Norwegian food research institute Nofima has released a report stating that companies supplying services to the aquaculture industry are responsible for an increasing amount of employment, indicating significant potential for industry development.
Produced on commission from the Troms County Council, the report found that a medium-sized marine fish farm produces similar levels of protein as the "entire agriculture industry in Troms and Finnmark combined – around 5,000 tonnes."
But what was most remarkable was the study's findings concerning the flurry of activity surrounding the industry's supply chains.
According to the report, several key tasks that used to be handled by fish farms are now being carried out by suppliers, from net cage maintenance to mooring and installation services, diving services, and feed and fish collection and delivery.
"This means that more of the employment is being transferred from the primary value chain to the suppliers," says Nofima. In addition, new specialist services are springing up, related to fish health, monitoring, reporting, environmental analyses, certification and site classification.
"In correlation with increased levels of industrialisation and professionalisation in all links of the chain, we also see that many of the wider economic benefits are concentrated in certain municipalities with strong business environments. Many of the suppliers arise from similar activity, such as producers of equipment for the fisheries industry also focusing on aquaculture or the shipbuilding industry viewing aquaculture as a new market.
"Aquaculture is now the largest private sector industry for some small municipalities in Troms, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the total employment.
"Another interesting point is that we are finding high levels of aquaculture-related employment in municipalities with little or no aquaculture production. We found several examples of this in Troms County. Balsfjord, for instance, has no fish farms but many people are employed in the production of fish feed and fish boxes, while Nordreisa has few aquaculture production sites but significant employment in the transport of fish feed," the report concluded.
Source: FISHupdate
