First International Marine Ingredients Conference

Political Goals and Challenges

Dear ladies and gentlemen
I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to give an introductory speech at this First International Conference on Marine Ingredients.

First I would like to congratulate the organizers RUBIN and Maring Forum for successfully having gathered more than 200 scientists, industrial partners, organizations and governmental bodies coming from many countries. This participation clearly demonstrates the current interest for this issue.

The conference will address challenges as well as opportunities for the international development of a marine ingredient industry. But it is not really one industry, it covers quite different kinds of enterprises and research institutes developing a broad range of applications, for instance marine ingredients for feed, food or for pharmaceutical purposes.

The basis for the production of marine ingredients is also different. Business is made by exploiting by-products from captured fish or aquaculture, or enterprises harvest marine resources directly for this purpose. This of course entails quite different regimes of regulation.

The challenges varies, the opportunities varies.
However, they do have something in common:

That is value creation from marine resources.

Governmental policy
Being a country surrounded by large areas of seas and oceans, harvesting the richest of the sea has a long tradition in Norway.
The importance of the marine sector for economical growth has always existed for Norway, and certainly for the future the importance of living marine resources  will increase as the limited oil and gas resources will decrease.

The Norwegian Government will play its part by facilitating knowledge development and innovation. We must be successful in achieving renewal through development of new technology, new products and new solutions. That is also why the Government launched its first strategy on marine bioprospecting with its vision of – a source of new and viable wealth creation.

Our goal is to have as much wealth creation as possible, while reducing the strain on the environment.

This conference today on marine ingredients will certainly present some examples of new products and solutions and the potential of value creation.

Grand Challenges
As a political advisor representing for the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, I find some aspects of the development of marine ingredient industries also fascinating  when it comes to the grand challenges the world is facing.

The grand challenges are well known. In addition to the effect of climate change and the need for energy, there is an increased need for food and an increased need for ensuring good health and welfare for the world’s population.

As the global population is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, these challenges are enormous.

Political goals and challenges – Sustainable management
It is quite obvious that the demand for seafood will increase. As a major seafood producer, Norway has a moral obligation to supply the world with seafood. We are the second largest seafood export nation. China is the largest.

Today Norway is globally a major seafood producer, and our aim is to maintain this position. According to a study carried out by The University of British Columbia and WWF, Norway is at top of the list of 53 countries concerning compliance with the UN Code of Conduct for responsible Fisheries. However, this position can’t be taken for granted. We do believe that it is important to continue development of sustainable management of our fisheries and aquaculture.

That is why Norway works internationally to reduce illegal fishing which is one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries management.

Another threat as far as Norway is concerned, is the effect of discards. Discards are quite simply a waste of valuable marine resources that could have been used for food, feed or other applications. We are working with the EU to reduce discards in the North Sea, and we are working in the FAO to develop international guidelines to reduce by-catch and discards, something I believe will have a major impact.

Sustainable management of marine resources is a key issue for the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs.

Increased exploitation of by-products
This also implies an interest for by-products. From a sustainable point of view it is evident that marine by-products should be utilised.

The last 15-20 years the volume of by-products has increased. The overall by-product volume from fish and shellfish in Norway was estimated to 795,000 tons in 2009 of which 615,000 tons were exploited. This is more than 75%.

Another interesting aspect is the impact on the climate. Although the food production system as a whole is one of the major contributors of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, the input from fisheries and aquaculture is small compared to other sectors. Nevertheless, it can always be improved.

Extended use of marine ingredients including use for energy production can be defined as climate friendly since the total emission of carbon dioxide, to the environment by the by-product system is low.

By exploiting most of what we take out of the sea, the potential effect on climate change is reduced. Increased use of marine by-products in feed production, will contribute to a decreased carbon footprint from this sector.

In other words,
In respect of:
• increased value creation by exploiting biological resources from the sea
• sustainable management
• and with relevance to the grand challenges

The development of a marine ingredient industry is of great interest.

The marine ingredients industry
The marine ingredients industry is an emerging industry producing ingredients for nutrition and food supplements based on marine by-products and other marine raw materials. Within this segment Norwegian industry is developing leading international positions in both human and animal feed markets.  About 30 companies in this sector have a total revenue today exceeding 4.5 billion NOK.

