For the second year running, Skretting Chile has collaborated with Inspiring Girls to hold talks between women industry leaders and teenage girls from several educational establishments of the Los Lagos region.

In 2022, women leaders of the aquaculture industry were included, representing a number of Skretting Chile’s customers. The leaders provided professional “speed dating” sessions with girls of school age from educational institutions in the south of Chile - the first partnership of Inspiring Girls Chile outside the Chilean capital.

The project, which is in line with our pillar of Good Citizenship, aims to promote professional ambition among the students, reinforce selfconfidence and foster connections with women who are leaders of different areas, in this case, with salmon farming industry. In addition, the organisation provides training to the speakers on “impact communication techniques”, helping in the development of soft skills to achieve effective communication with the students.

It is estimated that eight million tonnes of plastic pollution enter the oceans every year. It is also estimated that marine plastic pollution generates a cost of up to 2.5 trillion dollars each year. With the aim to promote actions to reduce ocean plastics pollution and as part of SeaBOS’s transformation efforts for a healthy ocean, in 2022 Skretting and Nutreco again participated in a coastal clean-up for marine plastics. In addition to removing pollution from beaches, we used the opportunity to communicate the challenge that ocean plastics present for the marine environment, as well as show that individual actions can have an impact.

Colleagues from the Skretting global and local offices in Norway, in addition to Australia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France and Vietnam joined the initiative. In total, more than 260 colleagues contributed to remove approximately 3,670 kilograms of pollution from the beach and waterways during the activity, which represented an increase of 56% and 465% respectively compared to 2021.

Watch a video from Vietnam here

Gishanda Fish Farm is a new socio-economic aquaculture development initiative introducing the innovation and skills capable of accelerating sustainable food production in the Akagera National Park region of Eastern Rwanda. Opened in October 2022, the initiative is also aiming to create employment opportunities for surrounding communities, and an accessible source of locallyproduced protein.

Supported and co-funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Skretting and Nutreco’s parent company SHV, the catalytic partnership project is the brainchild of conservation organisation Akagera National Park and publicprivate initiative FoodTechAfrica.

“It may seem an unusual move for a conservation organisation to be building and running a fish farm. However, our goal at African Parks is to leave a legacy of sustainability, for both communities and protected areas. This project addresses sustainable land use, biodiversity conservation and improving community lives,” said Ladis Ndahiriwe, Park Manager of Akagera National Park.

Located six miles from the main gate of Akagera National Park, Gishanda will utilise the latest recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and solar technology to sustainably farm and harvest fish.

The facility will demonstrate that catfish production is an accessible protein option for communities, and that besides producing essential nutritious food, tilapia farming can serve as a model of circular agriculture with the farm effluent fertilising an on-site organic vegetable farm.

It’s estimated that 1 million tilapia fingerlings will be made available annually for commercial sale to bolster the Rwandan aquaculture sector, and that a further 300 000 to 400 000 will be used for restocking lakes in the region, thereby generating locally-viable sources of protein and economic growth on a national scale.

In the long-term, and alongside producing a highquality strain of tilapia fingerlings, Gishanda will produce up to 30 tonnes of 350-500 gram marketready tilapia annually. At least 10% of this will be supplied locally at affordable prices to combat local nutritional deficits.

Training and upskilling are at the heart of the project, with the aspiration for Gishanda to become a national learning hub for the aquaculture sector.

As such, it will partner with educational and government institutions as well as the private sector to address skills gaps as the national aquaculture industry grows.

Three catfish demonstration ponds have been built onsite to teach household level catfish farming to community members. Additionally, pond supplies (lining) and assistance will be provided to the local population – to develop catfish farming for nutritional and enterprise purposes.

Partnering with organic farming experts in Rwanda, Gishanda will also develop a demonstration farm to teach local farmers methods in sustainable agriculture. The garden will also be offered as a business to a selected community cooperative who will benefit from hands-on technical, sales and financial training to develop a viable and sustainable business. Nutreco Middle East and Africa is acting as a key sponsor and feed partner for all aquaculture activities at Gishanda. Gishanda is the second fish farm of its kind in Rwanda. In 2019, FoodTechAfrica developed and opened Lakeside Fish Farm in Bugesera.

