nofima.no
Creating value
2013
21
Financed by:
Troms County Council
The fish farmers will gladly buy locally providing they can find the necessary competence.
photo: frank gregersen © nofima
This emerges in a report by Nofima on commission for
the Troms County Council.
The most visible part of the aquaculture industry is
the production of food. A medium-sized marine fish farm
in Troms produces just as much “meat” annually as the
entire agriculture industry in Troms and Finnmark com-
bined – around 5000 tonnes. The aquaculture industry in
Troms constitutes 635 man-labour years, in the produc-
tion of juveniles, fish for consumption, processing plants
and well boat transport.
The less visible part is all the activity that takes place
among the industry’s many suppliers. Specialist suppliers
now handle several of the tasks previously done by fish
farmers, such as maintaining the net cages, mooring,
installing the fish farms and diving services. Feed and
smolt are both delivered by boat to the fish farm and the
harvested fish is collected at the fish farms. This means
that more of the employment is being transferred from
the primary value chain to the suppliers. New specialist
services are also springing up, including in relation to fish
health, monitoring, reporting, environmental analyses
and certification.
Prefer to buy locally:
Fish farmers in Troms spend
more than NOK 3 billion per annum on goods and servic-
es, of which NOK 2.5 billion is spent in Northern Norway.
“Fish farmers place emphasis on buying locally, pro-
viding they find competent actors,” say the scientists,
Audun Iversen, Otto Andreassen and Roy Robertsen.
Aquaculture is now the largest private sector industry
in some small municipalities in Troms, accounting for
over 10% of employment.
Many suppliers arise from similar activity, such as
fishing equipment producers or the shipbuilding industry
also focusing on aquaculture.
“Along with increased industrialisation and pro-
fessionalization, we also see that many of the wider
economic benefits are concentrated in municipalities
with strong business sectors.”
Increasingly more employment linked to the aquaculture industry is
found in companies that supply equipment or services to the industry.
Big spin-offs from aquaculture
