December 7, 2023

Mass culling of salmon at SalMar farm to mitigate jellyfish invasion

SalMar, a major Norwegian salmon farming company, has culled approximately 1.2 million salmon at its Ørnfjordbotn, Senja, Norway-based salmon farm, due to an influx of Apolemia uvaria, a species of string jellyfish known for its venomous sting, SeafoodSource reported.

SalMar emphasised the rarity of such a massive jellyfish attack, noting that the last incident of this scale occurred 20 years ago. The company assured that its contingency plans are designed to handle such incidents with a focus on fish welfare.

Despite the financial impact related to the value of the destroyed fish, SalMar states that the incident will not have further financial implications. Additionally, it assures that the culling will not affect its current guided slaughter volume.

In an unfortunate coincidence, SalMar reported a separate mortality incident at its salmon hatchery in Jøvika, Senja, Norway. Incorrectly installed barriers in a fish tank led to fish entering the equipment of the recirculating aquaculture system, resulting in the escape of approximately 200,000 salmon fry. The incident involved fish escaping from the system due to an oversight in barrier installation.

These incidents follow SalMar's recent release of its Q3 2023 results, showcasing strong operational performance, high earnings per kilogram, and significantly increased harvests. Harvests in Q3 2023 rose to 78,100 metric tonnes (MT), a substantial increase from the 53,600 MT recorded in the same period in 2022. The higher harvests contributed to increased operating income, reaching NOK 7.5 billion (US$688 million), up from NOK 4.9 billion (US$449 million) in Q3 2022.

-      SeafoodSource