Environmental Regulation of Aquaculture

- The European Experience Seen from a Danish Perspective

Karl Iver Dahl-Madsen

DHI Water & Environment

to FAME Jun-05, Esbjerg

A Typical NGO View Currently, the Norwegian (Chilean?!)

fish-farming industry is not sustainable. Along with the production of salmon and trout come great environmental challenges. The most serious one being over-fishing of stocks used for fishmeal and fishoil to produce fish feed. Other dangers includes discharge of vast amounts of nutrients, chemicals and metals, introduction of escaped salmonoids to Norwegian watercourses, parasites and diseases transferred to the wild stocks, and a threat of inducing gene modified fish to Norwegian waters

Draft Position Document from WWF-Norway, January 2002Written by Maren Esmark, mesmark@wwf.no

The Salmon Farming Image Could be Better – But Can Be Changed

The Industry (and public servants) needs to: Take this issue very seriously Continue decoupling impact from

production Be proportionate (and very correct)

in its description of impacts: All food production impacts

Be publicly proud of itself (not arrogant though) and visible

Good Environmental Management is not just a scientific and legal issue, but mainly about attitudes

It can go very wrong: The Case of Denmark

NGO’s & Bureaucracy may kill you

European Regulation

The political and (bureaucratic) reflex reaction, when identifying a new problem:

Make Command & Control regulation

Smother the Industry in Red Tape and hope that waiting out for years will make the industry quit

The future is incentives for the industry to make its decoupling and a partnership with authorities and NGO’s

Norway: Modelling On-growing Fish Farms Monitoring

Balance: No deterioration

Monitoring Intensity & Expertise: after 3 degrees of influence

3 impacted zones: Local, Intermediate, Regional

T.C. Telfer and M.C.M. Beveridge1Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling,

Scottish Regulation

3. Siting Zones:1. No Future2. Limited3. Feasible

Discharge ConsentHydrographic &

Sediment informationUsed in Dispersion

Models

T.C. Telfer and M.C.M. Beveridge1Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling,

In Greece

S. E. PapoutsoglouAgricultural University of Athens

Conclusions on the ComparisonComplexityDiversity, and then

enforcement:Is this a fair playing

ground?

Too much emphasis on analysis and control

And too little on incentives for solving the problem

What Is Proposed in Denmark:

1 ”Blue” Zone for Sea Cage Farming North Sea not relevant yet

No New Farms outside blue zone Existing to be gradually

moved No Ceiling for

production Nitrogen will be limiting

though: So 100.000 year with existing technology

Regulation System

Discharge permits for nutrients, etc No Food / Production limits!

Good practices asked on feeding efficiency etc. expected

Controlled by massbalances:Loss=Food_In + Stocking – Fish_HarvestedAnd then VAT control!

Cleaner Technology: In a dialogue between the fish farmer, a continued decoupling

Reactor FishTank

Monitoring Plan For New Farms (which will all

be from 1000 to 5000 tons/yr) a thorough EIA has to be done Mapping of the benthic

conditions Model simulations of ecological

impact For small farms: monitoring to

be discontinued Big farms: Monitoring until

steady state If major changes: monitoring

starts again

Monitoring Should Make a Difference!

Don’t Measure what you already know

WaterMuch WaterVery Much Water

Monitoring Methods

Fluctuations: Not practically and economically feasible to monitor in water

Instead:ModelingBenthic SurveysAnd Biomonitoring:

in DK, Ulva Lactusa

0 200 500

500

100

50

0

-50

-500

-1000Growth

Diameter, cm

Distance to the East,m

Distance North/South, m

Ulva Growth

0-2 2-4 4-6

Modern Environmental Management of Aquaculture

Recognizes That all food productions

impact ecology That aquaculture is ecological

efficient Env. impact from aquaculture

is generally well known Env. Management should be

simple And monitoring kept to a

minimum Freed resources to be used for

decoupling Simulated algae in Sea of Chiloe

A Global Lesson for AquacultureThis issue is political,

and needs political decisions

Irrational stops for seafarming can happen anywhere in the world

Science & Technology can produce the desired decoupling

The EndThe End