One of the secrets of being first
is to start first.Bellona and Lerøy Seafood Group
launch today the new company Ocean Forest. This is done at the opening of
Norway`s largest aquaculture exhibition,"Aqua Nor" which is held in Trondheim
this week. It's not every day that the
nation's leading environmental organization joins the country's leading seafood
manufacturer and establishes a commercial company. But Ocean Forest is
established at a time when the world is facing some very tough challenges, and
challenges require new alliances, new solutions and new strategies. The earth is facing an explosive
population growth. From seven billion people today to an estimated nine billion
people by 2050. In line with population growth, energy consumption will double,
an increasing number of land areas will dry out and the demand for water and
food will increase dramatically. Climate change forces us to cut CO2 emissions
while we must produce more clean energy, clean drinking water and more
sustainable food - processes that also have negative impacts. The challenges of
having to reduce the negative environmental and climate impact are so great
that courage, decisiveness, teamwork and innovation is needed. Fortunately, we
have, quite literally, an ocean of opportunities. The vision we have with Ocean
Forest is creating large scale production of sustainable seafood biomass and
energy along the Norwegian coast. We will establish ourselves as the premier
company in the world in researching synergies between integrated solutions. The
results will be used to develop business concepts for commercial deployment of
new solutions for seafood biomass production on a large scale. This will be
achieved by integrating a range of technological solutions and unique
ecological cycles. In the sea the ecological interactions between a number of
species and the environment they live in will develop naturally. The results
are harvested in the form of higher productions output and a better
environment. Seaweed, in technical terms
called macro algae, can be grown on a large scale with salmon. This is the same
for mussels, sea bed creatures and microalgae. Large-scale cultivation of algae
and shellfish will help reduce climate change through their ability to absorb
CO2. In this way, the project is very representative of Bellona's overall
carbon-negative thinking, where one can find solutions that draw out more CO2
from the atmosphere than what is emitted. Ocean Forest aims to design and
construct production plants that remove more CO2 than they generate and develop
future solutions through synergies between biology and technology. The
theoretical potential of linking production facilities to the offshore wind
installations is substantial. Aquaculture is an important
industry for the Norwegian economy and the potential for further economic
growth is huge. Bellona and Leroy Seafood Group will therefore jointly explore
new possibilities for a future with sustainable aquaculture practices. Ocean
Forest employs renewable energy sources, recycles what the world has much of,
to produce what we need more of, and it all happens in a comprehensive
ecosystem. We think it is wise to combine the strengths of both organizations
to develop new models for seafood production and the production of new marine
raw materials for fish feed. Ocean Forest will cooperate
broadly with various research and technology institutes. The focus will be to
employ existing knowledge in a new and innovative way, and to be the driving
force behind procuring new knowledge where this is lacking. Ocean Forest will
develop solutions that reduce costs for bio-production in the ocean and develop
economic profit by utilizing biomass to products. The company will focus on
developing products for food, feed, energy and raw materials for industry and
agriculture. Ocean Forest is based on very strict sustainable criteria and will
cooperate with enterprises which apply similar principles. The Company shall have clear
ethical guidelines to ensure that the development of technologies does not
violate sustainability principles or human rights, nor conducive to corruption. For quite some time now, Bellona
and Leroy Seafood Group have seen a need and potential for new, environmentally
friendly solutions. By establishing Ocean Forest we go from words to action.
The start of a new kind of environmental work starts today.
Se en præsentation af konceptet her
Kilde: www.leroyseafood.com
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