Sotra and Øygarden" (Region West) cooperate in a push to secure status as a sustainable and "green light" seafood region.

Bilde Blom Photo: Blom

The island region of Sund, Fjell and the Øygarden (region West) is a strong aquaculture region in Hordaland. Nevertheless, the expectations are that there is potential for considerable growth for sustainable production and processing in this area.

This assumption is based on the organisation, operational concepts and  the technology used, and coming into use, today. Together with the industry and the municipalities, the local industry development company “Gode Sirklar” took the initiative to start the project "Sotra and Øygarden" (Region West) as a sustainable and "green light" seafood Region” in 2017. The project was implemented during 2018 in close cooperation with the two clusters NCE Seafood Innovation and GCE Subsea, as well as various research institutions from Bergen and Trondheim. Hordaland County Council supported the project with both funding and through involvement from their professionals.

The project will continue in a feasability study on how the municipalities can unlock the growth potential that the region has for sustainable aquaculture, and how better to facilitate the industry in the years to come. The study will be conducted in 2019.

The target for the feasability study is twofold:

Establish a knowledge-base supporting the aquaculture actors, for both operations and strategic development, in such a way that the industry can continue growth in a sustainable way.

Establish a knowledge-base for the municipalities to facilitate a proactive areal planning, taking into consideration new findings in fish farm management and implementation of new technologies and methods.

Based on the feasability study, the goal is to launch and implement actions for sustainable growth in for production and processing in this important aquaculture area.