Bergen, Norway-based Manolin has announced the launch of a new service for Norwegian aquaculture operators that alerts them to the presence of non-notifiable diseases.
The aquaculture analytics company, which was a 2018 graduate of the Hatch start-up accelerator, said it is now providing notification to Norway’s finfish farmers of local levels of pasteurellosis, CMS, AGD, and other diseases not currently tracked by Norwegian regulatory authorities.
“Outbreaks of these diseases are growing and pose a huge threat to the industry,” Manolin Co-Founder and CEO Tony Chen said in a press release. “We’re excited to let farmers instantly share critical disease information within a secure farmer-only network. This will give farms more time to plan biosecurity measures that can minimize the impact of these diseases for their area and the entire industry.”
Manolin said its proprietary data – captured through its members in the industry – shows non-notifiable diseases caused fewer than 1 percent of total farmed salmon mortalities from 2012 to 2016, but that the total increased to 10 percent in 2019 and remained elevated, at 9 percent, in 2020. So far in 2021, non-notifiable diseases have comprised 7 percent of total reported mortalities, Manolin said.
The number of localities in Norway with at least one diagnosed case of cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) more than tripled between 2010 and 2020, from 49 to 154, according to Manolin, citing a 2020 Norwegian Veterinary Institute report. A survey of Norwegian Food Safety Authority inspectors and fish health personnel found CMS was considered the most important mortality-related problem in Norway’s salmon-farming industry in 2020. There has also been “a concerning increase in outbreaks” of pasteurellosis since 2017, Manolin said.
"We are excited about this update, and believe it's a significant step in disease management for this industry. For us, having a way to securely share relevant disease information within the network means we not only have more time to prevent the disease, it also allows others in the area to do the same,” Lingalaks CEO Kristian Botnen said in the release.
Along with new disease alerts, Manolin also released new benchmarking tools and geospatial analysis on its platform on 19 August, along with its previously offered tools that include current and historic disease, lice, and treatment data in every area of Norway.
Image courtesy of Manolin
