An unusual surge in algae in Norway has killed over eight million salmon in a week across the country’s fish farms, according to their government body the Norwegian Seafood Council.
Recent warm weather has caused enormous algal blooms which quickly spread around Norway’s northern coast, sticking to fishes’ gills and suffocating them.
The situation was particularly lethal to farmed fish which, unlike wild fish, cannot swim away from the lethal clouds and remained trapped.
And after the initial discoveries, the algae continued to spread, said the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries.
The organisation stated after the first week of the crisis that over 10,000 tonnes of farmed salmon, with a value of over £55m, had been killed, but the Seafood Council indicated that the loss would actually be greater.
Here at James Knight we believe the numbers are more like £200 million worth of wasted salmon as 8 million dead fish corresponds with nearer 40,000 tonnes of salmon that would be sold from those kind of numbers.
This is a massive wipe out for the industry to recover from and we’ll keep you updated on the situation.
PUBLISHED: July 24, 2019
