I Norge har fiskeoppdrett røtter langt tilbake i tiden. Allerede i vikingetiden ble fisk satt ut i dammer og vann. Den spede begynnelse på dagens oppdrettsnæring starter først på alvor på 50-tallet.
When it came to farming noble fish species such as trout and salmon, little happened until the end of the Second World War. Some of the first to pick up the thread were brothers Eilif and Einar Thom from Brunlanes in Vestfold. Einar had been in England during the war and had seen trout farming in earthen ponds there. As early as 1950, they dug a pond in the garden of their farm and stocked it with trout. From 1958 onwards, they went full steam ahead. They were also possibly the first to release trout into the sea. They built enclosures in the lake with nets on poles. Unfortunately, their facility was hit by a boat, so the entire production was moved to land in large earthen ponds.
This form of farming with earthen dams was called pond farming and was particularly widespread in southern Norway and up the coast of western Norway and Sunnmøre. Eventually, more people tried their hand at hanging things in the sea.
In 1959, brothers Karsten and Olav Vik from Sykkulven released salmon into the sea in so-called “floating boxes”. Preliminary trials showed that this was possible and the “floating boxes” became a kind of precursor to cages. Ingar Holberg from Smøla was a sheriff’s officer and a member of the Norwegian Inventors’ Association. Together with his son, Nils Magne, he built an octagonal frame measuring 10 x 10 metres. Merda was made of wood and had floating elements in polystyrene. The cage was launched, netted and filled with fish in Finnannabukta in Nordvågen in 1962 and was probably Norway’s first floating cage with a net bag as we know it today. Around the same time, Holberg’s colleague on Hitra, sheriff’s officer Arne Ratchje, began building similar cages, based on drawings from Holberg. This type of cage was used by several people, but became known as “Grøntvedt cages” due to the fact that the Grøntvedt brothers used them extensively.
In the 1950s and 60s, it was mostly trout that was farmed. At the very end of 1969, Mowi AS released salmon into the sea. It was the first time it was done on a larger scale. The salmon were released in Lokøykjølpa in Øygarden. This was a so-called poll, a narrow strait that was closed off at both ends. Although this type of operation lasted well into the 1980s, it proved to be a dead end. Floating cages are still the most common form of operation and it was in such cages that Sivert and Ove Grøntvedt on Hitra released salmon on 28 May 1970. Salmon farming was featured in the media and soon a number of new companies sprang up all along the coast. The Norwegian Fish Farmers’ Association (NFF) was also founded in 1970. In 1973, a temporary licensing act was passed. This regulated the operation of the facilities and was intended to ensure that it became an industry for the coastal communities and not for the industrial giants. The facilities could be operated as an economic unit, but with production limitations. In 1978, FOS (Fiskeoppdretternes salgslag) was established and had a monopoly on first-hand sales of the fish.
The first Norwegian Fish Farming Act was passed in 1981, with local ownership as the guiding principle. It also regulated the location and structure of the facilities with regard to fish health, the environment and shipping traffic. Work then began on awarding new licences. The first round was in 1981, followed by 1983/84 and finally a round in 1985/86. There was also an extra licensing round for North Troms and Finnmark in 1989. Great emphasis was placed on distributing the licences along the entire coast. In particular, areas with little fish farming, such as Northern Norway, were favoured. There were many to choose from. In 1983, for example, there were 100 licences to be distributed among 1,200 applicants. Licence volumes were also increased during the 1980s, from 3000 m³ to 8000 m³. In 1985, a new fish farming law was introduced. This led to a liberalisation of the rules on ownership structure, so that it was still not possible to have majority interests in more than one company, but you could now have minority interests in several.
In the mid-1980s, the authorities made it possible for just about anyone to start hatchery production, with no requirements for professional qualifications or ownership structure. It took two years to raise a salmon ready for slaughter. So it took two years for the problems to materialise. From 1987 to 1989, production more than doubled. This situation quickly led to overproduction, falling prices and a number of bankruptcies. The first to be affected were the hatchery fish producers. In the late 1980s, Norway accounted for around 80 per cent of the world’s salmon production and by 1990, the overproduction of Norwegian salmon had become so great that the FOS initiated freezing in an attempt to keep prices up. However, prices continued to fall and in addition there were major disease outbreaks, import bans and punitive tariffs from the US and EU. The result was that FOS was sitting on a veritable mountain of salmon that they could not sell, and they did not have the money to pay the farmers for the fish either.
