Norwegian Fisheries Minister Per Sandberg reported a jump in salmon mortality rates due to sea lice and disease.
Norway’s fish farming industry is experiencing a 15 to 20 percent mortality rate for its stocks, up from 10 to 12 percent in 2012, Sandberg told industry executives on Tuesday, 15 May, according to Reuters.
The industry must work harder to reduce mortality rates both to improve animal welfare and for the sake of the reputation and profits of Norway’s aquaculture sector, Sandberg said.
“To bring down the mortality is something everyone will benefit from, primarily the fish but also the fish farmers’ bottom line, and not at least their reputation,” he said.
Sandberg cited figures provided by Norway’s Food Safety Authority, which offered the caveat that survival of salmon in cages can vary greatly between individual farming sites.
Seafood Norway, the country’s seafood marketing board, told Reuters it shared the minister’s ambition to cut mortality rates but declined to quantify a target. The organization represents more than 550 Norwegian seafood companies.
Sandberg is traveling to China this week to promote Norwegian seafood, Reuters reported. He said the market for Norwegian salmon in China is still small, but has great potential.
According to data acquired by SeafoodSource from the Norwegian Statistics Bureau, exports of seafood from Norway to China increased by 26.4 percent in volume, reaching a total of 181,062 metric tons in 2017. That figure represents a year-on-year growth of 49,944 MT.In value, the growth was 25.1 percent in 2017, to a total value of CNY 2.8 billion (USD 410 million, EUR 360 million). China imported 6.9 percent of all Norwegian seafood exported in 2017, up from 5.8 percent in 2016. The total is up after the two countries signed a bilateral trade agreement in April 2017.
Sandberg said that maintaining high quality in Norwegian salmon exports will be key to gaining market share in China.
“Believe me, in the future the demands for quality in Norwegian seafood will be even higher,” Sandberg said.
