Mowi embroiled in fish slaughter row

NRK says that the incident took place around six months ago at a fish farm in Nordfjord in Vestland county following a delousing operation. Apparently, the fish had major problems with their gills and did not get enough oxygen. The estimated death toll is 300,000 salmon.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority inspected the farm when the slaughtering operation was being carried out and found they were met with clearly weakened salmon.

The main cause of the incident turned out to be a bloom of harmful algae in the water.

Veterinarian and Professor Emeritus Trygve Poppe told NRK that it took five weeks before all the fish were slaughtered which meant they suffered for quite a long time.

In Norway farmed fish have the same legal protection as land livestock such as sheep or cows.

The broadcaster claims that after all the fish were slaughtered, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority decided to drop the case.

“We will not carry out a document control in this case,” wrote the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in an email to Mowi, NRK has claimed.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has admitted “that the fish were not doing well”.

“This was a very serious incident,” says Barbo Klakegg, head of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s marine department, in a reply to NRK.

Although the specific case did not receive any follow-up from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the incident was part of a larger audit of the company.

Now the Animal Welfare Alliance foundation in Norway has reported the case to the police, claiming that Mowi broke the law by not slaughtering the fish earlier.

Mowi Communications Director Morten Bertelsen told NRK the fish were slaughtered as soon as possible, adding that the company is taking note of the police report, and they will await the police’s handling of the case.

Bertelsen added: “Such jellyfish or algae attacks occur very rarely, but when they do it seriously affects the welfare of the fish because they have problems with their gills. We decided to kill and slaughter the fish as quickly as possible.”