BIT 5th Annual World Congress of Marine Biotechnology
Qingdao, China
Title: The Importance of Research and Innovation for the Sustainable
Development of the Aquaculture Industry
Dr. Øyvind Fylling-Jensen
CEO
Nofima AS
Norway
Abstract
The world population will continue to grow, and is expected to increase by 2 billion people over the
next 25 years, reaching 9.6 billion in 2050. A major concern going forward will be food security;
providing healthy, affordable and nutritious food, produced in a sustainable manner, safeguarding the
environment and socioeconomic development of the increased population. With limited growth
potential in traditional agriculture, increased consumption of fish and aquatic products is a part of the
food security solution. Wild catch fisheries have reached its limitations and for several species the
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) has been reached, and measures to secure ecosystem balance have
to be implemented to secure sustainable capture fisheries in the future. Aquaculture is the fastest
growing food production system, producing approximately 50 percent of world fish food supply today,
of which nearly two thirds are fin fish products. It is expected that this growth will continue and
represent 62 percent of fish for consumption in 2030. The fin fish production is performed both as
inland (87 percent) and marine (13 percent) aquaculture, and represents a total value of US$ 87.5
billion. In the future, increased focus on research, developmentand innovation (RDI) using both
modern biotechnology and traditional technology will be needed to secure sustainable growth, both in
inland and marine aquaculture, utilizing all resources available from production. This is related to all
parts of the value chain; starting with breeding and genetics, production systems (including water
usage), feed development, processing, and distribution and logistics. During the presentation a model
for sustainable RDI financing and major challenges in development of aquaculture will be addressed
and highlighted.
Biography
Øyvind Fylling-Jensen, DVM, PhD, is a Norwegian citizen, and holds the position as CEO of Nofima
AS, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research. Nofima is an applied
research and technology provider for the national and international industry. Dr. Fylling-Jensen has
been the CEO of Nofima since 2009. Prior to his current role he held the position as CEO of the
Norwegian Institute of Food Research, which was merged into Nofima in 2008. Dr. Fylling-Jensen has
previously held positions as COO/EVP Fish Farming at Fjord Seafood ASA, Senior VP sales and
marketing at Alpharma, and has served as CEO of Fürst Medical Laboraties and deputy CEO of Dynal
AS, and has broad experience from both the food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. He earned
his degree as veterinarian at the University Giessen, Germany and his PhD from the Norwegian School
of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to his academic degrees, Dr. Fylling-Jensen has attended
management and leadership education at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland; Harvard Business School,
Cambridge, USA and Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, Norway.