Sustainable salmon farming in Norwegian coastal municipalities: Can the environment beat the economy?

Abstract

Salmon aquaculture belongs to Norway's second largest and most profitable export industry after oil and gas production, but the industry is also riddled with environmental challenges that may restrict further growth. This article examines the positions of coastal municipalities on aquaculture expansions, being key actors in authorizing new areas for salmon farming. A reasonable assumption is that municipalities with significant environmental problems may be negative towards further growth. Yet, a long and varied scholarship on environmental politics shows that economic interests tend to trump concerns raised by environmental problems. We thus seek to investigate how environmental problems and dependency on aquaculture industry clusters affect Norwegian municipal positions on aquaculture expansion in their area planning. Selecting ten municipalities for in depth studies, we apply a qualitative comparative analysis approach to examine the proposition that municipalities hosting strong aquaculture industry clusters (AC) will be positive to expansion, regardless of the state of the environment. Our examinations largely support this proposition but also reveals nuances and deviant cases. We find that the effect of AC on positions is weaker in municipalities hosting large, externally based corporations than in those hosting smaller and locally entrenched companies. Furthermore, the effect of AC appears to be weak in larger and more economically diverse municipalities compared to smaller municipalities.