Norway’s Vision for Aquaculture: Key Takeaways from the White Paper
As global demand for nutritious, environmentally conscious, and climate-resilient protein continues to rise, few sectors are better positioned to help meet this challenge than responsible aquaculture.
To achieve this potential, the global sector will have to grow and the key question we face is how we ensure sustainable growth whilst balancing positive contributions to society with minimal impact. Norway’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Marianne Sivertsen Næs, recently launched White Paper No. 24: The Future of Aquaculture – Sustainable Growth and Food for the World, which sets out a forward-looking roadmap for how the Norwegian government could update its aquaculture regulations to sustainably increase the production of aquaculture through new frameworks which focus on sustainability performance and the use of incentives to drive environmental improvement and better welfare.
The government wants to develop the aquaculture industry and facilitate the greatest possible overall value creation. To achieve this, we must modernize the aquaculture policy. The main initiative in the White Paper is that we will primarily regulate how production affects the environment, fish health, and welfare—not how much is produced.Marianne Sivertsen Næs
While the paper is still only a vision at this stage, and requires formal Parliament review, investigation, and testing, there was parliamentary consensus on the proposed approach, with expected new regulations aligned to the Paper coming in the next 2-4 years. This Paper is not only relevant to Norway, but as it represents a new approach to aquaculture management that focuses on sustainability and balances environmental responsibility with the global need for food production, it will have global relevance as other sectors look to see how Norway chooses to proceed.
In this blog, we break down some of the key takeaways from the Paper and their potential implications for Norway and beyond.
Environmental Impact
A strong call to action within the White Paper is to manage and mitigate sea lice levels more effectively. Under current Norwegian regulation, lice limits are managed through reporting maximum allowed biomass (MAB) and the “traffic light system”. Whilst these regulations have helped sea lice management and reporting, the paper notes they fall short in rewarding individual producers for responsible actions. Therefore, the government hopes the new system of implementing tradable quotas for lice emissions will provide stronger individual incentives for reducing sea lice and ensuring that environmental goals are met. The proposal is that the total lice quota level can be set based on the environment's natural limit, aligning with the goal of less than 10% mortality of wild salmon populations due to sea lice.
The White Paper refers to the possibility that sea lice from salmon farms could spread to wild salmon populations. However, this is not factual and remains under investigation, with recent studies highlighting that lice levels on farms are not associated with measurable effects on wild salmon. Further scientific work is required to properly evaluate whether, and to what extent, salmon farming contributes to sea lice transmission and impacts on wild stocks. With this in mind, we believe it is not yet feasible to base regulation on lice levels as they are not a factor linked directly to farming performance.
However, what the Paper does reinforce is the need for effective sea lice management, which is a shared priority within GSI. Through GSI’s Fish Health and Welfare Task Force, our members are sharing best practices to manage and minimize sea lice through welfare innovations such as non-medicinal approaches and improving the efficacy of medicinal treatments. We recognize this is a topic that will require continued focus, innovation, and transparency. GSI’s Sustainability Report holds over a decade of transparent data on GSI’s use of medicinal and non-medicinal methods to manage sea lice.
Preventing Fish Escapes
As fish farmers work in the natural environment, fish escapes cannot be ignored; such incidents can lead to genetic intermixing that may weaken the resilience of wild fish populations. The Paper proposes a loss fee for lost fish (including both mortality and escapes). The aim here is to increase the incentives for better risk management, internal control, technology development, and innovation, and to prevent as many losses as possible.
Fish escapes are rare, but they do happen from time to time, often in unfortunate circumstances such as extreme weather or predator interactions. To support transparency on this issue, GSI members report all escapes to local authorities and report any incidents via our Sustainability Report. Our members are also committed to ongoing improvements, such as reinforcing pens or developing innovative pen designs to ensure minimal risk of escapes.
Rodger Pederson from GSI member Grieg Seafood emphasizes the importance of protecting local ecosystems, such as the Alta River in Norway." Video embedded below.
Reducing Mortalities
Ensuring minimal mortalities is a key priority for salmon farmers globally. Within this Paper, the Norwegian government is setting an ambitious target of 5% mortality for all aquaculture species. To achieve this goal, the White Paper proposes significant reforms, emphasizing stronger economic incentives and a more robust regulatory framework. Key measures include:
- Tax on lost fish
- Improved data and reporting of fish losses using standardised methods for counting and automated solutions for reporting
- Preventative measures and effective biosafety plans
- Improved coordinated regulation
GSI supports the goal of reducing mortalities and fish escapes and is committed to taking actions that promote optimal fish health and welfare, however believes further consideration and review of the proposed measures is required.
