Aquaculture

By Jill Schwartz

Long before aquaculture was on the agenda at seafood conferences and featured regularly in seafood trade publications, Dr. Petter Arnesen accepted his first job in the nascent field of aquaculture.

It was a natural move for him. Since his childhood, he has been interested in the water – first as a swimmer and fishing enthusiast and then as a member of the Navy. It, too, was a natural progression from his work and studies in animal nutrition. He just changed his focus from land-based to water-based species.  

Petter’s 20-year career in aquaculture – primarily farmed salmon -- has included jobs as vice president of Corporate Quality and Feed for Fjord Seafood ASA, research and development director for the BioMar Group, executive director of BioMar Chile and a researcher at the Institute of Aquaculture Research in Norway. For Marine Harvest, his current employer, Petter is the technical director of Marine Harvest ASA and a member of the Group Management Team. His work has taken him to many corners of the world, including Japan, China, the Faroes, Japan, Chile and Tasmania.

A common thread throughout his career has been protecting the environment.

“It’s quite simple,” the soft-spoken Norwegian said during an interview in Chile. “If we protect the environment, the fish will be happy. If the fish are happy, the people will be happy.”

That is one reason why Petter is on the nine-person Steering Committee that drives the World Wildlife Fund-initiated Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue process. He and other Dialogue participants are working to create standards that will minimize or reduce the key impacts associated with salmon farming – an industry Petter says has grown faster than he ever thought it would. Salmon farming now accounts for approximately two-thirds of the salmon consumed globally.

“We need to know what kinds of improvements are necessary in the salmon industry. For this reason, the research being done by the Dialogue is very important,” said Petter, referring to research about each of the key impacts, which is being conducted by various Technical Working Groups created by the Steering Committee. “We need to use this research to share ideas and think together about what we can do to make the salmon farming industry more sustainable.”

Petter’s interest in sustainability does not start or end at the farm. He is focused on practices related to the entire salmon aquaculture salmon value chain, so as to ensure that the product is safe and healthy. He is doing  so, in part, by tapping into the knowledge he gained when working to transform value chains associated with agricultural products.

“Aquaculture is more controversial than agriculture because the sea belongs to all of us,” Petter said. “It is not a closed barn. But that doesn’t mean we should not always be thinking about the big picture – the entire value chain. Aquaculture practices are little known in many countries, including Norway, and in order to gain broad public support our industry has to make production practices open and transparent. Salmon farming is here to stay and our industry has a bright future.”

He sees the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue as one means for doing so.

“The Dialogue is extremely important if we want to see progress in the business community.”