Swimming Downstream: Global Issues, Local Conflict

Producing more than half of the farmed Atlantic salmon in the world, Norway is by far the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon (FAO 2023). In addition to its contribution to marine value creation in Norway, international organisations like FAO have represented salmon as a more sustainable source of protein than red meat that can be used to feed the world’s growing population (FAO 2023; Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2017; Reinertsen and Asdal 2018; SINTEF 2012). However, the many environmental challenges of the industry have made salmon farming a site of enduring conflict in Norway (Bjørkan and Eilertsen 2020; Osmundsen and Olsen 2017; Tiller, Brekken, and Bailey 2012). This reveals negative interactions between SDGs as food security clashes with environmental sustainability (Hickel 2019).

In 2024 the Norwegian Environment Agency closed salmon fishing in 33 rivers during the salmon fishing season due to the status of wild salmon stock, which is at a historically low level (Miljødirektoratet 2024). Referring to a report from the Norwegian Scientific Advisory Committee for Atlantic Salmon [1], they identified salmon farming and climate change as the largest threat to wild salmon (Miljødirektoratet 2024). This led to a heated public debate, which is the subject of our investigation. As most farmed salmon produced in Norway is exported (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries 2021), the case raises questions about downstream impact of global food production. In this paper we use situational analysis to map actors, issues, and discourses to critically examine the construction of policy issues and how knowledge is used in the situation, focusing on the relations between the salmon farming industry, known as a powerful lobbyist, and less organised local resistance, as the foundation of global sustainability is local sustainability.

[1] See: Vitenskapelig råd for lakseforvaltning (2024)