Norwegian Knut Magnus Persson doesn't travel far to get to work.
He steps out of his home on the island of Sotra, perched on the western coast
of Norway, and forages straight from the sea.
Knut dives for scallops, crabs and even seaweed, which he
supplies to just a few customers. He also makes a living from farming shellfish
in the clear waters of the Norwegian fjord which he lives next to with his
young family.
His nine-year-old daughter is following in his footsteps -
putting out crab pots and then selling what she catches to the chef of a
restaurant in nearby Bergen.
A generation ago
Knut's way of life would not have been unusual, but declines in wild fish
stocks and the rise of fish farming are changing the fishing industry here in
Norway as in many other coastal nations.
And here the delicate
balance between meeting mass market demand and supporting livelihoods seems to
be working.
So could the Norwegian
model of carefully controlling wild fishing, while expanding fish farming, be
one other countries should follow?
The amount of wild
fish we can get from the sea is limited - 90% of the world's wild fish stocks
are already at capacity or over-fished. Yet demand for seafood is forecast to
increase.
Norway is among the
countries embracing aquaculture and is the world's leading producer of farmed
Atlantic salmon.
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