Trout proud
The passion for trout and salmon runs through Norway, from fjord to fork.
OUR boat cuts through the still, dark water of the fjord like a sharp knife, sending silky ripples behind it. We arrive at an aquaculture farm with large floating cages in a neat row.
In the middle of each cage, a curved feeding spout starts to move, spraying food pellets as it rotates. Suddenly, the fjord comes alive with the splashing of thousands of trout as they surge forth with gaping mouths.
Here, nestled amidst picturesque cliffs in the cold clear fjords of Bergen is the idyllic home of the Norwegian fjord trout.
With a chilly wind blowing and lifting the morning mist to reveal the blue of the sky, this spot on Earth seems to be an ideal place to live and thrive.
Spring is melting snow on mountaintops and awakening buds of May into colourful blooms. It’s never too cold or too hot here – just perfect!
Leaning over a fish cage, our group of eight Malaysian journalists and food writers is having a whale of a time feeding fish and learning about Norway’s love affair with fish which is an inherent part of its national pride and identity.
Norway is the world’s leading producer of Atlantic salmon and fjord trout. It is also the second largest seafood exporter in the world. Norwegian salmon and fjord trout are currently the most popular fish of choice in Malaysian supermarkets and in Japanese and sushi restaurants.
In fact, the total import of Norwegian salmon and fjord trout to Malaysia in 2015 is valued at NOK132 million ( RM65mil), weigh- ing close to 3,000 tonnes. Compared to 2014, this is a significant rise of 110% in both volume and value of fjord trout.
Since the advent of commercial salmon farming around 1970, aquaculture in Norway has become a major export industry, second to its wild fish export. Today, the farming of salmon and fjord trout is taking place in close to 160 municipalities all along the 100,000km Norwegian coast.
Norwegian salmon and trout
Salmon and trout are quite similar in appearance. The shape of a salmon is more slender with pink flesh while the trout is rounder and thickset with the flesh more orange.
Traditionally, trout is more expensive due to its small supply. But salmon and trout are now sold at more or less the same price in the supermarkets.
Farmed salmon and trout begin their life in freshwater just like their wild cousins. While the wild fish migrate from rivers to saltwater fjords when they are stronger at about one year old, the young of the farmed fish are transported to cages in the fjord farms where they take two to three years to grow to a weight of four to five kilogrammes before they are harvested.
To maintain the pure and fresh taste of Norwegian salmon and trout, they are given feed that consists of fish oil, fish meal, vegetable oil and vegetable substances as well as protein and carbohydrates. Vegetable sources make up some 70% of the fish feed today.
Strict control of fish feed and breeding condition has contributed to the safety of Norwegian farmed salmon and trout. Each year, 12,000 salmon for export are randomly picked for testing by the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research ( Nifes).
The institute gives researchbased advice to the authorities as well as the aquaculture and fisheries industries in matters concerning fish feed, health and safety aspects of seafood consumption.
Substances monitored include feed additives such as the colouring agent astaxanthin and environmental pollutants such as PCB, dioxins and heavy metals. It also investigates the presence of parasites and microorganisms in seafood.
Norwegian seafood has a good track record of being free from prohibited medications or illegal foreign substances, says Nifes director of research Dr Ingvild Eide Graff.
The institute is independent and publishes the results of its research nationally and internationally.
Over the years since the 1990s, the use of antibiotics in Norwegian aquaculture in general has declined by 99% as the production of salmon in Norway grows from 50,000 tonnes to over one million tonnes in the same period.
The trout farm in our tour itinerary is one of many owned by the innovation- driven Leroy Seafood Group, a leading global supplier and distributer of seafood based in Bergen, Norway. It traces its humble beginnings to Ole Mikkel Leroen, a fisherman who sold seafood in the fish market of Bergen in the 19th century.
The ancient mariner would have been proud to know that today, the company he founded now produces a total range of seafood that adheres to the strictest safety standards and delivers full traceability on all its 2,500 products.
At the farm, fish food is delivered by pipes from a big tank at the control station to the fish cages. Devices with CCTV cameras slide down tubes to various depths in each cage to record temperature and detect abnormal feeding behaviour.
