GÅRDSFISK

Sweden

The winner of WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award 2022 on the theme Sustainable Aquaculture was the swedish fish farm Gårdsfisk. 

Gårdsfisk's founders Johan Ljungquist and Mikael Olenmark Dessalles met in 2009 through an urban fish- and plant farming project. Today, Gårdsfisk breed resource-efficient species such as Tilapia and Clarias on land in recirculating systems and conduct land-based fish farming with the vision of producing the world's most sustainable fish.

The most common food fish in Sweden are predatory fish, grown at sea and in lakes. This means that in many cases, the fish themselves have eaten more fish than what the consumer actually gets on their plate. Gårdsfisk’s method for solving the environmental problems that surround conventional fish farming is an integrated agri- and aquaculture, where surplus nutrients from fish farming are utilised in agriculture. In addition, using crates in open waters, the risk is that fish will escape and disrupt surrounding ecosystems - with diseases, pharmaceuticals in their bodies and genes that are foreign to nature. Gårdsfisk uses recirculating systems to minimize water and energy use and to protect the environment.

Through Gårdsfisk’s constant work to optimize their value chain, the company excels in three areas above all: implementation of excess nutrients from fish droppings into agriculture, production of sustainable feeds, and improvement of fish welfare. The breeding of species in recirculating systems is an important step toward a more sustainable food system. Gårdsfisk’s persistent efforts to introduce new products to the market pave the way for the industry at large.

The WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award 2022 was awarded to Gårdsfisk, who tangibly and concretely lead the way forward.