Norwegian salmon is marketed as a premium product from beautiful, clean fjords. It can be sold for hundreds of kroner per kilo in the grocery store. Farmed fish is one of Norway’s most valuable exports. news can now reveal that this autumn there has been a mass death of salmon at several facilities belonging to the salmon giant Lerøy Seafood. The affected facilities are located in the sea areas from Kristiansund in Møre and Romsdal to Hitra in Trøndelag. ON THE SURFACE: Lerøy has a number of facilities in the area near Hitra. Photo: Afp news has obtained images showing large quantities of dead and passed out salmon at the bottom of the company’s cages at Reitholmen and Ulværholmen in Hitra municipality. In the event of such incidents, breeders have a duty to report to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. High mortality is serious because it can mean a risk of infection for other fish and must therefore be notified immediately. Lerøy has obtained analyzes from a laboratory company. news has obtained these documents, and the examined salmon was full of diseases at the time of death. SUCK UP DEAD SALMON: At the bottom of the cage are dead and dying salmon, belly up. The pipe in the middle of the picture sucks up dead salmon. Confirms high mortality Lerøy Seafood is one of the world’s largest farming companies. The company is controlled by the powerful Møgster family from Austevoll. Group director for aquaculture, Bjarne Reinert, at Lerøy Seafood confirms that an abnormally large number of salmon have died at several of Lerøy’s facilities this autumn. The salmon breathes with its gills. Disease in the gills has caused the salmon to have breathing problems and suffocate. In addition, they have had parasites and heart disease. DEAD AND DYING: The fish cannot breathe. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority – This autumn we have had challenges related to gill health at several of our locations and in several of our production units. This type of incident is caused by gill health problems, says Bjarne Reinert, executive director of Lerøy Seafood to news. He gets to see a picture from Ulværholmen with thousands of dead and passed out salmon. – The picture you show here is caused by gill health problems, says Reinert. Suffocate slowly news has also shown the pictures of professor emeritus in fish health, Trygve Poppe, at the Norwegian Institute of Environmental and Biosciences (NMBU). – Oh, this was a lot of fish. These are strong images, says Trygve Poppe, who points out that he has hardly seen the likes. TRYGVE POPPE: Professor emeritus and expert in fish health. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news The professor describes what he sees: An extraordinary amount of fish lying dead and lifeless at the bottom of the cage. In such a situation, the breeder must react quickly, according to Poppe. – If the fish is left lying around for a long time, it helps to spread infection in the bodies of water. The fish must be raised as soon as possible, and it must then be destroyed, says Poppe. Analyzed “swimmers” The Norwegian Food Safety Authority paid an unannounced visit on 21 September to Reitholmen in Trøndelag. The salmon at Lerøy suffered from various gill diseases in early September, i.e. weeks before the Norwegian Food Safety Authority came to visit, according to the documents obtained by news. On 4 September, Lerøy ordered analyzes of fish that were “fainting”, according to the documents. A “faint” is a weakened individual who behaves abnormally. For example, the salmon gasps for air on the surface of the water. The analysis of the “fainers” showed that they had five different diseases, all of which cause breathing problems. Waited to report mass death In the weeks that followed, the death rate rose. On 7 September, the plant began to record increased amounts of dead fish. Notification to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was sent on 14 September. The day after the notification was sent to the Norwegian Inspectorate, Reitholmen counted 42,000 dead salmon at the facility in Trøndelag. On Ulværholmen, samples were taken of so-called “swimmers” on 2 October. Here, too, the analyzes showed that the salmon had five different diseases that affect the ability to breathe. On 2 October, a mass death was recorded with over 11,000 dead fish on Ulværholmen. It was nine days before the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was notified. Notification to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was sent on 11 October. DIRECTOR OF LERØY: Executive Director Bjarne Reinert. Photo: Oskar Rennedal / news At the facility Hogsnes near Kristiansund, approximately 80,000 dead salmon were recorded in 18 days. Here, too, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was not notified before the plant had increased mortality for over two weeks, documents news sit on show. – We experience a good dialogue with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, and there have been no comments from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority about our reporting, says executive director Reinert. – This is not a normal situation. These are exceptional cases that we have had at some of our