Svein Ludvigsen, Norwegian Minister of Fisheries

Trondheim, Norway, 7 August 2003

Distinguished Director of the Fishery resources Division of the FAO, Dr. Serge Garcia

Distinguished Ministers

Dear guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Norwegian Government it is a great pleasure and honour for me to welcome you all to Norway, to Trondheim and not at least to this second session of the Sub-committee on Aquaculture. I would also like to direct a sincere thanks to the Committee on Fisheries of FAO for making the arrangements for this Session to be held in Norway.

In an international aquaculture context Norway is both a small and a great nation. We are small in terms of total geographical area and population and our history in fish-farming is relatively short, especially compared to some of the countries represented here today. Only thirty years have gone by since a couple of Norwegians did their first attempts to grow salmon in a net cage in the sea. On the other side; in no more than thirty years has Norwegian aquaculture has grown from close to nothing into a thriving modern industry

. This is due to many factors but most importantly it is our long and clean coastline with large potential for marine production, which has made this possible. The salmon and trout industry, which are our main aquaculture export products, represented in 2001 about one third of the total export value of our seafood, and in numbers NOK 11 billion. For a small country like Norway this represents a substantial value, and fish was in fact our second largest export article after oil and gas.

Another key factor for our success is related to the Norwegian tradition of openness and the willing to share information. This goes to and from all key players within and outside the industry. In its first 30 years the aquaculture industry in Norway has been recognised by innovative thinking and creativity based on an exchange of expertise and on cooperation between actors in the industry, aquaculture organizations, research institutions and the public administration. Over the years we have build up a substantial expertise within many fields relevant to establish and to continuously develop a sustainable and future-orientated aquaculture industry. The resources put into research has over the last years been tremendous, and a lot of effort has resulted in lower mortality rate, more efficient breeding, faster growth and better vaccines. This example of interdisciplinary cooperation can be observed through the excellent state of health of our farmed fish, which has been achieved by close cooperation between research institutions, actors in the industry and the public administration.

The point I have made about the Norwegian competitive expertise and the willingness to share information is something I would like to emphasize in an audience as I stand in front of here today. The fact that Norway, and other nations, holds great knowledge and expertise should exactly be utilized through organizations like FAO. I find it as our common duty to contribute with our knowledge in a way that can jointly benefit our common fellowship.

To me cooperation and sharing of information seems even more important as the world appears smaller every day. All of us are in different ways connected to people from places far away. Many of the products we buy come from other countries, and we hardly think about it. The globalisation process that has taken place since the Second World War has resulted in a major liberalisation of international markets. The merits of a global market are obvious and widely appreciated. Globalisation offers opportunities and a wide range of new possibilities, but can of course also represent new difficulties.

The globalisation has also affected the fisheries sector, resulting in a significant increase in trade with seafood products for the last decades. The production of seafood products has also increased, mainly as a result of growth in the productions of aquaculture products. On global basis, fisheries and aquaculture products are important as sources of food, employment and revenue in many countries and communities. The fact that the potential for growth in the fisheries is limited makes aquaculture increasingly important.

In many cases, access to markets can only be obtained if documentation is available and products can be traced back to their origin. Publicly run control systems are needed to prove that production is sustainable and that seafood is safe. It is particularly important to ensure that fish feed does not contain any substances that may cause injury to fish or people or environmental damage.

A healthy marine environment is an essential basis for harvesting marine resources. Coastal and marine environments are under increasing pressure throughout the world. Norway is no exception. In many cases, development is carried out with inadequate knowledge of the probable impact on ecosystems. A central goal of the Norwegian Government's policy for the marine environment is to establish a framework that makes it possible to strike a balance between commercial interests – the fisheries, aquaculture and petroleum industries, for example – while adhering to the principles of sustainable development. We must therefore ensure that the marine environment is clean, and we must have systems that ensure that products are safe to eat. These basic requirements can only be met by means of active efforts from both the authorities and actors in the industry.

In the view of this constantly globalisation process as I have just described, the work of the sub-committee on aquaculture, and FAO in general, appears more important than ever, and should be rightfully valued by its member states.

In closing, I wish for all of you to have both informative and inspiring days during this session, but I would also encourage you all to find time to enjoy the beautiful sceneries of Trondheim and Norway.

Finally I hereby declare this Second session of the Sub-committee on Aquaculture officially as opened.