By David Harvey, International Aquafeed and Fish Farming Technology, UK
Norway currently has a rich fish farming sector, holding the title of not only the largest salmon producer but also the largest exporting country of seafood in the world. In 2021, more than 837 million salmon were farmed in Norway and in 2021 the country produced almost 54 percent of Atlantic salmon in the whole world. The first major breakthrough for the industry came through in the 1970s when the first sea cage was constructed. The coast of Norway proved to provide excellent conditions for farming since it had not only good shelter for the cages, but also a reliable water temperature thanks to the Gulf stream.
One of the reasons why fish farming in Norway became so popular was because of how many generations of fish you can farm compared to regular cattle and due to the high number of offspring each fish produces. The average generation interval in salmon is two years, 60 percent faster than that of beef cattle, and on average each female atlantic salmon lays between 2000-10,000 compared to cattle where they usually only birth one offspring. This fast generation turnaround along with the large sizes of each generation is one of the things that allowed Norway to grow their fish farming sector, especially since the safety of the hatcheries where the eggs are hatched allowed many more eggs to survive than in the wild where a majority of the eggs laid by the female salmon will be eaten by predators. Another reason for the growth of the industry in Norway is because of the high price of salmon as a product. Salmon was not available everywhere in the world and the fact that the farmers in Norway were able to farm salmon for a low cost compared to its market value meant that those who started farming from the beginning were making very good money, this drew more people into the business and caused the industry to grow rapidly.
In recent years most salmon farms consist of six to ten sea cages, each of which can hold up to 200,000 salmon.
The bottlenecks
This farming method is not perfect, however. The primary method is farming fish in open net pens along the coast and in Fjords, but escapes are common with this method, which allows the farmed fish to spread diseases into the wild population and interbreed with wild salmon rather than the other farmed fish that can then be used for further breeding or as food. Some experts say that the interbreeding of wild fish with farmed fish can also cause future generations of the salmon to have a shorter lifespan, which can potentially endanger the species in areas if there is an escape of a large enough level.
Last September, the Norwegian government set out a proposal to raise taxes on the industry. Aimed at sharing the profits of one the country’s key resources, the idea was widely described as a ‘salmon tax’ and set at 25 percent. Within hours, share prices for salmon firms plummeted, hare prices for Norway’s major salmon companies, including Mowi, SalMar and Grieg Seafood, took a hit. Experts say such taxes on ocean resources, as well as supporting local communities, have the potential to limit destruction of the marine environment by making ocean-based activities that damage it. Albeit the Salmon tax doesn’t guarantee better environmental regulations, it could lead to an improved income distribution, says the government.
…and potential solutions
There are companies within Norway which are already coming up with new ideas to try and combat these issues, such as SalMar, who have recently constructed the world’s largest offshore fish farm off the coast of Norway. This method proves to be better for the health of the fish with the currents of the ocean reducing the concentration of parasites, meaning that they cannot stay on the fish and therefore cause less/no harm to them. Along with this, the fact that the farm is further away from the shore means that there is a much lower chance that the farmed fish will interact with wild fish, which decreases both interbreeding and disease spreading amongst both parties.
Bluegreen, another company in Norway, has recently launched a very interesting piece of technology that could prove to be extremely influential and helpful to the future of the fish farming industry as a whole. This has been done with the invention of the Marine Donut. The Marine Donut is a closed containment system for fish farming that also leaves a minimal environmental footprint and gives the user good control over the efficient feed factor, which can reduce their running costs. One Marine Donut can hold 1100 tonnes of biomass and can be used across all different stages of the fish’s growth. While early signs point to this technology being useful for farmers and something that could help combat the negative aspects of fish farming on the ocean population, it is important to keep in mind that this technology is still in its infancy and extremely new, especially compared to the farming cages that have been used for decades.
The aquaculture industry has come a long way in Norway, from its primitive start in the 1960s and 70s to becoming the largest producer of farmed salmon, in 2022 they had a production of over 1.4 million tonnes. One of the special aspects of Norway’s aquaculture industry is how export orientated it is, with over 95 percent of the country’s seafood production being exported to over 100 countries. The constant push for companies to continue advancements is something that helps Norway stay so high in the aquaculture industry. Every two years all of the leading companies gather at Aqua Nor in Norway to showcase their latest products and services and with time these have become increasingly advanced, showing both the technological improvement and the competitiveness of the Norwegian industry. It seems like the future of aquaculture is in safe hands with Norway, aquaculture is an important part of the country and vice-versa and they have many companies working hard to bring the industry into the 21st century in terms of sustainability, conservation and technology. While it is important to protect the ocean as well as its inhabitants we must do everything we can to make sure that the industry is not left behind, but instead make sure that it advances with time so that it can continue to be successful and that future generations can enjoy it and all its benefits, especially when we consider all of the hard work that countless people have made in order to get the industry to the point that it is now at over the last 50 years.
Published in the March 2024 issue of International Aquafeed.
