Abstract
Blue Growth is promoted as an important strategy for future food security, and sustainable harvesting of marine resources. This paper aims to identify dominating ideologies and strategies of Blue Growth in the Faroe Islands, mainly regarding salmon farming and industrial capture fisheries, and to investigate how these ideologies materialize in the social metabolism of Faroese society. The analysis approaches the Faroese Blue Economy from a holistic perspective using analytical concepts and frameworks of social (island) metabolism, environmental justice and degrowth to assess how current Blue Growth strategies pertain to long-term sustainability and human well-being. It offers a critical analysis of aquaculture in the Faroe Islands and shows that although the rhetoric around Blue Growth is framed within mainstreamed sustainability discourse, the ideologies and visions underpinning current Blue Growth strategies result in a continuation of conventional growth through the exploitation of new commodity frontiers. Finally, the negative consequences of Blue Growth are assessed and discussed through a mapping of recent and ongoing social and ecological distribution conflicts in the Faroes.
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Notes
See also reports by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services).
The Faroe Islands or the Faroes are English terms for Føroyar and are used interchangeably in this text.
The conflicts described here are chosen based on their relation to fisheries and aquaculture. The EU policy program for Blue Growth also involves other sectors for instance coastal tourism. Although rapid growth in tourism in the Faroes is currently stirring social conflicts, they are not included here.
If Faroese pelagic fish catches were to continue to grow at this rate of 7.6% annually from the year 2017 onwards, they would reach the total global catch of 91 billion tons within 70 years.
The Nordic Council of Ministers is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary co-operation among the Nordic countries, and has members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.
This framing of bio-economy should not be confused with Georgescu-Roegen’s writings on bioeconomics (e.g. Bonaiuti 2011).
The term Large Ocean Nation denotes small island states with large ocean territories. It is promoted by the Faroese Government who is urging for instance the FAO and COFI (Committee on Fisheries) members to embrace the concept. In contrast to the commonly used concept Small Island Developing States (SIDS), this concept would include small island nations in both the Global North and the Global South, helping, according to the Faroese Minister, to focus on the “strengths, responsibilities and the huge potential” of Large Ocean Nations.
The forum was organized in close co-operation with FAO, and with participants from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Cabo Verde, Grenada, Malta, Mauritius, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, the Seychelles and Vanuatu (NORA 2017).
Production figures available on Havsbrún’s website show that the reduction ratio for raw material into fish meal is on average approximately 5:1 and 23:1 for fish oil. This means that the production of one kg of fish meal requires 5 kg of fish, and 1 kg of fish oil requires 23 kg of fish. These figures correspond well with the estimation of fishmeal yields from forage fisheries of 22.5% and 5% oil yields suggested by Tacon and Metian (2008).
As fish oil is an essential ingredient in salmon production, more so than fish meal, calculations are based on fish oil requirements rather than fish meal requirements.
The Faroese salmon industry brands Faroese salmon as especially “clean” and healthy, but import statistics show that very large quantities of highly problematic chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide (Bechmann et al. 2019) have been used in Faroese salmon production along with many other chemicals.
The methodology used is The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (2004).
Replacing fish with other feed sources would relieve pressure on pelagic fish stocks, but would simultaneously add to the pressure on other ecosystems and lead to other environmental justice issues and conflicts. The demand for agroindustrial products, such as soy, in aquaculture is already problematic from an ecological perspective (FIVH and RFN 2017:23; Seas at Risk 2015). Additionally agroindustrial expansion in areas such as Mato Grosso in Brazil has been linked to severe human rights abuses and violations, including the displacement and murder of indigenous Guaraní-Kaiowá people (EJAtlas 2019).
NIMBY is an acronym for Not In My Back Yard and refers to opposition of local residents to development in their area. The term carries a connotation that such protests are fueled by a selfish concern for one’s own area, while similar development in other areas would not be opposed.
URL: https://www.hummarafelagid.com/433454562. The original text on the website in Faroese is: Ongantíð áður hava okkara firðir verið so dálkaðir við medisinrestum sum í dag. Og hendan medisindálking økist við einari óhugnaligt stórari nøgd hvørt ár. Hví rópar eingin varskó? Eru vit so hypnotisera av pengum at vit vilja oyðileggja okkara náttúru og tað sum í henni livur, bara fyri at fáa arbeiðspláss?
Air traffic to and from the Faroes is also increasing, but most material flows are channeled through marine harbors.
Author’s translation from Faroese. The original text in Faroese is: Endamál felagsins er at virka til frama fyri heimafriði og heilsubetri umhvørvi hjá íbúgvum í Føroyum. Ótolandi larmur, ristingar, roykur og ljós frá skipum ella øðrum havnavirksemi skal ikki sleppa at hava negativ árin á bústaðarøki framyvir.
For example, the largest smolt plant in the world has been under construction on the small Faroese island of Borðoy since 2016.
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Many thanks to the guest editors of this Special Feature, Maria Hadjimichael and Irmak Ertör, for inviting me to contribute. Thanks also to both editors and anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions.
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Bogadóttir, R. Blue Growth and its discontents in the Faroe Islands: an island perspective on Blue (De)Growth, sustainability, and environmental justice. Sustain Sci 15, 103–115 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00763-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00763-z