The Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries has announced updated regulations for land-based aquaculture operations and has lifted its temporary suspension of applications for salmon, trout, and rainbow trout facilities, which dates to 2022.
Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and the Oceans Marianne Sivertsen Næss said in a statement that the “great deal of technological development since the current regulations for fish farming on land were introduced” necessitated the rule changes.
“Clear requirements in regulations regarding the establishment and operation of onshore facilities will also streamline the allocation process and reduce the likelihood of discriminatory treatment of actors,” Næss said.
Key changes to the regulations involve what Næss called “a clearer distinction between fish farming on land and at sea” and new biosecurity measures that require intake water to be disinfected to limit the risk of infectious agents.
"This regulation will only apply to facilities that take in freshwater from sources that have migrating anadromous fish or other activity that may post infection risks," she said. “[The new biosecurity requirements] will be beneficial both for existing operators at sea in close geographical proximity to the relevant land-based facility, as well as the marine environment."
Existing facilities that have already been granted approval to operate on land will not be required to meet the new disinfection requirements, the ministry said. The new regulations only apply to new facilities and existing facilities which make what the Norwegian Food Safety Authority deems “significant changes” in their operations.
Norway halted land-based aquaculture applications in 2022, saying that rapid technological development in the sector required a more complex regulatory framework. Though the long delay between the pause and the new amendments made planning in the sector challenging, the ministry said that the consultation which it opened on the topic required the multiple years of review and that it had incorporated the feedback which it received into the new regulations.
In 2024, Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen told SeafoodSource that regulatory clarity around the definition of a land-based farm would be a good thing for facilities like his company’s.
