Norwegian salmon aquaculture and sustainability: the relationship between environmental quality and industry growth

This paper discusses the relationship between industry growth and environmental quality in the context of salmon aquaculture. It is argued that industry growth can reduce pollution by inducing more technological innovations for industry-specific pollution-reducing inputs. This increases the elasticity of substitution between conventional factors of production on the one hand, and pollution on the other, and therefore enables a greater degree of internalization of environmental problems. Four indicators of pollution are examined for Norwegian salmon aquaculture. The salmon aquaculture industry is one in which growth is associated with reduced environmental problems not only in relative, but also in absolute terms.