Stimulating sustainable innovation in aquaculture

This project aims to explore the need for legislation to promote sustainable innovation in aquaculture. Breeding companies, marine bioprospecting institutions and investors in genetic engineering need protection of their improved genetic material to assur e revenues from innovation and investment. Fish farmers and fish breeders need access to marine genetic resources for food production and further breeding, development and sustainable use. The project aims at identifying the specific problems and possib le solutions for legal regulation of access to aquaculture genetic resources and protection of the results of research and development of genetic resources in aquaculture. This will be done through an interdisciplinary research project combining political science, ecology, biology, microbiology and legal competence. The project combines a legal approach with a social scince, bottom-up approach by investigating the perception among researchers and other actors in the marine sector. The main focus is on the Norwegian situation, with a comparative approach to European as well as global perspectives, including developing countries.