Salmon Production Using Close Containment Technology

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Salmon Production Using Close Containment Technology

Using nature’s resources and gifts it has provided people for free, humanity forgot that someday they have to give something back. Only recently society began to understand that even the slightest changes in the environment can lead to serious consequences. Nowadays, the number of different species shows significant decrease while human population grows disproportionally. In these conditions people began to realize that the same attitude to the nature can trigger irreversible process which humanity would not be able to stop. Only today, in the time of post-industrialization a people began to understand that they are the part of the nature as well. With the strong environmental movement all professional fields were put before the fact of importance to reconsider the process of processing business. Recently, a new concept of sustainability overwhelmed all professional spheres making the business owners to adhere new strategies of conducting their matters.

The notion of sustainability includes the factors, like minimizing the consumption of natural recourses and expanding the quality and quantity of production. Sustainability is the elimination of damages or any kind of impact done to the nature with preservation of profitability of the business and its usefulness. However, it is important to admit, that striving for these goals usually complicates the process of conducting business. In some cases, the value of products grows together with the price increase for the business process itself. In this case one has to admit that the business has to consider environmental, economical, and societal factors before moving to the sustainable paradigm. At first stages of popularity of the concept of sustainability, business owners saw only the complications and barriers. “Early awareness of environmental issues was coupled with the troubling observation that addressing these issues can be costly.” (Larson, Olmsted Teisberg et al. 2) Recently, almost all business spheres try to adopt the concept of sustainability at all levels of the business process.

The aquaculture industry is not exclusion from this tendency, striving to become environmental friendly field and not to lose its value and sufficiency. Due to the high demand of the fish products all over the world, the field has to consider both the increasing of the production and environmental factors connected to the process of fish breeding. In cause of its specificity, this business has to be particular sensitive to the demands of sustainability and environmental protection. Aquaculture is the most common way of production such fish as salmon, trout, mussels, and oysters. “Salmon farming is by far the largest industry accounting for 63% by volume.” (Weston 2) However, this business experiences some issues in the breeding of fish due to its direct impact on natural environment. Taking into consideration all ways of performing negative impact on the surrounding environment, the field strives to develop a method of breeding salmon meeting all norms and requirements of sustainability and environmental protection.

The industry of aquaculture experiences stagnation due to the high standards of environmental protection, decline in prices for the product, and moratorium in licensing of new farms in some parts of the world. Additionally, it is crucial to admit that the demand for the salmon grew significantly. Being a valuable food product rich in various wholesome nutrients, salmon became a commodity number one among the consumers who take care about their health. As the tendency of healthy nutrition became incredibly popular in the Western world, the market of such products like salmon increased its value. Though, the method of breeding of this fish raises some concerns among the environmental protectionists.

Current way of salmon production refers to the system including open net pens and close containment technologies. When salmon reaches a particular size and weight, it is put into the open net pens situated in the ocean. Until this process, the fish spends its life n the closed containment systems situated either in the waters of the ocean or on the land near the ocean. Closed containment technologies are developed to meet all requirements of sustainability and limit the breeding fish from the contact of natural environment. Recycling the waste and not letting the water with breeding fish to mix with the ocean, the system aims to protect both salmon and the surrounding environment from possible contamination.

However, the technologies are not ideal and some amount of the water and waste enters the waters of the ocean. The manufacturers usually take into consideration the possibility of the storms and natural disasters in the places of the farms’ allocation, situating them in the fjords or bays to minimize the risks of producing impact on the natural habitat of the other ocean species and on the environment in general. There are a lot of scholars and researchers who express their consideration concerning the sustainability and environmental security of the existing method of salmon breeding. There are certain research and new initiatives in this field aimed to improve current close containment technologies.

The method of salmon breeding is not the only issue in the process of developing of sustainability by this industry. As many other fields, this business needs to dispose the product into the consumer markets. “Resource consumption and value creation take place throughout the life cycle, including the supply, manufacturing, use, and disposition of a product.” (Fiscel, McDaniel et al. 4) As the concept of sustainability has to touch all levels of the industry, logistics seems to be one of the main issues in elimination of the environmental damages dune by the fuel emissions.

Due to the high contamination of the atmosphere and the possibility of greenhouse effect, the transport is strictly controlled on the basis of fuel utilization and the other factors. “This concentration exacerbates local environmental problems caused by freight, such as noise, air pollution and traffic congestion, notably at the urban level.” (Rodrigue, Slack et al. 5) Considering all this factors the producers, including salmon industry have to consider the implementation of eco-friendly logistic systems for the purpose of development of sustainable business management. Seeking in reduction of the costs for transportation, the industry often uses diesel fuel for the trucks which is very contaminating for the atmosphere. The question of green logistics usually put the industry in the dead end as this is rather difficult to meet all requirements of environmental security and sustainability in this area.

In the case of salmon production, to follow all requirements for the sustainable and eco-friendly business, the manufacturers have to invest into the development of new close containment systems of breeding the product. At this level, it is important to propose the method which will eliminate the risks of mixing the water of the breeding fish and the ocean and to develop new recycling system not letting the waste to hit the waters of the ocean. The other issue in this process is transportation. “Improving the sustainability of the transport sector clearly requires a more comprehensive and integrated transport and environment policy approach, combining legislation and economic instruments in a transparent way.” (Aronsson, Brodin 395) Logistics is the main problem in implementation of sustainable business management as there is no appropriate alternatives and legislation aimed to defend environment from the contaminating nature of fuel emissions. The business must resolve the problems to meet all requirements of the sustainability and environmental protection.

Works Cited

Aronsson, Hakan and Maria Huge Brodin. “The Environmental Impact of Changing Logistics Structure.” The International Journal of Logistics Management 17.3 (2006): 394-415.

Fiskel, Joseph, McDaniel, Jeff et al. Measuring Progress under Sustainability, Principles, Process, and Best Practice. Greening of Industry Network Conference. Best Practice Proceeding, 1999.

Larson, Andrea L., Olmsted Teisberg et al. “Sustainable Business: Opportunity and Value Creation.” Interfaces, 30.3 (2000): 1-12.

Rodrigue, Jean-Paul, Slack, Brian at al. The Paradoxes of Green Logistics. 9th World Conference on Transport Research, 2001.

Weston, Rodney. Closed Containment Salmon Aquaculture. Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, 2013.

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