Salmon Evolution starts freshwater treatment

Land based fish farm Salmon Evolution has outlined the measures it is taking to correct the mortality issues at its new facility, at Indre Harøy in southern Norway.

The company has also disclosed that the main problem appears to be amoebic gill disease (AGD).

Ten days ago Salmon Evolution, which recently raised around £40m, warned of the mortalities in a Stock Exchange announcement. The company said that AGD is a common challenge for the conventional salmon farming industry but there were well proven treatment methods, such as using freshwater.

The statement said: “The investigation into the root cause for the increased mortality levels continue, but the company has strong indications that AGD is the triggering cause.

“The company has therefore secured relevant capacities and plans to start freshwater treatment with the aim of normalising the situation and thereby avoiding early harvest of the affected subgroups in batch 3 and 4.

“ In parallel, the company is implementing measures to minimise the risk of such problems in the first place including, but not limited to, applying a substantially higher UV disinfection dose and enhanced cleaning and disinfection of emptied tanks and connected systems.”

Salmon Evolution said the harvest confirmed strong product quality, evidenced by a “superior” grade proportion of more than 90%.

The fish has subsequently been sold at attractive prices while the last two tanks containing batch 2 are being fully harvested out, around one month ahead of the original plan.

It added: “The Company continues to see elevated mortality levels for one of the subgroups in each of batches 3 and 4, but the situation has stabilised somewhat over the last week. Batch 5 continues to see low mortality levels and normal feeding.”