Sustainable food systems can deliver food security, nutrition and revenues for generations to come, but how do we know how much the environment we depend on for food production is impacted by our activities?
By: Kathy Dunlop, Hans Kristian Strand and Johanna Myrseth Aarflot // Institute of Marine Research
Anna Siwertsson // Akvaplan-niva
Tamar Abu-Alam and Vera Hausner // UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Eirik Mikkelsen // Nofima, Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research
Ellen Elverland // Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Sustainable development of food-producing sectors requires a thorough understanding of their environmental impacts, i.e. how food production activities combined pose a risk to the coastal marine environment. This is a challenge taken on by the CoastShift research programme at the Fram Centre by researchers at the Institute of Marine Research, Akvaplan-niva and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research. In this project, we have conducted an integrated assessment on the risk of negative impact to the marine ecosystem from current food systems, using the Options for Delivering Ecosystem-Based Marine Management (ODEMM) framework. ODEMM is recommended by ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Seas) as a highly effective method for cumulative impact assessments.
The risk of negative impact from food systems on the marine ecosystem has been identified and weighted using the ODEMM approach in a study area from Kvaløya to Loppa.
According to a recent study on local food production and security commissioned by Tromsø County Council, 92% of the food produced in Troms in 2022 was seafood from aquaculture and fisheries, almost all of which is exported. The coastal food systems included in the CoastShift study therefore are fisheries, aquaculture, recreational fishing, agriculture, and marine transportation associated with the food producing sectors.
Aquaculture
The 38 fish farms operating in aquaculture production area 11 (Kvaløya to Loppa) produced 6.4% of Norway’s 1.26 million tonnes of farmed finfish in 2022. Results show that the greatest impacts of open net aquaculture on the whole ecosystem are from contaminants (e.g. substances used for anti-fouling of nets and to combat salmon lice infections), nutrients and organic enrichment (lost feed and fish excrement), with an impact risk on benthic fauna and crustaceans in particular. Anadromous fish such as salmonids are impacted by parasites and genetic introgression (gene transfer from other species). Aquaculture farms also produce underwater noise and electromagnetic changes which could potentially impact many coastal ecosystem groups but specific effects among species are poorly known.
Fisheries
Total landings in the municipalities within the study area in 2022 were 270 000 tonnes of fish, valued to 6.1 billion NOK. This corresponds to 12% of the total weight and 21% of the total value of landings in Norway. Catches in the region are dominated by Norwegian spring-spawning herring (in the winter period), and cod, saithe, capelin, flatfish and deep-water prawns are also commonly targeted. The risk assessment found that fisheries primarily impact ecosystem components through the extraction of demersal and pelagic fish and benthic crustaceans, abrasion of the seafloor (which mainly affects sessile benthic fauna), bycatch of demersal fish and the incidental death of seabirds and marine mammals. Fishing activities are also associated with underwater noise and marine litter (e.g. ropes and plastics) which could potentially affect a wide range of ecological groups.
Recreational fisheries
Recreational fishing is popular with locals and visitors to the region. In 2022, a third of the households in Troms and Finnmark county owned a leisure boat , which amounts to 115 000 boats. Tourist fishing catches reported in region “Nord” totalled ~385 000 fish in 2022, but these data are not fully reliable and must be interpreted with caution. The cumulative effects of species extraction, litter, underwater noise and the release of contaminants from recreational fishing vessels are considered lower than those from fisheries, aquaculture and the marine transportation associated with the food-producing sectors.
Agriculture
Most of the agricultural land in the case study area is used for animal husbandry, and runoff from cultivated land can increase nutrient loads in coastal marine waters. This was considered the only relevant pressure from agriculture on the marine ecosystem as use of pesticides (contaminants) on crops is very low in the area.
Marine transportation of food
The total export of all food from Troms and Finnmark counties has grown by 164% during the past decade largely driven by an increase in seafood export. Wild-caught fish are exported via road and sea, while king crab gets an exclusive ride by plane. There is a shift towards increased export of whole fish for processing in other countries before distribution to final market due to higher EU custom duties on processed compared to unprocessed fish. The main pressures from marine food transportation on the coastal marine ecosystem are associated with vessel traffic: underwater noise, contaminants from antifouling paints containing biocides, copper and zinc on boat hulls and the release of hydrocarbons (oil pollution) during normal vessel operations. Previous studies have estimated leakage of stern tube oil to 3–5 litres per day for fishing vessels, and cargo and container ships.
Overall, our analyses reveal fisheries as the food-producing sector associated with the greatest cumulative risk of negative impact on the whole coastal ecosystem in the study area. Aquaculture and marine food transportation follow. Seen across all sectors and pressures, species extraction is the pressure associated with the highest risk of negative impact on many elements of the ecosystem, followed by underwater noise, abrasion and bycatch.
To ensure that food production remains sustainable and resilient to future climate changes, it is necessary to discuss pathways that meet targets that the Norwegian government has committed to, including the UN’s sustainable development goals, the Kunming–Montreal agreement and the Paris agreement. As identified by the Arctic Sustainability Group at UiT, led by Vera Helene Hausner, “Business as usual is one future scenario, but there are others that address the above-mentioned challenges by implementation of new technology. Other scenarios include regenerative approaches that include circular local solutions, or those that emphasise conservation using marine protected areas and other environmental measures to protect and restore our coastal ecosystems.”
Change in governance, new technologies and practices that can improve the sustainability of food production are also being explored in-depth in CoastShift. These include floating semi-closed and land-based salmon farms, methods to reduce sea urchin populations that have grazed down kelp forests in northern Norway, and the use of marine raw materials, such as sludge from fish farms, to enhance agriculture.
The evaluation and weighting of pressures from current food systems in the risk assessment will be adjusted to represent these new scenarios and technologies. Land-based fish farms will for example eliminate pressures related to the escape of farmed fish and salmon lice, but will they impose new pressures on coastal terrestrial landscape and ecosystem components? What are the implications of removal of habitat on land to make space for new facilities, and how big would the impact be? The use of aquaculture waste in agriculture has potential to remove some organic waste from our fjords, reducing its effects on marine ecological groups, but how will this new source of organic material interact with ecosystems on land? And can discharge from aquaculture be balanced with the implementation of low trophic level aquaculture? If so, at what costs?
Such questions will be addressed in the next two years of the CoastShift project using the risk assessment framework as a tool to examine the impact of future scenarios with new technologies food production practises on coastal ecosystems.
