ISA confirmed at Norwegian farm

Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) has been confirmed in the far north of Norway, in what is a growing number of outbreaks in recent weeks.

The latest company to get the unwelcome news is Nordlaks Havbruk AS which has just received positive test results for the disease.

The outbreak is at the company’s location Sandnes Øst in Hadsel municipality. It was discovered following a routine health check at the location.

Nordlaks Havbruk director Bjarne Johansen said: “This is a situation we take very seriously. Our highest priority is to protect the health of our fish and minimise the risk of spread.

“The fish at the Sandnes Øst location will be slaughtered as quickly as possible and we are working closely with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority on further work.”

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority was notified of suspicions on 16 May when the test results arrived.

Now suspicions have been confirmed, a separate regulation and following routine procedures, a restriction zone will be created to prevent, limit and combat the spread of the disease.

The virus is similar to the influenza virus, but only affects salmonids. It is, therefore, not dangerous for humans

There has been a worrying increase in the number of ISA outbreaks in Norway over the past few weeks. The financial cost of a discovery can be high.

The disease was detected at a Sjøtroll Havbruk site in the Vestland region a couple of weeks ago and a suspected case was reported at a SalMar location at the beginning of the month.