Geir Olav talks about his Head of Benchmark Genetics role, what he likes most in his new role, and how important genetics is for sustainable aquaculture development.
From a young age, he always wanted to be a veterinarian for fish. Geir Olav started working at his father’s salmon farm during the weekends and holidays when he was around 10, and aside from a brief stint in Officer School for the Navy, he has been working in the industry ever since. He has been with Benchmark since January 2019 and is based in Bergen, Norway – our global HQ for Genetics, one of the most beautiful cities in Norway.
“I’ve worked in almost every aspect of the aquaculture world, from academia to teaching and journalism. Each of these roles equipped me with valuable tools which I continue to use today. The learning never stops, though, and I gain new knowledge every time I visit a customer’s site.”- says Geir Olav Melingen.
- What do you like most in your new role as Head of Genetics?
It is a very exciting role, being able to work with so many highly skilled people around the world, and working with a product all our customers need. It is also an area where technology is moving at high speed, and in a few years, you can do things you thought were impossible. The thing I enjoy the most is the combination of working with our internal people and our customers, I enjoy working with people and learning new things every day.
- Can you explain the role of genetics in sustainable aquaculture?
Within genetics, we focus a lot on robustness and growth. It is the perfect example of improving sustainable aquaculture. Improving survival, improving growth, improving the performance from egg to harvest.
- What excites you most about Benchmark’s Genetics operations? What role does it play in driving sustainability across the sector?
It excites me to see all our motivated people every day focusing on improving our products. This is from optimizing our broodstock production egg to egg, focusing on the quality of the eggs, having our people being there with our customers to optimize the performance from the very first moment they receive their eggs, and on top of this knowing we have the strongest genetic scientist behind our products, doing the magic within the eggs you cannot see with your own eyes.
- What are your hopes for the future of salmon genetics in the aquaculture industry in 10- or 20 years’ time?
I hope that we will produce salmon eggs that are sterile, and tailor-made according to the challenges you see in the area or system you produce in, like sea lice resistance, resistance to other challenging diseases (BKD, SRS, CMS, PD, HSMI, ISA, etc.), and through this can contribute to reducing the losses we still see in conventional salmon farming.
