Prospects for fish farming at sea and future challenges for the aquaculture industry in the North Atlantic

1. Prospects for fish farming at sea and future challenges for the aquaculture industry in the North Atlantic Øystein Patursson Fiskaaling / Aquaculture Research Station of the Faroes www.fiskaaling.fo oystein@fiskaaling.fo seasthefuture Nordic Oceans Conference, 7 & 8 June 2011 The Nordic House, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands

2. Overwiev • Introduction • Fish farming in the Faroe Islands • What are we doing correct now? • Possibilities for expanding this industry • Research can make this process knowledge based

3. Fish farming – Future challenges • Global demand for food is increasing • World wide fisheries have stagnated • Demand for fish farming products • Any production that aims at producing food for the future needs to be sustainable • Salmon farming utilizes the food much better than meat produced in agriculture • The impact on the environment needs to be kept within a sustainable limit • The production itself also needs to be kept sustainable to ensure the wellbeing of the farmed fish Sustainability!

4. Happy fish Competing on the global market Low production cost • Optimize biological output • Low mortalities • Fast growth • Low FCR • Reduce production cost • Large units • Price of feed High sales price • Value added products • Organic or similar production • Large fish Sustainability!

5. The Faroe Islands • Mostly open ocean • Exposed to waves • Strong tidal currents

6. Faroe Islands • 18 islands • 113 km north-south • 75 km east-west • Land area 1393 km2 • Pop: 48,660 (Jan. 2010) • Fish farming is located in almost every sheltered location • Farmed trout and salmon: 48,662 tonnes (2009, gutted weight)

7. Production • Production has been quite variable (max of 52,000 tonnes in 2003) • The largest drop in production (16,000 tonnes in 2006) followed a series of ISA outbreaks • Regulation became much stricter after this • Production was back up to 49,000 tonnes in 2009 • There is a reduction in production in 2010 • Production in 2011 is expected to increase to 49,000 tonnes again (R. Dam 2011) ISA ISA: Infectious salmon anemia

8. The Faroese farming industry • Eggs • Mostly local production (Aquaculture Research Station of the Faroes) and some import since 2005 • Smolts • Local production • Development is from many small flow through stations to few large stations using recirculation • On-growing • Sea sites • Number of sites had a maximum of 63 with the same number of operators • Number of sites down to 40, organized in 23 management areas and operated by 5 operators • Cages have grown to 128m circumference and exposed sites are favored in front of the most sheltered.

9. Something is done right • The Faroese salmon farming industry has evolved into being among the best in the world • Part of this is due to strict regulations • Farming zones • Fallowing periods • Regulated transport • Most distinct difference is the low number of mortalities (R. Dam, 2011) The challenge is to expand and keep the fine result

10. 300 km Fish farming in island groups Disadvantages • Distance from marked • Harsh weather conditions and advantages • Isolation from disease and pollution • Good dispersion of effluents • Stable water quality • Few operators

11. Currents Most farms located in bays or fjords with slow currents Outside the fjords, the tidal currents are strong The strong currents disperse whatever is spread into these currents very fast around the entire shelf Concentrations are thinned out equally fast Waves Require strong equipment Better conditions on the bottom under fish farms Therefore the sites support quite high biomasses Farming conditions

12. Possibilities for expansion Increase the current farming industry • Increase farming at existing sites • New sites • Increase land based farming Diversify the industry • New species • Fish • Shellfish • Seaweed • IMTA (Integrated multi trophic aquaculture) or polyculture

13. Sheltered sites • Sheltered for waves and current • Little dispersion of effluents and disease agents • Large benthic impact • Little carrying capacity • Careful planning required to avoid benthic problems, problems with salmon louse etc.

14. Exposed sites Positive effects • Water exchange • Dispersion of effluents Large carrying capacity Negative effects • Large strain on equipment • Tough working conditions • Harsh environment for the farmed species Need to design according to fish and working environment

15. Open ocean Extreme environment The area of the shelf with depth 0-200m is 20000km2 -That is more than 10 times the area of the Faroe Islands

16. Diversification Shellfish • Bottom dwelling • Scallops • Suspended culture • Mussels • Scallops Seaweed • Suspended culture • Alaria esculenta • Saccharina Important to chose species that suit the farming environment

17. IMTA - Integrated Multi Trophic Aquaculture • Integrating species from several trophic levels into one system • Seabased IMTA • Salmon – Mussels – Kelp • Little control • Landbased IMTA • Better control • Biofilter in recirculating systems • A method to obtain a “greener” brand • Necessary to make sure that farming several species does not reduce the welfare of the other species

18. More knowledge needed • Current and waves • Exchange rates in cages • Minimum water flow • Equipment for exposed sites • Fish welfare on exposed sites • Biofouling • Benthic environment • Possible new species • Equipment for large scale land based farming • Assessing carrying capacity of exposed sites

19. Ongoing research • Currents and waves in faroese fish farming fjords • Measure and model the current and wave environment • Classification of sites • Planning of aquaculture activities • Exposed sites and open ocean • Equipment • Logistics • Fish behavior • Fish health and welfare

20. Ongoing research (cont.) • Cage environment • Water exchange • Effect of biofouling • Benthic environment • Effect of waves on the benthic environments • Diversification • Farming of cod • Mussel farming

21. Research partners In the Faroe Islands • Aquaculture Research Station of the Faroes • University of the Faroes • Faroe Marine Research Institute • Industry partners and some of the international partners • SINTEF, Norway • Institute of Marine Research, Norway • University of Stirling, Scotland • Danish Technical University, Denmark • University of New Hampshire, USA • US Naval Academy, USA

22. Discussion • Research is ongoing within the operational aspects and environmental impact of fish farming in exposed sites • An important issue for faroese aquaculture is to gain more knowledge on the carrying capacity of the entire shelf system • Parasites • Disease • When working in an atypical environment as the Faroe Islands, we have to fund a large portion of the research ourselves

23. Thank you!

24. Hardangerfjord, Norway Large fjord system vs islands One fjord has a larger production than all the Faroe Islands Faroe Islands

25. Management areas The colors show approximately the management areas

26. Water quality • Stable water temperatures. Mean is around 8 oC and min and max are 2-3 oC lower and higher respectively. • Well mixed water column. • Only harmful algal blooms at the most sheltered sites Larsen etal., 2008

28. Fish farming in the Nordic region consists to a large degree of farming of salmonids. Expansion of this industry requires careful planning of the production practices to avoid health and environment problems. Current fish farming in the Faroe Islands utilizes all sheltered sites and the focus now is on optimizing production on these sites and to take more exposed sites into use. The aquaculture research in this area and future challenges will be described.