locations, says Reinert. – Breach of the rules Regional director Steinar Westerberg in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is aware that this type of mass death must be notified immediately: – Such conditions must be notified without delay, he says. – Does that mean immediately? – Yes, as soon as the businesses are aware of the conditions. That means immediately, says Westerberg. – What if you wait a week to notify? – It is not immediate. If there has been increased mortality for a whole week without being notified, then there is a breach of the rules, says Westerberg, who speaks generally about how notification should take place. But the Lerøy director disagrees with the inspection. He tells news that the company follows internal guidelines for when they report to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. According to him, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is well aware of these. SALMON AT REITHOLMEN: The photo was taken at Reitholmen in connection with the inspection of vessels bringing salmon for slaughter. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority – The regulations do not define absolute threshold values for when mortality must be reported. Only subjective criteria, says CEO Reinert. This is what the regulations on increased mortality say. Regulations on aquaculture define increased mortality as “higher than normal”: Breeders and slaughterhouses have a duty to notify. Dead fish must be removed at least once a day. Mortality must be recorded daily. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s guide to regulations says: Increased mortality must be reported immediately. The report must contain the number of dead fish. By “immediately” is meant at once All incidents that negatively affect fish welfare must be notified immediately. A subjective criterion means that you yourself assess when you have a duty to report. Increased mortality may be a sign of disease. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority must therefore be notified, so that measures can be taken to prevent the spread of infection and suffering. – Some fish will not survive, Lerøy’s executive director says their threshold for reporting is based on the mortality rate. But they will not tell news how much death there must be before they notify the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. – It is unfortunately the case, in all food production on land and in water, that some individuals will regrettably not survive. All deaths are reported to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, says the Lerøy director. – Does Lerøy consider that the obligation to notify has been fulfilled? – Yes. But the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was not satisfied with the reporting from the cages at Reitholmen. – The message from Reitholmen was categorized as “incomplete” due to missing information. Without knowing the number of dead fish, it is difficult to say anything about the extent of the incident, writes the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s press officer to news. The one message from Lerøy was defined as incomplete. Lerøy: Dead fish do not go to food production news has previously reported that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority believes self-dead salmon from Lerøy was on its way to consumers this autumn. Employees on board the vessel Seivik told the Norwegian Food Safety Authority that they were to collect fish from the cage at Reitholmen which was to go on to the slaughterhouse for processing. The fish was intended as human food, according to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. BILLIONAIRE FISHERIES: Arne and Helge Møgster from Austevoll control and are the largest owner of Lerøy Seafood. Photo: DN / Eivind Senneset The Lerøy director claims that dead fish from the bottom of their cages are never sent for food production: – We do not have and will not slaughter dead fish for human consumption, says Reinert. – Were those who said this to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority wrong? – We do not have and we do not want to slaughter dead fish for food production, he says. – But when they tell the Norwegian Food Safety Authority that it is happening, are they wrong? – On 21 September, a blågge operation was carried out at Reitholmen. The dead fish was destroyed on site, replies Reinert, who adds that it was used for bioenergy. Lerøy has sent news documents showing that large quantities of salmon from Reithomen were destroyed during this period. NOT AT REITHOLMEN: The Norwegian Food Safety Authority determined that dead fish from the plant were on their way to becoming human food. But Lerøy does not want news to reproduce the content of these documents for competitive reasons. news has not received enough information to verify the claim that all dead fish were destroyed. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority maintains previous statements to news. The inspectorate believes that dead fish were on their way to Lerøy’s slaughterhouse for further processing, when they carried out an inspection at Reitholmen.
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Suddenly, tens of thousands of salmon died
