Sustainability in aquaculture

As a global technology supplier to the aquaculture industry, sustainability is part of everything we do throughout our business. Through an increased focus on sustainability and biology, ScaleAQ has assumed a clear role in ensuring the development of technology on the terms of biology and the environment.

ScaleAQ aims to be a knowledge-based advisor to the aquaculture industry, and our products include documentation and follow-up that helps to ensure our customers can create added value. This is done through efficiency, reporting and increasing levels of information.

Good environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles are key to all activities undertaken by ScaleAQ, and we have tied our work to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For the team at ScaleAQ, sustainability is about the future. We have to take care of the earth’s limited resources. We have to manage them in the best possible way without destroying opportunities for future generations.

The world faces major challenges in finding sustainable food sources for its rapidly growing global population. Worldwide demand for seafood is growing. Aquaculture is one of the most sustainable ways to produce food.

At ScaleAQ, we aim to take our share of the responsibility in developing technology with animal welfare at its core. We contribute by creating effective and relevant solutions in close collaboration with customers and by documenting good animal welfare practices in our work.

Integrated annual report

Our annual report also consists of a sustainability report. Open or download the report below to read more.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

All of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are significant to our strategy, daily operations and the value chain that we are part of. We have identified eight Sustainable Development Goals that are particularly important to us:

Read more about each development goal by clicking on the boxes.

Sustainability and ESG are both rooted and integrated in our business strategy, both in terms of business opportunities and measures in our internal operations, “Clean ocean – good for business”. Our greatest contribution to achieving these SDGs is to supply technological products and services that safeguard fish welfare, reduce harmful greenhouse gas and environmental emissions, as well as guaranteeing HSE.

Overall, our objectives are:

We will reduce our own footprint and strive towards increased circularity in our own value chain.
We will help our customers to become more sustainable by means of new and existing products and solutions, as well as by providing advice.
We will assume a clear industry role in the area of sustainability by means of increased engagement with wider society.

Our specific contributions

Feed barges

ScaleAQ offers hybrid systems for feed barges that ensure:

less energy consumption (up to 60% lower fuel consumption)
lower emissions (NOx and SOx)
a better environment for employees (especially in terms of less noise)

Our feed barges are able to tolerate high levels of stress (up to Hs 6.5), include a comprehensive dead fish processing facility that helps to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria to the surrounding area while also ensuring the total utilization of all raw materials. Our hybrid solutions for feed barges meet upcoming requirements being signaled by the Norwegian government in its 2021-2030 climate plan, including the introduction of low and zero-emission solutions for feed barges and service vessels in the aquaculture industry from 2024.

Feeding systems

Camera solutions for pellet detection reduce waste as a result of uneaten fish feed.
Working in collaboration with R&D institutions to reduce emissions of microplastics through the optimization of feed hoses. Among others, ScaleAQ is participating in the FHF project MICRORED. The project’s primary goal is to optimize air-based feed systems in order to reduce emissions of microplastics from feed hoses.
Our solutions for water feeding offer a number of advantages such as significantly reduced power consumption, microplastic emissions are avoided, the equipment has a significantly longer lifespan, and you get a noise reduction on the barge.
Effective feeding is by far one of the biggest challenges. Our motorized spreader, SmartSpreader™, has a reduced need for maintenance, very high stability, and allows for much larger and more flexible distribution of feed. This provides a potential for reduced fuel consumption and crushing. Better feed distribution, greater feeding capacity and fewer lost feeding opportunities are part of the solution to realizing the fish’s potential.

