Honoured guests and conference participants,

It is an honour for me to open the first international conference of the World Fish Tech. I hope that these days of the conference will be fruitful and give inspiration to future work both for the industry and research and development institutions. Maybe even for participants from management and politics!

Technology and technological development are, and have been crucial for the development of the fisheries sector.

In Norway, as in many other parts of the world, the ability to effectively harvest fish increased dramatically in the 1950-ies and 60-ies with the entry of modern technology.

World capture fisheries and aquaculture production 1950 - 1996

(Source: FAO)

Capture fishery on a global scale increased from around 20 million tonnes in 1950 to around 60 million tonnes in 1970. From this time the increase was much lower and has, over the last 10 years been around 85 million tonnes.

However, the total world fish production has continued to rise, due to a steady increase in farmed fish, and is today around 120 million tonnes.

Within Norwegian aquaculture, there has been a tremendous development. In 1970/71 when the aquaculture production with penned salmon in the sea was in its infancy, the production was around 100 tonnes. In 1999 this production had increased to 400.000 tonnes of salmon and 50.000 tonnes of trout.

With the technology of today, man has put himself in a position able to deplete many of the world’s fish stocks. To avoid this to happen, and to be able to continue to harvest the surplus of marine production for many years to come, it is necessary to regulate the fisheries in a responsible way. And here we face new challenges.

Responsible fisheries management requires that we do not take out more fish than can actually be replaced by natural production, meaning that fishing does not lead to depletion of the stock.

We then need to know how much fish there is, and we need to monitor the development of the stocks.

Much research effort is today put into development of methods for assessing the stocks as accurately as possible.

Such assessments, knowledge about the biological characteristics of stocks, its reproducing potential and development of models to enable better prediction of stock development, are necessary tools for the scientific community to give advice on exploitation patterns and rates.

In trying to find "the status" of the marine environment, leave alone understanding the dynamics, the marine scientists have to rely heavily on indirect methods and models to help to visualise what is there and what is going on. Collection of data only provides fragments of the actual situation, and much will therefore be left to relying on models that will need continuous improvements. Good and reliable data that go into the models are crucial.

Models on population dynamics are continuously being improved and expanded to handle a bigger variation of data, including information on other species and environmental data, thus reducing uncertainty in the estimates.

Further development in technology will be important to improve methods for collection of data, in the design and equipment of research vessels and in computer technology that can enable the handling and processing of large amounts and variety of information.

Most fishermen at most times catch more types of fish, and sometimes fish of smaller size, than they aim to. This unintended catch is usually referred to as by-catch.

If this was fish not wanted, a common practice used to be, and still is in many parts of the world, to throw the by-catch overboard. In 1994, FAO estimated that such discard amounted to an average of 27 million tonnes per year, or about 32% of the total reported annual harvest of marine capture fisheries.

By-catch may have various negative implications, depending of what it consists of. If it consists of juveniles, it may be damaging to the reproducing ability of fish stocks. Incidental catch of fish, that belong to a stock in not so good condition, may contribute to a worsening of the stock. Discard is also regarded as a waste of resources that could be used for food.

In Norway, discarding of by-catch of all the important species, is forbidden by law. To protect juveniles, temporary closure of areas is an important measure. But in many fisheries it is difficult to avoid catching other organisms than the target species.

The aim of the research in this field is to develop methods that harvest the targeted species only, at the right size and the right amount. Challenges here are developing fishing gear and methods that are selective enough.

Catching fish is a result of the interaction between the fish and the gear. Studies of the fish’ behaviour is therefore an important part in improving gear and to develop new fishing methods.

Trawling is regarded as a crude way of fishing, with little selectivity. Various kinds of grids to be used in trawls are being developed to avoid untargeted organisms. The problem here has been to develop gear that works according to the intention of selecting fish of the right size without damaging the unwanted fish, and at the same time being easy to operate.

Norwegian development in sorting-grids has given promising results and received international acclaim.

Work on developing grids designed for different types of fisheries is continuing also in co-operation with other European countries.

The aquaculture industry in Norway is today a healthy industry and an important part of our economy. It is also the cornerstone of many rural communities along the Norwegian coast.

Several factors have contributed to this. Maybe of most importance has been the close co-operation between industry, research and management, with the common goal of making this work. AND that each of these partners provided what was necessary at the right time.

Many of the initial problems in the industry have found their solutions, not only through biological improvements, but also through new methods and technology to improve efficiency and to reduce negative impacts on the environment. Preventive measures against diseases, development of selective vaccines and good sites for pens, have all been important factors.

