Research at Stockholm University shows that the lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) that has previously been found to be the cause of fatal disease outbreaks in the Baltic Sea salmon is also the reason why cod in the Baltic Sea is ill and has decreased in number.

- The figures we have obtained through our analyzes show how the cod is affected by the lack of vitamin B1 or thiamine, says Lennart Balk, professor at Stockholm University and the one who led the research.

It is a very serious lack of thiamine which is devastating for the fishermen.

Rapid deterioration

The deteriorating condition of the Baltic Sea cod has been noted earlier without being able to give a clear explanation at the same time, the deterioration has been rapid. In the 1980s, fishermen along the southern Norrland coast experienced an unprecedented cod fishery, today fisherman Bo Sillman from Lörsdden south of Sundsvall finds that it is almost impossible to get a cod.

The whole Baltic Sea area hit

The research results show that at least 75 per cent of cod are affected by thiamine deficiency and are based on chemical and biochemical analyzes of cod from Hanö Bay off Blekinge, but according to the researchers, much indicates that the entire population in the Baltic Sea area is affected. The report has been published in the American magazine PLOS ONE.

The fisherman Bo Sillman is not surprised.

"Something is wrong," he notes.