For example, mortality alone is not the most comprehensive indicator of fish welfare, and the use of culling can be a humane way of looking after sick fish and protecting other fish. With this in mind a taxation on loss fish could encourage practices we do not believe support optimal welfare, and optimal welfare is our ultimate goal. Mortality does serve as a useful high-level KPI for communicating progress across the sector; however, more nuanced welfare indicators can be a better tool for monitoring fish welfare in real time so farmers can act if needed. For this reason, GSI members are actively collaborating to develop a list of standardized metrics to help monitor welfare across companies and regions to support increased knowledge sharing on the factors leading to better welfare and, therefore lower mortalities. We hope this engagement will help us achieve these low mortality rates both in Norway and in other regions. We believe a holistic approach to fish health management will be required to achieve the mortality goal.
Area Planning
The Paper emphasizes the importance of better spatial planning for aquaculture to grow the sector within sustainable frameworks. It proposes a more unified permit system, where a single aquaculture permit would grant the right to operate within a clearly defined area. Operational details such as quantity limits (MABs) and species restrictions would no longer be tied to the permit itself but instead regulated through other legislation related to the environment, fish health, and welfare. The Paper also highlights the need for better coordination between the Planning and Building Act and sector-specific laws like the Aquaculture Act, as well as greater transparency to strengthen understanding of planning processes. Together, these steps are intended to streamline the approval of new permits and grants. For GSI members, choosing the right site for a salmon farm is crucial to support both fish health and welfare and preparedness for changes to water temperatures through climate change.
Encouraging Greater Innovation
An overarching takeaway from the White Paper is the focus on innovation as a driver of progress. The Paper is technology-neutral, allowing farmers to try solutions they believe may work and keeps options open. As we always say, there is no silver bullet to answer all the challenges, so allowing the openness to develop and try different solutions will no doubt support the sector in finding the most effective method. This support for innovation development will be beneficial to Norwegian farmers but will also expand to other regions as they too look to new technologies and approaches.
When it comes to innovation, what will be critical to success is ensuring a truly multi-stakeholder ecosystem with industry, authorities, and academia coming together to collaborate both on what will be most effective, but also how quickly, and how cost-effectively we can get the right strategies in place. Sector implementation of innovations and new strategies will be complex and not without challenges. For farmers to successfully adapt, they need predictable, consistent regulation and ongoing dialogue with authorities. This is particularly important given that salmon production cycles span approximately three years, meaning regulatory changes take time to translate into measurable impacts on farms. This is why there needs to be close engagement and continuous dialogue between stakeholders.
A slide from a recent Cermaq presentation that depicts the triad for building trust within the aquaculture industry, showcasing relationships needed between industry, academia, and authorities.
Conclusion
In summary, the White Paper proposes a vision for a more sustainable and environmentally responsible Norwegian aquaculture industry through significant changes to current legislation, aiming to reward farmers who abide by sustainable practices and responsibly use natural resources. However, many proposals still require further investigation, as Norwegian politicians remain divided on several measures, especially regulating biomass based on sea lice emissions. The goal is to increase aquaculture production, recognising the benefit to the economy, communities, and delivering nutritious protein for people in a way that is harmonious with nature. While all elements of the white paper may not be passed by the Norwegian government, updated aquaculture regulations will be implemented in the coming years.
GSI members support Norway’s ambition and its focus on sustainable performance, but we recognize that we are still far from the desired goal. We hope that in the coming years, further investigations and active engagement with industry and relevant stakeholders and scientists, will lead to an aligned framework that provides predictability and stability to the future development and effective management of salmon farming – both in Norway and internationally. Predictable regulation may be the most important factor in strengthening sustainable salmon production, as it supports the sector in making the necessary investments into ongoing innovations and to focus on continued improvements.
Our mission in GSI is to farm healthy fish for healthy people and a healthy planet, and to do that we commit to prioritizing transparency, innovation, and collaboration to work towards the goals set out in the White Paper and ensure that global aquaculture continues to be part of the solution for a sustainable food system, learn more.