Antibiotika til fisk 1980 – 99 basert på verdier fra Fiskeridirektoratet og DNM

An illustration of this development can be shown in the use of antibiotics in the industry. As the figure shows, the use increased with the expanding industry, to a peak of 49 tonnes per year in 1987. At that time an efficient vaccine against the important disease at the time, vibriosis, had been developed. Since 1987, the use of antibiotics has fallen, even if the production from 1987 to 1999 increased by 6 to 7 times.

It is foreseen that the aquaculture industry will continue to grow. Norway has excellent natural conditions for culturing and farming a variety of organisms.

A basic challenge within aquaculture, especially with regard to marine species, is knowledge about the biology of the species. Animals that live well and thrive, will give results in better growth, less disease and better quality. To provide the right living conditions is also a question of technology.

It is important for the industry to keep negative effects on the surrounding environment to a minimum. One area, where new technology is needed, is in reducing the use of chemicals, like, for instance, anti-fouling agents.

The escape of salmon from pens into the wild does not only represent an economic problem, but also an environmental one. Ways of reducing, and preferably preventing, escapes, need to be developed.

With an expanding industry, and especially with bringing new species into farming, there are numerous challenges that need to be tackled, both in improving existing technology and developing new ones.

This applies to health issues, feed and feeding requirements, appropriate localities and improved efficiency in the production.

Ethical aspects of fish handling are issues, which have been raised. Larger market segments will opt for "the eco- and etho-good fish". It will be important for the industry to address these issues and develop satisfactory technology.

The challenges lie in inventive research and technology to develop food products that are acceptable to the consumer, methods and equipment for processing, which ensure that the quality of the raw material is kept through all stages in the process from source to market.

The possibilities are many, varied and probably even unexpected. I think we can say that even with limited fish resources there should be good possibilities for increased production of food from the sea. That is another challenge. Facing us all.

There is an increased interest, and also technological ability, to utilise marine resources in other industry than the food or feed industry.

I think that the search for interesting substances in nature is just in its beginning and will have big future prospects. Why not copy nature’s own solutions where possible? These could provide excellent substitutes to industrial products, which contain environmentally damaging substances.

In this area, more than in many others, only the imagination is the limit. The challenge of finding technological answers is yours.

Fishing itself may have a negative effect on the environment. Development of fishing technology is also aimed at developing gear and techniques that minimise negative effects, not only on other fish species, but also on other animals, like sea birds and sea mammals, that are caught incidentally in fishing operations. Good results have been achieved at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, and here in Trondheim at SINTEF, in developing methods to avoid incidental catches of sea birds in long line fishery.

Fishing can have adverse effect on marine benthic habitats. This is particularly severe on slow growing organisms like coral reefs that may need decades or centuries to rebuild after having been destroyed by fishing activity. Different types of bottom trawling are most likely to cause effects of this kind, effects that can only be avoided through closing areas of sensitive habitats for trawl fisheries – as has recently been done for deep water coral areas along the Norwegian coast.

The fisheries sector itself should play a leading role in reducing pollution of the ocean, including dumping of garbage and used fishing gear as well as emission of engine combustion products. In future development of fishing methods, fisheries management should therefore encourage the use of energy efficient fishing practices.

Another challenge is to avoid "ghost" fishing nets. These are fishing nets made from non-degradable materials, and which will continue to fish when they are lost at sea. It is a challenge to the producers of fishing gear to introduce materials that do degrade after a period in water.

Because of differences in production costs between countries, it will be a particular challenge of the Western world to improve the competitive power through mechanisation of onshore production.

The future in fisheries is challenging indeed. We can foresee an increased awareness of the health aspects of seafood, which again may lead to an increased demand.

This first and foremost illustrates the need to manage the fish stocks, but the big increase in demand can only be met by increased production in the world’s aquaculture.

This again requires an increased effort to utilise all parts of the fish, and through more effort to manage fish stocks that can supply the aquaculture with marine foodstuffs and especially marine fat.

A healthy marine environment is fundamental to healthy fish stocks and to sustainable fisheries.

Monitoring is necessary to be able to document the status of the environment and to detect changes. The future may give us more cost efficient methods than we have today. Computer technology and use of satellite imagery may be further developed.

However, reducing the influx of harmful substances into the marine environment, either transported through water or airborne, is crucial.

Sustainable development also means having regard for the energy cost of operations. Technology provides obvious possibilities to improve resource utilisation and energy efficiency.

Information technology is expanding fast and will probably represent possibilities in the future, which we cannot imagine today. Challenges lie in making full use of the possibilities for improving methods and techniques.

There is not a lack of technological challenges in the fisheries sector. We need many more solutions! I hope that this conference can contribute to this. I wish you all the best with the coming days and with future conferences to follow.

Thank you.