Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, with a production of around 1.2 million tonnes in 2021. Still, expansion is expected to continue, and the plan is to produce approximately 5 million tonnes of salmon by 2050 . With this expansion , as well as with the rising importance of sustainability in aquaculture , there is a need to find more sustainable feeds. T he present study aims to understand the perception of fish farmers and fish feed manufacturers for the most important criteria related to fish feeds and their sustainability. The analysis focuses on understanding which criteria or information enhances the level of importance assigned by fish farmers to each sustainability dimension (environmental, economic, social), and how this can be used for feed manufacturers to increase sustainable choices along the value chain.
We conducted s emi-structured interviews with the most important feed manufacturers in Norway to understand better the important criteria considered in their feeds. Meanwhile, surveys were used to obtain the perspectives of fish farmers. Data from surveys were used to understand better which criteria enhance the level of importance assigned by fish farmers to each of the sustainability dimensions. By using a hybrid-fuzzy TOPSIS methodology, synthetic indicators were estimated, one for each sustainability dimension (ENVSI: environmental; SOSI: social; ECOSI: economic), representing their importance in each segment of analysis.
It is possible to conclude that more sustainable feeds can only be achieved without trade-offs on performance. Furthermore, some strategies to increase overall sustainability choice amongst dimensions would be to focus more on certified feeds and highlighting information to farmers on proper conditions given by employees in the industry. Moreover, marketing oriented to emphasizing local products can enhance more environmental choices by some segments of the population. Along the same line, drawing attention to indicators measuring environmental and biodiversity impact on marketing strategies might enhance environmental choices by farmers.
Funding : This investigation is part of an industry-academic collaborative research project (CalaFeed) funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NRC).