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Report from the North Atlantic Seafood Forum
Views from the top
This year’s NASF brought together an impressive line-up
BY ROBERT OUTRAM
The ocean could save us all – but we will have to save it fi rst. That was the message from Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, speaking last month at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum.
This year the NASF, the world’s largest top executive seafood business conference, was held entirely online. While this no doubt curtailed the networking opportunities, it certainly did not detract from the high level speakers, from business, government and the academic world, who were lined up to share their insights.
Erna Solberg provided the political driving force behind the High Level Ocean Panel, which has brought together senior politicians and policymakers from 14 countries around the world to commit to fi nding solutions for the challenge of ocean sustainability.
Every dollar invested in the blue economy could yield fi ve in return, she said, and help with carbon reduction. But the oceans are under stress, she said., and a concerted international effort is required to halt the decline.
She said: “The goal is clear – to build a sustainable blue economy. Blue growth must be based on the principle of sustainable ocean management… together we have an opportunity to give a blue boost to the economy, while building resilience against future crises.”
Also speaking at the conference, Peter Haugen, co-chair of the Ocean Panel Expert Group said there is a risk that declining ocean health could cost the global economy more than $400bn annually by 2050 and $2trn by 2100. If not managed, the annual yield from fi shing could fall by 16% by 2050.
Nina Jensen, CEO of not-for-profi t organisation REV Ocean talked about REV’s project to create a Research Expedition Vessel as an asset for scientists to study issues like climate change and plastic pollution in the oceans.
Also addressing the topic of sustainability was Dr Samuel Thevasagayam, deputy director, agriculture development with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He stressed the importance of fi sh in feeding the world – more than three million people consume at least 20% of their animal protein in the form of fi sh
He said: “The ocean is a life source. It sustains us with oxygen, food, medicine and livelihoods.”
The Forum also heard from senior fi gures around the world, on topics including aquaculture, food processing, sustainability, marketing and how to deal with the threat of sea lice. Speakers included top executives from some of the biggest names in fi sh farming.
Trine Sæther Romuld, CEO Salmar Ocean (and also Chief Financial Offi cer and Chief Operating Offi cer with SalMar), talked about SalMar’s investment in offshore farming and confi rmed that the company is going ahead with its Ocean Farm 2 project, which is close the end of its “pre-engineering” phase.
The opportunities are great, she argued, since the areas that have been identifi ed [as suitable for farming] in the open ocean are greater than all the production areas in coastal Norway.
She added: “Going offshore is building on our fundamentals.”
Bjarne Johansen Project Manager, Havfarm with Nordlaks and Kåre Olav Krogenes, project leader for Nova Sea’s Spidercage, also gave updates on their companies’ offshore projects.
Ivan Vindheim, CEO with Mowi, said he would not be surprised to see further consolidation in the industry. He added that volume growth is the key driver – neither Mowi nor the industry as a whole had been
Opposite from top: Erna Solberg; Bjarne Johansen; Ivan Vindhei This page from top: Henning Beltestad; Regin Jacobsen; Andreas Kvame; Charles Høstlund; Dr Lee Dongwon; Heidi Kuehnle able to keep up with consumer demand in the last decade. He added
“alternative farming technologies will not change that”.
Mowi’s aim is at least to keep up with the industry’s growth and its 3 pillars are volume, cost and sustainability. Mowi is embracing the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” with smart farming, Vindheim said. He pledged the feeding will be 100% autonomous in future and said Mowi Norway aims to be fully digitalised by 2025.
He stressed: “We strongly believe in the future of conventional farming. We do not see alternative technologies as a threat to Mowi, but as an opportunity.”
Henning Beltestad, CEO, Lerøy Seafood said that Lerøy is building more post-smolt RAS facilities and considering whether to go all the way to building a full grow-out RAS facility. Also Leroy has been strengthening its downstream presence with the acquisition of a majority stake in Seafood Denmark, new factory in
Madrid and a seafood centre in Italy. The Forum also heard from Regin Jacobsen, CEO Bakkafrost;
Andreas Kvame, CEO Grieg Seafood; and Norway Royal Salmon
CEO Charles Høstlund who talked about his company’s plans in Norway and – through Arctic Fish – Iceland.
Also giving a bullish view of fi sh farming in Iceland were Ice Fish
Farm’s CEO Guðmundur Gíslason,· Icelandic Salmon’s Björn Hembre and Stein Ove Tveitn of Arctic Fish. The growing ranks of land-based fi sh farming were also represented, with insights from Salmon Evolution CEO Håkon Andrè
Berg; Proximar CEO Joachim Nielsen; Nordic Aqua Partners’
Chairman Ragnar Joensen; West Coast Salmon CEO Henrik
Krefting; and Nordic Aquafarms’ CEO Bernt-Olav Røttingsnes.
Dr Lee, President & CEO; Dongwon Industries, Korea – which is partnering with Salmon Evolution in a joint venture to create a landbased salmon farm in South Korea – said: “We see a bright future for salmon.”
He predicted a market of up to 100,000 tonnes in Korea by 2030, and he also suggested that Norway has a future in selling solutions in fi sh farming around the world, as well as products. FF
KAS is in the pink with innovation award
A Hawaiian-based company that has developed a process to grow natural astaxanthin was named as the winner of the Seafood Innovation Award.
The award went to Kuehnle AgroSystems (KAS), in a virtual presentation as part of the North Atlantic Seafood Forum. KAS is trialling production of low-cost, natural astaxanthin from algae at a tenth of the typical cost of a naturally sourced product.
Astaxanthin, a naturally occurring substance in algae and seafood, is used as an aquafeed feed supplement and colourant – it gives salmon and pink fl amingos their distinctive hue – and as a dietary supplement for human consumption. As well as its colour effect, it is a powerful natural antioxidant.
Astaxanthin is typically synthesised for aquafeed, but KAS believes that farmers and consumers would prefer to use a naturally sourced version.
The award was made after the audience voted on an online presentation by KAS Chief Executive Dr Heidi Kuehnle; and the award jury also determined the winner based on the presentation, innovative solution and market potential.
KAS was the winner out of a shortlist that also included:
Seas of Norway – which uses aquacul-
ture residues to grow seaweed as a crop and a “natural biofi lter”;
MicroClean – a company which is
developing a non-chemical treatment to remove pathogens in seafood processing;
Blue Lion Labs – which offers an early
warning system for harmful algal blooms based on machine learning;
SeaRAS – which provides water quali-
ty monitoring for RAS systems;
Pure Lobster – a business farming
Australian redclaw lobsters in RAS facilities in Norway;
Ocean Rainforest – a Faeroes-based
kelp producer; and
Seaguard – which has developed
water purifi cation technology using a fi lter from business AqOm and also an AqOm-based aquafeed.
