By
Bjørn Myrseth
The Norwegian fish farming industry has accelerated from zero to 80 km/h in 10 seconds. The first salmon was sold in 1971, and in 1986 we marketed 42 000 t of Atlantic salmon, making salmon the most single important fish in our fisheries (Annex 3, Table 1). There is much to be learned from our experience, which will help to avoid problems in other countries wanting to develop a fish farming industry.
What have we learnt? Some lessons are noted below:
1. Capital requirements
It takes four years from when you start with a salmon egg until the life cycle is completed. Remember that you tie up capital for at least 31/2 years if you are starting Atlantic salmon production. A similar story exists with other marine fish.
2. Pollution
It is very important to remember that cage farming of fish pollutes the environment but it only has a local effect. Good current and water circulation at the cages site are very important.
3. Feed
Good quality feed is important. To produce good quality feed high quality ingredients are essential. This means that feed will be costly.
The characteristics of dry feed are:
- easy handling
- good growth
- consistency
- easy automation of feeding
- high unit cost
Those of wet feed are:
- difficult handling
- prepared on sites, much work involved
- difficult to automate
- not consistent
- unit cost cheap
4. Disease
There will always be problems with diseases in fish farming, and we must always expect new ones to crop up as the industry expands.
To avoid diseases, good husbandry and good hygiene is very important. All this can only be achieved by training the fish farmer.
Government research and support always lag behind the needs of the industry to cope with disease problems.
There should be a minimum distance of at least 1 000 m between each farm. This distance has to be modified according to water flow and currents.
5. Technical improvement
Stronger cages have been developed, made of steel and high density polyethylene.
6. Economics
Government support in relation to working capital is extremely important. In Norway this has been provided in the form of guarantees so that a fish farmer can go to a local bank and borrow the working capital necessary.
The size of a fish farm should not be limited by political decisions, but by the economy of scale. In some cases I am convinced that small family owned and operated farms could be the most successful. However, with other species and under other conditions, farms may have to be run by larger corporations to achieve economy of scale.
7. Training
Schools and universities seem too slow to realize that there is a demand for trained fish farming technicians and personnel. They are therefore too late in starting training programmes.
8. Legal constraints
It is important that each country realizes its potential in aquaculture. Laws must be established which regulate the industry, set rules for what the fish farmer can do and not do, and draw lines between traditional fisheries and aquaculture. In most countries this has not yet been done, and this makes fish farming permits difficult to obtain.
9. Quality control
Right from the beginning, fish farmers should introduce some kind of quality control to distinguish farm fish, which can be sold at high quality because it is fresh. It must be distinguished from old captured or frozen fish.
10. Supply of juveniles
It is very important that all governments support the construction and running of hatcheries first before too much money is put into cage culture. We should keep in mind the production line, which is broodfish -eggs - juveniles - market size fish.
It is most likely that the supply of broodfish, eggs, and (most important of all) juveniles, will be bottlenecks in the production chain. This imbalance has to be straightened out to avoid unreasonably high prices for juveniles and the frustration experienced by fish farmers who, having got cages and permits and everything else ready, cannot fill the cages with juvenile fish. This very often ends up with farmers stocking uneconomically small fry sizes because there are not enough juveniles.
In summary: get the infrastructure right. I hope I have pinpointed a number of the constraints that would limit the growth of Mediterranean fish farming. Be aware of them and try to straighten them out before they appear.
Table 1: Growth of the salmon fry industry in Norway and extracted future expansion 1971-95
|
Year |
Aquaculture Production (t) |
|
1971 |
100 |
|
1980 |
4153 |
|
1981 |
8422 |
|
1982 |
10266 |
|
1983 |
17000 |
|
1984 |
22000 |
|
1985 |
28500 |
|
1986 |
38000 |
|
1987 |
49500 |
|
1988 |
63000 |
|
1889 |
79000 |
|
1990 |
90000 |
|
1991 |
95000 |
|
1992 |
100000 |
|
1993 |
105000 |
|
1994 |
110000 |
|
1995 |
110000 |
