World Heritage Salmon receives Cultural Heritage objection against its aquaculture facility

The Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren) is against World Heritage Salmon plans to build a fish farming facility in Raudbergvika in Fjord municipality in Møre og Romsdal.

The planned area covers parts of the Geiranger-Herdalen landscape conservation area and the UNESCO World Heritage site Western Norwegian Fjords.

Regarding this fact, the Director General of Cultural Heritage Hanna Geiran alerted: "Here we see an initiative that conflicts with the outstanding and universal World Heritage values ​​found in the Western Norwegian Fjords. UNESCO's international experts on world natural heritage, IUCN, clearly advise against this development,"

"Our professional responsibility is to raise objections when the World Heritage values are threatened," he added.

Also, the administration and the County Governor of Møre and Romsdal expressed that the project crashes with the World Heritage status and that will risk them.

In 2021, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, UNESCO's advisory body, visited the area and confirmed that the World Heritage Salmon fish farm would not promote the "outstanding universal values" ​​in the World Heritage area.

The environmental impact

According to Riksantikvaren, also "significant" environmental damage and impacts on landscapes, geological processes, geological diversity and geotopes, maritime biodiversity, cultural environments, and cultural heritage would be resulted.

"There is great uncertainty regarding central aspects of the case, such as emissions to the World Heritage fjord Sunnylvsfjorden and the handling of surplus material from the blasting of the mountain halls," Geiran recalled.

Furthermore, she set the alarm on the predicted figures: "The estimation presented also indicates nitrogen emissions into the fjord equivalent to emissions from one million people, and an excavation of materials almost 17 times larger than the new Indreeid tunnel of 4.9 km."

The World Heritage Western Norwegian Fjords

The Western Norwegian Fjords, Geirangerfjord, and Nærøyfjord were inscribed on UNESCO's list of world cultural and natural heritage sites on July 14, 2005.

They are considered two of the most important fjord areas on the planet. The cliffs along the Geirangerfjord rise to 1400 meters above sea level and 500 meters below the sea surface.

Along the steep walls, there are numerous waterfalls, rivers flowing through deciduous and coniferous forests.