Bergen, Norway-headquartered Grieg Seafood is to cull approximately 1 million salmon at farms in its Finnmark production region following the discovery of an infection-causing parasite.
In a filing with the Oslo Børs, Grieg said it had been notified by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority that it is required to cull the fish in eight single pens on two farms in the Finnmark region, due to detection of Spironucleus salmonicida.
Collectively these salmon pens contained about a million fish, averaging about 700 grams each.
The parasite has also been detected in single pens on other farms with fish from the same generation.
Grieg said the majority of the pens have no signs of sickness at all.
“Measures have been taken with successful outcomes on some of the impacted pens, resulting in reduced levels of mortality, improved fish welfare, and stable biology,” its filing stated.
Grieg added that the source of the parasite is believed to be the water intake to its freshwater facility during a limited period of time between the autumn of 2021 and the spring of 2022.
“Measures have been taken and additional measures are under assessment,” the company said. “There have been no detections on the current generation in the facility, which is being transferred to sea.”
Grieg said that it remains in close dialogue with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority on the issue, and that its harvest guidance will not be impacted.
According to its latest trading update, the group harvested approximately 22,900 metric tons (MT) of salmon in the third quarter of 2022, which was 2,400 MT more than in the corresponding period of 2021 and 1,500 MT ahead of its previous harvest guidance for the three-month period.
The Norwegian farm sites of Rogaland and Finnmark harvested 6,800 MT and 8,200 MT respectively, while its British Columbia, Canada operations produced 7,900 MT.
Its total production target for this year is 90,000 MT.
Photo courtesy of Grieg Seafood
