Millions of farmed salmon have died in northern Norway in recent days as a result of the proliferation of toxic algae that is still not under control, authorities and professionals said.
More than 10,000 tonnes of salmon have already died since mid-May in their submerged enclosures in fjords of Nordland and Troms, according to the latest estimates of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries published Tuesday. This represents several million fish, each salmon weighing in the season between 700 grams and 5.5 kilos, and a loss of several hundreds of millions of crowns (tens of millions of euros) for fish farmers.
An alga whose proliferation is still not under control
Stocks are being decimated by algae of the haptophyte family, a common phytoplankton in Norwegian waters but which can, under certain conditions, proliferate and asphyxiate the fish in its cages. The world's number one farmed salmon with a total production of 1.24 million tonnes in 2017, Norway had already experienced such an episode in 1991. "The proliferation is not over," noted the Directorate of Fisheries . To limit the damage, fish farmers are racing against the clock to move or slaughter the fish before the algae reach their farms.
If more than 10,000 tons are already lost, professionals estimate at around 40,000 tons the volume lost to the extent that the dead fish were expected to grow by their slaughter normally expected at the end of the year or early 2020. These figures are still tentative and may increase. The episode contributed to the rise in the price of salmon which rose 5.7% in one week to negotiate more than 65 kronor (about 6.7 euros) per kilo Wednesday.