Photo: Source: The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries
Norway is the world largest producer of farmed salmon. Since the start of the 19070s there has been a consistently strong growth in production. The last decade it has also been focused on developing production and markets for other species than Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout. Examples of this are cod, halibut and mussels.
Photo: Source: The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries
Among the production of shellfish blue mussels are the dominant species. Mussel farming has a long history in Norway. Several periods of commitment to this species has ended in great trouble and bankruptcies. One of the problems has been to ensure access of fresh mussels during the full year and partly because of algae bloom which periodically leads to development of toxic mussels. In recent years the production has fluctuated up and down. In 2005 it was produced just below 5,000 tonnes of mussels. But both 2006 and 2007 were years of declining production. In 2007 the production of oysters was 2,473 tonnes. There are a lot of other species of shellfish aquaculture in Norway. Among these we find scallops, oysters, O-mussels, lobster, king crab and sea urchins.