Salmon Fishing And Farming In Norway For Thailand
Apart from the stunning landscape and unique cultures, Norway is also known and loved for its high-quality seafood, especially the salmon. Through generations of craftsmanship, the Norwegians have gained a unique knowledge about the sea and have with great care sustainably managed stocks and production. Asbjørn Warvik Rørtveit, Director of Southeast Asia, Norwegian Seafood Council, was kind enough to sit down and chat with Elite+ about Norway’s stellar export at the council’s new office in Bangkok.

What are the roles and responsibilities of the Norwegian Seafood Council?

We are a government entity under the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries, but we are financed by the industry itself. So, each company exporting seafood from Norway needs to pay us a small fee, and we use this fee to increase value. We spend the most money on marketing and promotional activities. We have also expanded our partnerships with those who have a lot of knowledge about seafood globally. We also track consumer trends from many countries that we are present in. So, we can be an important resource to help Norwegian exporters develop as an industry.

Our main task is to increase value for the exporters. We help them grow in the market. We are also an entity that handles communication and management. We are the agency that can provide information about how the industry is set up and how we do fish farming. That is kind of the core of the seafood council’s responsibilities.

How big is the seafood industry in Norway?

Seafood had been the biggest industry in Norway for generations. It was the most important commodity we were exporting. However, in the 1960s and 70s, Norway discovered a lot of oil. We hit a jackpot and, of course, that has become our biggest industry. However, we all know that oil will come to an end while we will always have the fish in the sea. Before, all the seafood caught was wild, but since the 70s, fish farming has become very important and boosted the seafood industry in our country.

When it comes to wild caught, the government started to control it with licenses so not everyone can go out to fish like in the old days. To be able to feed the world with seafood, we will need an expansion in the farming industry. Norway has been successful in developing this industry to be sustainable and sufficient.

Why do you think Thai people look to Norway to get seafood?

Salmon of high quality, and there’s an emerging trend of food safety now in Asia. People like to have food that is pure and clean, and Norwegian salmon has the reputation as a pure and natural product. It’s healthy. It has a lot of benefits. Also, food sustainability has become a major concern, and Norwegian salmon production is extremely sustainable. Norway has a world-class system when it comes to caring for the environment. Norway has a history of taking care of livestock, and we have a history that is extremely dependent on the sea. So, while we are developing the fishing industry, we are doing it in a way that we can be sure that we will harvest seafood from the sea in not only 10 years, but indefinitely. Therefore, the government has strict rules when it comes to wild fish. They also have similar rules when it comes to fish farming. Every fish farmer needs to address pollution, and there are measures to follow so they are not depleting the natural resources. .

Vaccination is one way of showing that you have healthy fish. Another way is when you breed, you breed those fish that are healthy and have good genes. You breed from a healthy pool of genes. So, this is how our development has become very sophisticated. There’s no gene manipulation when it comes to breeding fish

Do you eat raw salmon in Norway

Yes, as sushi and sashimi, but we never used to eat salmon raw before. What is interesting about sushi and sashimi is that the cuisine has been driving the growth of salmon exports. And this has been great both for Japan and for Norway, because there is simply not enough tuna in the world to satisfy the demand of sushi lovers. When people started to taste salmon in sushi and sashimi, they wanted to try it in other cuisines as well. So, most people in most Asian countries who buy salmon in the store find that it is not necessarily cut for sushi or sashimi, but prepared in various ways.

So, is Japan the biggest importer of Norwegian salmon?

You can say that in Asia, Japan is the most important market for Norwegian salmon, but the growth of salmon consumption elsewhere is also very important. If you think back 15 years, sushi was not that popular, but now it’s a global thing. Sushi and sashimi have been very popular, and salmon has become the main ingredient in those meals. We drive a lot of growth through this consumption.
We see that the food service industry is trying to promote products until people are ordering and tasting them in restaurants and then cooking them at home. We believe that home consumption can grow a lot. The main task for us here in Thailand is to educate Thais that the salmon they eat is not from Japan but from Norway. We believe we have a unique story to tell and should make consumers confident in the quality and so on. So, we see that it is beneficial for more and more restaurants and retailers to tell their customers about Norwegian salmon because this adds value. People will have a positive idea of how we do fish farming in Norway