With the recent recruitment of partners Ida Espolin Johnson and Bjørn Sørgård, Haavind is positioned as industry leaders within fisheries and aquaculture law. Espolin Johnson and Sørgård will play central roles in making Haavind the preferred provider of legal services to clients within aquaculture and marine industries.

Haavind already employs some of the most highly-ranked lawyers that specialize in offshore, construction, technology and renewable energy. Adding Ida and Bjørn to our team has now placed us at the top within fisheries and aquaculture on the legal field. We can now claim with certainty that we cover the entire spectrum of the sector in Norway, says Managing Partner in Haavind, Preben Brecke.

Brecke emphasizes that seeing these industries in context to one another is a huge advantage. New technology development is taking place at the point where the traditional industry segments intersect with one another. While the offshore industry, maritime industries and aquaculture have traditionally operated relatively independent of one another, they have begun to cooperate in new ways, rapidly.

Haavind partner Bjørn Sørgård has followed the fisheries and aquaculture industry closely since the 1990’s. He sees sizable opportunities as new technology development and job growth will take place over the next few years.

There is increasing automation and digitization of production, and the industry is making large investments in equipment, says Sørgård.

As an example, Sørgård mentions the collaboration between the aquaculture companies Wenberg Fiskeoppdrett and Edelfarm, and oil service giant TechnipFMC. Together, they are running tests on partially closed modular sea facilities, which will provide both better fish health and take better care of emissions.

We also see that there are several larger offshore aquaculture facilities where technology is being developed by the offshore oil and gas industry, he adds.

Partner Ida Espolin Johnson says that it is no accident that she and Sørgård have chosen to become part of the Haavind team.

Haavind has a strong desire to focus on the marine industries, and is in a perfect position, with highly-rated lawyers specializing in all industries having points of contact with fisheries and aquaculture. Their focus areas are complementary to ours, making it a very good match, Espolin Johnson explains.

Whether it is floating offshore, offshore aquaculture or completely different businesses that “take off” in the near future, Haavind will be at the forefront of development.