Nine out of ten land-based aquaculture facilities that the pollution control authorities inspected last year found violations of regulations.
– Land-based fish farming facilities are becoming more numerous and larger. They cause physical interference with nature and have large emissions into the sea. Inspections show that many of the facilities do not have sufficient control over their emissions. We expect them to correct the violations as quickly as possible, says Hilde Singsaas, Director of the Norwegian Environment Agency, in a press release.
34 serious regulatory violations
Last year, the pollution authorities at ten state administrators inspected 77 land-based aquaculture facilities, which is a quarter of all facilities in the country. The inspections were preferably carried out as unannounced one-day inspections.
The Norwegian Environment Agency coordinated the inspection campaign. Here is what they found:
- 68 of the 77 inspected facilities had violations of pollution regulations.
- A total of 261 violations of the regulations were registered, 34 of which were serious.
- Three out of four facilities lacked satisfactory emission control. One fifth violated requirements related to the cleaning of the emissions. 50 of the facilities had inadequate internal controls.
- There is great variation in the industry. Half of all violations were recorded at 25 percent of the facilities inspected.
Can cause eutrophication of the seabed
The release of large amounts of nutrients and particles can lead to siltation of the seabed and cause eutrophication. Information from the companies on how large emission reductions can be achieved forms the basis for the permit they receive from the state administrators under the Pollution Control Act.
– Large land-based facilities can have high emissions. A prerequisite is therefore good purification. Without such restrictions, they would not have been granted a permit under the Pollution Control Act to operate aquaculture on land, says Environmental Director Singsaas.
Much to address
The pollution authorities have had a number of inspections of fish farms in the sea. Now the state administrators checked compliance with environmental requirements in the and-based part of the industry.
– The inspections give us useful information about the industry and show that they have a lot to address in the area of pollution. The results also show the need for the authorities to follow up on land-based fish farms with more supervision. We are also looking at how we can guide the industry about the regulations, says Singsaas.