– We clearly see it as a lack of improvement, says John Falch, head of department at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. John Bjarne Falch is head of department at the Food Safety Authority Namdal Photo: Kjartan Trana / news He is talking about the mortality figures that were presented in January this year. The supervisory authority then summoned MOWI’s management to a follow-up meeting. The background for the meeting was what news has previously reported: That every third salmon in some of MOWI’s facilities in central Norway died in the cages. This concerned salmon released in 2020 and 2021. But had the situation improved? – Nothing in particular, says Falch. – These mortality figures are far too high. Bikker 30 percent mortality news has been given access to the presentation that was put forward at the meeting with the world’s largest breeder of Atlantic salmon. Here the following emerged: 12.7 million salmon died in the farming facilities in Central Norway in 2023 (only November), 4.9 million of these died in MOWI’s facilities. This makes up 39 percent of the dead fish. Some of MOWI’s facilities/areas stand out with very high mortality over several releases of salmon. The Varden facility at Hitra had a mortality of 33.7 per cent in 2023. This is up 13.3 percentage points since the previous stocking of fish. Far above the average – We felt compelled to call in the top management of the company. They are the ones who must now be made responsible, says John Falch of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. – We are not satisfied with the measures that were implemented after the previous audit. Some of the facilities examined have seen some improvement since the last release of fish. The problem is, however, that the mortality figures are far above other facilities in the area. Central Norway has around 16 per cent dead fish on average. No mortality rate below 20 per cent None of the six facilities discussed at the meeting has a mortality rate of below 20 per cent. It is worst at: Svellungen (31.9 per cent mortality) Varden (33.7 per cent mortality) Voldnes (26.6 per cent mortality) The latter is located on Herøy in Sunnmøre, the other two on Hitra in Trøndelag. The facilities are considered to be large. Varden, for example, has 12 cages and 7,020 tonnes of fish. Crack in the heart The Kåholmen facility at Hitra topped the list of worst-selling salmon in the previous edition. Then the mortality was a whopping 36.8 per cent. It was reduced by ten percentage points at the last postponement. Nevertheless, the plant has had major problems with the last production in 2023: September 10: High mortality due to low oxygen at the plant after a generator failed. 18 September: High mortality during and after lice treatment. 9,617 salmon died in two of the cages. It was considered unreasonable to treat the rest of the site after this. There is too little slaughter capacity in the area. Weak fish are left in the cages for too long. The lice limit has been exceeded. The fish has complex gill disease and heart failure. When the plant was culled, 12.1 per cent of the fish had to be reclassified as so-called production fish. 180,000 dead salmon Asgeir Hasund is regional manager of MOWI. Photo: Jannicke Farstad / news – We are naturally not satisfied with this, says regional director Asgeir Hasund in MOWI when he is asked to comment on the mortality rate. – We work every single day to improve ourselves. We will not give up until we get these locations down to the level of our other locations in this area. According to what news learns, one of the mentioned MOWI facilities has had a mortality of over 180,000 fish in one month. This concerns salmon with an average weight of three kilos. The salmon price in September was around NOK 75 per kilo. This case alone thus entails a loss of NOK 40 million. – These are unacceptably high figures. We take this very seriously, says Hasund to news. More robust fish The regional manager has great faith that MOWI will succeed with new and strengthened measures in the next production. – Among other things, we are focusing on the production of a more robust smolt. We put out bigger fish. This results in shorter time in the sea and faster production. The experience is that it is particularly in the final phase that problems arise. – How would you explain the high mortality rate? – We had a late summer and early autumn with high sea temperatures. Lice pressure and fish with complex gill disease made the situation demanding. – Have you also had poor slaughter capacity? – It has probably been limited for periods, but this has improved significantly with our new slaughterhouse at Hitra. . The MOWIS facility at Hitra has had too little slaughter capacity. It will now get better. Photo: Nanna Ranes / news May demand a reduction MOWI has submitted a long list of improvement points to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Head of department John Bjarne Falch says that the inspectorate is now following developments closely. – The next production at these facilities will be absolutely decisive. I think the measures seem more targeted this time. It then remains to be seen whether they have an effect. – If not? – In general, I can say that one of the tools we have is to reduce the biomass. This means that a producer is not allowed to release as much fish as previously. Hello! We are currently working a lot on matters concerning the farming industry. Do you have tips for us, or know something about the industry that you think we should know or check out? Feel free to send us an email! Alternatively, you can call us on 95.22.30.63. You can use the same number on the encrypted Signal app.
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180,000 dead MOWI salmon in one month – news Dokumentar