Pens

Incorporated procedures for the collection of stubs and shavings of plastic when producing pens. These are delivered to approved companies for recycling.
We set out environmental requirements for our subcontractors and work in partnership with them to find good solutions. Hallingplast, our largest supplier of plastic products/pipes for our floating collars has a great system in place to reduce its environmental footprint.
Our goal is to recycle as much plastic as possible into new products and, if possible, into new aquaculture equipment. ScaleAQ has signed up to SKIFT’s 10 principles of circular economy for a more circular industrial sector. We will work to deliver increase circularity and recycling in accordance with these principles, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal no. 12.
ScaleAQ has contributed to the establishment of return schemes for decommissioned floating collars.
Escape-proof pens (Midgard®)

Nets

We have established a return scheme for our nets and have agreements in place with companies to reuse and recycle these.
We have waste management systems in place at all our service stations.
We are able to issue environmental certificates.
Our goal is to recycle as much plastic as possible into new products and, if possible, into new aquaculture equipment.
ScaleAQ has signed up to SKIFT’s 10 principles of circular economy for a more circular industrial sector. We will work to deliver increase circularity and recycling in accordance with these principles, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal no. 12.

Mooring systems

Our mooring systems are adapted to ensure they thrive in the challenging environments in which they are deployed.
They are certified in accordance with NS9415 and NYTEK regulations.
There are also features in place to prevent escapes from aquaculture sites.

Service vessels

Moen Marin, part of ScaleAQ, supplies aquaculture vessels that use electric and hybrid propulsion.
This ensures lower greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution.
This provides employees with a better environment (particularly in terms of reducing noise, vibrations and exhaust fumes).
We are engaged in significant R&D activity that is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and that adheres to the Norwegian government’s requirements set out in its 2021-2030 climate plan, including the introduction of low and zero-emission solutions for feeding barges and service vessels in the aquaculture industry from 2024.
Moen Marin will build the first hydrogen-fueled service vessel in the aquaculture industry in partnership with Midt-Norsk Havbruk. This project also incorporates associated onshore facilities for the production and storage of hydrogen. Midt-Norsk Havbruk will thus become one of the first companies in the world to start using a hydrogen-fueled vessel.

Sustainability ambassadors

At ScaleAQ, environmental, social and economic sustainability is integral to our operations across all departments. To make sure this is more than just words — and a part of our day-to-day work across the entire company — we have created a multidisciplinary group of sustainability ambassadors.

Our ambassadors will keep up to date on all our sustainability work and showcase these initiatives to the ScaleAQ organisation, to increase the knowledge about our work in sustainability throughout our organization.

Get to know the ScaleAQ sustainability ambassadors in the short interviews below.

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
Being a sustainability ambassador allows our team in Canada to be active in the sustainability work in ScaleAQ. It ensures that we prioritise the sustainability goals we are collectively working towards achieving. Understanding our sustainability commitments will enhance our customer interactions and discussions about current and future innovations, and enable us to further align with our customers’ own sustainability goals.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
Aquaculture is one of the most sustainable forms of protein production. In a world of food scarcity and resource challenges, I believe sustainable aquaculture has a fundamental role to play in the future of food production. As a key, global supplier to the aquaculture industry, ScaleAQ has a duty to ensure that a high level of sustainability is maintained in the products we supply and service.

We aim to work in partnership with our suppliers and customers to provide a platform for the industry as a whole, to continue to strive towards increasingly high standards. It’s essential that we are committed to working sustainably and continue to develop these practices to preserve the environments in which we all work and live.

Suzie Read

General Manager Canada

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
I love practical work and finding good solutions. I’ve always been interested in innovation and essential improvements. I primarily want to contribute my experience as a skilled worker, but also as a leader, as sustainability is very much about changing the culture and attitudes in a company.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
The values inherent in the sustainability goals promote development that is essential both for us and the rest of the world. ScaleAQ is one of the leaders in our field and our expertise can make a huge difference. It’s our duty to do so.

Roger Anglevik

Managerial support, operational improvement and quality

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
I consider myself an environmental optimist, which means I’m concerned about all the challenges we face but also believe we can tackle them, as long as we get out priorities right. That requires some people working hard to push sustainability up the agenda. That’s where I want to contribute. It’s also why I switched industry, from oil to green vessels at Moen Marin.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
Despite the fact that the end product in our industry has a low carbon footprint, we still have a long way to go, both in terms of the climate, but also in when it comes to the marine environment and fish health. Even discounting the ethical arguments, I believe that advocating sustainability will make us even more robust and ready for the demands of the future market.

