Norway's seafood trade body calls on government to reverse "traffic light" decision for 2024

Members of Norway's seafood trade body Sjømatbedriftene have issued a unanimous resolution during their national meeting last week, urging the Norwegian government to halt the planned reduction in the traffic light system for 2024.

The seafood association is appealing directly to Norwegian Fisheries and Ocean Minister Marianne Sivertsen Næss to reverse the decision and restore the reduced volume to the companies in question.

"Several rounds of reductions in the biomass have not produced the desired results for the wild salmon, even though it has entailed large costs for the aquaculture operators," said CEO Robert H. Eriksson in a Norwegian language press release.

"It is high time that politicians and authorities take over what several strong professional circles have come to the conclusion of, namely that the reduction as a means of action appears to be a poorly targeted and arbitrary means of action," Eriksson added.

A recent report on the traffic light system's impact on achieving quality standards for wild salmon, delivered to the Ministers of Climate and Environment, and Fisheries and Oceans, supports this view, Erikkson said.

He further argued that the report, together with assessments from various research groups and Norway's Aquaculture Committee, suggests that an "environmental flexibility" scheme could be a more effective tool.

Such a scheme, it is proposed, would enable companies to implement different strategies and technologies tailored to their specific circumstances to meet environmental standards, instead of a fixed "one size fits all" approach to aquaculture regulations.

The Norwegian government has been mandated by parliament to deliver an environmental flexibility scheme within the year, independent of the planned aquaculture report due next spring.

Eriksson argues that this mandate alone should prompt the government to reconsider the 2024 reduction.

Eriksson also warned that the reduction would hit the industry "hard and brutally", including job losses and decreased value creation, with some operators already shutting down production and laying off employees. He stressed the importance of reversing the decision to avoid further negative impacts.

"There is no shame in reversing a decision; it is essential to show political leadership and decisiveness. Holding on to a reduction that proves ineffective for both wild salmon and the aquaculture industry is pointless. We need to proceed in the right order, starting with postponing the 2024 reduction until an environmental flexibility scheme is in place and we have reviewed the recent report," Eriksson said.