A new report from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has hinted at the extent of the welfare and quality issues affecting Norwegian salmon farming this year.
According to the report, during the first week of April, a staggering 48.7% of Mowi’s harvest volume was classified as “production fish.” These are fish that exhibit injuries or wounds, necessitating corrective measures before exportation.
Lise Rokkones, section manager at the fish health and fish welfare section in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, expressed concern over the welfare of these fish.
What exactly are production fish anyway? The controversial world of salmon grading
“It is worrying that so many fish have poor welfare. We must assume that fish that are harvested with large open wounds have had poor welfare for some time before they were processed. Mowi and other breeders must work preventively to reverse the negative development we have seen in recent years, she wrote in an email to Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
Mowi lacks the processing capacity in Norway to handle such a significant quantity of fish with quality issues.
Mowi applied twice this winter and spring to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority for dispensation from regulations prohibiting the export of such fish before rectification in Norway. However, both applications were rejected by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
