Seafood A/S The 18 October 2006, Volden Group agreed to merge with Grieg Seafood becoming the third largest fish farming company in Norway at the time, the largest bases that Volden Group possessed were located in Altafjord, Nyvoll, Øksfjord, Nordkapp and Hammerfest, today parts of the Volden family in Northern Norway has a significant ownership stake in Grieg Seafood particularly Håkon Volden and Harald Volden.
Controversies
Volden Group has continuously been under scrutiny from multiple people and organisations often jealous of their success and hit by infamous Norwegian government regulations, many criticised Volden Group early in the 80s as being dreamers and said fish farming was impossible task to be accomplished in Altafjord however this has proven to be false as fish farming is one of the most profitable industries in Norway today. Fish farming usually destroys most sea life directly under the fish farming pens as fish waste, food and more contaminates the bottom of the seafloor causing long lasting effects, Volden Group has come under fire multiple times to solve this issue however most of them failed to take Volden Group to court as the costs would be too large and would have to be equally enforced nationwide. There were other smaller incidents of Volden Group dumping dead fish remains and bones into the ocean and also unknown amount of acid solvent used for disposing fish have been dumped into the sea throughout the years before tougher regulations came into place. However Volden Group is only one of many who broke multitude of environmental polluting regulations throughout the years but most goes unnoticed. In October 2001 Volden Group came under fire from Fiskeridirektoratet in Finnmark because investigation revealed they had more fish than what was allowed by law in the fish farms located in Kåfjord in Alta. Because of this Volden Group was originally to be fined for violating regulations however a settlement was agreed on to move the fish farms to Lokkarfjord in Stjernsundet In September 2002 Volden Group was reported to the police by Korsfjord Fiskarlag and other individuals for establishing a new fish farm in Korsfjord, Fiskarlag demanded Volden Groups new fish farm to be removed and that Volden Group would not have permission for any future business in Korsfjord. The 3 June 2005 Volden Group facilities in Alta was sabotaged and over 100,000 farming salmon was released into the ocean threatening local wildlife and wild salmon, fish farms in Norway are under constant threat from local saboteurs ranging from environmental groups to jealous fringe criminals. More than 70 nylon ropes were cut loose in the sea pens were salmon was waiting for slaughtering. A 300,000kr reward for anyone who had any information regarding the saboteurs was put out and people locally were encouraged to fish the escaping farm fishes and were rewarded for every farming salmon they caught. The incident was quickly put under control however became a lesson that tighter security was necessary and stricter rules regarding approach of fish farm pens.