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the sustainability of seafood and the impact of farming on the environment. One way to address this issue is by obtaining certifications for sustainable seafood products. Our customers successfully obtained Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification for red seabream, becoming the first in the world to do so. Skretting Japan played a key role in encouraging and supporting our customer in this process.

As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have been advocating for eco-certifications for sustainable seafood products. We believe that this is essential for preserving marine ecosystems and ensuring the long-term viability of the seafood industry.

When we learned that our customer was interested in obtaining eco-certification for red seabream, we provided them with the necessary guidance and support. We helped them prepare the necessary documentation, and we were present during the audit to provide assistance and answer any questions.

Our efforts paid off, and our customer successfully obtained the eco-label certification for red seabream. This was a significant achievement, not only for our customer but for the seafood industry as a whole. It demonstrated that it is possible to fish sustainably and still be profitable. With this experience, we offered the eco-label solution to other customers, and we have a second red seabream farmer to have been certified.

Following the certification, our customers have been successfully selling the certified fish to nation-wide supermarkets or restaurants. This shows that there is a growing demand for sustainably sourced seafood, and that eco-certifications can be an effective way to meet that demand.

Overall, the successful eco-label certification was a collaborative effort between Skretting Japan and our customer. We were committed to supporting our customer in their efforts to obtain eco-certification, and we were proud to be a part of this groundbreaking achievement.

Moving forward, we will continue to advocate for ecocertifications for sustainable seafood products and support our customers in their efforts to obtain them.

In a world where access to food is not a given for everyone, initiatives to help people facing financial hardship are essential. One such initiative is the food bank, which provides food and other necessities to those who cannot afford them. In 2022, Skretting Japan collaborated with a local NGO to provide food for those in need.

Our colleagues brought various types of food to contribute to the food bank. These included canned food, packaged food, vegetables they had grown themselves, baby food and much more. We were able to distribute food to many people who were struggling to make ends meet. The food bank not only helped to address hunger, but it also provided much-needed relief to families who were facing financial hardship.

We also asked our customers to donate fish, which we used to make lunch boxes that we distributed to people facing financial hardship. By donating fish, our customers could make a contribution to the community, and this helped to build a sense of unity and purpose among everyone involved.

The food bank initiative also had other benefits. It helped to reduce food waste by encouraging people to donate unused food that would otherwise have been thrown away.

This activity showed that small initiatives can have a significant impact on people’s lives and that community involvement is essential to the success of such initiatives. We hope to continue collaborating with our local NGO and our customers to address issues related to poverty and hunger in our community.

The collaboration between the InGenious program at the University of Stavanger and Skretting was established in 2022. InGenious is a challengebased program, where students work on different cases provided by industry or public sector which must be linked with at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal.

In 2022, the masters students taking the course in “Green Transition – IND 570” worked on a case presented by Skretting. The challenge was how to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% across our three Norwegian factories, while keeping production volume and profitability.

The students were supervised by Professor Ruth Beatriz Pincinato and Skretting Global Operations Engineer Nevena Mišljenovic.

“It was valuable for students to deal with a real-life challenge and work on a case that needs to satisfy environmental, economic, technical and ethical criteria at the same time,” said Beatriz. “We also got a chance to visit the Skretting factory in Stavanger and get an insight into feed production process, the main emission sources and aquaculture challenges in general.”

The University of Stavanger aims to be an open and inclusive university committed to delivering exceptional education, conducting ground-breaking research, and promoting innovation. Our shared vision is driven by our responsibility to facilitate a sustainable transition. The InGenious program serves as a platform to engage the industry in our study programs and bridge the gap between the academic world and the corporate sector, complementing our strategy and mission. “We were extremely grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Skretting, which proved to be a valuable learning experience for our students,” said Nelly Narges Karimi, Program Leader University of Stavanger.

Having a chance to get in touch with fresh ideas and new methods for assessing GHG emission problem was useful for Skretting. “It was great to get an insight into new technologies available, many still on small scale or in development, but very promising,” said Nevena. “Seeing how different groups of students approached the same challenge from different angle was very interesting.”