Icelandic New Energy (INE) and NORA (Nordic Atlantic Cooperation), in cooperation with Blámi, hosted a joint webinar on zero-emission aquaculture service boats in December 2021.

Decarbonization has been high on the global climate agenda for some time, increasingly so in the last decade. In particular, the pressure is now on for the maritime industry to decarbonize.

Though aquaculture service vessels are generally small compared to the transoceanic shipping vessels the global community has focused on, they represent a part of the intersecting sectors of the marine and fisheries industries that can and should be tackled for the energy transition in the short term rather than the medium or long term.

Following in the footsteps of numerous low and zero-emission ferries worldwide, service boats for the aquaculture industry represent marine applications suitable for using batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Ocean farming is an ever-growing industry in the North Atlantic area, present for decades in Norway and now growing quickly in the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

This webinar brought together shipbuilders and aquaculture stakeholders to provide an overview of alternative fuel solutions already commercial or in development and create an important basis for discussion. It was part of a series of activities under the 3-year NordMar Ports project, funded by The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council.

The agenda included three expert presentations, which were be followed by a brief Q&A session. The speakers were as follows:
Richard Mortensen, MEST Shipyard
Vegar Livik, Moen Marin
Tomas Fiksdal, Greenstat

Anna Margret Korneliusdottir of Icelandic New Energy served as moderator for the session.