The head of quality, environment, and corporate, social responsibility at fishing and aquaculture giant Leroy gave delegates a lesson on how many ways there are to improve a business from social, economic and environmental perspectives, at IntraFish's London Investment Forum last week.

Some of the initiatives adopted by the group involve a high level of investment, said Anne Hilde Midttveit. For example, the installation of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) across its salmon farming locations which led to a 98 percent reduction in water usage.

Others require engagement, partnership with clients, and raising awareness. For example, the company is currently in conversations with buyers in an attempt to reduce orders of head-on, and whole fish following the construction of a processing plant to produce mainly fillets.

“If we could produce 70 percent of fish as fillets in that factory, we would reduce our CO2 emissions by 12,500 metric tons a year,” Midttveit said.

But other initiatives take just a little bit of thinking outside the box, said Midttveit.

Leroy is involved in the Ocean Forest project, using nutrient salts and CO2 from salmon operations to produce blue mussels and algae that go into the production of feed.

And another one: the company is part of an initiative that recycles fishing and aquaculture nets turning them into clothes.

In addition, it has taken a bold stance in the use of controversial raw materials, for example, it doesn’t use any GMO ingredients, salmon oil, palm oil, ethoxyquin or bone or blood meal from land animals.

It also plans to reduce waste and plastic use by 50 percent.

Leroy has taken a holistic approach to tackle sustainability issues, but the main areas in which it focuses are salmon farms and whitefish trawlers.