However, the potential is much higher.
The most well-known marine ingredient is omega-3 oils for health foods, functional food, feed additives, etc.  Marine proteins have so far been sold within low priced feed markets.  This is now changing, and we are facing an accelerating interest for value added products in attractive life science markets. In addition to the markets for marine oils and proteins, marine ingredients do have significant opportunities also within other market segments.

In Norway the marine omega-3 oil industry is to a great extent based on imported fish oils from South America, but by-products from salmon production, pelagic industry and cod are becoming more important.

With increased focus on health benefits of low oxidized marine oils from fresh origin for human applications, value adding opportunities will increase significantly.  Still most of the by-products from pelagic industry go to the traditional fish meal plants or to silage products, used for fish feed. I do find it interesting that the pelagic industry look into possibilities for moving towards other, more value added applications.

The marine protein industry is still mainly into the feed business, but production of special ingredients for use as feed additives, pet food or human ingredients for health and nutrition – including flavouring - is coming up. 

A new segment is the industry harvesting marine organisms like krill and Calanus for producing marine ingredients like oils and other products.

There is an ongoing discussion on the sustainability of harvesting these resources.

In Norway harvesting of wild living marine resources such as for instance krill and Calanus is regulated by our own Marine Resources Act which entered into force 1st of January 2009.

The fundamental principles in this law includes
• a precautionary approach
•  as well as an ecosystem approach

These principles apply for every kind of harvesting, and will form the backbone of future management regimes.

Potentials and success factors
The economic potential is huge if the move into the human markets will succeed. 

Much of the by-products are utilized for feed, but there are great opportunities if we make the right decisions for the future. This includes strategy, technology, management, competence development, as well as public framework and measures. 

Sustainability and environmental factors must play an important role in this respect.

The global demand for high quality, healthy and sustainable marine ingredients is increasing, and the substantial  volumes dumped into the sea  from by-catch and by-products will in due time be utilized for this purpose. 

Key factors in this context are
• development of new technology
• documentation of health effects of marine ingredients
• appropriate and standardized regulations across the borders
• international quality standards

There are also structural challenges, and increased co-operation both up stream and down stream is of vital importance.

Shared responsibility
The development of a competitive international marine ingredient industry will mainly rely on innovative enterprises and the industrial environment.

The enterprises are themselves responsible for utilising the potential that exists in the market, and many undertakings have demonstrated an excellent capacity to innovate and create value.

The public authorities are responsible for creating conditions that improve the enterprises potential to be innovative and develop a sound regulatory framework.

What we do and our aim
In Norway we have several financial instruments supporting Research and Development and commercialization, administrated by the Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway. We have also established the Fishery and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund which is based on a levy of 0.3 percent on all exported fish and fish products. In addition there are several regional funds.
 
The Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs spends as much as 40 % of our budget on R & D that is approximately 1.5 billion NOK. This is allocated directly to institutions or to the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway or special measures like RUBIN.

Research is vital, and our policy for sustainable management of fisheries and aquaculture rely on recommendations from the scientific community. Recommendations will be reflected in our adoption and implementation of legislation and regulations.

Our aim is to contribute to:
• ensure long-term, optimal exploitation of living marine resources
• contribute to a profitable, self-sustained fisheries industry
• enhance the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry
• contribute to development of new industries like the marine ingredient industry
• and also ensure  sustainable management of all marine resources

Our aim is that all seafood and marine products should be safe and keep a high quality. It should be produced under ethically acceptable conditions.

The Consumers today are increasingly concerned about what they eat. The market potential for the marine ingredient industry will certainly depend on consumers trust. The industry must be geared to fulfil consumers demand.

Call for international collaboration
The complexity of the research needed in many of these areas is considerable. The challenges regarding international regulations, regulatory and products standards are obvious. We have to be proactive. All this calls for international collaboration.

The conference today is a very good initiative.

I believe this conference will contribute to exchange of experience, generate ideas, and motivate for important collaboration.

Finally I wish you all good luck with the conference and fruitful discussions.

Thank you for your attention!

See power point presentastion following the introductory speach