This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 4 2025.
Norwegian aquaculture company Eide Fjordbruk is at the forefront of European sustainable fishing efforts with its Watermoon project that advances a submerged close-containment system for farming salmon. Developed to combat environmental concerns such as fish mortality, sea lice, and coastal pollution, Watermoon separates the farmed salmon from the surrounding water. The system also protects salmon from parasites like sea lice, which have been a growing concern in open-pen farms. The innovations of Eide Fjordbruk align closely with those of Norway as a whole, a nation that has just recently released a new policy direction that prioritises sustainable growth in aquaculture. -Under White Paper No. 24: The Future of Aquaculture – Sustainable Growth and Food for the World, the nation proposes a transition from traditional -regulatory standards of volume-based limits to impact-based frameworks that better address the ecological impacts of aquaculture farming. Proposed policies include sea lice quotas and stronger considerations of animal welfare. With the implementation of White Paper No 24., along with new efforts such as Watermoon, Norway has the potential to sustain their second most lucrative industry, the seafood sector, while setting new standards of environmental consciousness. While the large-scale adoption of these techniques and proposals in still in the works, companies such as Eide Fjordbruk are helping to implement these national frameworks that have the potential to expand
across Europe.