Aleksander Vold Nordtvedt

Project Manager, Moen Marin

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
With the demand for healthy seafood and protein continuing to grow rapidly, along with the need to increase aquaculture production to meet this demand, sustainability must sit at the heart of all aquaculture development and growth.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
As a leading supplier of aquaculture technology and innovation, it’s important that we can demonstrate to our customers and the wider industry stakeholders that sustainability is a key priority in everything we do, across all our activities.

Graham Smith

General Manager UK

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
I want to help contribute to change in the industry and to find solutions that create value for both ScaleAQ and our customers.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
The work we do on sustainability is essential to the growth of the industry and ScaleAQ – and for ScaleAQ to continue to be the leading partner.

Conor Foster

Special Advisor – Seabased

Why did you become a sustainability ambassador?
I became a sustainability ambassador because I’m passionate about sustainability. If I can spend my time at work helping the aquaculture industry of the future develop in a sustainable way, it makes my job even more meaningful.

Why is working on sustainability important for ScaleAQ?
Working on sustainability is important because we all have a responsibility for the future. ScaleAQ is taking its share of the responsibility. It’s our duty!

Njål Tvedt

Regional Manager South

Transparency Act

Due diligence assessment

The Norwegian Transparency Act was passed on June 10th 2022 to help businesses promote respect for basic human rights and decent working conditions in relation to the production of goods and services. This law enters into force on July 1st, 2022.

At ScaleAQ, we are positive about the rules and guidelines being introduced to ensure these values are safeguarded in our value chains. We are a key stakeholder in our industry, and it is our strategy to assume a leading position through a sustainable value chain and good working conditions, where safety, HSE, training and development are all central pillars of our work.

What does this mean for ScaleAQ?

The Norwegian Transparency Act requires ScaleAQ to carry out due diligence assessments and report on these assessments on a regular basis. This means, among other things, that we must examine and control risk in relation to negative impacts on human rights and decent working conditions throughout our supply chain.

At ScaleAQ, we work in accordance with an overarching process which is as follows:

What are we doing in practice?

A requirement for compliance with human rights and decent working conditions has always been part of our procurement processes, and this work has been boosted even more in 2022.

Given our large supplier base, we carry out risk assessments on an ongoing basis to help us prioritize which companies we should focus on. We have therefore established a structured supplier follow-up program. All of our suppliers will be assessed at an overall level against four criteria:

purchase value
geography
delivery risk
priority product areas

Based on this assessment, selected suppliers will receive a comprehensive self-evaluation form on which they must document key areas such as their governance principles, HSEQ, sustainability work, and which processes they use in their own value chain.

Their responses will be evaluated and each individual supplier will be assigned a risk profile. They will be subject to customized follow-up and monitoring work on the basis of their risk profile, and this may require the submission of further documentation or the implementation of specific measures and more detailed monitoring.

This survey process is currently ongoing and we are working to put in place more system support for this. Additionally, work is underway on a toolbox for follow-up work and specific measures to prevent and limit negative consequences that may pose challenges to sustainability, human rights or decent working conditions.

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Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

As the first equipment supplier in the aquaculture industry, we have now published our first EPD for our floating collar FR-560-157 in the category “Sea-based aquaculture infrastructure and components”.

What does this mean?

The EPD summarizes the environmental profile of one of our floating collars. This document is structured according to a set of requirements, called PCR (Product Category Rules) and ISO standard 14025. The EPD is created on the basis of a life cycle analysis, and the standardized methods must ensure that the environmental information within the same product category can be compared from product to product. This gives our customers a basis for comparing the environmental profile of a product, and making an assessment and a choice based on verified documentation.

EPD Norway » Sea-based aquaculture infrastructure and components