Generally, our activities shall not impact on any other species or protected habitats. We only fish species that are properly managed and seek to use the equipment that is best for different species and habitats at all times. Despite this, we may experience unintentional by-catches. These are managed, recorded, reported, and delivered to shore.

Sourcing of feed ingredients for fish farming must comply with the Lerøy Fish feed policy.

In aquaculture, we take a special responsibility for wild salmon as it lives naturally in Norwegian rivers.  We participate in various interest groups working to safeguard the wild salmon in Norway.

Our different sites have a predator management system and keep records and report risk events, e.g., damage to nets, infrastructure issues, handling errors, reporting and follow up of escape events.

The seabed beneath and near our production sites is evaluated through MOMB and MOMC (and extended C according to ASC) assessments.

All our sites are certified according to the standards Global GAP and/or ASC. These standards include criteria to minimize the impacts of the environment, including preservation of biodiversity.

 A few sites are located close to protected areas or close to sensitive or protected habitats. A few sites are situated within proposed areas of protection. Two sites are operated within or close to a National Preservation-fjord for Atlantic salmon. No aquaculture production sites are situated within other types of protected areas.

Production sites situated in the immediate presence of protected areas or sensitive or protected habitats, are operated in accordance with regulations given for the specific protected area, and in some cases, regulations are given as terms for the license for the site.

In the northern region, two salmon production sea sites are located close (700-800m) to a protected area (landscape protection and landscape/fauna protection).

In the mid region, three salmon production sea sites are located close (500-800m) to protected areas (nature conservation, protection of birds, fauna protection). Two sea sites are situated close to sensitive habitats (endangered, near threatened or vulnerable fauna). Two freshwater salmon production sites are operated within a National Preservation-fjord for Atlantic salmon.

In the western region, there are no production sites within or close to existing protected areas.

Size of operational site of locations close to or within protected og sensitive areas/habitats

North region

Mid region

Regarding aquaculture production, the impacts on nature are mainly related to the sea, seabed, seashore, and adjacent areas. For each production site there is documented risk management according to environmental impacts from the operations, including impacts on red listed species.

The operational sites for fisheries are located along the coast in two different regions. These sites are either processing facilities or landing stations. One of the operational sites in Finnmark is located adjacent to a marine protected area called Loppehavet. The area mainly consists of exposed marine ecosystems and includes deep and shallow zone. The operational site is a production facility of white fish. The total area of the operational site, including land and factory is 9898 m².

The national Red List for species, lists all species of flora and fauna that has been evaluated and categorized based on how threatened the species are.

Lerøy’s aquaculture operations are located in the six counties Rogaland, Hordaland (in Vestland), Møre og Romsdal, Trøndelag, Troms and Finnmark. Below is a table of the total number of species (many species groups of flora and fauna, like insects, crustaceans, algae, moss, fungus, plants, fish, birds, mammals and more) from the Red List 2021 (Source: Artsdatabanken) for the five counties, with habitats in seawater, seashore and coastal systems, by level of extinction risk (CE -critically endangered, EN -endangered, VU -vulnerable, NT -near threatened and LC -least concern/viable).

The table below show IUCN redlist for aquaculture. (Source: IUCN redlist). 

Lerøy’s fishery, white fish landing and processing operations are located in the two counties Finnmark and Nordland (landing and processing site), and fishery in the open sea fishing areas Svalbard, Jan Mayen, the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Greenland Sea, Barents Sea North and Barents Sea South. Below is a table of the total number of species (many species groups of flora and fauna, like insects, crustaceans, algae, moss, fungus, plants, fish, birds, mammals and more) from the Red List 2021 (Source: Artsdatabanken 2021) for the selected coastal and sea areas (habitats seawater, seashore and coastal systems), by level of extinction risk (CE -critically endangered, EN -endangered, VU -vulnerable, NT -near threatened and LC -least concern/viable).

The table below show IUCN red list for fishery. (Source: IUCN red list)

Impacts on habitats from production operations are always sought to be minimized. All sea sites must comply to a set of general operating requirements given as regulations by the authorities. Some sites operate on specific terms given in the site license, like limitations of traffic and noise, limitations of use of specific chemicals, or special monitoring of the environment. In between production cycles, sea sites are fallowed, to allow the seabed to restore. Not all licensed sea sites are used for production at all timesthe same time, and when a site is phased out permanently, all equipment is removed. In the rare cases of accidents, like escapes of farmed fish, the company must initiate actions from contingency plans, like net fishing for catching escaped fish. Actions regarding and monitoring of effluents (as well as water usage) from freshwater sites are specified in the license or as result of risk assessments. Dams are also regulated by license and legislation. If a freshwater site is phased out, it is likely to be sold "as is" to another aquaculture company, or cleaned up (water intake and outlet removed, equipment removed etc.) for usage for other purposes than farming.

The fishing areas outside the Norwegian coast are monitored by a program led by the Norwegian Environment Agency. The program maps depth, seabed conditions, biological diversity, habitat types, and sediment pollution. The Institute of Marine Research, the Geological Survey of Norway, and the Norwegian Mapping Authority form the executive group and carry out the daily scientific operations. The status of each area is available and are published each year.