Arctic Agriculture by Using Fish Farming Waste in Northern Norway

Abstract

With the growing aquaculture, improved management of the environmental, logistic-managerial, social, and economic aspect are vital to preserving sustainability in the industry. The dissertation addresses the potential processing of the fish waste in aquaponics (a combination of two highly effective production technologies: hydroponics and recirculating aquaculture). Involving a suggestion for sustainable management by implementing a circular business model to the industry, lessens the ecological footprint, and supports an environmental friendly production of both fish and plant. Aquaponics in Northern Norway has definite potential. However, no blueprint for success exists, which means each individual producer needs to carefully assemble the system to utilize the available local resources. In Norway, the cold water species, salmon and trout, are the most extensive farmed, showing great potential in an aquaponic system. With mapped living, nutritional, and environmental requirement, the dissertation combines salmon and trout to potential plants. The plant types taken into consideration were selected in terms of economic viability, system design, plant category, and the nutrient match between the plants nutritional value, and the nutrient value of the aquatic species waste emission. During the analysis of the potential of aquaponics in Northern Norway many factors were taken into considerations, among these, the electricity costs were proven to be one of the critical aspects, while others, such as existing facilities and already established water connections, were found to be suitable for the development of the system. Therefore the thesis consists of an extensive cost-benefit analysis of the electricity costs, with a significant focus on lighting and heating costs. Four plants were analyzed, tomato, parsley, tomato and lettuce where it was the herbs: parsley and basil, that proved to bestow the greatest potential with the highest overall profit margin with the electricity and lighting costs taken into considerations. Additionally, Rakocy defined feed rate ratio is used in the calculations with 60g/m3 for the leafy herbs and 80g/m3 for fruity plants to balance the ecosystem, determine the annual plant productivity, and in that regard the annual profit potential.