A suspected outbreak of the viral disease infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) at three Atlantic salmon farms owned by Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) has put more than two million fish at risk.
In a filing issued with the Oslo Børs on 6 July, NRS said ISA was suspected in the operating area of Dønnesfjord, consisting of its sites Næringsbukta, Klubben, and Børfjord, and that it has 2.3 million fish with an average weight of 3.3 kilogram in this area.
Affecting the Atlantic salmon species and mainly in seawater grow-out sites, ISA can cause severe anaemia and accumulation of fluid in the fish’s body cavity, as well as the hemorrhaging of internal organs.
While it awaits the ISA test results, the Trondheim-headquartered fish farming group said that the “consequences of a possible disease detection are therefore difficult to estimate” at this current time.
“NRS continues to work to identify the extent of the infection and will come back to the consequences,” it said.
The group owns 35,035 metric tons (MT) maximum allowed biomass (MAB) in Troms and Finnmark after purchasing additional capacity through the Norwegian authorities’ traffic light system. It also has minority interests in three associated Norwegian fish farming companies, which together own 11 fish farming licenses, as well as Arctic Fish in Iceland that has licenses for 11,000 MT.
As previously reported, NRS achieved lower first-quarter 2020 operational revenues of NOK 1.27 billion (USD 134.8 million, EUR 119.5 million) and operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of NOK 74.8 million (USD 7.9 million, EUR 7 million). It attributed the year-on-year downturns to reduced volume sales and increased production costs.
Its estimated harvest volume for 2020 was 37,000 MT gutted weight, of which 6,500 MT was expected in the second quarter.
