Völklingen marine fish farm

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The Völklingen Marine Fish Farm (MFZ) is the world's first facility for the commercial production of sea ​​fish without access to natural sea water. It is located in the Saarland city ​​of Völklingen on the site of the former Fürstenhausen coking plant and hit the headlines because of the high losses of the project. Until it was sold in June 2015, the facility was operated by Meeresfischzucht Völklingen GmbH , a wholly-owned subsidiary of the city of Völklingen.

history

The Völklingen marine fish farm was based on plans by Völklingen's Lord Mayor, Klaus Lorig ( CDU ). After the city of Völklingen took over parts of the area of ​​the closed Fürstenhausen coking plant from RAG , it was not yet clear what would happen to it. Lorig came up with the idea of ​​building a marine fish farm on the site. The ambitious project was to be implemented in cooperation with the Völklingen municipal utility . Jochen Dahm , managing director of Stadtwerke Völklingen, who was also managing director of Gewerbeaniedlung Völklingen GmbH (GAV) together with Michael Altpeter, was appointed managing director of the newly founded Meeresfischzucht Völklingen GmbH (MFV) . The company, founded in December 2007, held 89.9 percent of the Völklingen marine fish farm. International Fish Farming Technology (IFFT) could be won as a partner for the construction , which held the remaining 10.1 percent. The HTW Saar could be won as a supporter, which set up an endowed professorship for aquaculture in order to provide scientific support for the project. At that time the cost of construction, which was due to start at the end of 2008, was around 12 million euros. The first problems arose from unclear financing, which delayed the start by a few months. In order to be able to build the system, the municipal law must be changed. The state parliament of Saarland agreed, so that construction could begin. First of all , sea bream , sea ​​bass and sturgeon should be bred. The sturgeon is particularly popular for its caviar .

The topping-out ceremony was celebrated in August 2009 when the reinforced concrete columns had been completely laid. However, the facility was not yet ready, the breeding tank and roof were still missing. At the topping-out ceremony, marine biologist Manfred Klinkhardt warned that similar plants had already gone bankrupt. Concerns about such factory farming also increased . The work was delayed again, however, and funding was no longer secured. A guarantee of three million should save the plant. Shortly afterwards, IFFT filed for bankruptcy . There was a dispute between the two shareholders and there were no new investors. The facility developed into a political scandal. The Left Party in particular railed against the failed project. The SPD has also distanced itself at times.

The two companies were only able to come to an agreement in 2011: MFZ bought the remaining shares in IFFT for 200,000 euros. The facility's opening had to be postponed for another year after the main power cable was stolen. The project could not be completed in 2012 either because the distribution partner Alaska-Fisch became insolvent and technical difficulties arose.

The plant finally opened in January 2013, three years after the planned start and at eight percent more costs than planned. 4,000 sturgeon and 90,000 sea bass were the first fish. A total of 500 tons of sea fish should be produced by the end of the year. In October 2013, new investors registered with Neomar , Sawa and Ocean Swiss Alpine Seafood , but negotiations failed. Sales finally started in April 2014. In the same month, Neomar GmbH received a nomination for the German Innovation Prize in the start-up company category for the Oceanloop technology used in the system .

The start of sales could not save the project. Of the 200 tons of fish that the facility grew in the first year, just 20 tons had been sold by Christmas 2014. This was due to the high prices on the one hand and the lack of marketing on the other. The project's debts have now reached 20 million euros, and the public prosecutor's office has also been investigating because of the delay in bankruptcy. In October 2014, the political pressure on managing director Dahm became so great that he was fired. The mayor of Völklingen, Wolfgang Bintz , became interim chief . But that's not all: the sturgeon died out on a massive scale in the facility. This was due to an imported viral disease that decimated around 30 percent of the population. The serious financial problems should first be solved by a million dollar loan, then two new species should be established and the breeding capacity increased to 700 tons. Finally, it was decided to sell the plant.

On August 6, 2015, the Swiss entrepreneur Peter Zeller took over the facility for two million euros and founded Fresh Völklingen GmbH and Fresh real Estate GmbH, which have been operating the facility ever since.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meeresfischzucht Völklingen GmbH ( Memento from July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). On bundesverband-aquakultur.de, accessed via Wayback Machine on July 22, 2015
  2. ↑ a b c d The history of a fish farm. sr-online.de, February 12, 2015, archived from the original on March 4, 2015 ; accessed on October 28, 2016 .
  3. ^ "Sea fish farming in Saarland is a tax grave" ( Memento from January 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). On October 7, 2014 on sr-online.de, accessed via Wayback Machine on January 7, 2015
  4. ↑ a b Hannelore Crolly: Innovative. Clean. Ecologically. Unfortunately broke. Die Welt , April 27, 2015, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Endowed professorship of the HTW gives Völklingen marine fish breeding a unique selling point. In: HTW-Online No. 48. HTW Saar , 2008, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Two topping-out ceremony on the Fürstenhausen coking plant site. voelklingen.de, August 27, 2009, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Jan Grossarth: Blinded by the golden sea bream. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 31, 2010, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  8. ↑ a b c Andreas Hell: The history of Saarland marine fish: The chronicle of Völklinger marine fish breeding. voelklingen-im-wandel.de, February 13, 2015, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  9. ↑ neomar GmbH nominated for the German Innovation Award. saarland.de, April 4, 2014, accessed on May 6, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Doris Döpke: Fresh concept for Völklinger fish: Marketing in focus. Saarbrücker Zeitung , August 13, 2015, accessed on May 6, 2016 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 14 ′ 35.4 "  N , 6 ° 52 ′ 50"  E