Aquaculture

By Jill Schwartz

© Trygve Berg Lea

It was almost by chance that Trygve Berg Lea fell into the world of salmon aquaculture nearly 30 years ago. Skretting, which produces feed for farmed fish, had a job opening near the town in Norway where Trygve lived. He was one of the only people even remotely qualified to do the work, given the small field of people at the time who knew of or specialized in aquaculture and fish nutrition.

He had never had an aquaculture-related job but he had just finished studying wildlife and fisheries management at college (aquaculture courses were not offered). And he had a love for the ocean, having lived near it most of his life.

He got the job.

Since then, he has made a name for himself at Skretting and among the world’s salmon aquaculture leaders, where his reputation as a salmon aquaculture feed expert is now renowned.

“I knew aquaculture would be important because fisheries are declining, but I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be where I am now or that the aquaculture industry would be where it is now,” said Trygve, after speaking about salmon aquaculture with a panel of experts at the annual Seafood Summit.

Also far from his dreams was the idea of playing a lead role in creating global standards for the salmon aquaculture industry. But he is doing just that, as one of the nine members of the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue’s Steering Committee. Since 2004, the committee has led a movement of 500 people who are working to create standards that will help minimize or reduce the key negative impacts salmon aquaculture can have on the environment and society. The standards are expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

Trygve’s commitment to the Dialogue since he joined it in 2006 is due to a few things, including his self-proclaimed stubbornness. “When I start something, I want to make sure I finish it too.”

It’s also due to his respect for the Dialogue process, particularly the component of engaging a broad and diverse group of people in the development of standards.

“Nobody has a monopoly on wisdom, so I like to hear what others have to say about things,” he said. “Through the Dialogue, I’ve heard a lot of ideas and opinions, all which have helped me broaden my perspective on what the salmon industry needs.”

Last, he remains engaged because he is dedicated – within the Dialogue and in his product development job at Skretting – to finding solutions to issues related to feeding farmed salmon. That is why he and his Dialogue colleagues view the sustainability of the sources of marine-based feed ingredients as an important issue to address in the standards.  They also are discussing the idea of including standards that would require feed supplier sustainability policies to include, at a minimum, the ability to trace where their products came from, and comply with internationally recognized moratoriums and local laws. These and other ideas will be included in the version of the draft standards that is posted for public comment in April.  

“Figuring out the feed issues is an important part of understanding sustainability and defining what we mean by ‘environmentally responsible.’”

 When the Dialogue is done and producers begin to adopt the standards, Trygve will know that he has helped to transform the world’s salmon aquaculture industry, as well as the industry in his own hometown – Stavanger, Norway, where salmon farming dominates the fish industry.

“It’s gratifying work.”