CEO of Sjømatbedriftene Robert H. Eriksson, pictured handing a proposal for a comprehensive environmental flexibility scheme to Minister Marianne Sivertsen Næss, in August 2024.
Photo: Johann Martin Krüger / Sjømatbedriftene.
Last week, the Norwegian government introduced its long-awaited "environmental flexibility" scheme for the aquaculture industry, whereby producers who invest in closed fish farming technology will be able to reclaim production capacity lost under Norway's "traffic light" permits system. The move followed the Norwegian parliament's approval this summer of aquaculture policy updates originally proposed in April 2025.
Seafood business organisation Sjømatbedriftene has now released its official reaction to the move, describing the decision to incentivise closed containment farming as “a step in the right direction” but arguing that the government “should have been far more ambitious.” According to the organisation’s chief executive, Robert H. Eriksson, the industry had expected a framework that would “truly accelerate progress” rather than what he called “a minimum solution.”
Eriksson, who presented Sjømatbedriftene's own proposal for the scheme to Fisheries and Oceans Minister Marianne Sivertsen Næss in August 2024, credited the minister for following through on the Storting’s (Parliament’s) decision to introduce such a system. However, he said the final version “lacks strength” and that few of Sjømatbedriftene’s suggestions from the consultation process had been incorporated.
“We must give the Minister credit for finally introducing the scheme. But at the same time, we have to be honest: we had hoped for a much more ambitious arrangement,” Eriksson said. He added that the result was “a limited system without sufficient incentives for the necessary transformation.”
“We proposed a model that included a conversion solution where farmers could exchange one open-cage license and receive three licenses back if production took place in a zero-emission system. With our model, producers could triple their output by transitioning from traditional cages to zero-emission technology. That would have provided both sustainable growth and large-scale innovation,” Eriksson said.
“Instead, we get a solution that only applies to red production zones and offers no boost for the rest of the country. This disappoints both us and our members, who have been committed to seeing this scheme established. We simply view this as a lost opportunity,” he added.
The government’s current plan is understood to be an initial phase, with Parliament requesting a revised and improved version that includes zero-emission solutions by spring 2026. Eriksson said Sjømatbedriftene would continue working to strengthen the policy.
“We need a policy that rewards those who actually lead the way, not one that penalises those who have already done the work,” he said, adding that a zero-emission framework “must be made available across the entire country, not just in today’s red zones.”
Eriksson concluded that while the introduction of the scheme provides a foundation for future improvement, “the next step must be bold – not cautious.”
The industry association has previously called for comprehensive review of the traffic light system that currently regulates Norway's salmonid farming industry. In March 2025, Erikkson described the system as an "ineffective" measure that he said imposes high costs on producers without delivering corresponding environmental improvements.
The traffic light system divides the Norwegian coast into thirteen zones where production is regulated according to a set of environmental indicators, mainly sea lice levels, which determine whether farmers are allowed to expand (green zones), whether production is kept unchanged (yellow zones), or whether it is reduced (red zones).