Civil Economist Audun Iversen at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NFHAMB) will Friday 10 April 2026 hold his trial lecture and defend his thesis for the Dr Philos. degree in Social Science.
Trial lecture on assigned topic will take place at 10.15: "Success at What Cost? Reinterpreting Norwegian Salmon Aquaculture in Light of Environmental and Institutional Critique"
Later, at 12.15 he will defend his thesis entitled: "The roles of global drivers and national policy in shaping the seafood industry and coastal societies: The case of Norway"
Vice Dean Espen Holst Hansen will lead the disputation.
Popular Science Summary
Value creation in the Norwegian seafood industry has in recent decades shown strong growth, with new records in export value reported almost every year. The fisheries no longer depend on subsidies, the fleet has become profitable and are steadily modernized, and fishermen are paid highly competitive wages. The aquaculture industry is growing even more strongly, it is even more profitable, and it lays the foundation for a large supplier industry and major ripple effects. The result is a seafood industry that in the last 10-12 years has substantially increased its share of GDP. One important reason for the strong development of the Norwegian seafood sector is the growth of salmon farming, but also a healthy growth in prices for wild fish.
A profitable fleet has not come without strong measures, though, resulting in fewer fishermen. Global competition also leads to fewer workers in processing, and the seafood industry now plays a less important role for employment in coastal communities than it used to. On the other hand, aquaculture is growing (even though growth opportunities may be limited).
The overall theme for this thesis is the conditions for a profitable seafood industry in Norway to exist. The papers shed light on different elements that determine what parts of the Norwegian seafood industry we may expect to be highly internationally competitive, and why they might be so, and thus also how the seafood industry may contribute to employment and value creation in different parts of Norway.
Profitability is high in the fishing fleet and in aquaculture, where Norway benefits from good or unique natural conditions, and where a resource rent in fisheries and a land rent in aquaculture is evident. It is much lower in processing, though, where competition from low-cost locations like China, Poland and Lithuania has contributed to putting the industry under pressure. Over time, the number of fishermen and employees in the fish-processing industry has been greatly reduced. In recent years, though, the number of fishermen and fish industry workers has stabilized and even increased slightly. In some regions, like Eastern Finnmark, fisheries have had a particularly large increase in employment over the last 10-15 years, but still the population continues to decline. The development of the fishing industry can thus no longer explain, at least not on its own, the population development in coastal communities.
In sum, though, with a strong and profitable fishing fleet and aquaculture production, and a mere survival in the processing industry, as important for employment as it is, the development in fisheries and aquaculture mean that the importance of the seafood industry for coastal communities has been increasing over the last 10-20 years.
Evaluation Committee
Streaming
Both the trial lecture and defense and will be streamed and recorded:
Thesis
The thesis is available in Nasjonalt vitenarkiv.