He wants to put an end to today's “rigid” MTB system

Fylkesnes Fisk believes that large breeders have a completely different opportunity to balance biology and production compared to small breeders. The company is now hoping to make a change to the current permit system.

Fylkesnes Fisk produces food fish, with sites in the municipalities of Pomlo, Vytjar and Kvinherad. The company's office is located in the municipality of Bomelo.

Vilkesnes Fiske believes that one of the best ways to achieve a more sustainable aquaculture industry today is to make changes to the current “rigid” MTB system, which they propose, among other things In its consultative response To the National Ozone Unit of the Norwegian Fisheries Commission.

By offering an arrangement with flexible MTB to small-scale, local breeders, the company believes that biosecurity, fish welfare and the environment can be better protected, in the same way that larger players can with their MTB portfolio and inter-regional biomass caps today.

Balance between biology and production

Eric Vilkesness, the company's general manager, tells Kyst.no that they farm aquaculture in a limited geographic area with a few locations and regions, which means their eggs are largely in the same basket, unlike other small aquaculture companies.

– points out that larger companies have naturally spread the risk much more widely, and can balance biology with year-round production in a very different way.

District Councils point out that Mowi has, among others, viz It expressed its consultative response It is precisely this flexible feature that gives them significant advantages by being able to adjust risks when necessary to maintain healthy production with good fish health and welfare. He says it's about managing biological risks at the cage and local levels, and balancing the natural and local conditions that each player must deal with.

This isn't something new to take into account, but since we're working in the same waters, it shouldn't be the case that smaller players don't have the same opportunities and tools as larger players to take care of their fish, he says. Felixens.

Make up for lost time

Vilkesnes believes that such a flexible biomass scheme should have been set up so that it would be applied continuously throughout the last 24 months, i.e. the production cycle. He says this takes into account the time it takes to be able to make up some of the lost production by taking fish and biology into account.

– All this data has already been collected today, and this will not be new for the administration to follow.

The current biomass regime has a fixed limit (780 tons per permit) that applies year-round, while the flexible regime includes a per-24-month limit (780 tons x 24 months =) 18,720 tons per permit in the last 24 months.

– This means no increase, but it gives freedom of choice to adjust production during this period, as Vilkesnes explains.

Read also: SalMar destroys 1.2 million salmon after jellyfish attacks

Big contradictions

For Vilkesnis Fisk, the company generally releases fish in one place one year and another the next year, with a production period of 14-16 months at sea.

-If we had to destroy an entire stock at our place, there would be very few fish to be slaughtered the following year. This is in stark contrast to the larger player who says it has not been significantly impacted due to biological flexibility to operate simultaneously in many different areas/regions. This should mean that individual incidents are quickly returned in the form of good biological conditions in many other unaffected areas.

– This is not the case for everyone, but here we believe that flexibility in the biomass system can mitigate this and make good choices for both fish, society and the environment, concludes the Daily Manager.