Aquacuture and seafood

With Bergen as the seafood capital of Norway, Vestland offers a robust aquacultural ecosystem with leading aquaculture companies, pioneering supply chain start-ups and and research leading research institutions and cluster organizations.

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Interested in what’s going on in Norwegian aquaculture? Visit the cluster NCE Seafood Innovation

An increased population and a global sustainability focus will shift the demand from wild catch to sustainably farmed seafood and spark a growth in the Norwegian aquaculture industry

The natural competitive advantages and a long history have given Norway a truly unique position when it comes to sea-based food production. A long coastline, with vast sea areas and excellent water exchange, gives Norway a truly unique advantage when it comes to sea-based food production. Norwegian farmed salmon is exported to over 100 countries. Every day, 22 million meals with Norwegian salmon are served worldwide.

Fill inn the gaps in the value chains

Innovative and industrial development through the industry’s 30 years of experience have contributed to a sustainable food production and growth in numerous coastal communities. The industry has invested in research and development, enabling it to achieve a leading global position. Technological and biological development have, and will continue to contribute, to the sustainable growth of Norway's production of safe and healthy food.

The ocean can contribute to solving many of the sustainability challenges that the world is facing today, and Norway will play an important role in finding these solutions. The aquaculture industry sees core prerequisites as a base for successfully developing a healthy, safe and even more sustainable seafood industry for the future.

There are several opportunities for companies that want to take part in developing the industry and solving its key challenges. Doing so will ensure future seafood production and global food security.

Key areas where firms can contribute to are:

Climate, environment, and the circular economy
Digital transformation and digitalisation
Fish health and welfare
Future feed ingredients

Ocean Incubator 70BLÅ

70Blå Ocean Incubator offers follow-up and advice in all aspects of business development for entrepreneurs in the marine industry. Other services:

Office spaces in an innovative and sharing environment at Marineholmen-
Own agreements with discounted prices at our partners within law, intellectual property, patent, accounting, finance, financing, and marketing.
Access to testing facilities.
Connection to research and development environments, investor environments, and business clusters

Industry challenges and business opportunities

The customer driven demand for sustainability and traceability creates business challenges.

Biological challenges and diseases are two of the major concerns the industry faces going forward. Most of the new innovations are focused on making aquaculture more sustainable, decreasing biological challenges while, at the same time, increasing volumes in the long run.
New solutions to both monitor, control and prevent parasites are vital to secure a profitable and sustainable future growth in the industry.
Future regulations will drive focus on both reduced carbon footprint and increased fish health and fish welfare. This development is imperative for future growth in the industry.
Feed accounts for more than 80% of the emissions per unit of salmon and 46% of the production costs. Innovative and new feed ingredients are critical to comply with regulations and global sustainability goals.
One kilo of produced salmon creates 0.5 kilo of biological offshore waste (feed and faecal waste. In addition, comes trimmings from VAP process). Handling waste will reduce biological footprint, and reuse will create circularity in the value chains.
Expected changes in regulations for production sites/locations will make production onshore and further offshore will gain traction. To achieve that, new solutions in production technology is needed.

Business story: Data sharing

AquaCloud is an example of the industry collaboration. Serving as an innovation platform, it works to collect, store, share and standardise fish health data from participating fish farms. The goal of this platform is to allow innovators and service providers to create new services for these fish farmers that solve key challenges. These include reducing fish mortality rates, improving fish health, dealing with sea lice, improving sustainability, and ensuring overall fish production. Norwegian companies, start-ups, tech firms and researchers can use the aggregated industry data to develop new services to contribute to sustainable growth.

To provide additional value and a holistic overview, supplemental data is added from BarentsWatch, the Institute of Marine Research and weather services.

Several international firms have seen AquaCloud’s potential, and the platform is constantly looking for new collaborators. Companies registered in Norway can access this data, and thereby discover opportunities to contribute their own data or create innovative solutions for solving industry challenges.

Why look to Vestland?

Vestland is the ideal location for taking part in developing the Norwegian seafood industry and making an impact on the global development of fish farming:
The region has a complete value chain for salmon and trout production.
The major listed salmon companies have their HQs in Bergen.
Bergen has a research and competence hub with The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research, the NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and the University of Bergen – Norway’s largest marine university.
An output of the research and education institutions is a skilled work force with international focus to fill the whole value chain.
Location for the national aquaculture cluster, serving as a gateway to the industry’s stakeholders to work closely together to enable more innovation and increase the development of the aquaculture industry going forward.
Norwegian salaries are favourable compared to European and US counterparts. We can provide detailed workforce data, including availability and cost analysis.
Competitive tax regime, strong economy and transparent business environment.
Stable political situation, EU-compatible framework.

How can we help?

We assist you to establish and grow your company in Vestland. Our services are free of charge. Full confidentiality when required.
We can connect you with the regional ecosystem.
Assistance with site search, RFI, RFP, and site visits.
Updated information on regulatory issues and regional development regulations.
Assistance in exploring funding opportunities and relevant business support systems.

Latest news from this industry

Why new feed ingredients are important and why Vestland is key

The development of new feed ingredients is a critical step in addressing two major challenges: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and producing healthier food for a growing global population. Innovation in this area is crucial for an important industry in Vestland, aquaculture.