These are monitored by an employee seated in front of several screens in a control station. Instead of holding fishing rod and reel, his fingers are pushing buttons and toggles on a remote control, not unlike a computer gamer.
Big fish
But the Norwegian seafood industry is certainly no child’s play. This is an industry that supports 22,700 Norwegian jobs that deliver fish to over 100 different countries.
Responsible management and strict regulations by the government has helped tremendously in promoting a profitable yet sustainable fisheries and aquaculture industry.
According to the Directorate of Fisheries, those intending to operate aquaculture farms or catch wild marine fishes commercially are required to apply for a licence. Fishing quotas are imposed on registered fishermen to prevent over- fishing and depletion of wild marine resources.
Here, scientists play an important role in conducting surveys on marine eco- systems and species before coming out with recommendations that are taken to international negotiations on fishing quotas specific to different species of fish.
“Norway shares 90% of wild marine resources with our neigh-
bours. We have negotiations every year, mainly with the EU, Russia, Iceland and Greenland,” explains Olav Lekve, the directorate’s head of communications.
Norway produces wild fish totalling 2.313mil tonnes compared with 1.347mil tonnes of farmed fish and 338,000 tonnes of meat and poultry in 2014.
For a close encounter with wild fish, we take a boat out for a fishing trip in Bergen where the adventurous among us catch a handful of fishes including cod, saithe and herring which are then released back into the water.
At the Leroy Fossen’s processing factory, we witness how fish is filleted, deboned, salted and coldsmoked using local dark alder wood before being packed for distribution in a fast and efficient system that ensures freshness and great taste.
The Fiskesprell project
We also see how a national diet programme to encourage children to eat seafood is implemented at one of the many kindergartens nationwide that have adopted the initiative called Fiskesprell.
Hand- in- hand, the children troop down to a wharf near their kindergarten in the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in Laksevag, Bergen, to check their small fishing nets.
If they are lucky, the catch of the day will be served for lunch. Otherwise, fresh fish is supplied under the programme where the preschoolers get to cut fishes such as salmon or trout and chop vegetables using real knives.
We smell the delicious aroma of barbecue as a teacher cooks the chopped fish and vegetables with minimal seasoning over a charcoal fire in the outdoors.
Enjoying a simple but healthy seafood meal, served with noodles together with a bunch of preschoolers under the watchful eyes of Naval officers, is among the unforgettable moments of our trip. Awakening our fish senses A highlight of our gastronomic adventure that includes culinary demonstrations by award- winning chefs in Oslo and Bergen is a guided sensory evaluation of seafood by Leroy’s product developer Chef Fredrik Hald who treats fish like wine.
He starts by brushing a pink morsel of trout against the back of his hand to check the oily smear for an indication on the fish’s fattiness and maturation.
Before anyone could get adventurous with a body rubdown using the nutrient- rich morsels in hand, the chef beckons us to chew the fish with loud intakes of air to bring out the different flavours.
“What do you taste?” he asks as we chew and suck our fish noisily in an attempt to awaken our taste buds.
“The flavours can be intense and then disappear. This is a good thing. If some of the flavours stick out a lot, then we will have a problem. Balance is very important,” he stresses.
Flavours like avocado, cucumber, almond and carrot with a touch of acidity of lemon are mentioned and tossed around like the ingredients of a salad, all packed into one juicy morsel.
This awakening of senses is the perfect icing on the cake for our journey of appreciation of Norwegian seafood and cuisines.
Now as I look deeply at a piece of smoked Norwegian salmon or trout sashimi, I can see texture, colour, flavours and more.
In the fish, I also see the passion, joy and pain of all those involved in the entire chain of producing, delivering, cooking and serving this safe, nutritious and delicious food on my plate.
With each bite, I taste the pureness of snow on a mountain, the smokiness of dark alder wood, the cold clear waters of a fjord and the freshness of flowers in spring.
This range of exquisite flavours will make any discerning diner fall for the Norwegian fish hook, line, and sinker!