NORWAY
The Norwegian government provides incentives to boost the development of farming technology
Novel cage systems can be deployed offshore
N
orway’s story with salmonids started in the 50s, when entrepreneurs introduced rainbow trout into primitive cages in the sea. Two decades later, salmon overtook rainbow trout as the most popular fish to farm. Development was rapid as more and more companies entered the industry, the number of permits rose, and the volumes produced increased exponentially. In the 20 years to 1990 production increased 340 times to 170,000 tonnes. By 2006 farmed fish exports accounted for more than half the value of total seafood exports. Three years later the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs launched a new strategy in support of a competitive and environmentally sustainable aquaculture industry. By 2015 Norway’s output was more than half the global production of Atlantic salmon. That year the authorities offered the first so-called development licences. These are provisional licences intended to encourage the development of innovative technical solutions that would address some of the environmental and spatial challenges facing the aquaculture industry.
wild salmon stocks. Farmed and wild Atlantic salmon are genetically the same species (Salmo salar) and can interbreed. However, farmed salmon are selected for traits that make them suitable for life in a cage rather than in the wild. By breeding with wild salmon the farmed fish may induce genetic changes in the wild stock that could have an impact on population dynamics and viability. The fish farming industry takes these threats seriously and therefore funds the monitoring of rivers for escaped salmon, and commissions research into ways to prevent or reduce the problem. The salmon farming industry is also beleaguered with the issue of sea lice. These marine parasitic crustaceans attach themselves to the salmon and feed on its mucus, skin, and blood, weakening the fish and making it prone to secondary infections. A measure of the extent of the problem is given by the number of lice per fish, which has declined from 1.34 to 0.96 in the decade to 2018, though in 2019 it increased to 1.04, according to Lusedata.no, a website based on data supplied to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
The twin challenge of escapes and sea lice are not yet fully overcome
As in other countries, such as Turkey, with big marine farming industries, Norway too must confront the issue of space. Coastal areas, where most fish farming is located, are also used for fishing, shipping, energy generation, recreation, and a host of other activities. This can give rise to conflicts among the
Among the challenges faced by the industry is that of fish escaping from their cages. These fish represent both a financial loss for the company that owns the fish and a threat to
Salmar
The Norwegian seafood industry crossed another milestone earlier this year when exports in 2019 exceeded NOK100bn, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council. Over seven tenths of this value comes from the export of aquaculture products, a category which is comprehensively dominated by exports of salmon.
Salmar’s Ocean Farm can be raised and lowered in the water column and is highly automated to reduce the number of staff needed to operate it.
different users. In Turkey, the authorities pushed the industry offshore in the mid-2000s to defuse such conflicts and while the industry grumbled at first, some advantages of the move became rapidly apparent. The deeper water and stronger currents were better both for the fish and the environment as it prevented a build-up of organic matter beneath the cages, the industry could no longer be accused of stepping on the toes of other users of the coast, and although producing offshore meant higher initial costs for the individual companies, it also laid a foundation of experience, knowledge, and technical competence from which the entire sector stood to gain.
Offshore farming may solve several issues In Norway, aquaculture systems using new technology that
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allows them to be sited offshore is considered one of the ways of expanding farmed fish production in a way that is environmentally sustainable — something that the government wants to encourage. According to a report (Havbruk til havs, 2018) from an inter-ministerial working group tasked with creating a legal framework for the sustainable development of offshore aquaculture, interest in offshore cultivation has been driven by a need for space unconstrained by other users’ claims, and by challenges in the form of environmental (impact of sea lice on wild stocks, build-up of organic matter, fish escapes) and fish health issues (for example, sea lice) experienced at traditional production sites. The release of provisional development licences (Utviklingstillatelser) in 2015 also contributed to the evolution of fish farming &VSPl TI
06/02/20 9:31 AM
