June 5, 2024

 

Bakkafrost to cull 180,000 salmon following ISA detection

Bakkafrost, a major salmon producer, announced it will cull 180,000 salmon after detecting infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) at one of its farms in the Faroe Islands, SeafoodSource reported.

 

Bakkafrost CEO Regin Jacobsen confirmed that ISA was found in water used to treat salmon for sea lice. Jacobsen said there are two infected units which will be harvested within the next couple of days.

 

Around 180,000 Atlantic salmon, each weighing an average of 2.5 kg, will be harvested in the coming days at the Vágsfjørður farm off the island of Suðuroy, according to Jacobsen. Despite no visible signs of disease, Jacobsen hopes the pre-emptive harvest will prevent the virus from developing further.

 

This action is expected to reduce Bakkafrost's total 2024 production by 2,000 to 3,000 metric tonnes. The work is complicated by a nationwide strike, now in its ninth day, involving union workers pushing for higher wages, including fish-processing workers and port workers.

 

Bakkafrost received an exception to Faroese labour laws to start clearing out the affected sites, according to Kringvarp Føroya. The Faroe Islands have stringent regulations for salmon farming following an ISA epidemic in the early 2000s that nearly devastated the industry.

 

Based in Glyvrar, Bakkafrost produced 90,600 metric tonnes of farmed salmon in 2022 and 73,000 metric tonnes in 2023, surpassing US$1 billion in revenue both years. The company expanded into Scotland in 2019 by acquiring a majority stake in the Scottish Salmon Company. Bakkafrost employs about 1,100 people, making it the largest private employer in the Faroes and accounts for around 50% of the nation's total exports.

 

Meanwhile, Norway is also facing a series of ISA outbreaks along its coast. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority reported a positive ISA test at Organic Seafarms' Kjølvika I site in Gildeskål, Nordland, on May 27. Additional ISA cases were reported at Måsøval's Fjølværet farm in Frøya Municipality, Lerøy Vest Sjø's Gulholmen farm in Bjørnafjorden, and the Hestholmen Ø farm in Kvitsøy municipality operated by Grieg Seafood Rogaland and Skretting.

 

On May 23, ISA was confirmed at Nordlaks Havbruk's Sandnes Ø farm in Hadsel municipality, Nordland. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has established restriction zones in Sveio, Bømlo, and Stord municipalities to combat ISA. Follow-up testing is planned at all affected sites, although a strike involving 263 of the authority's employees, which began on May 27, may impact these efforts.

 

"The strike will have consequences for the work in all our specialist areas including animals, food, drinking water, and plants," stated the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in a note on its website. The agency also noted a reduced capacity for issuing seafood export certificates.

 

-      SeafoodSource