SEAVID19 Ensuring economic sustainability in the seafood industry during crisis

Norwegian seafood products are primarily traded in global markets, which implies social and economic dependence between producing and consuming countries and regions. In periods of global shocks that affect production and markets, the Norwegian seafood industry can therefore be vulnerable. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. As a consequence, the Norwegian government implemented the strictest restrictions since World War II in the form of a national lockdown of society. The project SEAVID19 has studied how the seafood industry handled the effects of COVID-19, and pointed out important learning points. Key R&D tasks in the project include interviews and workshops as well as analyses of Statistics Norway data, panel data and evaluation of sustainability implications based on national and European statistics. The project has analyzed the economic strength of different segments of the seafood supply chain in Norway: aquaculture, fisheries, processing, services related to fisheries and aquaculture, and trade in seafood products. At an aggregate level, the project shows few negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial strength of the sector, which may be related to the resilience and adaptability of seafood producers when faced with external shocks. The pandemic showed that the seafood industry and value chains depend on predictable and stable framework conditions. Initial measures, such as categorizing parts of the seafood industry as a critical societal function, as well as maintaining smooth communication between authorities and industry players through the establishment of a dedicated forum, played an important role in managing the immediate effects of the pandemic. At the same time, the pandemic showed that the whitefish sector in particular is vulnerable to closed borders affecting seasonal workers. Although local measures generally worked well, they were not always sufficient for robust crisis management. The results from SEAVID19 will be valuable for the industry, authorities, the scientific community and the general public going forward. SINTEF Ocean has led the project. Collaborators have been: SINTEF Industry, SINTEF Digital, NORCE, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), Seafood Norway, Seafood Companies and Technology Aquarena (NCE Aquatech Cluster).