Future management models for aquaculture

 Future management models for aquaculture

The project studied and analyzed relevant management models for aquaculture in the future.

The aquaculture industry is very dynamic. The evolution of diseases and parasites, new technology, changes in the markets and the debate about who should be allowed to use the coastal zone are conditions that require constant adaptation. This creates a need to consider changes in the management of the aquaculture industry and the use of the sea areas in the coastal zone.

The framework conditions of the future

Analyzes and input on future aquaculture management must be based on some ideas about what the future will be like. For the aquaculture industry, several conditions can be changed. For some of these, there will be relatively great agreement on how one expects the development to be, often based on "heavy trends". Conditions that one is very uncertain about how the development will be for, and which can potentially have great significance, are often referred to as jokers.

Many conditions will of course be between these extremes. Together, this creates great uncertainty about what the future framework conditions will be for the aquaculture industry.

In an attempt to analyze the future, despite the great complexity, one tends to break it down into a few selected scenarios.

Environmental conditions, parasites and disease: Will major challenges today be solved or exacerbated in the future, or will new serious problems emerge?

Technological development: Will it be possible to have fish farms closer or larger, will the rotational speed in the sea be increased, what can this mean with more land-based or offshore facilities, etc.?

Social legitimacy and demands on the aquaculture industry: Are there even stronger demands and desires for redistribution of benefits and burdens from the aquaculture industry, or demands for more or less local influence?

Need for more knowledge

Several new instruments can be used in both spatial planning and site management. Some can affect how the processes are carried out, while others can affect the outcome of the processes and some both.

Resource interest and time limitation on the right of disposal to localities are two such instruments that will be considered in particular. The requirements that the municipalities can set in the coastal zone planning that indirectly influence the choice of technical solutions and operation of fish farms have also been on the agenda recently.

We will assess various types of requirements and the use of other instruments that management actors may consider, and among other things see how it can affect the facilitation of aquaculture and the redistribution of sites.

The project will assess the arguments for and against time-limited use of sea areas, where requirements for flexibility must be weighed against the need for long-term framework conditions. We will present various relevant models for resource interest rates, requirements for the use of sea area and time limits of the right of disposal.

The question of area tax or another form of resource rent taxation has been pending for a long time and has now been adopted by the Storting. We will consider different models and what effects they will have for the industry as well as for the municipalities and other industries and interests. We will professionally assess the consequences, and examine how different groups assess resource interest taxation, requirements and time limits.

How different instruments and their design can affect will have to be analyzed together with different models for spatial planning and site management. Case studies are conducted to shed light on new approaches to site management, and interviews are conducted with key people from the industry, their organizations and administration at the municipal and county level, as well as with sector authorities.

About the project

The project is funded with NOK 9.5 million by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Fund (FHF) and involves researchers from the food research institute Nofima, the University of Stavanger, the University of Tromsø and NTNU Social Research. Lawyer Bjørn Sørgård at Arntzen de Besche also participates in the project, which is led by Nofima. The project will end on 30 June 2020.

Four sub-goals

Sub-goal 1: Regulation of production

Professionally evaluate various methods for production regulation, including scenarios for how production can be regulated in the future and at what level the regulation can take place.

Sub-goal 2: Land management

Professionally assess various forms of land management, including how good methods for planning the use and utilization of sea area can be established. Assess the requirements that can be set for the operation of a locality (including a time-limited permit), and analyze the consequences of different options for resource rent.

Sub-goal 3: Area cooperation

Professionally evaluate various forms of area collaboration, and based on cost/benefit calculations assess the extent to which this can be used as a production optimization measure. Establish a knowledge base for how area cooperation can be organized. Make professional considerations about whether the industry can take responsibility for such cooperation, or whether it should be added to the administration.

Sub-goal 4: Overall analysis

Academically assess challenges across the main themes of the project. Analyze how the most relevant scenarios and management solutions on the three themes will be able to influence and collaborate, which summarizes findings in the sub-projects.

New techno world

Shehzad Ul Hassan

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