Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol “Great expectations” – Allocating licenses with special requirements in Norwegian salmon farming Bjørn Hersoug a, ⁎ , Eirik Mikkelsen b , Kine Mari Karlsen b a NCFS, UiT, the Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway b Nofima, The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, Postboks 6122 Langnes, 9291 Tromsø, Norway ABSTRACT Norwayisatpresentthelargestsalmonproducerintheworld.Norwegiansalmonaquaculturehascomealongwaysinceitsbeginninginthelate1960s;fromsmall- scaleoperationsrunbyonepersontotoday'sindustry,dominatedbyinternationalandnationalcompanies.Alongtheway,theindustry'simpactshavealsochanged considerably,regardingeffectsonlocalandnationaleconomies,employment,andnotleastintermsofenvironmentalimpactsandrisks.Tomanagetheimpactsand risks, salmon aquaculture requires a license from the state. These have been issued in license rounds. With increasing profitability, the competition for licenses has increased.Theroundshavebeenannouncedwithvaryingobjectivesorconcernsthattheauthoritieswanttoachieve.Thearticlepresentsananalysisoftheobjectives inthelicensingroundsannouncedfrom2002to2013.Thearticledescribeshoweachroundoflicenseshasincorporatedvariouscentralconcerns,andhowpolitical motivationsofshiftinggovernmentshaveinfluencedtherequirements.Theauthorsalsoinvestigatetowhatextentconditionsforawardedlicensesarecontrolledand monitored by the authorities, and if and how any breaches have been sanctioned. The article concludes by discussing whether the licensing system is a suitable instrument for meeting the objectives that the authorities have for the aquaculture industry in Norway. 1. Introduction Salmonfarminghasbeenhailedasoneofthegreatsuccessstoriesin modern Norway. The industry started in the late 1960s and within 50 years,itbecamethemostimportantexportindustrynexttooilandgas. In 2017 it produced 1.3 million tons per year of salmon and trout, and for years Norway has been the largest salmon producer in the world. Prospects for the future are even more optimistic; there are claims that Norway could possibly triple its salmon production by 2030 and in- crease it fivefold within 2050 [12]. 1 However,theseexpectationsarenotsharedbyeveryone.Duringthe last five years, Norwegian producers have not been able to increase production,measuredintons,substantiallyabovethe2012level.While prices have increased dramatically, providing new export records every year, the total production has stagnated. This is mainly due to two factors. The first factor involves problems created by sea lice and es- capes from the salmon farms [21,39,58,59]. Recreational fishers and many scientists consider this factor the most significant threat to the many wild salmon stocks along the Norwegian coast [25]. Traditional fishershavealsovoicedseriousconcernsregardingtheeffectsofsalmon farming on wild stocks, such as cod, saithe, crabs and shrimp. The sea lice problems kept the authorities from issuing ordinary aquaculture licenses between 2009 and 2013, despite the government’s high am- bitions for growth in the aquaculture industry. The 2013 round had a strong emphasis on developing new innovations to control sea lice. 2 The second factor refers to the fact that many of the municipalities, which through coastal zone planning are responsible for allocating space for the industry, are dissatisfied with their share of the benefits [43]. If they do not get increased economic benefits from the aqua- cultureactivities,theyarereluctanttooffermorespacetotheindustry: “No pay, no cure!” If the industry is to expand as projected, this will require both additional and better space, and as of 2018, the munici- palities are the key to providing more space for aquaculture [19]. While the allocation of ordinary salmon licenses stopped in 2013, largely due to the salmon lice problems, there has been several “loop- holes” to increase production capacity, including special licenses for public viewing, research and development, education, and broodstock production. In addition, a new system of development licenses was https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2018.11.019 Received 5 June 2018; Received in revised form 12 October 2018; Accepted 9 November 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: bjorn.hersoug@uit.no (B. Hersoug), eirik.mikkelsen@nofima.no (E. Mikkelsen), kine.karlsen@nofima.no (K.M. Karlsen). 1 The previous government stated in its report to Parliament that Norway would be “the world’s leading seafood nation” by inter alia, providing a regulatory framework that increases further growth, based on biological sustainability [42].Thecurrentgovernmentisevenmorespecific:“TheGovernmentwillfollowupthe vision of a quadrupling the industry’s contribution to the GDP over the next decades …” [1]. Both governments have largely relied on expert reports from the Royal Norwegian Academy of Sciences (DKNVS) and the Norwegian Technical Academy (NTVA), which in their report outlined a future scenario with a tripling of salmon production in 2030 and increasing fivefold in 2050. 2 There is a “Catch 22″ situation here, as many of the sea lice remedies may cause a greater environmental concern than the sea lice itself. Marine Policy 100 (2019) 152–162 Available online 29 November 2018 0308-597X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T