Sustainable Performance Evaluation in the Value Chain of Norwegian Salmon Based on DEA Approach

Abstract

With the growth of the global population and the improvement of living standards, the demand for healthy and nutritious seafood such as salmon has an increasing trend in recent years. As a worldleading country in the aquaculture industry and among the global salmon market, Norway plays a significant role in facilitating industrial development. The aquaculture industry is largely dependent on environmental factors and ocean conditions and thus, the environmental impact should be emphasized. However, the industry has been stuck into a series of environmental and biological issues such as sea lice, salmon escapes, plastic pollution, increased carbon footprint, and so on, which reversely damage the environment and limit further industrial development. Many potential solutions for aquaculture sustainability have been launched by different industry players, but what are the impact and performance? This master thesis aims to explore the evolution of sustainability practices in the value chain of the Norwegian salmon industry over the past decade with a focus on case company -Mowi ASA and evaluate sustainability performance along the value chain based on the DEA approach. The analysis shows that sustainability practices made in sea lice management and salmon escapes has outstanding outcome but still need to be improved further. In addition, the greenhouse gas emissions of Mowi affect its overall sustainability performance as shown in DEA result. Therefore, some recommendations are provided to give some insights for further sustainable development and industrial growth in a more environmentally responsible manner. Contribution of this thesis is the application of DEA method in a salmon producing company- Mowi ASA.