Mowi hit by biological and lice woes on two continents

Some 25,000 fish are reported to have died from gill disease at a facility in Møre og Romsdal county which is in the northernmost part of western Norway. Some nine cages are thought to have been affected leading to the loss of 6,000 fish.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has also reported that infectious salmon anaemia has been confirmed at a facility in Namsos municipality in Trondelag.

Suspicions of ISA came to light three weeks ago and samples were sent away for testing.The usual restrictions have been put in place to try to contain the outbreak. These include controls on movement of people and traffic.

As if these were not enough, the regional newspaper Avisen Agdar is reporting that Mowi has been affected by an algae outbreak in the south of the country. It has caused mortality problems, but it is not yet known how many fish have been affected. Efforts are underway to try to contain the problem. Algae caused serious problems in the north of the country earlier this year.

There’s been another large salmon die-off at a Mowi Canada East aquaculture operation in Newfoundland, and the company says the culprit is repeated sea lice infestations exacerbated by climate change.

Mowi is continuing to battle issues across the Atlantic with some 166,000 salmon dying at two farming operations in Newfoundland.

A company statement said the die-off was due to "repeated sea lice infestations" from long periods of high water surface temperature, a lack of rainfall and winds which make conditions ideal for sea lice to flourish.

Mowi added: "It is an unfortunate fact that all livestock farmers will encounter and must manage challenges resulting in the mortality of stock from time to time. All farmers (terrestrial or water) are continuing to see the effects of climate change on their livelihood.”