EU offers Norwegian farmers £8.7m to study salmon sludge impact

A group of Norwegian salmon farmers have been offered a European Union grant of NOK 120 million (£8.7m) to take part in a project studying the impact of sludge on the environment.

The group are from the Hardangerfjord area and mostly involve medium and less high profile businesses.

The names of those taking part are Eide Fjordbruk, Erko Seafood, Lingalaks and Tombre Fish Farms and Bremnes Seashore, all located within Rosendal in Hardangerfjord, which is the fifth longest fjord in the world, stretching 179 kilometres from the sea in the Vestland region.

It is also an area with the highest concentration of salmon farms in Norway, producing more than 100,000 tonnes of fish a year, mostly in open cages. This leads to a considerable discharge of sludge and nutrients into the surrounding fjord.

The research institution NORCE and the Institute of Marine Research will measure the effects of the sludge collection, while the industrial players Ragn-Sells and Framo will contribute, among other things, technology for the collection of sludge from open cages.

Environmentalists say the sludge, which consists of feed residues and faeces, can negatively affect the marine environment around the farms, with the risk of over-fertilisation.

But sludge can also become a valuable resources even much of it is still wasted.

“This is a very important project for us farmers. We want to operate as sustainably as possible and want clear answers to how our operations affect nature,” said Geir Magne Knutsen, head of strategy and development at Bremnes Seashore.

Although Norway is not a member of the European Union, the money is coming from the EU’s Horizon Europe Programme.

The project has been given the title AquaPhoenix and is scheduled to last for four years.

The collaboration is coordinated by NORCE, and there is a total of 30 partners, including ten European ones from Finland, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Among those in the consortium is the Finnish Åland Fishermen’s Association. The Baltic Sea faces major environmental challenges due to high levels of nutrients particularly from agriculture and industrial emissions.

At the moment Finnish fish farmers are not allowed to increase production for environmental reasons but the Finnish government does want to increase aquaculture in the country.

“This project provides us with important learning that can be transferred to farming in the Baltic Sea,” said Rosita Broström, Operations Manager at Åland’s fish farming association RF.