Algae is a problem along the entire coast and has caused a major problem in the Oslo Fjord. Now the researchers are worried. Algae have also taken over many other places along the coast. Algae is an indicator of places that have been fertilized too much by sewage, agricultural pollution, fish farming and the like. The Norwegian Environmental Protection Association has looked under several breeding farms. They describe it as a horrific sight. But three young people from Nordland think they have a solution. They will bet on oysters. Stort in Norway before Caroline Maylinn Grebstad and Kirill Spiten are both students at Nord University. They started the company CultureBlue, among other things, to utilize feed residues and fish poo from salmon production. – The idea is to produce protein, in the form of oysters, and at the same time help the fjords. They believe that sea-based protein sources will become even more important in the future. At the same time, they will help clean up the Norwegian fjords. The solution? Oyster. – The fishing industry causes algae blooms. If we have enough oysters, they will come and eat them, says Spiten. The students say that there is a high demand for oysters, and that there is not enough production to satisfy the need in the world. Photo: Kirill Spiten / CultureBlue – Oysters filter the sea, the students explain. This is how it works: Waste from the merdane falls to the seabed. It produces nitrogen which gives algae growth. Oysters are phytoplankton, which are microscopic algae. In addition, oyster microorganisms and other dead material. – It is in many ways a forgotten food product, even though it was big in Norway before, says Grebstad. In Norway, there is already natural oyster farming in, among other things, threshold fjords. The Pacific oyster has taken over much of the flat oyster’s habitat. Among other things, because the Pacific oyster brought with it a parasite that destroyed many of the natural flat oysters in Norway. Photo: Ingvild Taranger But fry production is limited. And that is where the young people want to bet. – Oysters are natural organisms in the sea by filtering the water. But since the flat oyster has been threatened with extinction in Norway for a long time, he has not been able to do that job. The hope for the young researchers is to place oyster production in close proximity to fish farming. They have not yet decided where they want to start, but once it is decided, they will start applying for a licence. – It will be a desert Leader of the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association, Ruben Mjelde Oddekalv, says that they have been following the farming industry for quite some time. They have filmed several fjords, such as Skjerstadfjorden, which lies within the Saltstraumen. Ruben Mjelde Oddekalv, head of Norway’s Environmental Protection Association, thinks it is painful to see the consequences for marine life that someone makes good money on farming in an open system on the seabed: – Especially when there is an alternative that spares the seabed. Photo: Adrian Nyhammer Olsen – I think it’s a pretty horrible experience. At first we get to see a nice seabed, but as we get closer to the facility, there is more and more destruction, says Oddekalv. – It becomes a desert. Everything is suffocated by mud. Under the cages, they have seen thick layers of leftover feed and fish droppings. Oddekalv believes it has a connection with the bloom of lurv, which is a general term for filamentous algae, along the Norwegian coast. They have also spoken to coastal fishermen who have told about the changes they have seen in the fjords after fish farming came. Earlier, news wrote about the Saltstraumen, which divers have seen for the first time being covered in filamentous algae: NIVA: – Signs of algae along the entire coast According to a report prepared by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), there has been a sharp increase in the discharge of nutrient salt from salmon farming since 1990. Researcher Eli Rinde, from NIVA, is concerned that pollution is destroying several unique types of nature along the Norwegian coast. – We have observed that there are several signs of litter along the entire coast. It may be linked to the fact that we have increased the release of nutrient salt from farming. Researcher Eli Rinde, from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, is worried about whether the Norwegian fjords are being looked after well enough. Photo: Vegar Erstad / news She therefore thinks that it might be a good idea to use flat oysters as a nature-based solution to clean seawater of nutritional salt, in the form of ammonium. – Ammonium can be quickly taken up by phytoplankton, which is food for flat oysters. Blåskjel will also be able to do the same job. But these clams will not be able to take care of the “fish waste” that ends up on the seabed, says Rinde. In addition, the flat oyster fry must be reared in the vicinity of the farm, and harvested when they are large enough for the nutrient salts they have collected to be removed from the sea. – One must also be careful to avoid genetic contamination, and use “stock oysters” from local populations. State Secretary Aleksander Øren Heen in the Ministry of Climate and Environment says that the government has approved updated water management plans for 2022–2027. Photo: CECILIE BERGAN STUEDAL The Ministry of Climate and Environment wrote in an e-mail to news that all responsible authorities that are part of the water management work must consider measures to achieve a good ecological and chemical condition in Norway’s coastal waters, lakes and rivers. – Efforts against a number of impacts such as sewage, iodine use and farming have been stepped up, says State Secretary Aleksander Øren Heen. – We expect that the updated plans, with new proposals for specific environmental measures, will improve conditions in many places. Rinde in NIVA says eelgrass beds, kelp forests and seaweed communities are now run down: – If they are run down, it could mean that we lose these natural types. Photo: Vebjørn Karlsen / private Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency: – Not enough Oddekalv in the Environmental Protection Association believes pollution does not need to be a problem. It can be a resource. Fish poo can be used for fertiliser. – Actually, this is about a huge resource going astray. We try to sell this as a resource rather than a problem. Oddekalv thinks the students’ idea is good. But he is unsure if that is enough. – I am very much in favor of all types of utilization of problematic waste, but the volume here makes me strongly doubt whether it is possible to produce such large quantities of flat oysters. Oddekalv says that only one breeding facility has emissions as large as 60,000 fattening pigs weighing 90 kg: – That is quite a formidable amount of emissions. If a farmer were to have so many fattening pigs, he would need the entire agricultural area for Bergen municipality. Photo: Tor Grobstok / Network for the freedom of animals He believes the solution is not to stop the farming industry, but to change the form of operation. He wants a closed system that does not overload the environment. In this way, the discharge can become a resource both on land and in water. – The discharge from the breeding facilities contains a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus. It is material we will run out of on the land, he says. – It is a good solution in both the long and short term to take care of it, instead of throwing it into the sea.
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Caroline (21) wants to save Norwegian fjords with oysters – The Norwegian Environmental Protection Association thinks it’s a good idea – news Nordland