The collapse came in the autumn of 1991. The fish farmers’ sales organization went bankrupt, as did a number of fish farmers. Many of them had invested almost everything they owned and suffered huge losses. At this time, the authorities’ attitude to the Licensing Act also changed. After the bankruptcy, the Fish Farming Act was amended so that the requirement for majority owners to have a local presence disappeared, as did the provision that you could not be a majority owner in more than one company. This meant that there was no longer “one license per fish farmer”, and “big business” was free to buy into the industry. The banks were left with a large number of licenses from bankrupt fish farmers. These were sold at bargain prices and bought up by financially strong commercial investors. In many cases, the former owners were left with debts that they paid off for years. With the liberalisation of the Fish Farming Act and the arrival of financially strong owners, there were opportunities for growth. New, well-funded owners led to rapid development on both the equipment and research fronts. This in turn led to increased expertise and productivity. During the 1990s, growth became enormous. In 1992, 132,000 tonnes of salmon and trout were produced. By 1995, the volume had doubled to 264,000 tonnes. In 2003, 586,000 tonnes. From 1989, no new licenses were awarded until 2002, when 40 new food fish licenses were granted. In 2003, a further 50 licenses were allocated.
The authorities felt compelled to introduce restrictions on production. As a result, the feed quota system was introduced from 1 March 1996. This meant that the amount of feed limited the number of fish that could be produced.
Norway was in dispute with the EU over punitive tariffs on Norwegian salmon. The dispute was brought before the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and was upheld. The EU’s punitive measures against Norwegian salmon were thus lifted from 20 July 2008. This did not mean free growth at all. The feed quota system was abandoned in 2005 and the concept of MAB (maximum allowable biomass) was introduced instead. The MAB for a normal licence is 780 tonnes, while Troms and Finnmark have 945 tonnes. There was an increased focus on the location of the facilities and their impact on the environment. The number of sites was therefore reduced, while the remaining sites increased in both size and volume. In 2002, 40 new food fish licences were awarded. At that time, no new licences had been awarded since 1989. In 2003, a further 50 licences were allocated. This also meant that the facilities with the best natural conditions had a larger biomass.
Larger facilities also require larger service and wellboats. A new generation of vessels, including hybrid solutions that provide propulsion on both diesel and electricity, has come into operation. Technology has made major advances in both feed barges and feeding facilities. In many places, salmon are fed from land, from so-called “growth centres”, and salmon lice can be fought with “lice lasers”, just to name a few.
With increasing biomass in the sea came increasing problems with disease and sea lice. The latter, in particular, has proved to be a particularly large and persistent problem. Since 2012, growth has stagnated due to stricter regulations and in 2017 the so-called “traffic light system” was introduced. The authorities have divided the coast into 13 production zones that are closely monitored. It is the environmental impact on wild salmon in the area and salmon lice levels that determine whether the industry is given a green, yellow or red light in these areas. In green zones, authorisation can be given to increase production, in yellow zones there is a halt, while in red zones fish farmers must reduce their production. In order to grow the industry, it seems that completely new areas and production methods must be utilised.
2020s
In the summer of 2020, Salmar launched “Ocean farm1”, the world’s first ocean cage. In recent years, several so-called “ocean cages” have been built. These are facilities that are located far from land and almost in the open sea. They are also a long way from other facilities, so hopefully it will be possible to produce salmon here without problems with lice and disease. These facilities combine technology from both the aquaculture industry and the oil industry.
The background is the major lice infestation. They want to move the facilities to areas where the infection pressure is not so great. For the same reasons, new technology is constantly being developed. More people are now switching to submersible cages, closed or semi-closed facilities at sea and land-based facilities.
Allerede i vikingetiden ble fisk satt ut i dammer og vann i Norge. I middelalderen var det vanlig i Europeiske klostre og slott at man hadde karpedammer. I Norge er det for kaldt til å holde karper, men karusser var en hardfør og populær fisk som ble holdt i dammer. En av Norges første oppdrettspionerer var sognepresten i Spydeberg, Jacob Nicolai Wilse. På 1770-tallet drev han et eget oppdrettsanlegg for karusser. Fra midten av 1800-tallet ble det drevet forsøk med utklekking av laks og ørretyngel, med tanke på å forbedre fiskevann og vassdrag. Det ble etablert flere såkalte «utklekkingsanstalter». En av disse var «Flødevigens udklækningsanstalt» som ble etablert på Hisøya ved Arendal i 1882. Her ble det drevet forsøk med klekking av saltvannsfisk, blant annet torsk. I dag er den en av Havforskningsinstituttets tre nasjonale forskningsstasjoner for oseanografiske målinger. Den begynte å registrere målinger allerede i 1882 og er en av Europas eldste målestasjoner.
The first salmon is released into the sea on a larger scale. Mowi with its poles.
First salmon in the sea on a large scale in cages. The Grøntvedt brothers.
Norwegian fish farmers’ association founded. NFF.
A temporary license law.
The creation of FOS (Fiskeoppdretternes salgslag).
The Farming Act was passed.
Research program “Fresh fish” established in 1983 – 1996. Among other things, use of wrasse. Manager Dag Møller.
New liberalized aquaculture law.
FOS goes bankrupt.
Release of ownership restrictions.
Introduction of pre-quotas on 1 March 1996 to limit production.
MTB was introduced as a restriction of prod.
Traffic light system.
The world’s first ocean crab (Salmar).